Razer Phone Officially Announced

[dizmo]

3 minutes ago, Droidbot said:

There's a 32-bit/192kHz DAC inside the SoC, and Amp+Jack wouldn't take up that much space. 

 

Plus they made the dumb move of putting the componentry for the jack inside the adapter instead of using the SoC DAC and running the USBC port in analog passthrough, which is supported by the spec.. when the dumb end user loses it they gotta buy a new one which will cost them a pretty penny, ffs Razer. 

Each one of the speakers has its own amp as well.  Haha, is that what they meant by that? I heard that in one of the reviews but thought it must have been a mistake because it's such a stupid idea. I guess it's their way of making sure they get some revenue from after sales. That' sad.

 

[Mooshi]

7 hours ago, ScrappyZeDog said:

No 3.5mm Jack

 

Garbage.

 

*pets his V30's quad dac*

[ATFink]

3 hours ago, dizmo said:

• Anyone can spend $20 or less and get Bluetooth in their car.
• The speakers/amps are likely to blame for the lack of a headphone jack, plus ease of design, and a relatively green team.
• People like the iPhone X because it's an Apple product. Plain and simple. It's nice, for sure, but there's always going to be hype around their products
• There are loads of phones that don't offer waterproofing, and honestly it's not that big of a deal. It's still more of a nicety than a necessity.
• The phone's meant to look like that. They just reused the Robin 2, and put their own branding on it. I'd be interested to see what they came up with if they'd designed it on their own. Given their laptops, I'd guess something Apple inspired.

1: Agreed. It's not expensive but I don't know many people that go out of their way to modify the interface in their cars unless they're teens trying to install a sub woofer. My point is that I don't think there is a terribly large market of people that modifies the sound system in their cars (again, except for teens installing sub woofers and the occasional other).

 

2: There probably was a lot of ease of design in that phone considering it's just a brick. That's not a knock on the engineers considering this is Razer's first phone. I'm speaking in a relative since compared to other phone manufacturing giants. Obviously phones are hard to design due to small size constraints. I'm speaking about in a relative sense there have been less generations to optimize and therefore less man hours available to put into the design of the phone. That results in what should be a less efficient use of space with the phone's internals. Still, there is no headphone jack at the end of the day.

 

3: I agree there is an Apple Cult, but every brand has some kind of following. Apple just has a larger one than normal. I still maintain my point that a big draw to the phone is the fact that it does have a very nice design. From a modern looking brightly lit store, to the website, to the phone itself everything about apple has a high level of aesthetic appeal. Hell, even the box the iPhone/iAnything comes in is a nice, clean looking box. There is no doubt that aesthetic is one of the traits that makes Apple appealing.

 

4: I agree that it's a nicety, but in a super competitive phone market like there is today (especially at the $700 USD level) niceties will be the tie breaker. Here are some alternative phones similar in price (or way cheaper unless otherwise stated) that are at the very least water resistant: iPhone 7, 8, and X (not so similar in price for the X), LG G6, LG V30 (not so similar in price), Samsung Galaxy S7 and S8, HTC U11, Motorolar G series phone that are 3rd gen and up... including all the different variations of each base phone I listed above there are probably 20 or more phones to choose from that are at least waterproof.

 

5: Fair enough, I didn't know it was based on the Robin 2. I thought it looked similar but wasn't sure and didn't research.

[dizmo]

1 minute ago, ATFink said:

1: Agreed. It's not expensive but I don't know many people that go out of their way to modify the interface in their cars unless they're teens trying to install a sub woofer. -snip-

 

2: There probably was a lot of ease of design in that phone considering it's just a brick.  -snip-

 

3: I agree there is an Apple Cult, but every brand has some kind of following. -snip-

 

4: I agree that it's a nicety, but in a super competitive phone market like there is today (especially at the $700 USD level) niceties will be the tie breaker. -snip-

1. Oh, the BT transmitter doesn't work like that. You plug it into the cigarette lighter and it transmits it through an unused FM signal. No modification required.
2. It's Razers first phone, but it's the second phone designed by the team that made it. It's basically the second version of the phone the company was going to put out, Razer just slapped their logo on it. I believe they also did extensive heatsink work, which I imagine would take up quite a bit of that valuable space.
3. Couldn't agree more. Apple has always made beautiful hardware, for the most part. I've never been a fan of the huge chin and forehead, and with this phone the overly large cut out.
4. Yeah, but none of those have super powerful front facing speakers. Which, as you said, is a tie breaker for some. Everyone has different needs, that's why there's such a large pool of phones to choose from. There are loads of phones in the same space that don't have waterproofing. Don't get me wrong, I wish it did have it, but it does have other features to make up for it, unlike say the Essential Phone.

