UPDATE! So it looks like this only has the Adreno 660 which is a bit odd given the Snapdragon G3X is listed with the 730 In Aida64 on the device, CPUz and HW info sho the 660, The Razer Site has been updated to reflect the 660 GPU, not sure what’s going on here but have an update video on the way. This video is is being edited now to reflect the issue
I wish this didn't have a super wide aspect ratio. It would bulk it up significantly, but I'd definitely prefer it have a 16:9 or 16 : 10 aspect ratio. It would definitely make emulation more viable as it's not hacking off a good portion of the screen. I get it from Razer's side, though, since they clearly want people to treat it like a phone. Good video as always. Edited to remove the time stamp hyperlink from the aspect ratios.
THIS. a 16:9 screen would've benefited this device considering it is mainly marketed as a cloud streaming handheld it should've had a 16:9 screen it sucks playing with those black borders. Man I miss 16:9 smartphones.
@@numalesoybea1348 exactly! Is anyone really “cloud gaming”? Who likes input delay? And android gsmes? Atleast you could run emulators i guess… even though any ten year old smart phone could do the same.
@@StinkyBlack1who's actually "cloud gaming", wooh, you say. Do you know that only on Geforce Now (I bet that you don't even know about it) but it reach 30 million players already, let alone Xbox cloud Gaming, Boosteroid.
I feel like they should've done something to set this apart from a cell phone and controller. Like wireless capabilities for the controller and a TV dock, like a switch.
It should be able to dock or stream to a TV. Not sure how seamless it'll be though. Might have to tinker with it a bit. Buy androids should be able to do that.
@@bluex610 it does work with TV out (up to 4K 60Hz) with and without dock. Without dock by using a proper USB C to HDMI cable. I Did a short video on that a while ago.
@@Etem92 and steam deck has 800p lcd display and worse battery life. So it is worse for media consumption than any android tablet. It also huge and bulky. You can put this in a pocket.
The G3x Gen 1 (not to be mistaken for the "8Gen1") uses the Adreno 660 (2 x 512 ALUs) and would definitely explain the GPU scores and performance. Check out SOC-L for some more technical specs on any SOC. The 660 uses the same (2 x 512 ALUs) set up as the Adreno 650 in the SD865...
@@SweViver .......except when the Adreno 660 is overclocked.... so what's your point? That it beat an Adreno 730? Then what happens when the Adreno 730 is overclocked? ......yeah....
@@JustinPennito except for the fact that you can barely overclock Adreno 660 (hardware limit and heat issues), while the 650 can be overclocked to 940Mhz stable (from 587Mhz)
If Razer can fit a relatively large 5nm ARMv9 SoC, near-tablet 144Hz HDR OLED display and active cooling just under $400 with Verizon's blessing... Sony are in the best possible position to reveal a Vita successor. Curse you, ETA and your sidekick, the Phawx! All these x86/ARM handhelds got me craving for a fast ARM handheld with a wealthy games library.
@@obvious_giraffe8386 the steam deck with PlayStation ports is alright but considering what devs are able to fit into the ancient Nintendo Switch with superior battery life, Sony could quickly hobble together a good handheld with a pre-existing SoC or something.
@cyruscliff370 but its a crapy phone, why not just get a good phone, with a good layouy, without sharp corners and big bezles and get a nice controller for it? Itll be cheaper than this
Your specs are wrong on this. The so called G3X Gen 1 is just a Snapdragon 888 and it has an Adreno 660, not a 730. Razer and Qualcomm lied to us. (Qualcomm stealth deleted their marketing pages on the G3X chipset after this device launched.)
I think it's cool, but a bit pointless when most people have phones I do wish it was all integrated and not just a phone sized tablet with a kishi thrown in. Heck, I would be more interested if it had a more joycon like thing going on with their junglecat controller, but with the rails built into the tablet itself
RedMagic 8 Pro runs circles around the Razer Edge AND has desktop mode with resolution that scales properly. With the steep competition that's out right now, it's too little too late. They need to slash prices.
