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Razer Phone Review – 120Hz £699 smartphone for gamers

Performance

The Razer Phone comes with the latest Snapdragon 835 processor, Adreno 540 GPU, as well as 8GB RAM.

Benchmark figures tell one side of the tale – the Snapdragon 835 doesn't do as well as the iPhone 8 Plus and its Bionic A11 chip, but relatively speaking it is still a good result. After all, the Snapdragon 835 is Qualcomm's top dog at the minute.

In practice, however, I had no issues at all with the phone. Everything is lighting fast, and the high refresh-rate display helps everything feel super smooth.

Software

Moving onto software, the Razer Phone is currently shipping with Android Nougat 7.1.1. However, we have been told to expect Oreo by Q1 2018, so that is obviously on the horizon.

Android itself is very ‘stock', with no ‘Razer' skin or anything like that placed on-top.

In-fact, The Razer Phone actually ships with Nova Launcher Prime as the default launcher – Prime being the paid-for version, so that is certainly a nice touch and makes it easy for users to customise the experience how they like.

Other than that, I had no issues with the software – it is definitely vanilla Android, or as close to it as a third-party manufacturer can come.

There is one piece of Razer software pre-installed, though, and that is Game Booster. Essentially this lets you configure the performance settings of the phone on an app-by-app basis. So if you want to run some games in 1080p to save battery life, you can do that, or you can specify a lower refresh-rate as well. It's a simple but nifty tool which allows a more fine-tuned experience.

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12 comments

  1. The only flagship with 4000mAh. Winrar!

  2. Nikolas Karampelas

    doesn’t seem to be a big deal, I could be impressed if they could get out something like the sony xperia play with the slide in/out game pad. That could be a gamer phone.
    Other than that it seem to be a good enough flagship phone but just that. Maybe it is just me here because camera is a big factor for me, but I don’t see anything to justify the cost of that phone.

  3. I love the design and features of this phone. My only issue right now is the lack of aftermarket cases. Razer has 2 on its website, but neither is what I would call high impact resistant. I tend to like to keep my phone is the highest quality cases; Griffin Survivor, OttorBox Defender, Lifeproof, etc. As of yet I can’t find any manufacturers producing aftermarket cases for this phone, and that’s a deal breaker for me, as much as I like it. I hope this changes after release, cause I’m still rocking an S6. It’s survived hundreds of drops and is in perfect condition, so a quality case does make a huge difference.

  4. According to the review it uses so much more battery that in the end it seems like a standard phone

  5. If only it were available to be used in Verizon. Such a shame to cut off a huge US market share.

  6. Its a great phone and the key feature is obviously the 120hz panel – no one else does that, so its going to sell to gamers on that point alone. I can’t help but feel however that the Samsung Note 8 is a better overall phone – just for the software alone. Its tough for Razer to jump in and compete with the big guys as they are just working on the first iteration of their software. Samsung have been around for so long in the Android sector, their software is what makes the phone so good.

  7. As someone how is currently using the G6 too. how was your experience going back to the LG and which one would you prefer continue using ignoring the camera fact about the Razer Phone?

  8. I’ll start this off by saying the Razer Phone is actually my daily driver now. I’ve not used the LG G6 much since switching, although I do have a few thoughts. The G6 is definitely easier to use one-handed due to the form-factor – it is not as wide as the Razer Phone, so reaching across is much easier. the G6’s 3.5mm jack is definitely in its favour, and it’s overall a bit smaller and more pocket-friendly. The Razer phone has better screen, better sound and better performance, though, while the battery life is probably similar. Razer Phone all day for me

  9. Sounds Gr8 ordered mine earlier today. One big concern I’ve got tho how long did it take you to get used to the lock button on the right? I can’t imagine right now having it not on the back. Only used LG phones for the last couple year starting with the G2. And I’m so used to it that sometimes it forget that I have my buddies iPhone in my hand and wonder where the damn button went 😀

  10. I got used to it pretty fast. As a right hander you’re thumb rests there naturally I think so it didn’t take long at all. Similarly intuitive to the G6 I’d say

  11. Alright, thanks alot for your effort and this well written guide.

  12. welcome 🙂