Not having OIS on the cameras, no waterproofing, no wireless charging and no headphone jack is the catch. Thanks but no thanks. I'll pay $75 less and get an S8.
I actually like the design. I think the biggest drawback for me is lacking wireless charging. Water proofing is really irrelevant. Almost any phone is rain proof, and that’s about as wet at my stuff gets. It isn’t like you take these in the shower. A smart watch needs to be water proof. Not so much a smartphone. But none the less, without the headphone jack, you would think it’d be water proof...
OIS isn’t a deal breaker if the shutter processing is fast enough.
I don't understand the negative attitude either. Just consider accidents involving you and/or your phone falling into water (e.g. toilet). Luckily it doesn't happen every day, but if it does to your almost new 700$ phone you'd be really thankful if its waterproof. And that's not only about the cost of the device, it's also restoring data and restoring the software environment, which even with cloud support takes some time.
Uhhh... I've never dropped my phone in a toilet, or any other water, and over the 3 ~ 4 years of ownership my Nexus 4 has only been dropped on a hard surface twice, and maybe dropped from my nightstand onto the carpet 2 feet below a dozen times.
The two times it fell on a hard surface were because I had the brilliant idea to go to Walmart at night to get my grocery shopping out of the way and they had slipped out of my loose pajama pant pockets when exiting/entering the car on two separate occasions. It only ever scuffed the case a bit, and it's smoothed over since then.
I don't get how people _regularly_ smash their damn phone screens or "accidentally" drop their electronics in toilets or anything of the like.
Like, why the hell do you have your phone out when you're at the toilet anyways? Don't tell me you're unironically one of the few rare people I hear talking on the phone while people in the next stall over are crapping.
Never dropped my phones into water, either, but heard from a few incidents 1st hand. E.g. those "loose pajama pant pockets" are one candidate for the toilet: you may not want to take your phone out, but it just slips out while you're preparing to sit down. Or in your car example: the phone may have fallen outside the car into a puddle. It's dark, so you need a few seconds to find it and voila, it's broken. It's not so hard to imagine situations where this MAY happen. And if it happens to you just once, the damage is severe (IMO).
There is one small problem with your analogy, it's that car accidents (normally) involve another driver (or more, in rarer cases). You can drive perfectly fine, come to a complete stop at a red light, wait, and here comes an asshole on their phone that didn't brake in time and rear-ended you at a red light. Nothing you can really do about it and it's _completely_ not your fault.
The situations of another phone operator causing irreversible damage to your phone just doesn't happen. If you drop or break your phone, chances are it's because you weren't being responsible. Can it happen? Yeah, shit does happen. But if it happens to someone they really need to take cues to protect their investments (yeah, a pricey $800 phone is an investment for many people over two years of use on a contract, not to the same degree as a car, mortgage, or savings plan, but still) better in the future.
I have a coworker that in the last year has gone through two phones, and their third has a partially shattered screen. You'd think by now they know they're butterfingers at holding their phone and they'd actually use a case, but they don't like that it makes their phone "bulky". But I guess they'd apparently rather pay the butterfinger tax every time they drop their phone instead.
Not too concerned with waterproofing or wireless charging, but the lack of headphone jack is a deal breaker. This is one Razer product I won't be interested in.
I need to retract my statement. This is one seriously bad-ass phone! And an adapter that allows headphones and charging to be done at the same time invalidates my concern. Carry on Razer!
- OIS is nice but tiny phone cameras won't do much. - Waterproofing is another nice feature but I won't trade clarity of speakers sound for this almost useless features. - Good DAC but no headphone jack requires an adapter for my portable amp? No. I'll pass. - Does wireless charging support fast charge? If not, leave this feature out and the phone will be lighter with better heat dissipation.
Or you guys can get Sony's which have all these features but Sony mobile displays are the worst of the worst.
I think the only "Review" they've did this year was the LG G6? Not even the U11 or the S8, it might be time for me to remove Anandtech from my bookmarks, shame since they had the only indepth phone reviews...
Have you guys considered hiring another full time smartphone editor (like Brian Klug)? Smartphone content has got to generate a lot more page views than a lot of the niche stuff you guys review, so I can't see how that wouldn't be profitable for the site in the long run.
