In this review, well check out the Razer Phone 2 and find out if its worth it. Lets start with the specs. Its got a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 CPU with vapor chamber cooling, 8GB of RAM a 4000mAh battery 5.7 1440p 120Hz screen and 64gb of internal storage, with the option of up to 1TB of MicroSD storage. Cool specs. But they come at the cost of a fairly large and heavy phone., Its 15.8cm in height 7.9cm, in width and 8.5mm thin, and weighs a beastly 220g, noticeably heavier in the hand compared to my Pixel 3 XL, which is a similar size.. The phone is quite blocky in shape, which is a different direction from most other new phones that follow the smooth edge trend. However, this might be to cater for the front facing speakers. Lets see what the extra weight and larger size actually gets. Us.. The screen looks alright, its LCD, so blacks, arent, quite as nice, compared to my usual OLED phone.. The main feature is the 120Hz refresh rate which makes movement look super smooth compared to most other phones and is something youd expect to see from a gaming phone.. Unfortunately, not all games support 120Hz, so this may not be beneficial depending on your game. More on this later., There are two huge front facing Dolby. Atmos 5.1 Surround sound speakers and its also got a USB C 24 bit DAC.. These speakers are the best Ive ever heard on a phone and sound great.

If youre listening to audio without headphones Id say, the quality was even better than some laptops, Ive tested., Despite all that space, theres no 3.5mm jack here, unfortunately so youll either need bluetooth or USB Type C headphones. However, it does come with an adapter, and I thought, listening to music with this sounded excellent too.. The body of the device is glass to support wireless charging and its IP67 water resistant up to 1m or about 3 feet, despite the huge front facing speakers.. If you prefer wired charging theres quick charge support through the USB Type C input found down the bottom., The left hand, side has volume up and down buttons, which I found to be in a nice position while holding the phone. Above. These is the SIM tray, which also includes the MicroSD slot. On the top theres. What looks like a hole for the mic while the right hand side has the power button which doubles as the fingerprint scanner. Im, not personally a fan of the combined power button and fingerprint scanner with this one at least youve got to first push the power button Before it will read your fingerprint., Even after using the phone for 2 weeks, I still didnt get used to the location of the fingerprint scanner and much prefer having it on the back.. Fortunately, there are alternatives. If you just want to quickly check notifications, including double tap, to wake and ambient display. Due to that glass body, the back of the phone is a glossy black which picks up fingerprints and is also a bit slippery.

. One of the first things I did with my glass Pixel, 3 XL was buy a case for it because I just knew Id drop it.. The Razer Phone 2. Definitely isnt as bad, but glass does just seem to be harder to keep hold of. In the center towards the top. Is the Razer logo. It wouldnt be a gaming phone. Without some RGB lighting it can be customized in the Razer Chroma app, and this allows you to set logo, color intensity and colour pattern as well as use it as a notification LED. There doesnt seem to be too much practical use to this different colours mean different Types of alerts, but youd only see it while the phone is face down – and I dont know about you, but I generally put mine down face up. So I can just see the full notifications on the screen.. It does have the benefit of letting the world know that Im, a gamer check out my RGB, while youre taking a phone call assuming of course phone calls, are something people still actually do with their phones.. Just in case it is, I found call quality to sound great through the speaker and with the phones mic, no problems. There. Two cameras are found on the back just above the Razer logo. Theres, a wide 12 megapixel camera with an f1.75 aperture and image stabilization and telephoto thats, also 12 megapixel with f2.6 aperture., Its got phase detection autofocus.

However, I found it a little difficult to find focus. Ive taken some photos with the Razer Phone 2, along with my Pixel 3 XL, to compare with. Of course, we expect the Pixel 3 XL to produce better images, its currently one of the best phone cameras available. I just thought itd be useful to include something else for reference that can be picked up for around the same price and well its my only other recent phone that isnt more than 3 years old. Ive taken a photo of an Apple tree in my messy garden. Outside, in the middle of the day, the camera in the Razer seems to have removed most of the shadow and the colours are less vibrant. Heres another example with some fruit indoors. Although the Pixel is darker, the Razer again seems to be missing, shadows and colour details. The photo from the Razer looks more washed out in comparison. In this low light photo of a sundae which I unfortunately had to eat. Just for this photo, there seems to be more details in the glass and ice cream in the pixel photo its sharper, while the Razer is again reducing shadows shown by the brownie on top of the ice cream.. This is the final low light photo where we can see the image from the Razer was darker here, whereas before it was too light and washed out now it seems to be going the other way. The exposure and colours from the pixel.

