Razer's first iteration of a mobile device is bringing true innovation. If the cameras were improved, it would be near perfect.
Razer – a company synonymous with PC gaming – has stepped into the mobile device arena with their all-new Razer Phone. But do they have what it takes to stand out in a cutthroat, hyper-competitive market?
Razer Phone Specifications
- Dimensions: 158.5 x 77.7 x 8 mm
- Weight: 197 g
- CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, Octa-core (4×2.35 GHz & 4×1.9 GHz)
- GPU: Adreno 540
- RAM: 8 GB
- Storage: 64 GB (expandable via microSD card)
- Display: 5.7″ IPS @ 1440 x 2560 @ up to 120Hz
- Audio: Dolby Atos (THX Certified)
- Battery: 4000 mAh
- OS: Android 7.1 Nougat
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This is by no means the first time we’ve seen Android being paired with some gaming marketing. Companies like Nvidia have also been trying their hand with their Sheild devices NVIDIA Shield Tablet Review And Giveaway NVIDIA Shield Tablet Review And Giveaway NVIDIA has released a full-size tablet version of the Shield – aptly named the NVIDIA Shield Tablet – and we've been playing around with one. Read More . This is, however, the first time a company well known for their kidney donating prices and gaming PCs has tried to instill some gaming pedigree into a smartphone.
This is also the first device to feature a 120Hz display, which was secretly also HDR capable. It’s the first device to feature Qualcomm’s QuickCharge 4.0 plus. Razer has also boasted about being able to turn said device into a laptop, of sorts. What what?
Design
While companies are deciding to opt for more curves, Razer has not. Following their acquisition of Nextbit, it’s clear to see where the inspiration for the Razer phone came from. The former Google and HTC employees, who developed the Nextbit Robin have followed through on their iconic square design.
This is going to be somewhat polarizing. The device isn’t as ergonomic as it’s curvaceous competitors, but the blocky Razer Phone can be spotted a mile away. Razer has stated that this design also allows for the large heat pipes used for cooling the device and the enormous 4000mAh battery.
On the left are the volume buttons, which unfortunately are not premium to the touch. The dual 12MP cameras garnish the back of the device with the aggressive Razer logo. The perfectly placed power switch and fingerprint sensor is on the right. On the bottom is the USB C charging port and unfortunate omission of a headphone jack. Which brings us to the front of the device.
As far as bezels go, this phone is well endowed. Two anti-2017-design bezels occupy the front along with the 8M camera. But is there some method to this anti-pattern? Oh, yes!
Bezels
The trade-off that Razer undertook here is completely understandable. Behind those monstrous bezels are the best speakers, of any smartphone, ever. Completely dwarfing volume and quality of any other flagship on the market, Razer has nailed this. The Razer Phone also features Dolby Atmos audio Dolby Digital, DTS, THX: Surround Sound Standards Explained Dolby Digital, DTS, THX: Surround Sound Standards Explained Although there are only three main players in the surround sound industry, each has their own subsets of technology as it relates to surround. Read More . Rather than being constrained to channels, sounds can be precisely placed and moved in three-dimensional space.
The bezels also provide a place to rest your fingers on a protracted gaming session. Without these bezels, you may have been prone to accidentally touching the screen and an uncomfortable gaming experience. All in all, I think it was well worth it.
As the famous saying goes, it’s not about the bezels but what’s between them that counts. This is Razer’s focus for this device. The pièce de résistance. The chef-d’oeuvre. The highlight of this device, which is the display.
Display & Battery
To say that on this display, Android feels smooth would be an understatement. After to switch the default setting to 120Hz max, it’s like that scene in the Matrix when Neo realizes his entire life was a lie.
Going back to another Android device just feels slow and lethargic. Everyday tasks like scrolling and moving through the app drawer feels buttery smooth. Android becomes a pleasure to wield and even just day to day tasks like scrolling through a long Facebook feed becomes enjoyable. And this is all before you get to what the display was meant for: gaming.