You're comparing something that costs under $400 with something that costs over $600. This would only be relevant if the 400 device was somehow better. How is it remotely noteworthy for the considerably more expensive one to be better??
@@XhoowieX you are forgetting that you can actually use Red Magic as your primary phone and it has better specs as compared to competition and lower price such as ROG Phone 6 costing $999. So the price to performance and what you get Red Magic is a steal in any sane world.
@@S1nw1th1n I didn't forget anything. It's still a different device in a completely different price bracket. Nothing you just said changes any of that.
@@sdmods619 much better comparison. A hell of a lot bigger though, and the screen isn't as good. I'd still take the deck over this any day, but again it's not like it's a totally direct comparison.
@@samgoff5289 Since the Android world now lacks powerful small tablets with traditional aspect ratios, this would have been an excellent alternative solution. That's all
The whole idea of a separate controller attached to a tablet makes lots of sense and gives amazing versatility to the device. But Razer has to improve certain things. The tablet must be at 7"+ inches (8'' like the PS portal would be amazing) otherwise as many viewers said, you can use your phone instead. In that size there is a valid reason to use the Razer instead of your phone and also to use the tablet for other content consumption. It would make perfect sense and I would buy one tomorrow as with one purchase I would have a tablet, a gaming console and a controller to use with my phone when I don't wanna carry the edge around.
I'm not sure about the $305 difference in price between this and the Kishi V2; if I'm going to game on a small android-powered screen, I'll do it on the one I'm more familiar with and is universally more useful. Does the performance difference between this and my 22 Ultra justify $305? From my perspective, where Steam Remote Play is my only interest, I think the Kishi is the better option (for me). Thanks for another epic review.
To me, the Verizon version is the only one that makes sense. I don't know if the sale is still going on but launch pricing from Verizon allowed you to add one to your bill for, IIRC, an extra $5 per month until you paid $200 total. The Pro controller alone is $100 if you needed one and an argument could be made that it's worth $100 to save some wear, tear, and potential screen burn-in on your main phone by using this instead. People, including ETA, have paid more for junky old flagships like the Essential PH-1 or the S20FE to use as emulation devices and those don't have active cooling. I don't really see the logic in paying full price for one of these. If it had a more emulation and multitasking friendly aspect ratio (16:9, 16:10, or 18:9) then maybe I'd reconsider.
I hope they learned their lesson from the phone they made. The C ports on the Razer Phone 2 were notorious for breaking very quickly, I haven't been able to charge my phone normally for over a year now.
The Kishi v2 Pro being the only telescopic controller I'm aware of with integrated rumble makes me so disappointed. Especially knowing that it's going to cost over a hundred dollars
Great Video @ETA PRIME. Looking forward to more emulation videos with this device. Question though: What phone were you using with your Kishi V2? This is in the video @ 15:30? Looks like it's bezelless design kind of outshines the edge a bit. I'm in the market for a new phone anyway: If the performance is on point, I might look into getting that instead.
Nice device, but not 16/9 ratio which is a huge mistake to me. See the screen of the game with huge black bars on each side. That price and you could not play cloud gaming in good conditions, it's just impossible. Wanna see the ABXYLUTE handheld in your hands quickly 😢
The bezels and the way the curves aren't symmetrical reminds me very strongly of the Nokia X. The X was a 2014 last gasp before Microsoft took over and ran Android Jellybean reskinned to look more like a Lumia Windows Phone. Neat little devices.
Still cant beat the Gen 8-2 but this is pretty wild if somehow Sony is seeing this and wants to make their PS Vita sequel using the costum Gen 8-2 for Vita Systems.. i wud be thrilled
@@mrsittingmongoose "they" didn't make it. SD is made by Valve, not by Sony. I have a SD and I had a Vita. The SD is not even a "spiritual successor". It's something completely different.
@@vhateg my lazy comment more implies that Sony is just leveraging the steam deck with their pc game releases. Why make the hardware when valve did for them?
