How To Split Screen On Razer Phone 2

The quick take

The Razer Phone is supposed to exist a device for enthusiasts, but for it to make sense at the $699 cost betoken, you need to be the kind of enthusiast who doesn't care about water resistance, a adept camera, or display daylight visibility.

The Good

Sharp, bold pattern
Exceptional functioning
120Hz display brings game-changing smoothness
Multi-day battery life

The Bad

Mediocre daylight visibility
Dumpster fire camera
No water resistance
Ships on Nougat

Razer Phone Full Review

For most of us, the term "gaming telephone" probably conjures up memories of things similar the Nokia N-Gage and Sony Xperia Play. For all the hype and hope that preceded those gadgets, they were spectacular commercial flops, mainly because they prioritized gimmicky gaming features in a higher place merely beingness a good telephone.

Now, PC gaming brand Razer is hoping to succeed where Sony, Nokia and others have failed. Its new phone, congenital with talent acquired from Nextbit terminal year, aims to be gamer-centric, but not to a error. The thought was to build a phone not but for playing games, merely one with hardware and features that gamers desire in a phone, whether they're gaming or not.

And while the premise is promising, the Razer Phone equally an overall bundle is far from the habitation run many volition have been hoping for. For all that's correct with this phone, in its electric current state information technology's hard to recommend to anyone besides hardcore fans of the brand.

Nigh this review

We're reviewing the Razer Phone afterward ten days with the device, which was provided by Razer for review. During our testing, we used it on the 3 network in the UK, and briefly on Yoigo while roaming in Madrid, Spain. The phone was running on Android 7.1.i Nougat, with the September 5, 2017 Android security patch.

Razer Telephone Video Review

Black slab

Razer Phone Hardware

You could telephone call the Razer Phone'southward hardware a throwback to the proportions of "phablet" devices of years past, or a deliberate antonym to current flagship trends. It goes against the grain of super-sparse, super-tall, bezelless phones we're seeing from just nearly everyone else this year. Your optics are immediately drawn to the giant stereo speakers on the forepart which, of course, are ludicrously loud and a adequately bold design feature.

The Razer Phone deliberately goes against the grain of flagship phone designs, and I'1000 fine with that.

Razer Phone

The blocky aesthetic of the Nextbit Robin has been transformed into a sheer aluminum unibody, making for a chassis that'southward simple, athwart and which shares plenty of DNA with Razer's gaming laptops. It's a serious piece of hardware, but information technology's nowhere near the visual aneurysm we usually witness when tech companies try to pander to gamers. (Looking at you, Acer Predator tablet.)

The Razer Phone is large, and it's heavy, and one-handing it is more a little awkward. Only at that place's no mistaking information technology for any other device on the planet. The trademark Razer logo effectually the back is, on the face of it, a giant exercise in branding. However, information technology'due south pulled off in a mode that's not gaudy.

Like the Robin, the Razer Phone uses a recessed power push button on the side, with a built-in fingerprint scanner. I've heard others complain almost this, but I've had no issues using information technology with either my right pollex or left middle finger. Once you become used to it, muscle memory quickly kicks in.

The sheer size of the Razer Phone, and its brushed aluminum chassis, makes it somewhat glace, only the extremely angular shape goes some way to compensating for this. It is worth zeroing in on the coating of the metal for a second, though: The soft-touch finish feels great, just in my feel has been incredibly scratch-prone — and it's scratched more than visibly than many drinking glass phones I've used subsequently just a week or so, which is not not bad.

The blueprint certainly isn't for everyone, but that's admittedly fine in a niche product similar this. Personally, I capeesh the aesthetics of it, and how different it is.

Being a smartphone for gamers, naturally, the Razer Telephone includes the most powerful hardware available in any Android phone at launch time. The elevation-end Snapdragon 835 chip from Qualcomm, 8GB of RAM, 64GB of storage plus microSD expansion, and a huge 4,000mAh battery — the largest we've yet seen in an Android telephone, matching the Huawei Mate ten Pro and BlackBerry Move.

Razer Phone

This telephone's internals are equally every bit beastly as its tank-like exterior would suggest.

That's loftier-end stuff, only nothing out of the ordinary. What makes the Razer Phone unique is its display. The five.7-inch Quad HD LCD can run at up to 120Hz, pushing more frames than whatever other Android phone, which means smoother gaming and a more fluid experience in general. Ideally, you'd become double the threescore frames per second at which nearly Android phones max out. The default refresh charge per unit is 90Hz, only you tin crank it all the fashion upwards to 120 for maximum smoothness — presumably at a small battery price. (I briefly ran the phone in 120Hz mode, and didn't find whatsoever huge difference in longevity. YMMV.)

