Razer Phone 2 review: A powerful gaming phone with a dash of flagship panache

Update, May 13: We compared the Razer Phone 2 to the Asus ROG, Nubia Red Magic Mars and Black Shark to see which is the best gaming phone. The in-depth testing covered everything from game play and processing power to cooling systems and screens. Read: Best phone for gaming in 2019: Razer 2 vs. Asus ROG, Nubia Red Magic Mars, Xiaomi Black Shark.

7.2

Razer Phone 2

The Good

The Razer Phone 2 adds IP67 water resistance, a brighter 120Hz screen and wireless charging. That's on top of its great gaming performance and amazing built-in speakers. It's also compatible with 2TB microSD cards for extra storage and runs a close-to-stock version of Android.

The Bad

Battery life is worse than the original Razer Phone, despite costing $100 more.

The Bottom Line

Short battery life and just OK photos undermine what is otherwise an amazing phone.

Last year's original Razer Phone entered the phone market like a cowboy through swinging doors at a saloon. It grabbed attention for its rectangular design, 120Hz screen and horsepower. But it lacked the polish and features of other flagship phones and was viewed as more of a "gaming phone" oddity.

The new Razer Phone 2 fixes those flagship gripes without losing the soul of the original. In fact, the new phone has the same "monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey" design vibe while adding IP67 water resistance, wireless charging, a camera portrait mode and an even brighter 120Hz screen.

However, all is not rosy with Razer's newest phone. "Flagship features" come at a cost, literally. The Razer Phone 2 costs $800 (or £780, which converts to AU$1,430). That nets you 64GB of storage, but it's $100 more than last year's Razer and puts the phone in the same price range as the Google Pixel 3 and iPhone XR. The phone is compatible with 2TB microSD cards, however, if you wish to expand the storage.

Its cameras have improved hardware, but image quality is just OK. Photos and videos currently suffer from moire and color banding.

Despite having a honking 4,000-mAh battery, the Razer Phone 2 performed poorly in CNET's battery test for continuous video playback on airplane mode. In real-world usage, however, it made it through a day of use -- including a few sessions of 120Hz gaming -- just fine.

If you live on a diet of movies and mobile video games, the Razer Phone 2 is worth a look. But if you want a great camera and a phone that can make it through more than a day on a charge, take a look at the cheaper OnePlus 6 or the Galaxy Note 9.

Watch this: Razer Phone 2 gets unboxed

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Razer Phone 2's boxy design gets Gorilla Glass 5 and a cool extra

The Razer Phone 2's blocky design won't be to everyone's liking, but I find it unique and alluring. The squared edges are reminiscent of the iPhone 5 and fit well in my hand, especially in landscape orientation. I have large hands, however, and in a smaller pair of mitts this phone might be more than a handful. I like that I can confidently stand the Razer Phone 2 on its side to watch a movie or capture a video.

And in case you're wondering, there's no notch. Instead, you'll find a chunky forehead and chin housing two of the loudest speakers I've ever heard on a phone. Seriously, play Bohemian Rhapsody or Liquid Swords by GZA from the Wu-Tang Clan, tap on that Dolby button, select Music -- and you're welcome. These speakers are all the more impressive when you consider they were completely redesigned to make the phone IP67 water-resistant.

The phone has a cool chroma logo on the back that isn't just there for looks: It actually glows when you get notifications. So when new texts or Snapchat messages come in, the logo lights up. You can also customize the color, brightness of the glow and determine whether it's static or not. There's an idle mode in which the logo brightens and dims as if the phone is breathing -- it lured several coworkers to my desk with its visual siren song.

The Gorilla Glass 5 back allows for wireless charging which is made all the more fun if you buy the $99 Razer Phone 2 wireless charger. Place your phone on the stand and the edges of the base light up like Rainbow Road from Mario Kart. I get so much enjoyment and satisfaction from using the Razer Phone 2 wireless charging dock.

Check out the Razer Phone 2 and its chic boxy frame

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See all photos

Update, Nov. 15: Following a firmware update, we retested the Razer Phone 2 and found improvement in the overall image quality of photos and in the stability of the native camera app. 

The camera is better than the original, but...

The dual-rear cameras contain new sensors and the main camera now has optical image stabilization. The second camera is telephoto and is used for 2x optical zoom and portrait mode photos. In good light, photos and videos are better than the ones from the original Razer Phone.

There are four camera modes: photos, videos, portrait and beauty. I like the simplicity of the camera app's layout, but it's missing one of my favorite things on most Android phones: Pro Mode.

Here are some shots we took before Razer applied its software update.

Portrait mode photos look decent and have a natural-looking separation of the foreground and background. People's skin looks natural without appearing overly soft, as it can appear on other phones. 

Enlarge Image

Now, with Razer's new software, the image quality has improved. I don't find color banding or moire in photos post-update, and HDR photos look good. The default camera app, which was buggy when I first tested the phone, seems much faster and didn't freeze up when taking portrait photos.

Here are some photos shot with the Razer Phone 2 post-update:

Razer Phone 2 is branded for gaming

Throughout testing this phone I pondered what made this a gaming phone. Perhaps the screen? It's twice as bright as the original and refreshes 120 times a second, which is twice as fast as nearly any other phone. The screen works great for many games to reduce motion blur and give you that hundredth of a second edge in gameplay. It makes scrolling through websites and apps look spectacular. Android animations and effects look extra smooth.

I played a few 120Hz games like Gear: Club and Mini Dayz and everything looked smoother, and was more responsive. Razer's Cortex app has a feature called Game Booster, which lets you optimize the phone for performance or battery life. I liked having the option to switch the setup for different games. The app also features a section for 120Hz with titles such as Evolved 2, Mini Metro, Unkilled and Mini Dayz.

The processor, RAM and "vapor-chamber cooling system" make it as fast, if not slightly faster than the Galaxy Note 9 and OnePlus 6. But it comes nowhere near the performance of the iPhone XS, at least in the benchmarks we ran. Check out the results of our performance tests below.

When it comes to game controls, the Razer Phone 2 doesn't bring anything new to the table. You're left with onscreen joysticks and buttons. The upcoming Asus ROG Phone uses squeezable corners to add left and right trigger buttons for games played in landscape. That solution appears to be a more explicit attempt to address the needs of gamers looking for more of a gamepad style of control.

Razer does have one trick up its sleeve: the Raiju Mobile game controller, sold separately. It works with any Android phone, not just the Razer, and will be available to purchase later this year. No word on pricing yet.

Razer Phone 2 battery is the least impressive part

The Razer Phone 2 has a 4,000-mAh battery that lasted only 9 hours, 16 minutes in CNET's battery test. This figure didn't change with the software update. The original Razer lasted 11 hours, 32 minutes, which wasn't that great either, considering other phones with a battery this large last 15 hours or more. After Razer updated the phone to Android 9 Pie, the battery life got a huge bump. In the same test it after the update it lasted 10 hours and 31 minutes.

In daily use, however, it had no problem getting through a long day.

Currently it runs a near-stock version of Android 8.1 and I'm curious if the battery life will improve after the phone is upgraded to Android Pie.