Phones Razer Phone 2

[tbayrgs]

So this update came out of nowhere yesterday. Anyone have any interest in the sequel to the original Razer? After watching a handful of reviews, seems like Razer listened and improved on the areas of weakness (display and camera specifically). Save for the smaller sized display for a device that large (i.e. compared to Galaxy S9+, Note9, iPhone XS Max) and launching with Oreo, it seems pretty damn slick. Love the LED back logo.

A few early impressions

 

[StaceyMJ86]

I had the original Razer, and from these videos, I am not interested in the next one. The design is something I wouldn’t be seen using.

 

[SteveJUAE]

But not quite my cup of tea, now an Exec version could be intresting

 

[timeconsumer]

I like the Razer phone, I’m just concerned about if Razer would push out monthly security updates on time. So I think I’ll pass for now as those are important to me.

 

[Caspavio]

honestly, a razer phone is for gamers, although im pretty sure hardcore gamers dont spend most of their gaming time on the phone. i guess most gamers will get like a cheaper phone like oneplus and spend the savings on their gaming gear?

 

[c0ppo]

I love the looks of this phone. Glowing logo is kinda silly, but since you can turn it off, no harm.
16:9 screen, no notch, 120Hz screen, huge battery, and excellent speakers. Pretty much sums up what I want from a phone. Just hope that they will have a decent camera this year.

 

[Aneres11]

I think the design is pretty hideous if I'm honest, but I really like that they've pushed on from their first phone and looked to fix a lot of the short comings in the sequel. Gotta take your hat off to them for that. Cough Essential phone cough *

 

[kazmac]

If it had a headphone jack and worked on all U.S. carriers, I’d almost consider it, if it was comfortable to hold and use. Thing is, Razor’s tech support is super iffy and that makes it a no go in my book.

I though $699 was too much last year, $799 is pushing it a bit too much.

 

[maflynn]

There are some aspects of this phone that is alluring, but in all honesty, I'm not sure the design, specs, and track record justify the higher price tag.

 

[apolloa]

The new Razer phone has been rumoured for a while now and they sent invites out for its launch event and even steamed it I think? So not sure where the it came out of no where, comes from?

Anyway seems like a seems update. If I was after a gaming phone I’d consider it.

In fact if I wanted an Android I’d only look at three of them:

Razer phone 2
Pixel 3
One Plus 6T

But that’s just me.

 

[Oohara]

So I finally got to compare the Note 9 and iPhone XS Max yesterday and from the perspective of wanting a phone with the biggest screen possible, I found that neither of those offer anything more than my current iPhone 7 Plus.

The screen on the Max is the same width as that of the 7 Plus, so it only feels longer, not larger. And the notch negates the very advantage of the elongated aspect ratio - 18:9 videos utilising the full length of the aspect ratio either have a dent in them, or have to be viewed as a significantly smaller rectangle - this I found very annoying.

The Note 9 screen is truly bigger than that of the 7 Plus as it wider and not just longer. But no matter how hard I try, I can't stop feeling that the curve just distorts and ruins part of the content, making the actual usable screen space significantly smaller than on paper.

Enter the Razer Phone. I had my eyes on the original one but never got to test it. 5.7" and 16:9 means its screen is wider in portrait mode than both the above phones, which to me = larger. And being an avid gamer, the 120hz screen option is definitely interesting for me. Definitely hoping to get my hands on one of these soon.

@Rhonindk I loved your thorough review(s) of the original Razer Phone, did you get to handle the new one yet and if so what's your take?

 

[dk001]

So I finally got to compare the Note 9 and iPhone XS Max yesterday and from the perspective of wanting a phone with the biggest screen possible, I found that neither of those offer anything more than my current iPhone 7 Plus.

The screen on the Max is the same width as that of the 7 Plus, so it only feels longer, not larger. And the notch negates the very advantage of the elongated aspect ratio - 18:9 videos utilising the full length of the aspect ratio either have a dent in them, or have to be viewed as a significantly smaller rectangle - this I found very annoying.

