Razer Phone 2 Launches With Notch-less Display, Wireless Charging, and RGB Lighting (anandtech.com)

Last November, Razer unveiled a smartphone designed for gamers who value performance and power over bells and whistles like waterproofing and wireless charging. At an event Wednesday night, Razer took the wraps off its successor, aptly named Razer Phone 2, which sports a brighter, notch-less, 5.72-inch IGZO LCD display with a 2560x1440 resolution and HDR, wireless charging, IP67 water- and dust-resistance rating, and RGB lighting behind the Razer logo on the rear. Given the addition of waterproofing and wireless charging, the Razer Phone 2 appears to be much more well-rounded than its predecessor, making the decision all the more difficult when shopping for a premium, high-end smartphone. AnandTech reports: This display is rated at 645 nits peak, up to 50% higher than the previous Razer Phone, and also supports HDR. Razer states that the display also has wide color gamut, which turns out to be 98.4% of DCI-P3. Also on the front, it has two front facing speakers in identical positions to the previous generation, and it has a front facing camera and sensor (albeit with swapped positions). That front camera is an 8MP f/2.0 unit, capable of recording at 1080p60, a user-requested feature for streaming and selfie recording. The front of the device is Corning Gorilla Glass 5, an upgrade from GG3 in the last generation.

When we move to the rear, things change much more noticeably. Instead of the aluminum rear, Razer has a full Gorilla Glass 5 back, which helps enable Qi Wireless Charging, a much requested feature. This is alongside QuickCharge 4+ through a Type-C cable. On the rear we have the dual cameras, this time placed in the center just above the logo. This time around Razer has gone with a 20MP Sony IMX363 f/1.75 main camera with OIS, and an 8MP Sony IMX 351 f/2.6 telephoto camera to enable some extra zoom functionality. Below the cameras is the Razer logo, which has a full 16.8million color RGB LED underneath which users can adjust through the onboard Chroma software. The Razer Phone 2 is still very much power-focused, as it features Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 845 CPU with a "vapor chamber cooling" which can allow the phone to draw 20-30% more power than other flagships. There's 8GB of LPDDR4X memory, 64GB of UFS storage with support for a microSD card, and a whopping 4,000mAh. Razer says their new smartphone will be priced at $799 and will start shipping in mid-November.

Comments

Notchless?

[Joce640k]

Is "Notchless display" a feature already? That didn't take long.

Re:Notchless?

[tlhIngan]

I'd be nice if at least all the phones that have a notch would allow to just show black around the notch (the LG G7 does just that). It's an option that doesn't cost much and would content many people.

The new Google Pixel 3 phones do that actually - you can "disable notch" and it just turns it black. But then it turns into a really big bezel, so it's really siz of one and a half dozen of the other.

Of course, a nice use of the notch would be to have status icons that don't disappear - a full screen game for example could use everything but the notched area so the notch could still show useful status information like the time and signal status. Or perhaps it could be used for system buttons (back, home, etc) during full screen applications.

Re:Notchless?

[JaredOfEuropa]

So: notchless is a feature, but waterproofing is a frill. What gives?

Re: Notchless?

[Anonymous Coward]

Know what would be really useful and attractive? A straight edge where a developer can put whatever they want, without having to figure out how to fix gimmicks.

Re:Notchless?

[jellomizer]

Well the "removed notch" just means the phone has a big top and bottom bevel.
Now the Notch is a trade off and I really don't get all the fuss about it. If you want your phone with a bevelless display, where the screen goes from edge to edge. (It looks nice, and you can maximize your screen resolution for its size. If you want this as a phone, currently with consumer technology you will need a notch to hold some of the gear camera, speaker, flash...
Now for the Razer phone, the design choice was to have big speakers this means you don't need a notch. but your camera will be embedded in the speaker. But these speakers give a top and bottom bevel. So your phone will not be edge to edge in display. Making the phone bigger for its screen size compared to the Notched equivalent.

Re: Notchless?

[Miamicanes]

I personally don't get the obsession with eliminating the top, and especially the bottom, bezels. Width affects the max screen size that can fit in a back pocket, but portrait-orientation height? Pffft.

Persondlly, I *like* having a reasonable bottom bezel, because it's really hard to hold a large, heavy phone with one hand & operate the back/home/whatever buttons with my thumb if they're all grazing the lower edge. IMHO, the most grippable phone I ever owned was my old Galaxy S3 with Seidio extended battery case... it put the center of mass comfortably low & provided a handy ridge to grip the phone with from behind. The phone couldn't lie flat, but it had a kickstand which mitigated 99% of the annoyance & overall, it rocked. Even though I eventually bought bigger batteries, I kept going back to the Seidio battery/case because it was SO much easier & more comfortable to hold.

The big question, though... if you keep the phone in an Otterbox Defender-like case & the rear glass cracks, do you HAVE to fix it, or can you just say "fuck it, it's hidden inside the case anyway" & just leave it cracked without affecting anything besides "out of case" aesthetics?

Also, does the glass help or hurt with heat-removal? Can the phone run at 100% max from power-on until battery-drained (say, if you're using Daydream VR), or will it go into thermal-throttling within a few minutes if you try (like a Nexus 6P does)?

Razer is malware

[WaffleMonster]

Everything from Razer including basic HID devices is basically malware. Their "privacy" policy is literally worse than Facebook.

https://www.razer.com/legal/pr...

Re:Razer is malware

[Anonymous Coward]

Razer's products aren't exactly aimed at a high calibre of person, and if somebody will pay $130, or even $152, for a mouse because they think it'll make them better at Fortnite, then you may as well take their information as well. It's not like they'll care.

Most imnportant question here

[Kokuyo]

Is that LED crap on the back usable for notifications? If no, go fuck yourself Razer.

Re:Most imnportant question here

[Tough Love]

Second most important question: where is the headphone jack?

Re:Most imnportant question here

[Anonymous Coward]

If only you could actually read.

>There are also three active levels:
      >Low (RGB LED is only on when a notification pops up)
      >Medium (led is on when screen is on)
      >High (led is on all the time)

Re:Most imnportant question here

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, by default green = hangouts, blue = facebook, flashing red/white/blue = presidential alerts/MAGA tweet.

Re:Boring

[Vulch]

Something like this?

Re:I can't imagine real gaming on a phone. My $0.0

[Ormy]

I completely agree with you on every point.

However, if this phone had a 3.5mm headphone jack and an AMOLED display I'd buy it immediately (I'd prefer it smaller, 5 inch screen is perfect for me). I like the hardware specs (plenty of RAM) and I love they have retained a microSD slot (my biggest gripe with my OnePlus 5) and I love that they have not included a notch (I'd throw money at them just for that choice alone if I could afford to). I would never game on it for reasons stated by parent, but I like to have a device with top-end hardware specs so I know it won't feel painfully slow even after 3-4 years

Re:I can't imagine real gaming on a phone. My $0.0

[Cederic]

The wife plays some of those mindless garbage things similar to candy crush on hers
[...]
Games on a PHONE are for children.

Why are you married to a child?

playing PC games, as time and circumstances permit, since way back when 300baud was fast
[...]
fleapower of a phone

Could I suggest seeing a medical professional regarding your apparent senility?

Re:Boring

[jellomizer]

The problem is that a 6" laptop is too small to do real work with, while to big and clumsy for a mobile device.