Razer Phone Hands-On: A Phone For Gamers But Not A Gaming Phone?

High-end features without a high-end price.

- Adam Patrick Murray

The Razer Phone (go.pcworld. com/rp) is a bit of a puzzle. It’s not surprising that it exists, given that Razer, best known for PC hard ware and peripherals, acquired smartphone maker Next bit in January of 2017 in order to produce this device. Nor is it surprising that, based on our hands-on time with the device at a recent briefing, the Phone seems to be equal parts Nextbit’s Robin (go.pcworld.com/epnr) and Razer’s laptop line, touting impressive specs at a reasonable price of $699.

What’s confusing is what it isn’t. Razer says this isn’t meant to be a gaming phone. Rather, it’s a phone for gamers, Razer fans, and Android enthusiasts, meaning it’s intended to deliver a great experience for all kinds of “content consumption,” not just gaming. But it’s a weird message when Razer’s core audience is gamers—and Razer is still pushing gaming partnerships that take advantage of the Razer Phone’s unique screen.

THE RAZER PHONE’S FIRST: A 120HZ SCREEN

The Razer Phone is packed with a 120Hz, 1440x2560, 5.72-inch LCD panel. If you’ve ever used a high frame rate PC display, you know the difference a faster refresh rate can have on simple tasks—not just games.

Thumbing through feeds, switching apps, and “consuming content” all felt super-smooth. I even got to track the refresh cycles with Razer’s own built-in version of FRAPS (yes, I asked, and yes, you can turn it on in the final version). The panel uses some of the same adaptive refresh technology as Nvidia’s Gsync and AMD’s Freesync, so when you’re idle you also aren’t wasting precious battery.