So what makes this the most powerful handheld yet? It gets creamed by the old gen one and ran over by the gen 2. The screen isn't even significantly bigger than the red magic so I'm not sure what this device is supposed to be and even more baffled by the title
The purpose made dedicated portable console is half the price of those phones you list, even less. So that's the reason why handheld console is not the same thing as a smartphone. This is the most powerful Android handheld console and that's true. The red magic isn't a handheld console and isn't priced like a handheld console. It's priced like a smartphone with cameras and bunch of other features that would be redundant or useless on a console
@@michaelcorcoran8768 I see where you're coming from in terms of value. However, with the RedMagic latest phone adding game docking software to play on larger screens, it really is a console, not just a smartphone. So Razer trying to take the title 'The Ultimate Gaming Handheld' is a hollow statement not backed up by anything. The edge pushes decent speed for the price, but is not the fastest.
Absolutely love mine. I like not having my phone die due to heavy/long gaming sessions. The 5G is really strong in my area. Cloud gaming legit anywhere is awesome. The checkout line was super long and I had the edge in my daughters diaper bag. Jumped on and finished power washing the playground on Powerwasher sim via gamepass🤣 my only wish would be for a higher brightness level. I use an iPhone 14 pro max daily and the extra brightness would be great on the edge. Overall super happy with my edge. Use it for hours daily.
That aspect ratio is horrible, for most gaming specially for emulation 16x10 is the golden ratio. These devices just uses display from phones to save cost but charges consumers so much premium.
I liked mine. My analog went out after 3 days tho. The screen was nice. I liked the audio. I did not like that fact it only read FAT32 SD Card format limiting file size to the SD Card. Also, You can no longer move games to the SD. IDK if android disabled that for all devices or if it has to be enabled by the manufacture. In the end, I ordered an Odin Pro to replace it after dealing with support.
What version of Android does this run? There are issues about storage Android 11+. I see from the UI further in, looks like 13. That damned scoped storage is less emulation and for manager app friendly.
Running a particular command through ADB (either through USB debugging or wireless debugging mode), you can repartition/reformat the card to have some percentage of it as storage for apps, which you can move more of an app over to the card than with the older way. If the app only uses its private storage area and not the part accessible from a file manager, it can be pretty much fully moved to the card - app, data, cache, and all. (the part accessible from a file manager may not be able to be moved to a card, at least not without an option in the app to do so) I've done this for I think 3 different Android devices from various makers and on different versions (oldest I tried was I think 8.1) and it's worked great, though it may be slow for some apps if you have a slower card.
What I don't fully understand is why they didn't go all the way and make the Verizon version a full fledged phone. It already has a modem and SIM card so it can connect to 5G data. How much more could it have cost, especially when they're partnered with a major telecom and the company that makes the best modems to bring it to market...
@Matt Davis it would also increase sales. People would be able to justify the cost if they could replace their phone with it, but at that price point and utilitie of it i think many people would rather get a steamdeck
I’m very interested in a handheld emulation device but I don’t know what to get. The Steam Deck seems like the best option for me but I really don’t like the screen on it.
I agree. I wouldn't mind getting a steam deck but those bezels and overall design seem so dated there's no excuse for big black bezels in the year 2023 also make it oled
I'd definitely recommend getting the Steam Deck or wait for steam deck 2. I honestly didn't notice the bezels as much. If you do get one make sure to put the VibrantDeck plugin on it. The color enhancements are night and day!😫🔥🙌🏼
@@MrWhis-fe5hs Ever held a steam deck in your hands? It's a premium device. Also it's way more powerful than this android based razer edge. The Steam deck is a full blown gaming pc which can play the latest AAA titles straight from your steam library. For the same price there is nothing on the market that can do that.
The steam decks screen is adequate for games. It's not meant for media consumption. I love mine, and with the aftermarket being as good as it is, it's only a matter of time before someone engineers a drop-in OLED replacement screen since that seems to be the biggest complaint people have about it.
