Razer Phone: Plans | Pricing | Specs

Where to buy

Firstly, it's nothing to do with the classic Motorola Razr, so you put that connection out of your mind!

Razer is a company best known for its extensive range of hardware for the PC gamer. This started as peripherals and then moved on to gaming PCs, then even slickly designed gaming tablets.

The company has now set its sights on phones and the Android-powered Razer Phone is the first to come out of Razer's brand new mobile division. It's a smartphone built for gaming and Razer is putting a lot into it.

Design

• Simple all-black design.
• No headphone socket.

• Read our full breakdown of the Razer Phone's design

  The Razer Phone has an 8mm thick aluminium frame, which is impressively thin, but against the more showy designs of most premium phones, it can't help but feel a little severe and maybe even a little under-designed.

  It's very much in line with Razer's design ethos and totally looks the part of a Razer device. If you've ever used a Razer mouse, keyboard, laptop or any other gear then it will feel familiar, but that also means its design is rather more limited to appealing to that core gamer crowd.

  Audio is an interesting mix of design limitations too. The Razer Phone features front-facing speakers in its frame. They're powered by Dolby Atmos, giving the Razer Phone some serious oomph as a standalone speaker.

  The flip side here is that, like the Google Pixel phones or Apple's iPhone lines, there's no standard 3.5mm headphone jack. Razer does supply a USB-C headphone jack converter with the Razer Phone, complete with a THX-certified 24-bit digital-to-analogue converter for superior sound through your headphones, which does lessen the sting a little.

  On the screen, Razer lavished a little extra attention, with what it calls an UltraMotion display. It features a 120Hz refresh rate, much faster than other competing displays, along with a 5.72-inch Quad HD screen. Yes, before you ask, that's a deeply weird and different size for a screen.

Camera

• Dual-lens cameras onboard.

• Read our full breakdown of the Razer Phone's camera

  The Razer Phone has dual cameras on the rear, one a 12MP AF f1.75 wide lens and one a 13MP f2.6 zoom. In the premium space the Razer Phone is pitched to that's a solid set-up, but not one that on paper inspires massive confidence next to many competing handsets.

  The front camera is a more standard 8MP lens that we're used to with selfie cameras.

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Performance

• Snapdragon 835 is a great processor, but it's showing its age now.
• 8GB of RAM gives the Razer Phone space to impress.
• No water resistance.

• Read our full breakdown of the Razer Phone's performance

  When Razer announced the Razer Phone back in 2017 for sale in the USA, it was with the then-current Snapdragon 835 processor, accompanied by an impressive 8GB of RAM. A potent combination at the time, but by the time Razer got around to launching the Razer Phone in Australia, it had been replaced in the premium space by the Snapdragon 845 on most flagship phones.

  That doesn't mean the Razer Phone can't keep pace, especially thanks to that generous RAM inclusion. However, it does mean that its place in the premium ladder has slipped somewhat, simply because it's running on older technology. We've not been able to test the Razer Phone just yet, but our experience with similar configurations suggests that it should be a capable, if not quite-cutting edge handset.

  Razer's gaming gear is typically quite robust, because it has to take punishment over hundreds and thousands of gaming hours. It's a pity, then, that the Razer Phone lacks formal water resistance, because again this is something that's rather standard in the premium space now.

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Battery life

• Impressive 4,000mAh battery.
• Lacks wireless charging.

• Read our full breakdown of the Razer Phone's battery life

  At a time when many manufacturers were stepping away from hefty battery inclusions in flagship phones following the fiasco that was the Samsung Galaxy Note7, Razer rather boldly packed a 4,000mAh battery into the Razer Phone. Based on its very high refresh rate it may have been necessary, but in any case you shouldn't have too many woes getting the Razer Phone to last through a day.

  Razer does innovate in the gaming space with additional features on most of its products, but not for wireless charging on the Razer Phone. It's not present, although you could use a third-party wireless charging case to add it, if you can find one.

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Verdict

• A gamer's phone at heart.

• Read our full Razer Phone verdict

  The Razer Phone is very much a play to Razer's heartland of gamers, with features and specifications laser-targeted to appeal to the needs of gamers.

  There's nothing wrong with that, but the passing of time does mean that even if you are a keen gamer in the Android world, there are many other competing phones that cover these features a little better and faster than the Razer Phone can manage.

  Like most Android handsets, that means that your best bet for the Razer Phone is if you can buy one at a relatively low asking price.

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Pricing and availability

• Price: RRP $1099
• Where to buy: Amazon | eBay

Specifications

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