Last year the Razer phone came on the scene and shook up the industry. In fact, one could argue that they changed the industry. We are seeing more companies make the niche “gaming phone” in response to what Razer did last year. Even though last year’s Razer lacked in the camera department, it was praised for its 120Hz refresh rate, and overall concept. People could not wait to see the sequel. If they put that phone out last minute, we could only imagine what they would put out after a year of planning.
So let’s look at the specs for this device (Razer 2). 5.72 inch (1440×2560) IPS LCD display, 4000 mAh battery, 8GB of RAM, Snapdragon 845 processor, 64 GB internal storage and up to 512 external (SD card support), front facing speakers, and running 8.1 Oreo.
Spec wise this phone is a beast of a device. The hardware is designed to handle hardcore and intense gaming on a smartphone. The vapor chamber cooling setup will help keep the device cool so that their is no lag during gameplay.
I don’t quite know who to recommend this to. Yes it is designed for gaming, and have some cool features that will appeal to gaming. Features like the chroma led on the back, game based themes, and the hardware to support gaming.
But once you get past that you have to be reminded that people will have to use this as a phone. And aesthetically it is just too boxy and sharp to want to hold for an extended period. My other issue is the display. To me it just looks dim. Compared to both the Motorola One and One Plus 6t, both costing less than the Razer 2, the display on the Razer 2 looks dim. And the 12 MP camera is …well “ok”. This mean that people wanting this phone will have to make sacrifices.
This is a phone that is niche and is more of an “extra” device. If you want a phone that you can use for intense gaming, then this may be ideal. But given you will need to rely on another phone for a decent camera (camera shots below) and a phone, I may just recommend the person buy the Samsung Note 9.
I applaud Razer for innovating and looking to change the market. Through them showing the market where phones can go, this may encourage more development for better gaming for mobile. We are already seeing games like Fortnite available for Android. For people who do not have a gaming system, but would like better games on their phones, it will take hardware manufacturers stepping up their hardware to be able to support these games. And though I can not quite recommend this as a standalone device for the blue collar worker, I do see the potential in what this kind of device can bring to the market.