Before we move on to that, understand that this is an IPS display. So it’s not going to be as colorful or as bright as an OLED display AMOLED Burn-In Can Be Avoided! And It's Easy! AMOLED Burn-In Can Be Avoided! And It's Easy! AMOLED burn-in can be reduced with the right tricks. This article lists the apps and options for saving AMOLED screens. Read More . It’s not that the Razer display is not bright, but the range of brightness isn’t as variable as some others.
The display also uses a variable refresh rate. So when your phone is just idling the refresh rate tones down, and as soon as it’s needed the refresh rate will scale up to meet demand. This is done to preserve battery life.
Speaking of the 4000mAh hour battery, it comfortable handles medium to heavy use getting 5 and a half to 6 hours a day of screen-on time. Having a 1440p display running at 120Hz all while gaming is going to be demanding on any battery. Fortunately, I was almost always left with a charge before the end of the day, even with the max refresh rate set to 120Hz, and high GPS usage.
Gaming and Performance
It’s no surprise that the beefy specs in the Razer phone allow it to have great synthetic benchmark scores. Scoring 179718 in AnTuTu, with the Geekbench weighing in at 1963 on single-core and 6599 on multi-core.
As this is the first smartphone to sport a 120Hz display, there are relatively not as many games that support that refresh rate just yet. There are some games that come pre-installed which all support 120Hz if you’d like to give it a try right out the box.
It goes without saying that phone designed by a manufacturer that makes gaming devices needs to be distinguished in the gaming department. The rock solid specs, ergonomics and brilliant display all come together harmoniously to provide one of the best gaming experiences on a mobile device. The high refresh rate also makes the phone feel very responsive and adds to the overall experience.
Android Games that Support 120Hz
Razer has officially released a list of games that can take advantage of the display. Some of these games are as follows:
- Tekken Mobile
- Injustice 2
- Mortal Kombat X
- Real Racing 3
- Final Fantasy XV: Personal Edition
- Runescape
- Super Mario Run
- Subway Surfers
- Warhammer 40k: Freeblade
- Minecraft
- Sandbox 3d
- Pokemon Go
The Cameras
Now before we commence with a celebratory lap, we come to the worst part of this phone. The cameras. The Razer Phone has a dual camera setup on the rear much like many other flagships of recent. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite perform like any other phones in its class; it’s somewhat worse.
Pictures were quite soft, dynamic range was lackluster, and low light performance is substandard. The native camera app should also be replaced by a third party one if you are going to buy this phone. The same picture quality can be said for the front-facing camera as well.
Over and above everything else the shutter lag is really significant and leaves the experience feeling rather dated. The cameras are just not very competitive right now.
This might be a deal breaker for some. However, you should not overlook that fact that this device is geared towards gamers and not photographers. If the phone had compromised on the gaming aspect when its unique selling point was gaming, that would be a lot worse.
The Future
If you’ve been following CES 2018, you may have seen a few announcements that are making headlines regarding this phone. Another debut that the Razer phone is bringing is HDR ready content via Netflix. This combined with the astounding front facing speakers is going to make media consumption untouchable on this device.
Another announcement at CES was project Linda. Project Linda is a laptop shell, which has a dock for your Razer Phone. Your Razer Phone now becomes a trackpad or a secondary display for the shell. Project Linda features an RGB keyboard and a larger battery to provide sufficient juice. There’s even a little cutout to allow the Phones fingerprint sensor to be used for login.
There hasn’t been any price or release date announced, but it looks really cool. Now, this is conceptual, and I have my reservations as to whether this is going to become an actual product or not, but this does provide insight as to where Razer wants to take this product and potentially attract game developers for supporting more mobile games. This also allows better productivity use cases!
Do You Need A Razer Phone In Your Life?
If photography is not on your top list of priorities, but media consumption and gaming are, there is little in the way of the Razer Phone. The liquid-smooth interface and overall experience makes this an unparalleled Android experience. If you’re after a more all-rounded smartphone, there are many others in a similar price bracket that are worthy contenders such as the Galaxy S8 or the OnePlus 5T.
The most annoying thing about this phone is having to explain to everyone you speak to that this is not the Motorolla Razr that your grandparents used to send you SMSs on.
