Display

Update, Nov 13: We've updated this page with new test findings following a retest of the Razer phone after we discovered that some of the previously published test results of max brightness and color rendering were not at their best due to a software glitch.

Razer talks the big talk when it comes its 5.7-inch mobile display. In keeping with "PC master race" traditions, the screen in question has plenty of titles and figures to throw around: ULTRAMOTION, 120Hz, IGZO, Wide Color Gamut. Also In keeping with some less than admirable PC marketing habits, Razer also made a few bold claims regarding the panel on stage: "The ultimate in mobile entertainment", "The world's first 120Hz ULTRAMOTION display".

While the latter could technically be considered true, solely on the grounds of the new ULTRAMOTION branding, it stung quite a bit, since SHARP has been manufacturing high refresh rate mobile screens for some time now and even shipping them to suppliers of lesser known devices that never made it to our part of the world.

But, technicalities aside, it is a fact that the Android realm has been stuck with 60Hz panels for quite some time now and it was only recently that the glorious smoothness of high refresh rate reached parts of Apple's lineup as well. This is probably the most revolutionary aspect of the Razer Phone and almost definitely the first one users are going to notice once they pick up the phone for the first time.

Within the main phone UI, Razer managed to achieve fluent frame rates all the way up to 120 - just enough to saturate the maximum 120Hz refresh rate of the panel.

Every animation and every scroll looks much smoother and makes it feel like we're witnessing some extra processing power.

In reality, the Snapdragon 835 powering the Razer Phone is just as powerful as that on other flagships. But once you experience the smoothness of the high refresh rate operation, you would wish you would never have to look back to conventional displays.

Notice that we are not talking about a constant increase to 120Hz since ULTRAMOTION technology is based on a variable refresh rate, quite similar to Nvidia G-Sync or AMD Freesync. At every given moment, the screen refresh rate adapts to match framrate that the GPU outputs resulting in an ultra smooth motion.

This is what actually makes for a smooth and fluent experience, since you essentially get to see every frame the GPU pushes out, instead of having the panel display the same frame over and over as it waits for the GPU to catch up to 60Hz or be overwhelmed by more than one frame and start tearing the image when you hit above 60fps.

And this syncing is important since there is not much Razer can do to guarantee consistently high framerates in all the millions of apps and games that are currently available for Android.

Another thing only the gaming-enthusiast part of our audience might be familiar with is IGZO technology. This might get a bit technical but bear with us for a moment. A modern flat-panel display, LCD or OLED, is generally comprised of multiple very thin layers. These can include polarisers, light diffusers and many others, but one common part is the so-called thin-film transistors (TFT for short). It is a layer of transistors that allows pixels to be turned on and off. In most panels, this layer is comprised of amorphous silicon or aSi - a material that is not transparent by nature, but gets etched thin enough for light to still be able to pass through it, so that the display can actually, well, display things.

This is where IGZO comes in, it is an acronym for "indium gallium zinc oxide" - a transparent alternative to aSi that's better at passing light through. Manufacturers can thus leverage IGZO technology in one of two ways: either boost the maximum brightness of a panel or lower the power consumption necessary to achieve some desired brightness level.

Razer seems to have opted for the latter since the Razer phone has one of the dimmest screens we have ever seen. Its brightness maxes out at just 300 nits (on both 60 and 120 Hz modes). There is no brightness overdrive mode either, so you are stuck with this subpar result. Contrast is very good, though, thanks to the deep blacks, but overall those are not flagship-grade numbers for sure.

Display test 100% brightness Black, cd/m2 White, cd/m2 Contrast ratio Samsung Galaxy Note8 (Max Auto) 0 850 ∞ Nokia 8 0.382 703 1840 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Max auto 0 647 ∞ LG V30 (Max Auto) 0.032 616 19250 HTC U11 (Max Auto) 0.373 583 1563 Sony Xperia XZ Premium (sRGB) 0.48 576 1200 Sony Xperia XZ Premium 0.463 573 1238 LG G6 max auto 0.277 564 2036 Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 (Increased Contrast) 0.4 515 1287 HTC U11 0.308 483 1568 Google Pixel 2 XL 0 482 ∞ LG G6 0.228 468 2053 Samsung Galaxy S8+ 0 442 ∞ Huawei Mate 10 Pro (vivid) 0 440 ∞ OnePlus 5 0 435 ∞ Huawei Mate 10 (vivid) 0.314 433 1379 Google Pixel 2 0 428 ∞ Huawei Mate 10 Pro (normal) 0 422 ∞ Huawei Mate 10 (normal) 0.3 415 1383 LG V30 0.002 414 207000 Samsung Galaxy Note8 0 412 ∞ Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 0.379 387 1020 Razer Phone (updated) 0.251 300 1195