I get that you aren't chasing the same audience as The Verge, but you are missing out on a lot of exposure by choosing to have articles on X299 motherboards and SDXC cards on the front page instead of reviews for the Pixel 2/Pixel 2 XL and the iPhone X.
Someone from Perch needs to be reading this, we (the readers) are practically begging for this content for this site. If you (Perch) don't want to make this happen, you are leaving us to find this content somewhere else.
Ditto. To be honest I'm sick of all these stupid trends such as no ports in general, no ethernet ports, non-removable battery, no expandable storage... It's all a whirlwind of crap.
I can adjust to no expandable storage because phones finally have 64 GB of storage built in + there are a ton of reasonably priced cloud services. Lack of headphone jacks is a bummer, but I can also adapt with dongles. For me the killer is the lack of user replaceable batteries. One of the worst aspects of modern smartphones is how horribly the battery degrades after a few years of use.
And yeah, lack of ethernet ports on ultrabooks also sucks.
How can you not like being robbed by very greedy people.
On a serious note, the industry is behaving like a cartel and what they are doing is also practically bundling, they make using your existing headphones much more uncomfortable to force you to buy new ones. They should all be fined and forced to recall their products.
i dont have that issue with headphones.. i dont even use the ones that come with my phones.. i use my own Sony headphones :-) the ones that came with my galaxy S1, and yes. i mean the 1st galaxy S phone... are STILL in the box.. never been used....
stochastic i wont touch a phone unless it has a micro sd slot.. doesnt matter how much built in storage it has.. i want the option to expand if needed...
And its much more convenient for rooting and transferring xtra large files. I think Sony is doing a good job here. But again, their smartphone camera images are still washed out.
Because it doesn't have *ahem* razer-thin bezels? Based on the photos at least, I think the design is just fine aside from the tacky Razer logo on the back.
I don't think they have the same aim for their design. Very thin bezels really suck for gaming (since you need space for your thumbs). Considering they were aiming for the "best gaming smartphone", having large bezels seems like a good idea actually.
Clearly you haven't gamed on a phone before, otherwise you'd know you don't need space for your thumbs because you use your palm to hold the phone while gaming and no bezels means more space for in-game buttons.
You're just regurgitating marketing bullshit that shills like Marques Brownlee spout. The same tactics Steve Jobs used to excuse poor design choices.
That's right. Also theoretically designs cannot go outdated. It may not match the Iphone/galaxy design concept though. Design should serve the purpose. Not vice versa.
Problem with thin bezels on Android phones is the piss-poor "accidental touch" support. It's very annoying that holding a Galaxy S7 the wrong way can cause a scroll action in the browser (usually from holding it in the right hand, using the right thumb to scroll, and having the base of the thumb/palm touch the edge of the screen).
We've had small bezels on Android phones since the LG G2 many years ago with Android 4.x, and this is still an issue on phones with Android 7.0.1 (I don't have access to anything with 8.x on it). :(
Until they fix that, there's not really any point in getting rid of the bezels. Especially on the long edges.
Cutting edge design has been progressively moving towards form over function for years now that it's nice to see a bit of a pushback. As long as Razer does something with the extra space they're taking up (better speakers, more battery, better cooling), I don't mind, and I'm sure there are others who don't either.
I know, right? Plus QuickCharge 4+. I never thought in a million years I would consider this phone, but there is actually a non-zero chance I would buy this. The only things I would have liked to see spec wise would be Gorilla Glass 5, Bluetooth 5, and a headphone jack of course.
My big concerns are 1) system responsiveness relative to the Pixel 2, 2) signal strength, 3) number of years of guaranteed updates and timeliness of updates.
I actually think you are serious. 60hz refresh rate is showing its age on flagship phones. I played games on the S8+ and the frame rates stays at 60 fps most of the time
Scrolling and using the UI normally should look smooth. The question is whether the software is sufficiently optimized to deliver a locked 120 FPS. I seriously doubt it but I hope I'm wrong.
