Is the new Razer Phone 2 worth it?

Razer, a company renowned worldwide for its range of gaming accessories and laptops, has just released a new Razer phone. It’s the second time the company has launched a smartphone and it’s absolutely packed to the brim with high-end hardware aimed for gaming on the go.

Take a read through this blog to learn more about the new Razer phone 2, the Razer phone 2 live event, and learn about whether it might be a smartphone that interests you.

The Razer Phone 2 Live Event - As It Happened

For the first 30 or so minutes, Razer essentially recapped their progress as a company in recent years. They announced a variety of different products, including new in-ear headphones and new laptops. Eventually, they segued into their reveal of the Razer Phone 2.

We’re already very familiar with Razer’s previous addition to the market, and the new Razer Phone 2 takes it to a new level. Last year, the original Razer Phone got a lot of negative feedback from users. Many people liked some of the offerings that the original had, but the poor camera quality made it feel like a lesser phone that still shared a premium price tag.

Another issue was that the original Razer Phone was marketed specifically as a gaming phone, whilst most people are still thinking about purchasing a phone for their everyday life. Mobile gaming, whilst growing massively, still isn’t the main reason most people own smartphones in the first place. As a result, Razer moved away from the whole ‘gaming phone’ tag with the Razer Phone 2 and instead focused on creating a great all-round phone that was also excellent at playing mobile games.

What Are The New Razer Phone Specifications?

The Razer Phone 2 is undoubtedly one of the top performing smartphones currently on the market. At the time of release, the Razer Phone 2 had the number 1 benchmark score, according to Razer. The Razer Phone 2 has been created to hold onto everything that was special about the first one and then iron out the areas that went wrong.

The Basic Specifications

The result is a Snapdragon 845 processor, 8GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, microSD card storage expansion and a massive 4,00mAh battery. This really is a bar above every other phone on the market currently, but Razer didn’t only throw in all of the best available hardware to make it stand out from the crowd.

With 8GB of RAM, you’ll essentially never need to worry about force closing apps due to insufficient memory. You can learn more about how RAM works on smartphones here.

Razer also hired thermal engineers to ensure the smartphone doesn’t overheat and cause performance issues, and Razer stated the Razer phone performs better than any other Snapdragon 845 powered phone out there because of this.

Razer Phone Display

The display has been a big area of improvement for smartphones in recent years. We now have high quality quad HD displays with widescreen 18:9 aspect ratios on Android. Even Apple has played catch up after previously being stubborn about upping their resolution game.

Razer has set itself higher than the rest, though, by researching and developing their own unique smartphone panel.

Firstly, the Razer Phone 2 display has a 120Hz refresh rate. This is essentially how fast the pixels on the screen are refreshed every second. Typically, smartphones have 60Hz, but with 120Hz everything should feel smoother, from gaming to basic UI animations.

This 120Hz refresh rate will also be perfect for any future VR content. This refresh rate word may be a new term for a lot of you, but it does make a considerable difference.

I have a 144Hz display for my PC. Now that I have gotten used to it, going back to a 60Hz display feels like a laggy mess. The same is likely to be the case with the Razer Phone 2.

The rest of the display specs are looking to be impressive, too. The Razer Phone 2 will use an IGZO LCD display, this is essentially the same quality as a standard mobile LCD display, but it will be able to produce more pixels with less power, so battery life will be better.

The resolution of the Razer phone display is 1440 x 2560 and the size of the display is 5.72 inches.

Razer Phone Audio Hardware

This is an area that a lot of smartphone manufacturers need to improve on in my opinion. We’re seeing more audio hardware effort in recent smartphones, but it’s nothing compared to the audio experience the Razer phone will offer. Before we get into the audio hardware on the Razer Phone 2, I want to first say that it’s THX certified, which means the phone has gone through a rigorous test for high quality audio reproduction. The Razer Phone 2 has dual front facing speakers, so music and audio will be played straight towards you, instead of away from you. This small change here really makes a world of difference. The speakers also have dedicated amplifiers to boost the sound and a 24-bit DAC has been included to boost sound performance.

New Razer Phone Battery Life

Razer wanted the new Razer phone to be a powerhouse, and to power it all is a 4,000mAh battery. This is significantly bigger than the majority of batteries in smartphones of the same display size. This, coupled with the battery saving display and thermal cooling should mean the battery life lasts far longer on the Razer Phone 2 than any other big league flagship released this year. The new Razer Phone 2 also uses Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+ and Razer claimed this technology can charge the 4,000mAh battery from 0 to 85% in one hour.

Camera

This is where the Razer Phone 2 sees its biggest improvement over the previous model. The Razer Phone 2 may still not be as great as the camera on the latest iPhones or Pixel phones, but it’s much better than before. It’s certainly up there among the greats which is excellent to see considering how bad the original Razer Phone camera was. Razer followed the trend by installing dual cameras on the back, each of which can capture 12 megapixel images. The extra camera also allows the phone to support 2x telephoto zoom, or alternatively wide angle mode.

What Software Does The New Razer Phone Use?

If you haven’t guessed already, the new Razer Phone 2 is using the Android operating system. It will start with Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box, but an Android Pie 9.0 update is planned for the near future.

The user interface on the Razer phone won’t be stock Android, but it will be close. Razer has actually teamed up with the Nova launcher team to create ‘Nova Launcher Prime Razer Edition’. If you want to get a feel for what this will be like, you can download the Nova Launcher app from the Google Play Store today. Essentially, it’s stock Android with a few tweaks and improvements here and there, especially on the visual side in Razer’s case.

What Does The New Razer Phone Look Like?

The Razer team tried their hardest to create a smartphone that stands out, looks different, but still remains stylish.

The result is a smartphone that’s perhaps a little blockier than other high end devices - it has room on the bottom and top for the front facing speakers, and the device has more defined corners and edges. It’s perhaps best compared with an Xperia phone, but it’s even bigger and beefier.

The New Razer Phone Release Date And Price

The new Razer Phone 2 is already available in the UK. Carrier availability and price in the UK isn’t yet finalized so here’s to hoping we can get our hands on a fully unlocked version to pop our giffgaff SIM into. The smartphone is available for £729.00

Summary

Now that high end smartphones are becoming more expensive, the £729.00 price tag on the Razer phone isn’t so scary. Whilst it would be amazing to see a new high end competitor walk into the industry with a sub £500 high end smartphone, the price on the Razer Phone 2 is reasonable, considering what it can offer. Razer has clearly gone all out with the Razer Phone 2 to create an experience that ticks all the boxes and creates a great experience for visual, audio, and gaming purposes. If you can get over the size of it, I think the new Razer Phone 2 could be a great choice for a next phone, especially if you’re interested in gaming or like to watch videos and movies on your phone. What are your thoughts on the new Razer phone?