Do you think Razer has what it takes to make Android a true gaming platform? Would you consider project Linda as a one device solution? Can your eyes see faster than 120Hz? Let us know in the comments below.
Explore more about: Android Nougat, Mobile Gaming.
Do not buy this phone. Dedicated camera app freezes and when selecting video mode shuts down app. Also front facing camera keeps opening when trying to scan documents or bar codes with other apps. When trying to transfer files using tethering the tethering keeps dropping. Also cannot use wifi and network mode at the same time you have to disable one or the other.
This is probably one of the best gaming phone for gamers and I believe that we wouldn't regret of buying this.Its truly facinating and also PROJECT LINDA is simply the best innovation so far.
mobile device is bringing true innovation
How do you get notified on the winners? I sure do hope I win. And is this an international giveaway?
Hi Charles.
Once a winnder is randomly chosen by the system, the MakeUseOf team should get in touch via e-mail. Once the winner confirms, they send over their details and we ship!
Yes, all our giveaways are international :)
Revolutionary smartphone in gaming world.mostly going to be a dream phone for gamers.
I would like to experience the quality of your phone if i would given a chance to win..
Nice phone. But a bit bulky.
I am huge fan of raxer so nice specifications thanks razer proud to make awesome phones like this love u razer team
Wow! This phone is sick....Octacore, 8Gigabyte RAM. Let's be honest, this is not a phone but a computer
great phone thx for info
Wish me luck ???
Really powerful and huge battery smartphone this is the new smartphone who gonna rule the world
This phone is dope
I love your work , I was always interested in buying different featured phones . And I watch each and every video of yours . Thank you so much.
Time to Makeusof this awesome boomslang killer brand!
;)
Please let me win this smart phone
Below was my address:
Alice Lisly
D/A masinah bte amir
Pejabat daerah kinabatangan
Wdt 01,90200 kota kinabatangan sandakan,
Sabah.
I will introduce all my relative and friend regarding this makeuseof always the greats application.. thanks
Hi Alice :)
All our competition winners are chosen at random. This allows all our readers to have a fair shot at our giveaways.
Best to luck to you and everyone!
This phone is pretty goood for my needs. Powerful system. Its not the gaming, not the photos, its about the ram im after. Im poor so i cant go and buy a very expensive phone like the Razer and i really hope i get one in this giveaway cuz its perfect. Every cheapo phone i get usually dies within 6 months to a year cuz i add so much stuff and use so much it cant handle it.
It's a well structured review and a nice phone. I don't think that Razer can turn Android into a gaming platform but it's interesting to see how it's going to evolve.
The Razer Phone is packed full of power and potential
I love this phone, in my country (venezuela) it is impossible to buy it, I would like to have it, god would be really very happy: D, thanks for giving the opportunity to get around it
This is the stunning brilliant and awesome smartphone. Just live the review of this phone thanks MUO
Hope to win this fantastic giveaway!!! ? #RazerPhone
Hope to win this fantastic giveaway!!!? #razerphone
I want
This phone is so sick!!!!
This phone is sick!!!!!
need a phone very much. good luck
A comment
I want this phone so bad.Thanks for the opportunity
Will be great to try out this phone especially since this phone won't likely to ever enter my country. And I've been dying to try out a Razer product with this high-end specification. #fingercross #forthisgiveaway
This phone looks cool!
Great phone good luck
Great giveaway good luck to Me and every one else .
Razer make android a true gaming platform? No lol. Would you consider project Linda as a one device solution? No lol. Can my eyes see faster than 120Hz? I wouldn't know... only experienced 60hz.