Exactly, which is why I'm skeptical. XDA Developers recently did a deep dive comparing the frame times of the Note 8, Pixel XL (2016 model), and the OnePlus 5. While these devices all performed quite well relative to older Android devices, they are still suffering from frame drops. I'd be interested in seeing how the Pixel 2 and the Razer Phone do in this respect.
So close, but the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack ruled this out. Perhaps if there was a 2nd USB port that would also support power, I would consider it, but with 1 USB port for everything, it's too easy to damage. I also don't care to use Bluetooth headphones due to the extra drain to have Bluetooth enabled and the generally less than stellar audio quality of headphones and lack of available styles.
A huge miss by the poster of this story is the fact that in the US, the phone will not work on either Verizon or Sprint. It's definitely worth noting as that is a huge point and is a likely deal breaker for those who might have an interest, order the phone, and only find out later that it won't work on their network.
Razer site lists LTE: B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/17/19/20/25/26/28/29/30/66, TDD LTE: B38/39/40/41
I'm wondering why the "Sprint only" LTE bands 25, 26, 41 are on here if no support? No other carrier uses those bands. Then again there is no mention of CDMA support, but we know the SoC is able to provide it.
I'm really hoping it is carrier agnostic/universal like all the recent Moto's and Pixel phones.
Lately, a lot of gaming activity has moved from my laptop over to my phone to the point where it feels a bit like a chore to use a more conventional PC for most of my daily computing tasks. Razer's phone looks like a hit to me EXCEPT that it has a sealed battery, no 3.5mm jack, and I'd really like wireless charging. Of all those, the sealed battery is what kills the idea of buying one. I can't see paying flagship phone prices for a handset that's only useful as long as the factory installed battery holds up.
Quite nice, although, also a bit disappointing, since many were expecting an amazing implementation of built-in, hidden physical buttons for games.
Why 3200 memory when 4266 is available? Razer don't want to use Samsung memory?
Also a bit disappointing, albeit very expected and understandable, is the fact Razer's phone is just a phone, and not something more akin to a console. No exclusives, no out-of-the-ordinary indie presence, and no environment outside Android for better performance, low-level APIs, etc.
It seems that the only way we could ever get a smartphone-console device is if Nintendo decide to make Switch Phone.
Interesting display to have vs. Samsung's latest and greatest AMOLED display. I find the 60Hz display a bit slow to its fast SoC. My games are also staying at 60 fps which means it could use a faster refresh. The OLED display is also not as sharp as my Nexus 5 which uses an LCD and smaller display. I wouldn't mind the larger bezels on the Razer as they got it right with the loud stereo speakers which I usually use. The tall aspect ratio of 18.5:9 also seems of less value as my eyes are not drawn to the top and bottom of the display, using only 75-85% of the display. The headphone jack could be an issue but I only use it on longer trips so it is not used as much as the speakers. However, another manufacturer (likely Chinese) could release a 120Hz phone next year for people who can wait and apps/games that will support faster refresh rates.
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leo_sk - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
699$? Really? Sure it isnt a typo? Theres got to be some catchvladx - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Being priced lower than the competition is a must if you want to succeed in a new market.quiksilvr - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Not having OIS on the cameras, no waterproofing, no wireless charging and no headphone jack is the catch. Thanks but no thanks. I'll pay $75 less and get an S8.vladx - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Yep, the phone's design is also outdated.anactoraaron - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
It's the same design as the nextbit robin. In fact, if I saw this phone somewhere out of the box I would think it was a robin.neo_1221 - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
At least it's aluminum now. Hopefully it won't bend/break as easily as the Robin...Samus - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
I actually like the design. I think the biggest drawback for me is lacking wireless charging. Water proofing is really irrelevant. Almost any phone is rain proof, and that’s about as wet at my stuff gets. It isn’t like you take these in the shower. A smart watch needs to be water proof. Not so much a smartphone. But none the less, without the headphone jack, you would think it’d be water proof...OIS isn’t a deal breaker if the shutter processing is fast enough.
ImSpartacus - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Eww, yeah, that's a problem.I'm not buying a phone without waterproofing.
