The Razr is now available to buy in the US and preorder in the UK, with an unannounced shipping date for the latter. On a last note, we initially predicted the Razr’s smaller footprint would encourage consumers to buy it. If you buy one today, you can experience (and brag about) a piece of technology that may appear in many phones down the road: a screen that refreshes 120 times a second. The hinge works wonderfully, which is welcome to hear after the only other foldable released to most world markets, the Samsung Galaxy Fold, ran into issues with its display and concerns over its durability. You need a big phone battery As I found with Apple's iPad Pro, which also have the higher refresh rate screens, I wasn't really feeling it. I want it. We'll recommend it if Android gaming, especially on high-end titles, is your true passion. After all, with old-school heavyweights such as HTC and BlackBerry struggling to make an impact in an already saturated market, it doesn’t seem like an obvious move. The Razr’s exterior camera is fine but not great, and its night vision mode trails behind the best low-light photography offered by the likes of the Google Pixel 4 and iPhone 11 suite. But the Motorola Razr isn't about engineering marvels, pocketability, tricks or convenience. Weight: 197g In our side-by-side comparisons with the Google Pixel 4 (which has a comparable-resolution 2,280 x 1,080 display) and even the iPhone 11 Pro Max (2,688 x 1,242), the Razr’s screen displays similar hue palettes in video tests, though only after switching from the default ‘Boosted’ to ‘Natural’ colors. The company designed the entire Razer Phone around a pair of stereo speakers so loud and clear, it's mind-boggling they fit into a phone. But play a few rounds and you’ll notice that while the top half of the main display is flat, the bottom half is slightly raised, and pressing into the screen to perform in-game actions feels a bit like pressing a controller button. The Razer Phone 2 ticks a lot of the boxes you’d expect in an $800 device. Its power button sits in the middle of its right-hand side, while its volume up and down are found on its left. The Razer Phone is indeed the ultimate gaming phone. It’s good for checking the time and basic notifications, though the interface for replying isn’t great. Wi-Fi performance on this phone is up to par with the Galaxy S8. Receive mail from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors? ), its cost is pegged to its novelty, and given the arrival of the slightly cheaper Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, that’s something it no longer has a monopoly on. Here's the thing: Any high-end phone can play the most popular Android games, even the fancy ones. i[btoa('video intelligence start')].init(config); For all that, it costs $1,500. Resolution: 1440 x 2560 Let's round up Amazon's best gems. Or at least it would be, if clicking the shutter button was easy: you’ll either have to hit either volume button (good luck telling those apart from the lock button) or tap the screen, which is a little awkward. That's on par with other Snapdragon WQHD+ phones, showing that there isn't any special GPU magic in here, just a new ability to change graphics settings app by app. Razer's flagship gaming phone has received some much-needed upgrades including wireless charging, water resistance, and more. No-frills camera takes iffy photos in low light, among other camera quirks. With the Game Booster you can create custom performance profiles on an app-by-app basis. Transmissions through the mic maintain some background noise but put voices forward, where they should be. It's a stunning achievement: a modern smartphone (well, mostly — we'll get to that), that folds into something that very closely resembles the original Razr phone. The two devices serve different purposes, but it’s worth reiterating what you’re getting: if your only metric for value is display size, you’re getting a main screen no bigger than a typical flagship phone’s display and a smaller mini screen. Use Razer's dongle, or better, use wireless headphones. I wouldn't say it's the best gaming phone simply because Apple's iPhones often get the latest and greatest mobile games first -- and because unlike many top-tier Android competitors, the Razer Phone doesn't support a competent VR headset like Gear VR or Daydream. You can feel the hinge and other ridges as you run your finger up and down the screen. But you start to see the Razer Phone's advantages on the gaming tests, where at resolutions of 1080p and below, the visible frame rates push about 60. While it doesn’t hang or stutter with basic navigation or media watching, its Snapdragon 710 processor and 6GB of RAM are more suited to mid-range phones. Which brings us to the value discussion: for a 25% discount, you get half the screen real estate of the Galaxy Fold. It’ll cost you a lot more if you’re in the UK, where it’s exclusively through EE, and only on contract starting at £94/month with an upfront fee of £100 – all told, that’s £2,356 over 24 months, and that's only the cheapest option. [Update: Razer has been plenty busy issuing updates to its debut phone. The phone has