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  • - Hey guys, this is Austin.

  • The Razer Phone 2 is official and it takes everything

  • that was good about the original and brings it up a notch.

  • With the added benefit of not having a notch.

  • (funky music)

  • The original Razer Phone was a polarizing device.

  • What it did well, it did really well.

  • What didn't work though, was basically a deal breaker.

  • The highlight last year was the 5.7 inch 1440p IGZO display.

  • What made this so good for gaming wasn't just the

  • pure size of the display or the quality, but the frame rate.

  • As opposed to basically every other smartphone out there

  • which is capped at 60 frames per second,

  • the Razer Phone can go all the way up to 120 fps

  • and that continues with the Razer Phone 2.

  • The 120 hertz panel carries over this year,

  • but with some key improvements, most notably brightness.

  • The last year's panel actually was a good, solid,

  • accurate display but it just didn't get all that bright.

  • Thankfully that is something that has been improved

  • with the Razer Phone 2, with up to 50% more brightness.

  • Now mind you, when we were able to try it on our brief

  • hands-on the difference wasn't massive, but it is definitely

  • going to be at least somewhat brighter than year.

  • The fluidity is just as impressive as it was last year

  • with a full 120 hertz refresh rate

  • everything is buttery-smooth, not just games.

  • The UON itself is one of the most noticeable things

  • when you're doing something simple like scrolling

  • through a webpage or some email.

  • The closest competitor is actually the iPad Pros

  • with ProMotion, it's a very similar feeling

  • with that 120 hertz refresh rate.

  • It's really something that you

  • kind of have to see to really understand.

  • What's kind of interesting is that the game support

  • actually is a little bit more hit and miss.

  • On the Android side, a lot of titles only hit around

  • 30 frames per second, much less 60 or even 120.

  • But a fair amount of games are becoming optimized for that

  • higher refresh rate, either with running with unlocked

  • frame rates or with running with some kind of higher mode

  • that will at least target something like 90 fps.

  • When it does support it, it makes a big difference.

  • But the issue is that a lot of games don't even come close,

  • but I guess the harbor is there?

  • My actual favorite feature though, are the speakers.

  • Note the Razer Phone 1, which you got were two

  • incredibly loud, incredibly detailed

  • speakers and that carries over

  • to the Razer Phone 2 but with some key upgrades.

  • Unlike most of the phones with dual speakers,

  • such as the iPhone which takes advantage of the earpiece

  • as well as the bottom-firing speaker.

  • Don't get me wrong that does sound good,

  • but with having two huge proper speakers aimed directly

  • at your face, it makes a big difference.

  • It's really straight forward, the Razer Phone

  • has the best speakers on any smartphone, period.

  • Not only are they rich and detailed,

  • but a big part of it is the stereo separation.

  • It is further helped by the fact that it does have

  • Dolby 5.1 Surround Support which is weird because there

  • are two speakers, but if you move past that what you're

  • getting is something that does give you some real presence.

  • Music and videos sound good but it's

  • especially noticeable in games.

  • So specifically with PUBG you can really tell

  • where people are around you purely using

  • the speakers which is really impressive.

  • The only downside to the whole audio setup

  • is that we still don't have a headphone jack,

  • which would be nice on the ultimate gaming phone.

  • At least there's a good dongle in the box?

  • The screen speakers were really the strong suit of the

  • original Razer Phone and it's nice to see that they've

  • been at least somewhat enhanced for this new version

  • and that's going to definitely be a trend.

  • It is a very similar phone of the original Razer Phone,

  • just improved in some not so subtle ways.

  • The problem with the OG was that while it was a good

  • gaming phone it really wasn't good for much beyond that.

  • There's no water resistance, no wireless charging,

  • the screen was a little bit dim in daylight,

  • and the biggest issue was that

  • the camera was straight up abysmal.

  • Now credit where credit's due, they have improved the camera

  • quite a bit with firmware updates but there's only

  • so much you can do with the hardware that's included,

  • which is where the Razer Phone 2 comes in.

  • Thankfully they've stepped up the game with new

  • Sony sensors, improved optics for both the standard

  • as well as telephoto cameras, and a fully rewritten

  • software stacked from the ground up to better take

  • advantage of photos that are not crunchy and terrible.