MrSpadge - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
I don't understand the negative attitude either. Just consider accidents involving you and/or your phone falling into water (e.g. toilet). Luckily it doesn't happen every day, but if it does to your almost new 700$ phone you'd be really thankful if its waterproof. And that's not only about the cost of the device, it's also restoring data and restoring the software environment, which even with cloud support takes some time.JoeyJoJo123 - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
Uhhh... I've never dropped my phone in a toilet, or any other water, and over the 3 ~ 4 years of ownership my Nexus 4 has only been dropped on a hard surface twice, and maybe dropped from my nightstand onto the carpet 2 feet below a dozen times.The two times it fell on a hard surface were because I had the brilliant idea to go to Walmart at night to get my grocery shopping out of the way and they had slipped out of my loose pajama pant pockets when exiting/entering the car on two separate occasions. It only ever scuffed the case a bit, and it's smoothed over since then.
I don't get how people _regularly_ smash their damn phone screens or "accidentally" drop their electronics in toilets or anything of the like.
Like, why the hell do you have your phone out when you're at the toilet anyways? Don't tell me you're unironically one of the few rare people I hear talking on the phone while people in the next stall over are crapping.
MrSpadge - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
Never dropped my phones into water, either, but heard from a few incidents 1st hand. E.g. those "loose pajama pant pockets" are one candidate for the toilet: you may not want to take your phone out, but it just slips out while you're preparing to sit down. Or in your car example: the phone may have fallen outside the car into a puddle. It's dark, so you need a few seconds to find it and voila, it's broken. It's not so hard to imagine situations where this MAY happen. And if it happens to you just once, the damage is severe (IMO).unrulycow - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
I have 2 children under 4.Lolimaster - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
It seems marketing are reaching their primary objective which is making people more idiotic creating problems that shouldn't exist in the 1st place.MrSpadge - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
Car crashes shouldn't exist either. Yet I'm wearing my seatbelt and am glad about the airbags, despite never having a deadly accident yet.JoeyJoJo123 - Monday, November 6, 2017 - link
There is one small problem with your analogy, it's that car accidents (normally) involve another driver (or more, in rarer cases). You can drive perfectly fine, come to a complete stop at a red light, wait, and here comes an asshole on their phone that didn't brake in time and rear-ended you at a red light. Nothing you can really do about it and it's _completely_ not your fault.The situations of another phone operator causing irreversible damage to your phone just doesn't happen. If you drop or break your phone, chances are it's because you weren't being responsible. Can it happen? Yeah, shit does happen. But if it happens to someone they really need to take cues to protect their investments (yeah, a pricey $800 phone is an investment for many people over two years of use on a contract, not to the same degree as a car, mortgage, or savings plan, but still) better in the future.
I have a coworker that in the last year has gone through two phones, and their third has a partially shattered screen. You'd think by now they know they're butterfingers at holding their phone and they'd actually use a case, but they don't like that it makes their phone "bulky". But I guess they'd apparently rather pay the butterfinger tax every time they drop their phone instead.
lexluthermiester - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
Not too concerned with waterproofing or wireless charging, but the lack of headphone jack is a deal breaker. This is one Razer product I won't be interested in.lexluthermiester - Friday, November 3, 2017 - link
I need to retract my statement. This is one seriously bad-ass phone! And an adapter that allows headphones and charging to be done at the same time invalidates my concern. Carry on Razer!beginner99 - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
They go all-in with gaming, eg.I assume the huge bezels are there to hold it when gaming but then leave out the head phonejack. Common...sonny73n - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
Partially agree.- OIS is nice but tiny phone cameras won't do much.
- Waterproofing is another nice feature but I won't trade clarity of speakers sound for this almost useless features.
- Good DAC but no headphone jack requires an adapter for my portable amp? No. I'll pass.
- Does wireless charging support fast charge? If not, leave this feature out and the phone will be lighter with better heat dissipation.
Or you guys can get Sony's which have all these features but Sony mobile displays are the worst of the worst.
xeroshadow - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
Yep, no OIS is a deal breaker for me...and that price. No thanks. Gaming on a phone is not that big of a draw without that killer app[game].osxandwindows - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
What's up with your phone reviews?you're missing nearly all of 2017's flagships.