dual 12-megapixel cameras, the main f/1.8 and the secondary f/2.6 with 2x zoom. The Razr is far from the fastest on the block. At $699, it costs less than a Samsung Galaxy S8, a Pixel 2 XL, or an iPhone 8 Plus. The most recent iPhones clock in at 600Mbps, while the latest Samsung Galaxy phones can achieve a full gigabit. The camera isn't great. Razer Phone Review The first generation Razer Phone was the ultimate gaming phone, but it's since been superseded by the next generation Razer Phone 2. The Razer Phone is packed full of power and potential, but the stumbling block is its niche appeal. Hands On With the iPhone 12 Mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max, Apple's iPhone 12 Studio Lets Customers Mix and Match Accessories, The Next Best Affordable Phone? The metal frame is home to a USB-C charging port and, like many modern phones, is lacking a 3.5mm headphone jack. Searching for a great show to watch tonight? The button sits where your middle finger naturally falls and, once setup, this makes it quick and easy to power up and unlock the Razer Phone without multiple movements. Of course, a smaller footprint means it’s easier to pull out the handset – which makes the Razr’s front-facing 2.7-inch OLED mini screen (800 x 600 resolution) arguably more useful than the 4.6-inch front screen on the Fold. The main 16MP central camera is positioned just below the mini screen, which means you can use it for both regular shots (with the phone flipped open) and for selfies (with the phone closed). But the sound distorts at the highest volume levels. I don't care. As expected, Moto-brand extras include Moto Gestures, which run the gamut from helpful to niche appeal. Of course, the main reason for that fast refresh rate is gaming, and we’ll cover that in more detail on the next page of this review. Introduction, price and display. When the rear camera is used for daylight photography, the results are good. Curse you, Apple, for making my Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 useless during the morning commute without a dongle. Hands On With the OnePlus Nord N10 5G, Apple Puts Pegatron on Probation for Violating Supplier Code of Conduct, Amazon Echo Dot With Clock (4th Generation) Review. The first generation Razer Phone was the ultimate gaming phone, but it's since been superseded by the next generation Razer Phone 2. In the US that includes 24/7 chat support or 14-hour-per-day direct access to customer service, and should the device or display fail, Motorola guarantees 24-hour turnaround to exchange it. The app also lets you control whether Ultramotion anti-aliasing is on. Our standard battery-drain test – a 90-minute video at full brightness – dropped the battery from full charge down to 84%, and a 16% battery loss isn’t that extreme, as most flagships run through the same test lose 15-20%. This also means that we weren’t able to use it as a primary phone during our short testing period, getting the usual influx of emails and texts from our contacts. Razer told us that, while a Middle East launch is a possibility later alonge the line, it has no plans to launch the handset in India. The Motorola Razr is pricier than flagship smartphones, yet is less powerful. Text_Color: '', Unlike the. (For comparison, a similar match uses 2% of the 3,969mAh capacity of an iPhone 11 Pro Max.). To take best advantage of the 120Hz, you may have to lower screen resolution. The new Motorola Razr isn't going to be ignored. Most phones have a locked refresh rate that’s capped at 60Hz (60 frames per second). There’s an argument that the mini front display saves more battery, given that you’re illuminating a much smaller screen to check the time or notifications than on a typical smartphone. The 5.72-inch panel’s 1440 x 2560 resolution is sharp and clear, but no better than competing handsets such as the LG G7. At one point, Mobius Final Fantasy was stuttering, because the phone decided that was the right time to download and run updates for a bunch of apps. It can't be. Front camera: 8MP. For anything outside the warranty – which lasts one year in the US – the device's display can be swapped out for $299. Knocking the screen resolution down to 720p gave us ridiculous frame rates on the GFXBenchmark Manhattan ES 3.0 test (we managed 100fps onscreen), which is actually impossible on other phones that are locked to 60fps. Don't know what to watch on Amazon tonight? The display of third-party trademarks and trade names on this site does not necessarily indicate any affiliation or the endorsement of PCMag. when it wakes up. Razer is selling its gaming smartphones the way the company would sell a laptop: online and through big-box stores, at a high, but not unreasonable price. You can't force 120Hz in every app, but many games do work. Some of these feel a little superfluous – the ability to change the phone’s default resolution to 720p or 1080p, and pick between a set 30GHz, 60Hz (default) or 90Hz refresh rate when out of apps, for example. This vibrancy makes daylight images shot on the Razr rival those taken on flagship phones. While he's a fourth-generation Manhattanite, he now lives in Queens with his wife and daughter.