Okay, I'm officially done with all this iPhone crap, and especially my iPhone 4. Razer makes great stuff, I remember the Boomslang mouse from back in the day. Quality products indeed. I'd love to give this phone a go, perfect for my 'Hearthstone' addiction (much to the wifes agony) :)
Thinking of moving to android recently, would be a nice way to do so
Thank for you
Thank you very much for this gift offered by you
Thank you for the outstanding review of the Razer phone
The phone I must say has its strong and weak marks, and despite that all I think it would have its place in the mobile market amidst competition. The company should improve on the screen technology moving away from IPS though the screen resolution is okay and also the refresh rate of 120hz is mad and awesome but I doubt the human eye can notice that much of a difference fast enough. The picture quality will improve if the screen was changed and it would compete well with other phones. The design looks good, not everyone loves curves. Then again why isn't there a place for the ear piece, if am correct I remember reading that it's not present. That's a major issue because it bothers on privacy. We use phones in different places and temptation of using it in places that require you respect people's privacy would make one have to linger in boredom. The project Linda is definitely a good one and innovative at that, a thumbs up. But after all is said I think a honest rating can only be given based on usage. It's like reading about ingredients of a special meal that you haven't eaten, one has to taste the food to give a honest review. Thanks for the opportunity
This is interesting piece of gadget...Love to try it on.
Taking mobile gaming into another level by razer
Would have to try to see just how immersive a game phone can be.
Wow. I am just blown away by how far phone technology has advanced. I feel like I am still using a stone age cave phone .I would really love to blast into the future with a RAZOR, than being stuck in the stone age with my little ole ZTE.
Let me win the Razr and I'll let you know if my eyes can see faster than 120Hz.
Brilliant! My eyes can not see that fast, but my daughter's might. I am old enough to have coveted that Razer flip phone :D
Amazing giveaway! Thanks for the opportunity and good success to everyone!
This is a wild giveaway and a really cool phone/computer from razer!!!
the best giveaway goodluck for everyone!!!!!!
Excellent Review on the latest super innovation Razer Smartphone . I loved the way you presented the detailed scope of every feature in it and it’s looking extremely stunning in high design and specs ? Keep up the work and stay blessed dear ?
It’s a amazing phone would like to win the razor phone
Wow such an amazing review and giveaway.
I would like to win the razer phone
Wow such an amazing review and giveaway from makeuseof .
I would like to win the razer phone.
I have read and watched many reviews on this device, with many feeling this phone fell short. Personally I think it's a great device albeit an expensive one for features it lacks. Before project Linda was announced I was on the fence this will be my next device, currently using a galaxy s8+. With project Linda, I have leaped over that fence fully. No doubt with Linda this can be an all in one device on the go. The 120Hz is great and will provide some nice fluidity while flicking through on the phone, I'll admit the majority of games I play on my phone won't benefit from the refresh but nice to know it's there, and that battery size is perfect.. Tossed my entry in this competition, in the meantime I'll continue to stack these chips just in case I'm not the lucky one picked, if I am however the chips can go towards that sweet lapdock accessory :)
It is almost perfect phone cause it is having a massive battery and dolbby sound Atmos is the cherry on top of cake.
Looking for a very productive experience with this device.
I also really want to win this phone .., good luck always
A gaming freak like me would love to win this beast.. Good luck everyone.
Nice phone for gaming I want it
I will never win but regarding see 120 fps no you cant see
No you cant see 120 fps
Power cuz it can! Stupid Zombies better watch out for us Old Folks who can handle the task at hand! Fly Dragon, Fly...
But, WHY? Android gaming pretty much consists of Candy Crush and Clash of Clans! (And other crap games like that!) Why do you need ALL THAT POWER for a device that runs casual mobile games? Whatever... Maybe people will finally make GOOD mobile games now that there's something to make them FOR...
Tekken Mobile
Injustice 2
Mortal Kombat X
Real Racing 3
Final Fantasy XV: Personal Edition
Runescape
Super Mario Run
Subway Surfers
Warhammer 40k: Freeblade
Minecraft
Sandbox 3d
Pokemon Go
My eyes can see faster than light itself. This device is amazing, I've always thought android gaming would be taken more seriously if a company focused solely on it. This design encompasses everything. ????
I am getting the Razer phone today. Not the one I used in the 80s. I am a grandpa. Lol. Project Linda will be the best I HOPE. Please Razer do this. With the camera update the phone works awesome . I've heard . Will let you know. Thanks for the great artical.
i want a razor smart phone plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Best phone I've ever used. Srsly.