For that price, I would get a real SD 8G1 phone + controller. Considering it is Android but without phone capabilities and huge bezels, it is not worthy, most of the emulation stuff runs ok even on SD 855
The CPU cores and GPU you have listed is wrong. The G3X is a beefed up 888, not a beefed up 8 Gen 1. It has an Adreno 660 and the same cores as an 888 (with higher clocks), not the newer cores of the 8 Gen 1.
I was going to get one but after seeing the bezels and the mismatched rounded corners (rounded corners of the LCD has a larger radius than the device), it just looks comedic. Ordered a Odin instead.
I'm still using a Oneplus 5T with the Snapdragon 835 and a Razer Kishi V2 for gaming. Actually works great and can emulate PSP and even some PS2 games. I'm upgrading soon and I see no reason to get a device like the Razer Edge when I could just get something like an S23 Ultra.
Most Phones have no active cooling which makes a difference in sustained performance and i think this beats buying a more expensive gaming phone. Having dedicated devices i think is a good thing, you game on the razer edge and use your phone as a phone, extend the life span of the phone by not using it for gaming. All use cases are different so each to their own.
I play oblivion on this thing. Winlator runs that one at around 30 fps consistently.. mobox or something else might run it higher. All Bethesda games actually run well on this thing. Havent tested skyrim legendary edition yet tho. I might pretty soon. This device does not have sd 8 gen1 but a 888 thats been overclocked to match.
I purchased this last week and I have to say cloud gaming runs amazing on this device. MW3 on GFN is like playing on a local machine. The aspect ratio needs to be better for the next iteration.
Whoa, those bezels are far too big and only 6 gigs of ram, nah. I mean, it's a cool little tablet and 144hz is nice but in a world where the Steam Deck exists for the same money...this tablet ain't the way to go. Like others have said, $200-250 is the right price for this instead.
I have a Oneplus 7 Pro with an SD855 and plays exactly the same. I got it 2021 used for 80€ and also got a BSP-D3 controller from Aliexpress a couple of months ago for 15€. I personally find it to be an awesome combo, but the ultrawide display is a big letdown for older games. This costs four times more and offers slightly better experience. Honestly even G Cloud looks good now. Sure the G3X is great, but it does not seem to be made for gaming, at least not gaming other than native android. This looks like a missed shot.
I'm exactly in the same use case as you that's pretty funny I have a Snapdragon 865+ phone and I use the same controller as you hehe I recently replayed super Mario Galaxy 2 on the phone, it was such a blast (with a patch to play with the controller it was a blast) Maybe in the future buying a steamdeck would be the best choice for me tho
@@qwertyuser8541 yeah, it had some screen burn in and the mic is not working properly, but I use dark mode, so the burn in is not visible and using a pair of bluetooth headphones or handsfree fixes the mic issue. Other than that it worked flawlessly :)
@@jigenos4546 I have a steam deck as well, but this setup is much more portable, and the controller is light enough to take anywhere. Also the battery lasts forever, so yeah :) I would suggest the Steam Deck tho. I have not had much time with it, but it is definitely one of the best handhelds I have.
Very good. I just winged it and ordered this since Verizon was offering that $10/ mo. deal, and my mother in law can get my OnePlus 9. Her current 6T is starting to die.
I knew this was an epic failure by Razer, should have gone with Razer Phone 3 with the SD8 Gen 2. Why would Razer want to have this device with low audience for that kind of handheld mobile gaming, while they screw up the specs.
dang... sorta like this. im still holding off man, i want that loki mini pro to work well. after that ima pull the trigger on either loki/razer/steam . im sorta still leaning on steam deck for community support but this looks really good
Did you do any research outside of the spec sheet? The SoC is identified as a SD888 and had an Adreno 660. We knew this days after the device got into user's hands. Hell, Dolphin tells you it's a 660 when boot a game.
