Razer - best known for its psychedelic gaming peripherals - surprised everyone by launching a "gaming smartphone" at the end of last year. Of course, Australia being Australia, we didn't see it until July, and even then, it wasn't widely available.
It's now almost been a year since the original Razer Phone was announced the company has a follow up: the Razer Phone 2. This time around, Australia will be one of the initial launch markets, and you'll even be grab the Razer Phone 2 on a plan through Optus come November.
Razer claims its new flagship isn't just a smartphone, but a dedicated gaming device - something it says there's a demand thanks the boost mobile gaming has gotten from titles like Fortnite and PUBG. In addition to plenty of beefy hardware under the hood, Razer says the Phone 2 has been designed for landscape usage first, with a symmetrical design and front-facing stereo-speakers that aren't blocked when you're playing. To accomplish this, the Razer Phone 2's fingerprint reader lives in a power button on the side.
The Razer Phone 2 also has quite a unique screen: it's 5.72-inch Quad HD panel has a 120Hz refresh rate, which all motion on the phone look smoother. Even scrolling through web pages in Chrome was gloriously silky. If it's too smooth - high refresh rates and video can look unnatural - you also set the display to a more standard 60Hz.
This time around, the screen is said to be 50% brighter, and there's Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and back. Razer being Razer, the Phone 2 features a "Chroma lighting" LED logo on the back that you can light up in any colour you want - there's literally 16.8 million options to choose from. In addition to looking pretty, you can also configure the logo to light up whenever you get a notification.
Key specifications for the Razer Phone 2 include a 5.72-inch Quad HD display, a Snapdragon 845 processor, 8GB of RAM, 64GB of expandable storage, IP67 water-resistance, dual 12MP rear-facing cameras, and a 4,000mAh battery with quick charging. The Razer Phone 2 will ship what Razer says is a "close to pure" version of Android Oreo, with just a few additional apps included out of the box. It will be upgraded to Pie, but there's no set date yet.
Unfortunately, the Razer Phone 2 has no headphone jack, but you do get a USB Type-C to 3.5mm dongle in the box.
While Razer has kitted out its latest with pretty powerful hardware, the Phone 2 also runs Game Booster software that can "optimise performance and battery life on any game". Options include changing what resolution and frame rate games run at, adjusting performance to save battery life, and anti-aliasing for 3D graphics.
Exact local pricing and availability have yet to be confirmed, but we should see the Razer Phone 2 pop up on plans through Optus in early November, and outright on Razer's online store. For reference, the original Razer Phone launched at $1,099 here.
Alex Choros
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