[dizmo]

41 minutes ago, Mooshi said:

Garbage.

*pets his V30's quad dac*

You got the V30?

[ATFink]

9 minutes ago, dizmo said:

1. Oh, the BT transmitter doesn't work like that. You plug it into the cigarette lighter and it transmits it through an unused FM signal. No modification required.
2. It's Razers first phone, but it's the second phone designed by the team that made it. It's basically the second version of the phone the company was going to put out, Razer just slapped their logo on it. I believe they also did extensive heatsink work, which I imagine would take up quite a bit of that valuable space.
3. Couldn't agree more. Apple has always made beautiful hardware, for the most part. I've never been a fan of the huge chin and forehead, and with this phone the overly large cut out.
4. Yeah, but none of those have super powerful front facing speakers. Which, as you said, is a tie breaker for some. Everyone has different needs, that's why there's such a large pool of phones to choose from. There are loads of phones in the same space that don't have waterproofing. Don't get me wrong, I wish it did have it, but it does have other features to make up for it, unlike say the Essential Phone.

1: I didn't know it was that simple. My car has BT and (like I stated in my original comment) I never use it. Thanks for the notice.

 

2: OK. I don't recall the Robin 2 being a smashing success, but I'll admit I was wrong about the phone being the first generation if it's essentially an updated and Razer badged Robin. Again, Thanks for the information.

 

4: I concede. Phones would be very boring if they're were all slightly modified copies of each other.

 

EDIT: Thank for you time responding to my concerns @dizmo

[dizmo]

2 minutes ago, ATFink said:

1: I didn't know it was that simple. My car has BT and (like I stated in my original comment) I never use it. Thanks for the notice.

 

2: OK. I don't recall the Robin 2 being a smashing success, but I'll admit I was wrong about the phone being the first generation if it's essentially an updated and Razer badged Robin. Again, Thanks for the information.

 

4: I concede. Phones would be very boring if they're were all slightly modified copies of each other.

It wasn't, but it was marketed as a "cloud phone" and I think that had a lot of people confused and thus turned off of the device. It also had a more "cute" build to it, which wasn't that great, and had older hardware.

Haha, I think that's why I nerd out over them so much. Always different things happening, new designs and features being tried.

[Mooshi]

45 minutes ago, dizmo said:

You got the V30?

Si

[Commodus]

6 hours ago, TrigrH said:

There is zero valid reasons to remove a headphone jack in a smartphone. 

 

Phones don't need to be thinner.

Waterproofing? Ship it with a plug or something, it hasn't been an issue for phones anyway.

 

A headphone jack lets you connect to high end headphones at home and cheap disposable crap when you are on the go. Forcing wireless solutions or stupid adapters, just adds cost to the consumer for no reason. Its not like phones with headphone jacks don't have bluetooth.

I'm not saying that there are great reasons to yank the headphone jack.  It's more that people get so hung up on the absence of that jack that logic goes out the window.  Adapter in the box that's virtually painless to use?  Doesn't matter.  Phone is better than the one with the jack in a way you'd really appreciate?  Doesn't matter.  It reminds me of those people who still insist on an optical drive for their laptop... at a certain point, it goes from practical caution to refuse-to-adapt obsession.

[dizmo]

7 minutes ago, Mooshi said:

Si

How do you like it? It seems like the best phone to date this year. 

[Mooshi]

27 minutes ago, dizmo said:

How do you like it? It seems like the best phone to date this year. 

I checks off a lot more boxes than the Pixel 2 I was originally gonna get~

 

IP68 / 3.5mm jack w/ quad dac / wireless charging / expandable storage (recently dropped in a 128GB card) / fingerprint scanner in the right spot / good screen to bezel ratio

 

Bottom firing speaker is a downer, but phone audio was never fantastic so....

 

Overall I love it much more than the Nexus 6P it replaced!

[Mooshi]

1 hour ago, Commodus said:

I'm not saying that there are great reasons to yank the headphone jack.  It's more that people get so hung up on the absence of that jack that logic goes out the window.  Adapter in the box that's virtually painless to use?  Doesn't matter.  Phone is better than the one with the jack in a way you'd really appreciate?  Doesn't matter.  It reminds me of those people who still insist on an optical drive for their laptop... at a certain point, it goes from practical caution to refuse-to-adapt obsession.