Such an odd device. Can you turn off the "curved/rounded" edges? It looks like they literally took a phone display and slapped it into a thicker shell + fan to make it "gaming". And the specs were some what of a bait and switch as well. Honestly whatever phone you had in the Razer Kishi 2 (I imagine its the new Redmi (spelling sorry on both the Razer Kishi/Redmi)) looks arguably better than the Razer tablet in its own grip. That you would think was more specifically designed for it. Sort of another miss unfortunately with these Android gaming handhelds.
I got mine delivered to me on launch day but never opened it since I had already seeing reports of the bate and switch with the specs so I promptly returned it. However, Razer thinks its okay to short refunds by around $33. Sleezy compony if you ask me, while typing on my Razer Blade 14.... ;)
Before buying a Razer mobile, remember the Razer Phone 2 never got Android 10 despite it getting released within a year of each other. Razor abandons projects like this.
for dedicated gaming device, no 16:9 aspect ratio is really annoying. you get black bars regardless if you're game streaming or emulating, lol just feels like a fat phone with fat bezels.
For $400 just get a steamdeck. Of course this might serve a specific purpose like if android is a must have or if portability matters a lot. But $400 is steep
With all respect, ETA Prime, It's pretty critical, but Razer's kind of selling is just not acceptable. The passthrough "charging" cut in half of potential; no data from that port means the tablet has to be taken out of the "handheld", (which its simply not); 8GB "advertised" and only being 6GB; given your description update, having the wrong soc, and the fact that Razer has advertised incorrectly several times before, and again now.. It's not good practice to back and invest in. It's not hard to update the online specs once the final version is ready for production and selling, but they didn't do that, not once. It's just another e-waste gimic again from Razer, producing simply because they want to waste money and convince buyers enough that they have bleeding-edge hw implementation. Aside from the truths of this device, I appreciate your work and time for covering performance potential, and general review quality.
What about PS2 heavy games? Ratchet and Clank 3 for instance (my pixel 7 pro with a Gamevice flex is having some quite hard times to emulate it) I was considering to try the Ratchet and Clank trilogy ps vita version with Vita 3K, since the vita runs on an ARM chip as far as I can remember, and should be easier to emulate for android. I also still own a PS2, PS3 and PS Vita, each one with its own copy of R&C 3/trilogy, but I would like to play it in a more comfortable way rather than having to pick the consoles and plug them with cables and adapters every time
when you do the emulation video can show us the setting you use? ive been having trouble setting up AetherSX2 on mine, also if you pair the tablet with RIG Nacon MG-X PRO it feels perfect. you can game on it until battery dies
+1. I'd love a video from ETA where he takes a number of recent Snapdragon chips starting with the 845 (what the Odin Pro has... and my LG!) and working upwards, showing optimal set-ups for certain popular PS2 games on Aether. Many I can figure out on my own, but some like 'GT4' it befuddles me how he can get it to run as good as he does on equivalent or weaker hardware. People in the comments of these comments have offered a lot of advice when I've asked in the past in ETA's comments section, which I'm grateful for, but, I can't get it to run anywhere near what he shows.
They lied about what processor was in it once it released. That's super sketchy. Also even though they ended up changing it to a weaker processor they didn't decrease the price...
The included Razer Kishi has a built in headphone jack? What's stopping them from including a headphone jack on the standard model? What's stopping any of the companies that make these USB-C gamepads?
Just go my 3 delivered!!!!! VERY EXCITED...but ..the knobs...are really tiny. I will need to get some thumb grips. I saw it had 6gb of ram for sometime. I ordered this on Saturday, and got it today. Absolutely quick!!! This is a phone, tablet with their pro controller. And it is thin... No power brick. I have a S22 ultra, same specs but less ram.