On the flip side though, we can only assume Razer is saving quite a bit of power by running its IGZO display so dim. There is a major power saving aspect to the ULTRAMOTION variable refresh rate technology as well. While Razer does allow you to set a desired refresh rate in the settings: 60Hz, 90Hz or 120Hz, doing so does not fix the refresh rate at that number. Since it is variable, when there is nothing happening on screen, the phone can theoretically lower its refresh rate all the way down to 1Hz, also reducing the panel's power consumption.

While on the topic, Razer also allows resolution change. Natively, the display runs at QHD, but you can also set it to run at 1080p or even 270p. In the past, we have already determined that doing so has little battery life benefits and the case was the same here. So, our first guess was that this could help with frame rates, so we can saturate that 120Hz refresh rate as best we can. As it turns out, this is not entirely true either.

We will get into more detail in the performance section, but as it turns out, most game engines can't really come close to the 120fps mark by design, no matter how much you lower resolution. Some even stop functioning correctly, especially if you start applying resolution and frame rate tweaks on a per-title level through Razer's Game Booster app.

As for colors, the Razer Phone is very accurate, with a maximum deltaE of 4.8 (point white) and an average of 2 when compared to the sRGB color space. There are no color profiles or custom adjustments available but that's okay as DeltaE of 2 is incredibly accurate. Razer supports Wide color gamut but it's not something readily perceivable with the naked eye.

Unfortunately, due to the relatively low max brightness, the 5.7-inch IGZO display, it should come as no surprise that it failed to impress in the sunlight legibility department too. You really shouldn't count on any outdoor gaming sessions.

Sunlight contrast ratio

Apple iPhone X

5.013

Samsung Galaxy S8

4.768

Samsung Galaxy S8+

4.658

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+

4.615

Motorola Moto Z2 Play

4.459

Oppo R11

4.454

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge

4.439

OnePlus 3

4.424

Samsung Galaxy S7

4.376

HTC One A9

4.274

Samsung Galaxy Note7

4.247

Samsung Galaxy A3

4.241

Nokia 8

4.239

Google Pixel 2 XL

4.234

OnePlus 3T

4.232

Google Pixel XL

4.164

ZTE Axon 7

4.154

Samsung Galaxy Note8

4.148

Meizu Pro 7 Plus

4.147

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge

4.124

Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)

4.124

Huawei Mate 10 Pro (normal)

4.096

Samsung Galaxy Note5

4.09

Google Pixel 2

4.023

LG V30

4.022

Huawei Nexus 6P

4.019

OnePlus X

3.983

Vivo Xplay5 Elite

3.983

Oppo R7s

3.964

Apple iPhone 7

3.964

Apple iPhone 8 (True Tone)

3.957

Huawei P9 Plus

3.956

Meizu Pro 6 Plus

3.935

Lenovo Moto Z

3.931

Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)

3.918

OnePlus 5

3.914

Samsung Galaxy C5

3.911

Samsung Galaxy C7

3.896

Samsung Galaxy A5

3.895

Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor

3.879

Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor

3.873

Samsung Galaxy A8

3.859

Sony Xperia XZs

3.818

Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)

3.817

Motorola Moto X (2014)

3.816

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)

3.812

Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)

3.804

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode

3.802

Xiaomi Redmi Pro

3.798

LG V20 Max auto

3.798

Sony Xperia XZ

3.795

Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)

3.789

Apple iPhone 6s

3.783

Meizu Pro 5

3.781

Microsoft Lumia 650

3.772

Xiaomi Mi 6

3.767

Sony Xperia XZ1

3.765

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)

3.756

Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact

3.729

Apple iPhone 8 Plus (True Tone)

3.725

Oppo F1 Plus

3.709

Vivo X5Pro

3.706

Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)

3.688

Apple iPhone SE

3.681

Huawei Mate 9

3.68

Samsung Galaxy A7

3.679

Meizu PRO 6

3.659

BlackBerry Priv

3.645

Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra

3.597

Apple iPhone 7 Plus

3.588

LG G6

3.556

Apple iPhone 6s Plus

3.53

Motorola Moto Z Play

3.526

Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)

