One year after the first model, the Razer Phone 2 is official

In November 2017, Razer presented its first smartphone for mobile gamers. This morning, his replacement was unveiled, as planned. A successor improved on many points, even if it does not appear at first glance.

Almost a year ago , at the beginning of November, Razer presented what would be a precursor: the first mobile for gamers. Although Razer's proposal with this first smartphone was more multimedia than pure gaming, other manufacturers took the opportunity to create terminals for this growing segment: Honor, Nubia, Xiaomi and more recently Asus. This first mobile was called the Razer Phone, simply.

Same recipe. Updated ingredients

Almost a year to the day (to three weeks), Razer returns, as announced in the official teasers, with a second version of the Razer Phone, simply called Razer Phone 2. Why complicated? This Razer Phone 2 is a pure replacement, updating the original recipe and refining certain aspects, especially in terms of design, still inherited from the acquisition of Nextbit.

The hull is now made of mineral glass at the front and back, offering the smartphone compatibility with Qi wireless charging accessories. And the mobile is now IP67 certified. At the back, you can also see the brand logo (the three serpents intertwined). This logo is now backlit with LEDs that can change color. This is a detail for PC gamers. Finally, the double photo sensor has changed places.

IGZO screen brighter

The metal always protects the slices. The fingerprint reader is still integrated. At the front, we find the double front speaker certified Dolby Atmos and THX. These two speakers surround a nearly identical screen, an IPS IGZO slab of 5.72 inches (compared to 5.7 inches) in 16 / 9th format. The definition is always QHD for a resolution that hardly moves. The protective glass is Gorilla 5 from Corning. The refresh rate always rises to 120 Hz. And the maximum brightness has been doubled to 650 nits.

Inside, the chipset is obviously the Snapdragon 845 from Qualcomm (replacing the Snapdragon 835), always accompanied by 8 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage, expandable by microSDXC. No change here. A cooling system has been built in to prevent overheating, even when play games drag on. The battery, Quick Charge 4+ compatible, still offers a capacity of 4000 mAh. Again Razer did not wish to make any changes. The connectivity is also identical, or almost with the Bluetooth connection that goes from version 4.2 to version 5.0. LTE, WiFi ac, NFC, USB type-C, hi-fi audio chipset: all this remains as is. And the 3.5mm jack is still missing, Razer offering this year again the adapter for analog headsets.

Already in preorder

Photo side, few changes here too. The double 12 + 12 megapixel sensor with optical zoom is back here. The only major differences between the versions of the two terminals is the inclusion this year of a Dual Pixel autofocus (sort of enhanced phase detection) and an optical image stabilizer. In video, the Razer Phone 2 is now able to shoot in 2160p at 60 frames per second (twice as much as last year) and rises to 120 frames per second in 1080p for slow motion mode. In addition, it captures the sound in stereo. At the front, no change: the 8-megapixel webcam is back.

The Razer Phone 2 runs on Android 8.1 Oreo, the brand confirming its upcoming migration to Pie. It is 8.5 mm thick (0.5 mm enbompoint). And it will be available in one color, black, but in two finishes, satin and mirror. The Razer Phone 2 is already in pre-order on the site of Razer (whose French version). It will cost in Europe 850 euros. And his arrival in the store is not expected until November.