RAZER IS TAKING a second stab at the smartphone game with the reveal of the creatively-named Razer Phone 2. The first Razer Phone was an…
RAZER IS TAKING a second stab at the smartphone game with the reveal of the creatively-named Razer Phone 2.
The first Razer Phone was an interesting handset with a slick 120Hz refresh rate to make gaming and swiping through apps feel nice and smooth, while solid speakers helped give the handset some proper audio chops.
But the camera wasn’t particularly good, there was no 3,5mm headphone jack and only a handful of games played nicely with the display’s nippy refresh rate.
So Razer is having another bite at the smartphone cherry, but you’d be hard-pressed to notice the difference as the handset is pretty much identical to its predecessor on the outside.
This time you do get rear Razer snake logo that can be illuminated in different colours and waterproofing has also been added into the mix. And the back is now made out of glass so wireless charging support is on offer.
The display has also had improvements to its HDR capabilities and brightness, and the speakers support Dolby Atmos for aural pleasure .
Razer also switched the dual camera module to make use of sensors from Sony with optical image stabilisation, and it has apparently improved the camera software which was one of the main problems with the previous phone’s poor camera performance.
The Razer Phone 2 also sports tweaked innards, namely the use of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 chip, an SoC you can find in phones like the OnePlus 6 and new Pixel 3 handsets .
Razer has also added a vapour chamber thingy for heat dissipation that’s essentially a shrunken down version of the tech it uses to cool its Blade 15 laptop. This should mean the handset doesn’t get hot and bothered when running at full whack in games.
A hefty 8GB of RAM should help the push for high-performance, but the 64GB of onboard storage seems a little trim. A 4,000mAh battery promised to give the Razer Phone 2 enough juice for extended bouts of mobile gaming.
Sadly, the Razer Phone 2 will come with Android 8.1 not Android 9 Pie, though it’s on the list to receive an upgrade.
Prices start at £779.99 with two colour options – Mirror Black and Satin Black – with the phone shipping 9 November.
And that’s about it. The Razer Phone 2 is being touted as a gaming phone, and it has some specs to reflect that.
But we can’t help but feel its a slightly fettered take on the standard flagship-grade Android handset; for phones that looks to really push the mobile gaming element, we reckon you need to look at the Asus RoG phone with its rather out there design . µ