RaichuPls - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
I think the only "Review" they've did this year was the LG G6? Not even the U11 or the S8, it might be time for me to remove Anandtech from my bookmarks, shame since they had the only indepth phone reviews...Ryan Smith - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
You'll be seeing more in the near future. I have the iPhones, and we'll have some more hands to work on these reviews starting a bit later this month.Stochastic - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Have you guys considered hiring another full time smartphone editor (like Brian Klug)? Smartphone content has got to generate a lot more page views than a lot of the niche stuff you guys review, so I can't see how that wouldn't be profitable for the site in the long run.Stochastic - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
I get that you aren't chasing the same audience as The Verge, but you are missing out on a lot of exposure by choosing to have articles on X299 motherboards and SDXC cards on the front page instead of reviews for the Pixel 2/Pixel 2 XL and the iPhone X.anactoraaron - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Someone from Perch needs to be reading this, we (the readers) are practically begging for this content for this site. If you (Perch) don't want to make this happen, you are leaving us to find this content somewhere else.vladx - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
It's Purch, and they have other sites besides AnandTech for that.Hurr Durr - Friday, November 3, 2017 - link
The Verge audience is not worth pursuing. All they deserve is an oven at 666 degrees.Ryan Smith - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
"Have you guys considered hiring another full time smartphone editor "We have and are.=)
Stochastic - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
Awesome! I've really missed your in-depth smartphone reviews.FreidoNumeroUno - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
Hi 👋🏽 Brian Klug! Whats up man?jjj - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Selective coverage for favorite brands that sell very low value products- Apple, Microsoft and Intel.That's what AT is turning into.
alistair.brogan - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
This looks remarkable reasonably priced after all the Samsung and Apple overpriced items this year.The phone for people who don't care about the camera?
lmcd - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Honestly sick of the no 3.5mm trend. Would rather only a standard single mono speaker for phone calls + a 3.5mm.baka_toroi - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Ditto. To be honest I'm sick of all these stupid trends such as no ports in general, no ethernet ports, non-removable battery, no expandable storage... It's all a whirlwind of crap.Stochastic - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
I can adjust to no expandable storage because phones finally have 64 GB of storage built in + there are a ton of reasonably priced cloud services. Lack of headphone jacks is a bummer, but I can also adapt with dongles. For me the killer is the lack of user replaceable batteries. One of the worst aspects of modern smartphones is how horribly the battery degrades after a few years of use.And yeah, lack of ethernet ports on ultrabooks also sucks.
jjj - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
How can you not like being robbed by very greedy people.On a serious note, the industry is behaving like a cartel and what they are doing is also practically bundling, they make using your existing headphones much more uncomfortable to force you to buy new ones. They should all be fined and forced to recall their products.
Qasar - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
i dont have that issue with headphones.. i dont even use the ones that come with my phones.. i use my own Sony headphones :-) the ones that came with my galaxy S1, and yes. i mean the 1st galaxy S phone... are STILL in the box.. never been used....stochastic i wont touch a phone unless it has a micro sd slot.. doesnt matter how much built in storage it has.. i want the option to expand if needed...
FreidoNumeroUno - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
And its much more convenient for rooting and transferring xtra large files. I think Sony is doing a good job here. But again, their smartphone camera images are still washed out.nicolaim - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
No mention of wireless charging?vladx - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Almost 16 cm long? For a company wanting to present itself as being on the cutting edge, Razer's design is ridiculously outdated.Stochastic - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Because it doesn't have *ahem* razer-thin bezels? Based on the photos at least, I think the design is just fine aside from the tacky Razer logo on the back.vladx - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
When you got the likes of S8 at 149mm/5.8" and Huawei Mate 10 at 150mm/5.9", you betcha I'd qualify Razer Phone's design as outdated.Azune - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
I don't think they have the same aim for their design. Very thin bezels really suck for gaming (since you need space for your thumbs). Considering they were aiming for the "best gaming smartphone", having large bezels seems like a good idea actually.vladx - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Clearly you haven't gamed on a phone before, otherwise you'd know you don't need space for your thumbs because you use your palm to hold the phone while gaming and no bezels means more space for in-game buttons.You're just regurgitating marketing bullshit that shills like Marques Brownlee spout. The same tactics Steve Jobs used to excuse poor design choices.