Just look better to me. Here. Overall, I found the photos from the Razer phone 2, either too dark or too light, and just not as colourful but still definitely good enough. I think keep in mind were comparing with the best here many gamers, probably dont, even care that much. The rear camera is also capable of 4K 60 FPS video and in this example, Ive got the same clip shot on the Razer phone 2 and then on my Pixel 3 XL just for comparison., It was dark. So there is a fair amount of noise in both the shutter speed on the Razer. Presumably changes at times as flickering seems to come and go, but otherwise I dont really have a preference in terms of quality.. The front camera, on the other hand, is 8 megapixels with an f2.0 aperture and is capable of 1080p video at either 30 or 60 FPS.. This is what the front camera on the Pixel 3 looks like standing outside in the sun.. This is what the front camera on the Razer phone looks like in the same spot, and now this is what 60 FPS looks like and its zoomed. In close to my face because you get less quality, I guess. The video from the front camera on the Razer isnt great, quite washed out, but itll get the job done. If you need an emergency selfie., The 4000mAh battery is above average and another advantage to the larger size of the phone.

. It allows for long use – and I was averaging 2 3 days on one charge with medium use, but this will of course, vary based on your usage habits. For heavier use. I found that, while watching 1080p YouTube video with the screen on 50 brightness, it lasted for 7 hours and 53 minutes. Charging the phone from completely dead to 100, with quick charging took 2 hours and 3 minutes, and it got to 18 within the first 10 minutes. I wasnt able to test wireless charge times. As youd expect as a gaming phone. It was able to play current games well with high settings without any issues. Playing fortnite with epic settings went well, although personally, I still prefer using a mouse and keyboard.. I also got sent the Razer Raiju controller, although this isnt supported in games like Fortnite. Modern, Combat 5 was used with the controller, and it was a much better experience compared to using just the screen once you get used to it. Although the controller was a fair bit heavier with the phone on top, but this does mean you dont need to hold a warm phone. Heres how hot the phone got while playing getting to around 43 degrees Celsius towards the top. Then a little lower around the rest of the phone, so it was a little warm to the touch.. The vapor chamber is meant to allow heat, to spread out over the phone to improve cooling and reduce hot spots.

In this case, there was a 6 degree difference from hottest to coldest point on the back. Comparatively while just watching YouTube. It was still a little warm though it was more even now and cooler compared to while gaming. Razer have a list of officially supported games that have been tested and support the 120Hz ultramotion screen. Although they note the games may not necessarily run at 120 FPS.. This isnt a complete list either, but its worth keeping in mind that support for 120Hz seems to vary by game.. The phone comes with a mostly stock version of Android, with the Nova launcher. At the time of launch. It came with Android 8.1, however Razer since updated to Android 9.0 Pie from the 27th of February, which was used for the majority of the testing here.. The Pie update claims to improve battery life. App functionality provides 4K 60 FPS, video, shooting and more, but I didnt do before, and after tests., With the exception of Razers custom, glowing green icons and a few Razer apps, such as Chroma and Cortex. This feels very much like a stock android device. For up to date, pricing check the links in the description, as prices will change over time. At the time of recording here in Australia. The Razer Phone 2 sells for 1250 AUD about the same as the Pixel 3 XL. I compared with., Starting on the 1st of March 2019. Razer are offering limited time pricing at 899 AUD, but I dont know how long that will last for.

In the US. It looks like it usually goes for around 800 USD, but also appears to have a current discount of 300 off, making it 500 USD and much more competitive.. So what did you guys think about the Razer Phone 2? Overall, I found it to provide a great gaming experience, at least for a phone. Its got nice specs inside and the 120Hz screen makes movement super fluid. However, as discussed this cant be utilized by all games., The speakers are great and its got a fairly large battery too, which should help out during those longer gaming sessions.. The phone definitely prioritizes gamers as it should given its a gaming phone, and while it has other features that other phones have theyre, not as good as the competition, such as the cameras which were lacking compared to other phones around the same price point.. Otherwise, the only issues I had were that its on the heavier side and while under load, it did get warm, though again, not surprising, for a mobile device, while gaming. The price seems a bit high too, but with the current discounts in price, it seems much more Reasonable., Let me know what you thought of the Razer Phone 2 down in the comments and, if youre new here dont forget to subscribe for future tech.