By now, you probably have read a couple of ROG Ally reviews online, and most of them seem to be quite positive. As an avid gamer, I was really excited about the ROG Ally's potential. But after playing it for two weeks, I have mixed feelings and I'm not just talking about the obvious battery drainage problem. I don't understand why so many other reviews skimmed through the software optimisation issues.
The ROG Ally has been almost talked to death by this point, so I'll try to keep the design aspect as brief as possible. In this review, you will read more of my first-hand gaming experience in terms of quality-of-life and usage practicality. Read on below to check out my fun and also frustrating gaming experience with the ROG Ally.
Starting with the design, the ROG Ally is a 7-inch PC gaming handheld console with ABXY buttons that follows the Xbox controller. Besides the expected D-pad, shoulder triggers, and thumbsticks, ASUS also decided to throw in a couple of extras, such as two rear grip buttons, a View button, a Menu button, a Command Centre button and an Armoury Crate button.
Yup, Play ALL Your games
A closer look at the controls
A view of the top and back
But that's not all. On the top, you can also find the power button/fingerprint scanner, volume rockers, microSD card slot, an audio jack, a USB C charging port, and an XGm to connect it to an XG Mobile for superior performance. Overall, the ROG Ally is quite fancy-looking and just screams "gamer" all over the place. Even the thumbsticks have RGB lighting, which is cool but may not be useful, depending on your preference.
As most of you should know by now, the ROG Ally runs on Windows 11 Home operating system. So yes, you can install every gaming platform available, like Steam, Epic Games Store, EA Play, Ubisoft Connect, Battle.net, as well as GOG. The Xbox PC Game Pass is also already pre-installed, so it sounds wonderful for a PC gamer looking for a compact gaming device. Well, on paper, that is. Here comes my frustrating experience after installing them.
The keyboard wouldn't appear when trying to sign into Ubisoft Connect and Epic Games Store
In my experience, signing into these gaming platforms was honestly a pain in the a##. Out of all the platforms, Steam is the easiest to sign in, thanks to the quick QR code login feature that you can do with the Steam app on your phone. However, the others are very much a hassle because these programs still operate and recognise the ROG Ally as a PC device. Meaning you will need to use your mouse and keyboard, which is possible via Bluetooth.
Of course, you can just tap on the mini keyboard icon at the bottom left or bring it out from the Command Centre. But therein lies the problem. Many times, it doesn't come out. Instead, once you open up the platforms, the ROG Ally suddenly switches to Gamepad Mode. Needless to say, it was one of the most frustrating experiences for me, and I haven't even started gaming yet at that time! Moreover, EA Play (of course it's EA) is easily the worst-performing program on the ROG Ally. The game library in there was blank after signing in (which prompted a restart), and then I couldn't continue playing Dragon Age Inquisition (twice) because it switched to PC mode halfway and I got stuck.
The download speed was fast, though
For odd reasons, restarting the ROG Ally allowed me to properly sign into all the gaming platforms. Things were in order as I downloaded a couple of games here and there, from casual to AAA titles. Thanks to the WiFi 6E feature, the downloading process was mostly smooth, with Steam performing the best (achieving up to 92.5 Mbps). Speaking of connectivity, using Bluetooth wireless earbuds was equally smooth.
As you can tell, the Windows 11 software optimisation with the other gaming platforms in handheld mode is not that great. It continues to have trouble differentiating between Gamepad and PC modes. Launching Battle.net, EA Play, and Ubisoft Connect will always make the ROG Ally think it's on PC mode, whereas Steam gets an easy pass. Again, I tried bringing up the keyboard from the Command Centre but to no avail. I have to manually adjust it in the games' settings.
Games are set up and ready to go!
Battle.net doesn't recognise Gamepad mode immediately
The cinematic scenes are good
One time, Control from Epic Games Store wasn't displaying correctly. The problem was resolved after restarting
Distracting motion blur graphics on the subject in A Plague Tale: Requiem
In the same game, the graphics could also be pleasing
Most 2D platformers have no problem on the ROG Ally
Well, as long as it doesn't have high requirement
A screenshot from Yet Another Zombie Survivor game
The tricky thing about the ROG Ally is that not all games will get the same treatment. Most casual games, such as 2D platformers and tactical-based ones, can perform quite well. But this doesn't apply to AAA games. For example, playing A Plague Tale: Requiem would (somehow) make the screen flicker every few seconds, even though its setting is low. However, Cyberpunk 2077 and Stray run just fine. Older games like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Control and Assassin's Creed Origins ran well too in their respective platforms, but I can't remember which one made the ROG Ally crash.
Another elephant in the room I should address is obviously the battery performance. With just 40WHrs of battery, the ROG Ally can only last up to 1.5 hours with most AAA games in Performance mode (15W, and sometimes Turbo, up to 25W). 2D platformers are more forgiving, lasting over an impressive four hours plus in Silent Mode. You would think that lowering the power consumption to 10W can solve the battery problem, but this also reduces gaming performance.
The Armoury Crate settings
Here's where you can configure the controls and command centre
Manually setting the system usage
Battery performance - It will always reach 10% in 1.5 hours from playing most AAA games
In most cases, the Performance mode is the default setting when playing AAA games on the ROG Ally. You are free to configure the CPU watt usage in the Armoury Crate, but I don't think it makes that much of a difference. After all, the battery would always go flat in less than 2 hours. This means I can't exactly have a fun time when I go on a long flight for more than two hours.