My phone has a higher dust/waterproofing rating WITH the headphone jack than those that stripped it. There is no legit reason to remove it besides forcing an audio solution to rake in more cash. Apple's earpods and now Google's pixel buds are proof the only real reason is profit.

 

Optical drive analogy doesn't apply here. Audiophile equipment isn't going anywhere any time soon.

 

PS: dongles suck. they always have, always will. I've lost a charger for months before, a dinky little adapter seems so bad. 

[Dabombinable]

1 hour ago, Mooshi said:

My phone has a higher dust/waterproofing rating WITH the headphone jack than those that stripped it. There is no legit reason to remove it besides forcing an audio solution to rake in more cash. Apple's earpods and now Google's pixel buds are proof the only real reason is profit.

 

Optical drive analogy doesn't apply here. Audiophile equipment isn't going anywhere any time soon.

 

PS: dongles suck. they always have, always will. I've lost a charger for months before, a dinky little adapter seems so bad. 

If people liked dongles, we'd see far more dual ended USB drives in use as opposed to micro SD cards.

[snortingfrogs]

All Middle School kids right now..

 

[Trixanity]

8 hours ago, dizmo said:

They've said 2 years of updates. Not terribly surprising to launch with Nougat.

I don't think it makes sense to wait for a new SD chip. Especially since it'd likely be longer than that, given Samsung gets first dibs again. If you're waiting 8 months, why not wait another 12 and get the 855? Or another year and get the 865?

2 years of updates, Oreo in Q1. It's been mentioned.

I don't think they should have. That's a massive delay, plus Samsung already has dibs on the first batch. 

Weak arguments.

 

Anyone can say two years of updates. It's the asterisk you should consider. Many companies say two years which amounts to perhaps 1 OS update and a couple of security updates spaced out over two years. They've technically held up their end of the bargain by doing so.

 

It's not surprising it's launching with Nougat. However it's stupid and other companies have launched with Oreo months ago. It's an excuse. And it allows them to count Oreo as an OS update so they can later say it has received two OS updates if it gets P and they kill support.

 

The 'why not wait X time then?' is so silly in this context. It's a yearly cycle and they're launching at the end of a cycle.

It's a chip being officially launched next month. Samsung has dibs but this time they're launching earlier (probably February or March) and has stabilized their 10 nm production. There is no reason to believe the shortage is as great as last year.

 

They're launching a gaming phone. They might as well launch it with the best performance instead of being bested next quarter by a company selling 20 times more flagship units if we're being generous to Razer. It means if you want the best gaming performance you better wait a couple of months and you know what you get. If they were focusing on anything else, it wouldn't matter. But they want to carve out this market and they're cutting so many corners to get there and get there now instead of making the best device they possibly can. Luckily they have people ready to buy it because of the logo on the back and they have people willing to make excuses for a sloppy rushed job.

The only good reason to launch now is because most companies wait till Q1 to launch so they can avoid being forgotten by launching now. However if they launch a subpar device like Essential did, they'll end up killing the business prematurely or having to discount it heavily to move units. And as I said: this looks rushed sprinkled with marketing buzz.

[Doobeedoo]

It's quite awesome. I knew they'd go 120Hz and that's amazing on a phone. Other specs are great as well and pretty much what I though it will have so good execution, specially with the price. 

[michaelocarroll007]

Ive been looking for a phone latley and Honestly i might consider this. I feel like most on here are really hating but it just doesnt seem that bad.

 

$700 is $250 lower then the note 8 $300 lower then the iphone X $150 lower then pixel 2xl $100 lower then lg V30.

 

Its Screen has a stand out feature at 120hz though not Small bezels/18:9

Dual Speakers every YT has said pretty much the best they've heard so far. 

4,000 mah Battery

8gb of ram. 

 

Cameras probably wont be the best and No waterproofing are the two biggest downfalls and 18:9 depending on peoples preferences.

It seems like they sort of hit the goal of what its targeting.

 

Its price seems right and not over priced. only phone i can think of is the one plus 5 but there not direct comparisons  but it was only $160 cheaper comparing 8gb to 8gb models.  had no dual speakers or 120hz screen. though id bet one plus cameras are better. also you cant buy a one plus 5 anymore right now currently. rumor is 5T is on way and they sold out early 

[michaelocarroll007]

4 hours ago, Trixanity said:

Weak arguments.

