If you are into PC gaming, chances are you have heard of a company called Razer. Razer has made it’s name off of building laptops that target gamers. Razer laptops are the perfect laptops a PC gamer would want. Razer recently teased what everyone expected to be their first smartphone and a few weeks down, the Razer phone is out. However, Razer being able to release a phone may not come as a surprise because the company bought Nexbit a previous new entrant smartphone maker that released the Nexbit Robin, their first smartphone. The new Razer phone borrows design aesthetics from the Nexbit Robin which suggests Nexbit under Razer made the Razer phone.
As the company’s strategy is, the Razer phone is built with focus to gamers. All decissions made about this phone mainly aim to better the gaming experience in the hands of a gamer. This is the perfect smartphone for a gamer. The approach to this decission is even more strengthened by the fact that this is the first phone to ship with the highest screen frame rate, call it a refresh rate of 120Hz (120 frames per second). Such frame rates are seen in the new iPad Pro. Regular phones ship with about 60Hz. High frame rates as 120Hz in a phone further smoothens the software animation experience, again more desirable in the view of a gamer. This phone may as well beat Google’s latest Pixel flagships as far as handling software animations smoothly on an Android phone.
The display is a 5.7 inch LCD IPS display, IPS bacause high frame rates of 120Hz are not yet possible with OLED which would have perhaps been a better display option. The front has noticeable chins left intentionally for better grip when gaming. On the same chins Razer placed massive stereo speakers both top and bottom. Sound experience on smartphone is always better when speakers are front facing. These speakers are visibly huge and may as well be the loudest on any phone. Again, focus on gaming. Dolby Atmos also comes built into the software to improve audio output.
The phone also comes with features that truly make it a high-end phone to compete with the best. It ships with Android 7.1 Nougat with a very stock Android experience with a few added features. Android close to stock software provides for better experience and faster software updates. Razer also promises an Android 8.0 Oreo update in the first quarter of 2018 and continued updates for 2 years. The phone launcher is actually Nova Launcher Prime, a very highly customizable launcher that mimics Google’s Pixel launcher.
The software is powered by the latest most powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 with Adreno 540 for graphics and 8GB of RAM on board. It comes with 64GB on board storage with memory card expansion up to 256GB.
The phone comes with a 12 megapixel dual-camera configuration at the back, the main with f/1.75 aperture and the second a telephoto lens with f/2.6 aperture. Next to them is the flash light. The back has nothing else more other than the Razer logo, and it doesn’t glow neon green as on Razer laptops.
On the right is the power button on which the fingerprint sensor is also mounted. On the right side the small plastic volume buttons are located. At the bottom a USB Type-C port is found. Unfortunately, no headphone jack is present on this phone but Razer provides a USB Type-C to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter included on the box.
The Razer phone is fueled by a large 4000mAh battery. With the screen frame rate and users to which this phone is intended to be consumed, a large battery as this comes in handy. It’s also one of the few phones to ship with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 4+ technology that is supposed to get the phone battery from 0 to 50% in just 35 minutes.
With focus on gaming, one may worry about heating issues. Razer covered this by including a thermal conduct technology that uses the entire metal frame of the phone to dispense heat as fast as possible.
The Razor phone goes for $699 unlocked with pre-orders starting November 1st.
Conclusion:
With a reputable company as Razer that has focused on gaming for the last few years, the phone that represents such a company’s strategy was expected and indeed welcome. The phone it’s is pretty a high-end device that packs some of the latest hardware and features at a reasonably lower price than many that have the same specifications. It will also appeal to anyone whose focus may not be gaming.