3.523

Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode

3.523

Acer Jade Primo

3.521

Microsoft Lumia 950

3.512

Oppo R7 Plus

3.499

nubia Z11

3.466

Huawei P10 Plus

3.456

HTC U Ultra

3.453

Samsung Galaxy J7

3.422

Meizu MX5

3.416

LG V20

3.402

Huawei P10

3.379

Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)

3.378

Oppo R9s

3.352

Honor 8 Pro

3.341

Oppo R7

3.32

Lenovo P2

3.316

Honor 9

3.289

Xiaomi Mi 5s

3.276

Nokia 5

3.261

Nokia 6 (Chinese version)

3.244

Nokia 6 (Global version)

3.238

Samsung Galaxy J2

3.235

Sony Xperia X Performance

3.234

Xiaomi Mi Note 2

3.228

Motorola Moto X Play

3.222

Oppo F3 Plus

3.218

Huawei Mate 9 Pro

3.206

Huawei P9

3.195

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2

3.19

ZTE Nubia Z17

3.159

Lenovo Vibe Shot

3.113

Motorola Moto X Force

3.105

LG Nexus 5X

3.092

HTC U11

3.089

Huawei Mate S

3.073

Microsoft Lumia 640 XL

3.065

Sony Xperia XA1

3.012

Sony Xperia L1

2.994

Huawei P10 Lite

2.974

Samsung Galaxy Note

2.97

Sony Xperia Z1

2.95

Huawei Mate 8

2.949

Xiaomi Redmi 4

2.92

Xiaomi Redmi 3S

2.913

Sony Xperia XA Ultra

2.906

LG G5

2.905

HTC One S

2.901

Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime

2.893

Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus

2.884

Sony Xperia XZ Premium (sRGB)

2.877

Sony Xperia XZ Premium

2.877

Sony Xperia Z5

2.876

Nokia 3

2.871

Microsoft Lumia 550

2.851

Lenovo Moto M

2.813

Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro

2.803

Sony Xperia Z5 compact

2.784

Meizu MX6

2.751

LG V10

2.744

Huawei Mate 10 (normal)

2.742

Xiaomi Redmi 3

2.735

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)

2.714

Meizu M5

2.71

Sony Xperia M5

2.69

Xiaomi Mi A1

2.689

Huawei P9 Lite

2.679

Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime

2.679

Vivo V3Max

2.659

Xiaomi Mi Mix

2.658

Doogee Mix

2.642

Xiaomi Mi 4i

2.641

Xiaomi Redmi 4a

2.635

Xiaomi Mi 5X (Standard)

2.616

Sony Xperia XA

2.609

Motorola Moto G4 Plus

2.582

Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)

2.582

Meizu M5s

2.58

Xiaomi Mi 4c

2.574

LeEco Le Max 2

2.567

Microsoft Lumia 640

2.563

Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL

2.563

Xiaomi Mi Max 2

2.561

Motorola Moto G 4G

2.546

Lenovo Moto G4

2.544

Lenovo K6 Note

2.544

Oppo F1

2.528

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium

2.525

Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c

2.506

Sony Xperia M4 Aqua

2.503

Oppo F1s

2.481

Motorola Moto G

2.477

Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus

2.473

Huawei G8

2.471

Huawei nova

2.467

Lenovo Vibe K5

2.459

Meizu m3 max

2.447

Xiaomi Mi 5X (Auto)

2.417

HTC 10 evo

2.407

Huawei Honor 7

2.406

Sony Xperia E5

2.386

ZUK Z1 by Lenovo

2.382

HTC 10

2.378

Oppo F3

2.376

vivo V5 Plus

2.371

Meizu m1 note

2.362

Huawei nova plus

2.329

Razer Phone

2.328

HTC One E9+

2.305

Alcatel One Touch Hero

2.272

Apple iPhone 4S

2.269

Lenovo Vibe K4 Note

2.254

Sony Xperia C5 Ultra

2.253

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)

2.249

Sony Xperia C4 Dual

2.235

Xiaomi Mi Note

2.234

Motorola Moto G (2014)

2.233

LG Nexus 5

2.228

Huawei P8

2.196

Meizu M5 Note

2.189

Huawei Honor 6

2.169

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2

2.166

OnePlus Two

2.165

HTC One X

2.158

LG Aka

2.145

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (X20)