 

Anyone can say two years of updates. It's the asterisk you should consider. Many companies say two years which amounts to perhaps 1 OS update and a couple of security updates spaced out over two years. They've technically held up their end of the bargain by doing so.

 

It's not surprising it's launching with Nougat. However it's stupid and other companies have launched with Oreo months ago. It's an excuse. And it allows them to count Oreo as an OS update so they can later say it has received two OS updates if it gets P and they kill support.

 

The 'why not wait X time then?' is so silly in this context. It's a yearly cycle and they're launching at the end of a cycle.

It's a chip being officially launched next month. Samsung has dibs but this time they're launching earlier (probably February or March) and has stabilized their 10 nm production. There is no reason to believe the shortage is as great as last year.

 

They're launching a gaming phone. They might as well launch it with the best performance instead of being bested next quarter by a company selling 20 times more flagship units if we're being generous to Razer. It means if you want the best gaming performance you better wait a couple of months and you know what you get. If they were focusing on anything else, it wouldn't matter. But they want to carve out this market and they're cutting so many corners to get there and get there now instead of making the best device they possibly can. Luckily they have people ready to buy it because of the logo on the back and they have people willing to make excuses for a sloppy rushed job.

The only good reason to launch now is because most companies wait till Q1 to launch so they can avoid being forgotten by launching now. However if they launch a subpar device like Essential did, they'll end up killing the business prematurely or having to discount it heavily to move units. And as I said: this looks rushed sprinkled with marketing buzz.

 

Note series always launch without current software and charged 930-950 for the phone. by a mutibillion dollar company.

 

Android has a big not getting update problems if this is a huge concern id point you to pixel phone or Iphone

 

Launching now personally i think makes sense as its there first phone. waiting for the 845 wont work well due to Samsung rumored to do the same thing it did with the 835. getting all the hype cause its the "fastest" due to making a deal to have a short exclusive with it. so either way 835 or 845 they will be late to the party, and updating just the processor is all i see them doing next year keeping similar design like they do with the laptops so not a hard switch. 

 

 

My personal Opinion is for the price its decently competitive in the market.  phone prices are just going up & Up honestly i thought theyed charge 799-999 and it would fail. i think the 699 will make this phone have some sort of chance. waterproofing camera & not 18:9 are the only real reasons someone might not go for it but its cheaper then most phones that have that with a similar screen size.  120hz 4000mah dual speakers 8gb of ram is a reason someone might make thoese compromises and save a little $.

 

i think they have a chance here to carve out a small niche market for them selves where it might not be another essential phone  Design is boring but IMO all phones are becoming pretty similar in design as screens get bigger and bigger

 

 

TBH ive never owned a razer product so maybe im blind to how crappy there QC and products are but lot of people praise and bash them on build quality seems to be a bias AMD vs Nvidia debate typically.  never even seen a razer blade in person so cant really comment on it. 

[goodtofufriday]

Looks like the sony xperia line of phones

 

 

[kokakolia]

17 hours ago, Kobathor said:

cheaper to manufacture

Just thank Apple for this stupid trend of removing the headphone jack. Now all of the Chinese manufacturers are removing the headphone jack too. And some of them don't even include a dongle! 

 

So you have to order this questionable USB-C headphones jack dongle separately for $3. And they often break after several months. It's so annoying! 

[Silentprototipe]

Still not a Razer Toaster 

[iamdarkyoshi]

18 hours ago, ScrappyZeDog said:

No 3.5mm Jack

Was considering buying the phone, now I'm not.

[Rocko Modaro]

14 hours ago, Droidbot said:

can't wait for this to go down like the Nextbit Robin, LeEco phones, and Amazon Fire Phone

I bought the S3 actually, works damn great with mint sim. My 2005 sprint phone had a better camera tbh lol! Got mine for only $140 off Amazon too. But yeah, I get what u mean 

[Bananasplit_00]

if it wasent for the uggly as hell logo on it, i might have considerd it

[The Benjamins]

15 hours ago, Inkz said:

 

Now that you guys mention it, in theory that should work. I remember seeing only Nexus/Pixel/ Certain Moto phones, but that might be for the full capabilities. I might need it in my area because I live near a somewhat smaller city and I don't know how often it switches signals. Still good points. 

if you already have a fi phone, you can use a app called signal info to see when and how often is switched networks.