FreidoNumeroUno - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
That's right. Also theoretically designs cannot go outdated. It may not match the Iphone/galaxy design concept though. Design should serve the purpose. Not vice versa.vladx - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
Read my comment above, it's the same bullshit arguments Steve Jobs used to make in the past to excuse poor design.phoenix_rizzen - Friday, November 3, 2017 - link
Problem with thin bezels on Android phones is the piss-poor "accidental touch" support. It's very annoying that holding a Galaxy S7 the wrong way can cause a scroll action in the browser (usually from holding it in the right hand, using the right thumb to scroll, and having the base of the thumb/palm touch the edge of the screen).We've had small bezels on Android phones since the LG G2 many years ago with Android 4.x, and this is still an issue on phones with Android 7.0.1 (I don't have access to anything with 8.x on it). :(
Until they fix that, there's not really any point in getting rid of the bezels. Especially on the long edges.
Inteli - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Cutting edge design has been progressively moving towards form over function for years now that it's nice to see a bit of a pushback. As long as Razer does something with the extra space they're taking up (better speakers, more battery, better cooling), I don't mind, and I'm sure there are others who don't either.alistair.brogan - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
Except those are measurements of how long the Samsung screen is. Not how large it is. This Razer screen is much larger as it is 16:9 in aspect ratio.Inteli - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
So...expandable storage, pleasing design, massive battery, and flagship specs, for a (relatively) reasonable price. This looks really nice.Frenetic Pony - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
The irony of a "gaming" smartphone is as hard to overstate as the idea that there are games worthy of such on the Play Store.vladx - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
They rarely are, but mobile games are for casual gamers which represent a huge market.austinsguitar - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
4000 mah battery with 120 hz screen... now im intrigued!Stochastic - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
I know, right? Plus QuickCharge 4+. I never thought in a million years I would consider this phone, but there is actually a non-zero chance I would buy this. The only things I would have liked to see spec wise would be Gorilla Glass 5, Bluetooth 5, and a headphone jack of course.My big concerns are 1) system responsiveness relative to the Pixel 2, 2) signal strength, 3) number of years of guaranteed updates and timeliness of updates.
The_Assimilator - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Dafuq are consumers supposed to do with a 120Hz panel on a smartphone?shabby - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Candy crush @ 120hz looks amazing...zodiacfml - Saturday, November 4, 2017 - link
I actually think you are serious. 60hz refresh rate is showing its age on flagship phones. I played games on the S8+ and the frame rates stays at 60 fps most of the timeStochastic - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Scrolling and using the UI normally should look smooth. The question is whether the software is sufficiently optimized to deliver a locked 120 FPS. I seriously doubt it but I hope I'm wrong.negusp - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Android's ui rarely runs at a fluid 60fps iircStochastic - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Exactly, which is why I'm skeptical. XDA Developers recently did a deep dive comparing the frame times of the Note 8, Pixel XL (2016 model), and the OnePlus 5. While these devices all performed quite well relative to older Android devices, they are still suffering from frame drops. I'd be interested in seeing how the Pixel 2 and the Razer Phone do in this respect.takeshi7 - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
I was hoping for a slide-out controller like the Xperia Play. Oh well.Stochastic - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
What Android games would even support this?takeshi7 - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
There are plenty of Android games with controller support. http://androidgamepadgames.com/games?tid=All&s...Stochastic - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Thanks!richough3 - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
So close, but the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack ruled this out. Perhaps if there was a 2nd USB port that would also support power, I would consider it, but with 1 USB port for everything, it's too easy to damage. I also don't care to use Bluetooth headphones due to the extra drain to have Bluetooth enabled and the generally less than stellar audio quality of headphones and lack of available styles.alistair.brogan - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
I think a phone with two USB C ports would be pretty cool. Someone get on it!negusp - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Gorilla glass 3 is strangely superior to all it's supposed successors.vladx - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Indeed GG3 is by far the most resistant, that's why I hope Huawei will keep using it in their Honor line.vladx - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Really hope someone from Huawei gets to read this.Stochastic - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Link?vladx - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
You can google, right? Heck, even Gorilla Glass site will tell you GG3 is the toughest while GG4 and 5 are more slick-oriented.Stochastic - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
That's not what I found from Googling: https://www.androidauthority.com/corning-responds-...vladx - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
There's no mention of Gorilla Glass 3 in that article just look harder, I even gave you a hint.B166ER - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
Too harsh of a design, too angular, no IP68 (absolute dealbreaker, no phone should be without it). Great preorder price, though.MamiyaOtaru - Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - link
VR play? Screen seems to be made to be used with a gearVR type thingSkyBill40 - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
A huge miss by the poster of this story is the fact that in the US, the phone will not work on either Verizon or Sprint. It's definitely worth noting as that is a huge point and is a likely deal breaker for those who might have an interest, order the phone, and only find out later that it won't work on their network.SkyBill40 - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
*edit*The inability to be used on VZ or Sp comes from PC Gamer's review.