I dont know what this feels very underwhelming when you can get the Xiaomi pad for like 100 bucks less and a bigger screen, is like you are paying the extra 100 just for the Kishi
UPDATE! So it looks like this only has the Adreno 660 which is a bit odd given the Snapdragon G3X is listed with the 730 In Aida64 on the device, CPUz and HW info sho the 660, The Razer Site has been updated to reflect the 660 GPU, not sure what’s going on here but have an update video on the way. This video is is being edited now to reflect the issue
Pin it up
Makes sense, price seemed too good to be true for the latest and greatest. It's still a decent value. I almost pulled the trigger on the 5g model.
Razer should be Sued for false Advertisment its literally the whole Purpose of this Device ...
Does it actually say snapdragon. G3x? I've seen a yt short that says its an 888
Why not pin it?
I wish this didn't have a super wide aspect ratio. It would bulk it up significantly, but I'd definitely prefer it have a 16:9 or 16 : 10 aspect ratio. It would definitely make emulation more viable as it's not hacking off a good portion of the screen. I get it from Razer's side, though, since they clearly want people to treat it like a phone.
Good video as always.
Edited to remove the time stamp hyperlink from the aspect ratios.
i really want to see a 16:9 android in 2023...
@@pitcheung5354 there are options right now, rp3+, ayn odin and even g cloud though it seem you want more than this and I understand.
The super wide display doesn’t worry me as much because it’s OLED: pixels off look properly black/off
THIS. a 16:9 screen would've benefited this device considering it is mainly marketed as a cloud streaming handheld it should've had a 16:9 screen it sucks playing with those black borders. Man I miss 16:9 smartphones.
You know you can use this with your own phone?
I'll grab one when it hits $200-$250. Not really expecting this to fly off the shelves so I'm confident it'll drop in price.
Why would you pay $250 just to play Android games
@@numalesoybea1348 exactly! Is anyone really “cloud gaming”? Who likes input delay? And android gsmes? Atleast you could run emulators i guess… even though any ten year old smart phone could do the same.
@@numalesoybea1348 if its a good tablet you can do more than just play games and a $250 tablet isnt really that bad
@@StinkyBlack1Any 10 year old smart phone can not play modern emulators
@@StinkyBlack1who's actually "cloud gaming", wooh, you say. Do you know that only on Geforce Now (I bet that you don't even know about it) but it reach 30 million players already, let alone Xbox cloud Gaming, Boosteroid.
I feel like they should've done something to set this apart from a cell phone and controller. Like wireless capabilities for the controller and a TV dock, like a switch.
Basically what Pimax Portal does
It should be able to dock or stream to a TV. Not sure how seamless it'll be though. Might have to tinker with it a bit. Buy androids should be able to do that.
@@bluex610 it does work with TV out (up to 4K 60Hz) with and without dock. Without dock by using a proper USB C to HDMI cable. I Did a short video on that a while ago.
I wish more companies use this form factor but in 16:9 and with a proper cooler solution
That form factor is possible due to the aspect ratio. using 16:9 would make it wider.
@@CDubbsW0rld 16:9 would decrease the width (assuming the screen height remains the same.)
I've got one of these..... It's called a phone.
And how much did you pay for your phone? 1000 bucks? This one costs 400 and is more powerful than any 400$ phone.
Lmao
@@GG-fi4ye steam deck base model also costs 400
@@Etem92 and steam deck has 800p lcd display and worse battery life. So it is worse for media consumption than any android tablet. It also huge and bulky. You can put this in a pocket.
@@Etem92 yea it’s hard to beat the steam deck. I’ve got both devices and they both have their own purposes.
I think it's a pretty cool device however I wish companies would make 16:9 screens again. It's so much better for videos and emulation.
I miss my Nexus 6. Big beautiful 16:9 display and dual front firing speakers.
That's the one thing I hate about my new phone, it doesn't even scale properly on my TV when mirroring the screen.
The G3x Gen 1 (not to be mistaken for the "8Gen1") uses the Adreno 660 (2 x 512 ALUs) and would definitely explain the GPU scores and performance. Check out SOC-L for some more technical specs on any SOC. The 660 uses the same (2 x 512 ALUs) set up as the Adreno 650 in the SD865...