The ROG Ally requires at least a 65W charger adapter to get it going. But the adapter is too big to carry around, plus the system doesn't encourage you to use alternatives. Speaking of travelling, most games nowadays also require live service to play, which means I have to be online at all times. Thankfully, Steam allows you to play offline and you can resync your progress back to the cloud online. But then again, other gaming platforms will force you to be online. Sure, I can use my phone's hotspot to go online, but I need to use my mobile data too.
Yes, you can watch Netflix on the ROG Ally
Gameplay from Stray
Another one from Stray
Another thing that kind of irks me is the ROG Ally's sleep function, as you can't turn it back on quickly like the Nintendo Switch. You can set the device to sleep after a few minutes, just like how you would on a PC, but sometimes it just doesn't work for some reason. And when it does enter sleep mode after a few minutes, I have to turn it back on and wait for it to boot everything up again including signing into the gaming platforms (even if I enabled "remember me").
And that's not all. For some reason, the default screenshot and video recording buttons are assigned to A and Y, respectively. It's more practical for ASUS to integrate those two functions as one to replace the View button since it isn't used that often. But okay, I can reassign these functions to other buttons, so I tried shifting them to the two rear grip buttons. But they felt so sloppy for AAA games and I'd get way too many accidental screenshots or recordings on the slightest touch (and they don't work on the home page). Sometimes, if I use those on the Command Centre, it will make the ROG Ally turn back to PC mode.
I know, I know. I'm just stomping hard on the ROG Ally. But there are some saving graces. The audio performance is impressive and it can be pretty loud at maxed volume. Steam (and sometimes, the Epic Games Store) optimisation is great on the ROG Ally which is the most popular gaming platform among gamers. The download speed is commendable and I also like the big 7-inch 1080p display, which can run on a 120Hz refresh rate. However, in order to save the battery life, I had to turn it down to 720p at 60Hz and turn off the RGB lighting on the thumbsticks.
Better lower the settings for a slightly better battery life
When I got to play a game smoothly without many issues (like casual 2D games), it was the only time I really got to have fun. I really wanted to love the ROG Ally but ASUS could have done so much better with it. There's just no way of sugarcoating this - the ROG Ally and Windows 11 aren't well-optimised for a true handheld gaming experience. Also, the battery performance is bad. Period. Granted, you can play while charging but what's the difference with playing your plugged-in gaming PC at home? It defeats the purpose of playing on the go.
Honestly, the ROG Ally's software optimisation pales in comparison to the Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch. While I never had the luxury of experiencing the Steam Deck fully, it's very easy to recommend the latter because of its longer battery longevity and seamless Steam OS optimisation. If you were to buy the 512GB model (~RM2.8K) directly in the US, it's still cheaper than the ROG Ally, which costs RM3299. It's also possible to buy one in Shopee for a similar price range, but you won't have any warranty.
Sorry, ROG Ally. I'll still choose the Switch over you
It's also easier to recommend the Switch or the Switch OLED, for a better comparison, at RM1699. Sure, the Switch OLED has lower specifications, but at least it can last a few hours longer than the ROG Ally. Let's also not forget that you can have friends over playing party games and exclusive AAA titles like The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, as well as Mario games. Heck, even getting the PlayStation 5 Blu-Ray model is more worthwhile at RM2499 if you just want to play on your couch.
For ASUS' first try in the handheld gaming device space, perhaps we all should be more forgiving since it's not completely unplayable. But with the issues addressed here, I really hope to see how ASUS can improve and make the successor a much better product. You may want to hold off getting the ROG Ally for now and wait for a new model in the future. If you can't wait, I won't stop you but do it at your own risk.
ROG Ally tech specs and features:
- AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme Processor
- AMD Radeon Graphics (TDP 9-30W)
- 16GB LPDDR5 of RAM
- 512GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD
- Measures 28.0 x 11.1 x 2.12 ~ 3.24 cm, weighs 608g
- 7-inch IPS display (FHD, 16:9 aspect ratio, 100% sRBG, Gorilla Glass DXC and Victus, Touch Screen support, 120Hz refresh rate, 7ms, 500nits peak brightness)
- I/O ports - 1x 3.5m audio jack, 1x ROG XG Mobile Interface and USB Type-C combo port (with USB 3.2 Gen2, support DisplayPort 1.4), 1x UHS-II microSD card reader (supports SD, SDXC and SDHC)
- Features - View, Menu, Command Centre and Armoury Crate buttons, 2x rear grip buttons, AI noise-cancelling tech, HiRes certified, Dolby Atmos, built-in mic, 2-speaker system with Smart Amplifier Technology, Aura Sync, Built-in Fingerprint Sensor
- Connection - Wi-Fi 6E(802.11ax) (Triple band) 2*2, Bluetooth 5.2
- Battery - 40WHrs, 4S1P, 4-cell Li-ion
- Power supply - TYPE-C, 65W AC Adapter, Output: 20V DC, 3.25A, 65W, Input: 100~240V AC 50/60Hz universal
- Windows 11 Home
Pros - Impressive audio quality, great display qualities (7-inch, 1080p and up to 120Hz refresh rate), and a good user experience on Steam
Cons - Inconsistent software optimisation with every gaming platform (except Steam), poor battery life performance, and the inconvenience of needing to be online most of the time (as most modern games require live service) make it outshined by the Steam Deck and Switch OLED
Conclusion - The ROG Ally works well enough as an alternative to the Steam Deck which is not officially available in Malaysia, but it's a gamble as to which games can be played seamlessly
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