More: Razer Telephone specs

Superficially, this looks like a decent panel, with pleasing colors and decent viewing angles. Use it indoors to play a game or sentinel a movie, and yous'll take a peachy time. Simply between a highly reflective screen and what seems like lower than average brightness from the backlight, daylight visibility is just flat-out disappointing for a phone this expensive — a couple of years out of step with the competition in this area. It's not quite LG G5 or HTC Ane M9 bad, merely it'southward far from ideal in bright, outdoor conditions.

The brandish pulls off college refresh rates, simply with noticeably inferior daylight visibility.

I don't demand to explain why sub-par daylight visibility is a bad in what's supposed to be both a premium smartphone and a portable gaming device. I think almost of us would prefer to play games at 60fps if information technology meant non having to squint at the display.

For what it's worth, though, the extra smoothness that this higher refresh rate offers actually is kind of revolutionary, and I'm sure it'south something we'll see in more phones in the coming year. This isn't i of those placebo effects — you can in fact see the difference even bumping up to 90Hz.

Nearly Android apps will merely look and perform more smoothly on Razer Phone's super-responsive panel. Nonetheless, there is a big hurdle to be overcome, ironically, in terms of game support. The titles preloaded on the phone past Razer, like Titanfall Attack and Gear Society, work really well at up to 120fps, simply there are still large gaps elsewhere, and when you stride down to 60 or fifty-fifty 30 in games like Need for Speed: No Limits, it's really noticeable. Razer is working to grow support among Android games, merely 120Hz support isn't anywhere near universal just yet.

Razer certainly has the clout to see that developers do update titles to fully support its screen, but that's not going to happen overnight.

Some other bump in the road is the lack of a iii.5mm headphone jack. Equally I mentioned, the built-in speakers excellent — loud, bassy and clear — almost too loud, at times, for things like notification sounds. (At that place's as well an obnoxious lock/unlock ding that you'll apace want to disable.) Just for wired audio, yous'll need to keep concord of Razer'due south proprietary, THX-certified dongle, which, like all dongles, is piece of cake to lose in a bag or a pocket, and annoying to comport separately. (Information technology'south basically bad is what I'm saying.)

The hardware of the Razer Telephone gives us a taste of the flickers of brilliance that brand this device exciting, and the compromises that might ultimately disengage it. Information technology'south a powerful, practiced-looking, truly unique phone, but also a device with some unique hardware weaknesses.

Stuff for nerds

Razer Phone Software

Android absolutely flies on the Razer Phone — in function thanks to the top-notch internals, Razer'southward performance tuning, and the 120Hz display. It's running Android 7.1.1, and it's disappointing to not see 8.0 out of the box — Razer tells us it wouldn't have been possible to ship Android Oreo while also optimizing the OS for this new brandish. The Oreo update is slated for Q1 2018, and so Razer Phone buyers could exist waiting a while.

The basic look and feel is that of stock Android, plus a whole bunch of dark-green accents, in keeping with Razer'due south colorful laptop branding. In that location's theming support, with a comprehensively stocked Theme shop to choose icons and wallpapers from, if that's your thing. And speaking of customization, the stock launcher for this phone is none other than Nova Launcher — specifically, a special version of Nova Launcher Prime number created for Razer, with Google Feed support as standard. Nova is fast, a joy to use and extensively customizable. In general, it feels like a great fit for this telephone.

More than: Nova Launcher: Everything yous need to know

Razer's software customization is pretty light, too the splash of light-green paint. The Game Booster app is ane important addition though, which lets you prioritize battery life or functioning, or disable notifications if y'all don't emails and instant messages getting in the mode of your fun.

Also these few tweaks, at that place's non a whole lot to say virtually Razer'southward user-facing software additions. Near of the work washed to optimize the Bone for the phone's fancy 120Hz brandish is invisible, and cheers to the company's light touch, you're more often than not simply looking at an extremely responsive version of stock Nougat.

That'due south only going to get better once Oreo lands in the Razer Phone next year.

Juice in the tank

Razer Telephone Battery Life

This shouldn't come every bit any surprise given the enormous iv,000mAh battery lurking within, but the Razer Phone is, in my experience, good for at least a solar day and a half of use per charge. Sure, if y'all're gaming constantly yous'll be able to knock that down to nether a day. In either instance, you're looking at really reliable battery life from this phone whatever you're doing, fifty-fifty with that fast 120Hz screen.

Surprise! A 4,000mAh prison cell buys yous great bombardment life.

Screen-on times, for me, routinely exceeded the six-hour mark. That'southward a little less than the Huawei Mate 10 Pro, but withal a commendable performance.