The Note 9 screen is truly bigger than that of the 7 Plus as it wider and not just longer. But no matter how hard I try, I can't stop feeling that the curve just distorts and ruins part of the content, making the actual usable screen space significantly smaller than on paper.

Enter the Razer Phone. I had my eyes on the original one but never got to test it. 5.7" and 16:9 means its screen is wider in portrait mode than both the above phones, which to me = larger. And being an avid gamer, the 120hz screen option is definitely interesting for me. Definitely hoping to get my hands on one of these soon.

@Rhonindk I loved your thorough review(s) of the original Razer Phone, did you get to handle the new one yet and if so what's your take?

I have not. Looking to see if I can make that happen sometime soon.
Thx!

 

[timeconsumer]

I'm actually reconsidering this device. The only thing that's missing for me is the headphone port. But if I keep my current iPhone 7+ then I wouldn't have a headphone port either. But it basically checks all the other boxes for me.

LCD (no-PWM)
expandable storage
unlocked/no carrier bloatware

I'm still worried about Razer's track record of pushing out monthly security updates. But another device I'm comparing it to is the LG G7, and LG's track record of monthly security updates isn't any better.

 

[Oohara]

I'm actually reconsidering this device. The only thing that's missing for me is the headphone port. But if I keep my current iPhone 7+ then I wouldn't have a headphone port either. But it basically checks all the other boxes for me.

LCD (no-PWM)
expandable storage
unlocked/no carrier bloatware

I'm still worried about Razer's track record of pushing out monthly security updates. But another device I'm comparing it to is the LG G7, and LG's track record of monthly security updates isn't any better.

Yeah the headphone jack missing is such a bummer. Gaming drains any battery quickly and I hate it when I have to stop just to charge, if I'm in an environment where I need headphones. A very bad choice to omit this on a GAMING phone. Luckily the Razer 2 seems to have very fast charging at least.

Asus have a really slick solution for this on their Rog gaming phone - separate headphone jack AND USB C ports at both the end and side of the phone! So you can hold it in landscape, charge it with the cable running straight down and not displacing your hands, while using cable headphones.

The Rog phone however doesn't really match up to the Razer 2 overall. I prefer 5.7" and 16:9 to 6.0" and 18:9, because the latter will in the end present the content smaller (screen is narrower). The Rog phone has an Amoled screen, which is nice, but it manages only 90 Hz screen update. CPU/GPU are the same on both phones. And I do like the look of the Razer 2 a lot more.

 

[timeconsumer]

Has anyone purchased this yet, and if so, thoughts?

 

[Tsepz]

Yeah the headphone jack missing is such a bummer. Gaming drains any battery quickly and I hate it when I have to stop just to charge, if I'm in an environment where I need headphones. A very bad choice to omit this on a GAMING phone. Luckily the Razer 2 seems to have very fast charging at least.

Asus have a really slick solution for this on their Rog gaming phone - separate headphone jack AND USB C ports at both the end and side of the phone! So you can hold it in landscape, charge it with the cable running straight down and not displacing your hands, while using cable headphones.

The Rog phone however doesn't really match up to the Razer 2 overall. I prefer 5.7" and 16:9 to 6.0" and 18:9, because the latter will in the end present the content smaller (screen is narrower). The Rog phone has an Amoled screen, which is nice, but it manages only 90 Hz screen update. CPU/GPU are the same on both phones. And I do like the look of the Razer 2 a lot more.

The CPU/GPU of Razer 2 and ROG Phone maybe the same, but they handle differently, the ROG is clocked higher and seems to use a newer BIN of the 845 SoC.

A major win for the ROG is also the far better amount of Memory, my assumption is that if you are truly a hardcore gamer then you will probably find the limited 64GB of memory in the Razer 2 pretty small, no? May as well go all in on the ASUS ROG Phone 512GB for gaming.

I think in another 2years we will see some more true gaming devices, the Snapdragon 845 is an incredible chip but at 10nm with the current Adreno GPU I think it's worth waiting for the 7nm 8150 based devices.