Untrue
Yep, and an overclocked Adreno 650 beats the 660 hands down.
@@SweViver .......except when the Adreno 660 is overclocked.... so what's your point? That it beat an Adreno 730? Then what happens when the Adreno 730 is overclocked? ......yeah....
@@JustinPennito except for the fact that you can barely overclock Adreno 660 (hardware limit and heat issues), while the 650 can be overclocked to 940Mhz stable (from 587Mhz)
@@SweViver the heat issue was with the CPU, not the GPU & a slightly overclocked Adreno 660, will be more powerful than an overclocked Adreno 650.
If Razer can fit a relatively large 5nm ARMv9 SoC, near-tablet 144Hz HDR OLED display and active cooling just under $400 with Verizon's blessing...
Sony are in the best possible position to reveal a Vita successor. Curse you, ETA and your sidekick, the Phawx! All these x86/ARM handhelds got me craving for a fast ARM handheld with a wealthy games library.
I really really hope Play station has something in the works!
@@obvious_giraffe8386 the steam deck with PlayStation ports is alright but considering what devs are able to fit into the ancient Nintendo Switch with superior battery life, Sony could quickly hobble together a good handheld with a pre-existing SoC or something.
Congratulations on 1 million subs, they're well deserved!
bro, why would they make handheld device, and not just put the controllers built in?
@cyruscliff370 but its a crapy phone, why not just get a good phone, with a good layouy, without sharp corners and big bezles and get a nice controller for it? Itll be cheaper than this
Was glad to see this. Not going to have to use my Pixel 6 to double as my Emulation/Vita gaming handheld.
Your specs are wrong on this. The so called G3X Gen 1 is just a Snapdragon 888 and it has an Adreno 660, not a 730. Razer and Qualcomm lied to us. (Qualcomm stealth deleted their marketing pages on the G3X chipset after this device launched.)
I literally just bought a razor edge a hour from a store in New Jersey I can’t wait to try it out
How was it ?
I think it's cool, but a bit pointless when most people have phones I do wish it was all integrated and not just a phone sized tablet with a kishi thrown in. Heck, I would be more interested if it had a more joycon like thing going on with their junglecat controller, but with the rails built into the tablet itself
I'd much rather have a dedicated handheld than waste all my precious phone battery playing demanding games and emulators.
@CEWIIH then there are better options than the edge. Steam Deck and Ayn Odin come to mind, which are much better for the price
@@bulletpunch9317 current smartphones dont have sd card meanwhile this thing can support 2TB of storage
@@ca9inec0mic58 there are smartphones that still do, just not samsung and google
Phones have no active cooling so good luck It's not the same
RedMagic 8 Pro runs circles around the Razer Edge AND has desktop mode with resolution that scales properly. With the steep competition that's out right now, it's too little too late. They need to slash prices.
You're comparing something that costs under $400 with something that costs over $600. This would only be relevant if the 400 device was somehow better. How is it remotely noteworthy for the considerably more expensive one to be better??
@@XhoowieX you are forgetting that you can actually use Red Magic as your primary phone and it has better specs as compared to competition and lower price such as ROG Phone 6 costing $999. So the price to performance and what you get Red Magic is a steal in any sane world.
@@S1nw1th1n I didn't forget anything. It's still a different device in a completely different price bracket. Nothing you just said changes any of that.
@@XhoowieX Ok then. Steam Deck.
@@sdmods619 much better comparison. A hell of a lot bigger though, and the screen isn't as good. I'd still take the deck over this any day, but again it's not like it's a totally direct comparison.
LOVE that synthwave wallpaper.
Any chance you know the name or the app for this wallpaper? Thanks!