For fast refills, the Razer Phone is the beginning (and currently only) device to utilize the latest Qualcomm QuickCharge 4+ standard. In casual side-by-side tests, I've found that QuickCharge 4+ isn't quite as speedy as OnePlus'southward Nuance Accuse, simply at the same fourth dimension, you're as well filling a much larger bombardment. Regardless, Razer should be praised for riding the cutting border here.

Finally, in a neat bit of design symmetry, the USB C-to-C charging cable that comes with the phone (and the headphone dongle, really) features the exact same style of braiding used on Razer's laptop chargers. Small design touches similar this add smoothen to the overall packet.

They're bad

Razer Phone Cameras

There's no delicate manner to say this, so I'll just say it: The Razer Phone'south cameras, in their electric current form, are a hot mess. They're embarrassingly poor for a $700 telephone, and while there are well-nigh certainly improvements that can be made in software, right now photography on the Razer Telephone is a bad experience.

The Razer Phone's camera, in its electric current class, is a hot mess — embarrassingly bad for a $700 telephone.

At that place are dual 12MP sensors around the back, behind a regular f/1.75 lens and a f/two.6 telephoto lens, respectively. There's no optical stabilization, but that'due south not necessarily a deal-breaker. What certainly is a bargain-breaker though is epitome quality. Photos are consistently nighttime, flat and lifeless, quickly becoming noisy in low-light conditions compared to the contest. In ideally lit conditions, the Razer Phone will produce the same good-looking shots as any basic smartphone, simply that'southward about it. I'd phone call information technology a "mid-range" camera experience, simply to be honest, fifty-fifty that is beingness generous.

This is not OK in a $700 phone.

Sample photo

Razer's camera app is a joke — buggy and insufficient of features

What'due south more, the camera app itself is a joke. In that location are no shooting modes at all — literally none — likewise an HDR toggle, and likewise no style to apace zoom into a telephoto view — you lot need to compression to zoom, which is awkward on a phone of this size. And you're but SOL completely if you want to take panoramas or manually adjust things similar ISO and shutter speed. Information technology's as well buggy, irksome, constantly fails to focus, and just non what should be shipping on a phone... well, on whatsoever phone, frankly, in 2017.

All these criticisms apply to video too, where despite 4K shooting existence supported, the Razer Telephone's autofocus issues make for a haphazard video feel.

And that really sums up the camera for me: This is about the worst photographic performance I've seen in a $700 phone. (Though admittedly, I haven't used the Essential Phone, which was also panned for launching with an underperforming camera.) In any instance, it'southward disappointing that such a massive surface area of the modern smartphone experience has been disregarded like this.

The Bottom Line

Should you buy the Razer Phone? Wait and see

At nowadays, the Razer Phone is a very mixed pocketbook. The camera, obviously, is a large miss, and for me, the biggest reason not to purchase this phone. It'll probably become better with time, but it'southward aircraft this month, and right now the camera is nowhere near ready.

Information technology's also weird to see an enthusiast-focused phone missing important enthusiast features, similar a headphone jack and an up-to-date OS.

That'due south aside from table-stakes things like water resistance and a screen that looks not bad outdoors likewise as indoors. These are things that merely virtually every other $700 telephone worth buying does that the Razer Phone does non.

The Razer Phone is a practiced thought with flawed execution.

The Razer Telephone, overall, is a great, high-operation portable gaming-slash-entertainment gadget. But it does that at the price of existence a bang-up all-around phone, which right now it is not. The master reason for that is the photographic camera, but it's as well not helped past these other characteristic omissions. Mainstream-focused competitors like the Huawei Mate 10 Pro lack Razer's fancy speakers and display, merely are far more balanced overall, with bang-up performance, long bombardment life, a more up-to-appointment OS, a astounding photographic camera and water resistance.

That said, I don't recollect the Razer Telephone has fallen into the same trap equally the N-Gage or the Xperia Play. Those two examples of failed gaming phones were doomed from the outset. With the Razer Phone, the idea isn't fundamentally flawed, but the characteristic prepare is incomplete, and the execution — particularly the camera — isn't quite there yet. There'due south the cadre of a great product here, if Razer keeps working at it — which I sincerely hope it will.

Until so, the Razer Phone is a quirky lilliputian device with probably quite a limited audience. Unless you admittedly must experience Android games on a 120Hz brandish, I'd recommend you await and see what the first few rounds of software updates do for the phone's camera before parting with your greenbacks.

See at Razer

Alex was with Android Cardinal for over a decade, producing written and video content for the site, and served as global Executive Editor from 2016 to 2022.