Rocket321 - Friday, November 3, 2017 - link
Razer site lists LTE: B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/17/19/20/25/26/28/29/30/66, TDD LTE: B38/39/40/41I'm wondering why the "Sprint only" LTE bands 25, 26, 41 are on here if no support? No other carrier uses those bands. Then again there is no mention of CDMA support, but we know the SoC is able to provide it.
I'm really hoping it is carrier agnostic/universal like all the recent Moto's and Pixel phones.
SydneyBlue120d - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
Will Project Treble be supported with Oreo update?darkich - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
Fun fact:This phone is around 2 times more capable(in terms of processing power) than undocked Nintendo Switch
Gunbuster - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
For prospective Razer customers: If you look at Razer wrong you get no notice banned from ever contacting them again on social media.BrokenCrayons - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
Lately, a lot of gaming activity has moved from my laptop over to my phone to the point where it feels a bit like a chore to use a more conventional PC for most of my daily computing tasks. Razer's phone looks like a hit to me EXCEPT that it has a sealed battery, no 3.5mm jack, and I'd really like wireless charging. Of all those, the sealed battery is what kills the idea of buying one. I can't see paying flagship phone prices for a handset that's only useful as long as the factory installed battery holds up.darkich - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
Um, people who repair phones professionally can change the battery in 20 minutes these daysBrokenCrayons - Friday, November 3, 2017 - link
*head pats* Thanks dear.bleh0 - Thursday, November 2, 2017 - link
I only use snes, genesis, and gba emulators on my phone if I want to game and older chipsets can handle that just fine.No headphone jack, meh camera, and no water proofing on a new phone? Nope.
yhselp - Friday, November 3, 2017 - link
Quite nice, although, also a bit disappointing, since many were expecting an amazing implementation of built-in, hidden physical buttons for games.Why 3200 memory when 4266 is available? Razer don't want to use Samsung memory?
Also a bit disappointing, albeit very expected and understandable, is the fact Razer's phone is just a phone, and not something more akin to a console. No exclusives, no out-of-the-ordinary indie presence, and no environment outside Android for better performance, low-level APIs, etc.
It seems that the only way we could ever get a smartphone-console device is if Nintendo decide to make Switch Phone.
zodiacfml - Saturday, November 4, 2017 - link
Interesting display to have vs. Samsung's latest and greatest AMOLED display. I find the 60Hz display a bit slow to its fast SoC. My games are also staying at 60 fps which means it could use a faster refresh. The OLED display is also not as sharp as my Nexus 5 which uses an LCD and smaller display.I wouldn't mind the larger bezels on the Razer as they got it right with the loud stereo speakers which I usually use. The tall aspect ratio of 18.5:9 also seems of less value as my eyes are not drawn to the top and bottom of the display, using only 75-85% of the display.
The headphone jack could be an issue but I only use it on longer trips so it is not used as much as the speakers.
However, another manufacturer (likely Chinese) could release a 120Hz phone next year for people who can wait and apps/games that will support faster refresh rates.