ISSUE 45 • ANDROID ADVISOR 53HANDS-ONThe chassis is aluminium and has a nice, tactile feel
in my hand. I’ve never been a fan of all-glass phones,
so I’m glad to see Razer lean into what it knows. It
also feels like a tank that could easily withstand some
drops – much like LG’s V20. It was dense without
feeling too weighty.
The back of the phone is one solid piece of
aluminium, disrupted only by Razer’s snake logo in
the middle and a camera bump at the top. The edges
show a glimpse of antenna lines, but they blend in
well. On the front of the Razer Phone is a dual speaker
grille – again, like the Razer Blade – with notches
taken out for the front-facing camera and sensors.
Phone audio with a punch
The Razer Phone’s dual speaker grille and stereo
speaker configuration are not a first by any means,
but I’d be hard-pressed to find a louder setup on
any phone! Each speaker has its own amp, allowing
the Phone to be pushed to higher decibels without
distortion. I’m currently using a Google Pixel 2 XL
(which also has dual front-facing speakers), and side
by side it’s no contest: The Razer Phone blew the
Pixel out of the water at the highest levels.
Sadly, the Razer Phone does not include a
headphone jack, and I’m not a fan of this decision.
It especially makes no sense when Razer makes a
number of high-quality headphones that still support
this format. Razer does offer a couple of headphone
options that support Apple’s Lightning connector, so
I’m hoping the company releases USB-C support in
the future. Until then we are stuck with dongles.