  • The phone I tried wasn't running final software,

  • so I'm not able to share the images that I took on it

  • but it was a big improvement over the original Razer Phone.

  • Now note it probably won't compete the iPhones

  • and the Pixels and the Galaxys of the world,

  • but at the very least it should be a usable camera

  • which is very nice in your expensive flagship gaming phone.

  • That is a big deal when you're spending this kind

  • of money you should expect no compromises.

  • So one of the additions this year

  • is full IP67 water resistance.

  • Now that's actually kind of impressive considering

  • just how huge the speakers are.

  • It's not easy to waterproof something like that.

  • There's also a new glass back which supports wireless

  • charging at up to 15 watts.

  • Speaking of the glass back while the overall dimensions

  • of the Razer Phone are very similar,

  • there is a revolutionary new feature

  • this year, an RGB Chroma Razer logo.

  • Yes, it actually isn't as bad as it might seem.

  • So you can, of course turn it fully off and the colors are,

  • not only going to be full RGB, but fairly subtle.

  • It kind of looks more like a colored logo

  • than a bright, flashy gamer logo, gamer logo, gamer logo.

  • Unlike other gaming phones the

  • Razer Phone's design is fairly subdued.

  • Now sure, it doesn't have the same sort

  • of flash as the RG phone but a lot of people,

  • myself included, probably would prefer something

  • that's just a little bit more subtle.

  • The rest of the specs are good, but nothing all that crazy.

  • You've got the Snapdragon 845 paired with 8 gigabytes

  • of RAM, 64 gigs of storage expandable via MicroSD,

  • as well as a big 4,000 milli-Ampere-hour battery.

  • The only thing that's really remarkable

  • is the vapor-chamber cooling.

  • Unlike a lot of other water-cooled smartphones,

  • which have a tiny little heat pipe, Razer instead opted

  • to go for a nearly full-size vapor chamber

  • which goes directly on top of the processor.

  • How much of a difference this make remains to be seen,

  • but it does make a big difference when it comes

  • to gaming for long sessions when you

  • don't wanna throttle down til half your

  • normal clock speed like some other smart phones.

  • The Razer Phone really did kick off the gaming phone trend

  • something I don't think is going anywhere, anytime soon.

  • But the real question, as it was last year,

  • is do you actually need a gaming phone?

  • Take a look at the PC space for example,

  • there's a very clear need for gaming-focused hardware.

  • Sure you can play some games on an Ultrabook

  • but it's not going to be anywhere near the experience

  • of playing something with proper CPU

  • and especially proper dedicated graphics.

  • On the mobile side though, that need is there

  • but the actual hardware really hasn't caught up.

  • When you consider that the $800 Razer Phone has the

  • same spec as a $400 POCO phone, sure the Razer Phone might

  • not throttle quite as much but the overall experience,

  • not counting the screen, the speakers, the actual

  • performance itself isn't going to be massively different.

  • All that being said, the Razor Phone 1 had a ton

  • of potential but some major drawbacks, whereas the

  • Razor Phone 2 can be really summed up very simply,

  • it is a refinement of that original design

  • and it really is what the Razor Phone 1 should have been.

  • That $800 price though, means that this is squarely

  • up against the high-end flagships of the world.

  • The main question for me is going to be the camera,

  • I really don't think it's going to match up to the

  • very, very high-end stuff like the Pixels and the Galaxys.

  • But as long as it is decent enough, I think that'll be

  • good enough for most people, but the difference between

  • good enough and great is a huge one in this space right now.

  • The real elephant in the room right now is the ROG Phone.

  • On paper it does have some superior specs in some ways,

  • it does have the headphone jack,

  • some additional accessories, and that 90 Hertz OLED display.

  • I would like to think that the Razer Phone

  • and ROG would be a good head-to-head comparison,

  • but until the ROG Phone comes out

  • it's really hard to nail that down.

  • There's no doubt that the Razor Phone 2

  • is a big step forward with that high-refresh rate display,

  • the loud speakers, and the solid performance

  • it should be a real winner if you're into gaming.

  • But I'm really curious, what do you guys think

  • about the concept of the gaming phone?

  • Is it really worth the extra money?

  • (funky music)

- Hey guys, this is Austin.

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