2.145

Archos 50 Diamond

2.134

Xiaomi Redmi Note

2.119

Xiaomi Mi 4S

2.095

Acer Liquid X2

2.084

Huawei P8lite

2.078

vivo V5

2.059

Moto G 3rd gen max manual

2.026

Xiaomi Mi 3

2.001

Xiaomi Mi Max

1.996

Sony Xperia E4g

1.972

OnePlus One

1.961

Meizu m3 note

1.923

BlackBerry Leap

1.892

Meizu m2 note

1.892

HTC Butterfly

1.873

Sony Xperia Z1 Compact

1.772

ZTE Nubia Z9 mini

1.759

Sony Xperia U

1.758

Asus Zenfone Selfie

1.68

Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)

1.675

ZTE Nubia Z9

1.659

Jolla Jolla

1.605

Motorola Moto E

1.545

Sony Xperia M

1.473

Sony Xperia L

1.351

Xiaomi Redmi 2

1.311

HTC Desire C

1.3

Meizu MX

1.221

Sony Xperia E

1.215

Battery Life

After that pretty gloomy screen chapter, the Razer Phone finds itself in desperate need of some restitution. Its massive 4,000mAh battery shows plenty of potential on paper. Considering all the supposed energy-saving factors we discussed in the displayed chapter, we were really hoping for a spectacular battery endurance rating. Unfortunately, this is not quite what the numbers show.

It appears that even with the lowered max brightness, the high refresh rate panel is really power hungry, to the point where it dragged both of our on-screen tests down pretty badly. Seven hours of web browsing is far from acceptable in a 2017 flagship. Especially one with such a massive battery. The thing is, every time you scroll a page, the phone has to work extra hard to push 120 fps to saturate the panel's refresh rate.

However, there seems to be more to it than that, since the H264 MP4 video we use for our playback tests is encoded at 30 frames per second. Hence, if you just let it play without constantly messing with controls, the panel maintains its variable refresh rate equally low (30Hz).

Still, that didn't help the Razer Phone surpass the seven and a half hour mark, so our only logical conclusion is that the fancy new 120Hz, IGZO panel is power hungry, no matter how hard it is pushed. So, there go our hopes of any power efficiency benefits.

However, for the sake of thoroughness and after reading the multiple requests you left in our comments, we redid our tests with the refresh rate setting fixed to 60Hz. The similar numbers only solidified our conclusion.

And this is not a case of bad implementation on the Snapdragon 835 chip either. Its 3G call time endurance is solid and so is its standby time of a little over 270 hours. So, the display is definitely the culprit here - battery life is really disappointing with screen-on tasks.

Charging the Razer Phone, however, is impressively fast thanks to the Quick Charge 4+ technology. We managed to get our review unit from 0% all the way up to 70% in just half an hour. And this is a 4,000mAh battery we are talking about.

That being said, wireless charging is a notable omission from the Razer Phone high-end specs list.

Connectivity

In terms of connectivity, the Razer Phone is pretty much in lockstep with the rest of the 2017 flagship crowd. Well, perhaps, minus the omission of a 3.5mm audio jack. The latter is particularly annoying since the Razer Phone doesn't really appear to be all that pressed for room. If it had space for two AMPs, it definitely should have managed a standard jack.

Another omission is dual-SIM support. The Razer Phone can only take a single nano-SIM card, although arguably, this should be less of an issue for fans than the lack of an analog audio output.

Other than that, the powerful X16 LTE modem inside the Snapdragon 835 chipset supports 21 LTE bands, which should have you duly covered. If not, there are six HSPDA ones to fall back to as well. And if all else fails, quad-band GSM support.

Theoretical download speeds of Cat.16 mean up to 1GBps. 4x20 MHz carrier aggregation is another great bonus to enjoy, provided your carrier has the network to match this.

In terms of local connectivity, the Razer Phone is pretty well equipped as well. You get Dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi. Oddly enough, the Bluetooth radio is of the older 4.1 variety instead of 5.0.

With no 3.5mm audio jack in sight, the handset is only left with a single port. So, connecting more than one thing at a time definitely means living the dongle life. On the plus side, Razer didn't skip on any trimmings for the Type-C port. Its audio output is actually analog, as opposed to Type C digital audio. That means you don't need expensive dongles or headphones, but only a passive adapter to get the sound out of the internal DAC. Razer even provides a sturdy, high-quality branded one in the box. If the latter is not up to your personal audiophile standards, you can still get digital audio output through the same port.