If they had made it 8" it would have been a great compact tablet at a very good price
It is literally a phone and not even a big or ver good one I just don't understand what the point of this thing is
apple got gaming tablet call ipad mini 6, i hate ios but still buy 1 for gaming
@@samgoff5289 Since the Android world now lacks powerful small tablets with traditional aspect ratios, this would have been an excellent alternative solution. That's all
Facts
The whole idea of a separate controller attached to a tablet makes lots of sense and gives amazing versatility to the device. But Razer has to improve certain things. The tablet must be at 7"+ inches (8'' like the PS portal would be amazing) otherwise as many viewers said, you can use your phone instead. In that size there is a valid reason to use the Razer instead of your phone and also to use the tablet for other content consumption. It would make perfect sense and I would buy one tomorrow as with one purchase I would have a tablet, a gaming console and a controller to use with my phone when I don't wanna carry the edge around.
Red magic phone owner here, I wish I had this over my red magic phone mostly due to the SD card
Genshin Impact still not offering controller support on Android and no updates on the Switch port really sucks.
I'm not sure about the $305 difference in price between this and the Kishi V2; if I'm going to game on a small android-powered screen, I'll do it on the one I'm more familiar with and is universally more useful. Does the performance difference between this and my 22 Ultra justify $305? From my perspective, where Steam Remote Play is my only interest, I think the Kishi is the better option (for me). Thanks for another epic review.
To me, the Verizon version is the only one that makes sense. I don't know if the sale is still going on but launch pricing from Verizon allowed you to add one to your bill for, IIRC, an extra $5 per month until you paid $200 total. The Pro controller alone is $100 if you needed one and an argument could be made that it's worth $100 to save some wear, tear, and potential screen burn-in on your main phone by using this instead. People, including ETA, have paid more for junky old flagships like the Essential PH-1 or the S20FE to use as emulation devices and those don't have active cooling.
I don't really see the logic in paying full price for one of these. If it had a more emulation and multitasking friendly aspect ratio (16:9, 16:10, or 18:9) then maybe I'd reconsider.
Keep using the s22 ultra. You're getting almost doubled the performance.
Exactly this device would make perfect sense if the tablet was 8" inches like the PS Portal.
They need to bring us a new razor phone
Maybe in a few months, I might think about getting this... definitely need a better portable gaming that I can use.
That huge bezzel. The razer kishi v2 isn't built in. It's literally just a tablet so THERES NO POINT
Felt the same way when I saw it.
I'll definitely get it for the right price.
What would the right price be for you?
Not 400 bucks, for sure
I hope they learned their lesson from the phone they made. The C ports on the Razer Phone 2 were notorious for breaking very quickly, I haven't been able to charge my phone normally for over a year now.
I think SD G3X has Adreno 660 gpu (instead of Adreno 730) which is same as the SD 888 gpu.
The Kishi v2 Pro being the only telescopic controller I'm aware of with integrated rumble makes me so disappointed. Especially knowing that it's going to cost over a hundred dollars
Great Video @ETA PRIME. Looking forward to more emulation videos with this device. Question though: What phone were you using with your Kishi V2? This is in the video @ 15:30? Looks like it's bezelless design kind of outshines the edge a bit. I'm in the market for a new phone anyway: If the performance is on point, I might look into getting that instead.
redmagic 8pro, thats the best android gaming phone rn
Nice device, but not 16/9 ratio which is a huge mistake to me. See the screen of the game with huge black bars on each side. That price and you could not play cloud gaming in good conditions, it's just impossible. Wanna see the ABXYLUTE handheld in your hands quickly 😢
Great video. I think I'm going to save up for it and play some dolphin!
The screen having rounder corners than the case of the tablet is a little uncanny to me.
would also like it to be 16:10 as well.
The bezels and the way the curves aren't symmetrical reminds me very strongly of the Nokia X. The X was a 2014 last gasp before Microsoft took over and ran Android Jellybean reskinned to look more like a Lumia Windows Phone. Neat little devices.
Still cant beat the Gen 8-2 but this is pretty wild if somehow Sony is seeing this and wants to make their PS Vita sequel using the costum Gen 8-2 for Vita Systems.. i wud be thrilled
They did make a new vita, it’s called the steam deck.
@@mrsittingmongoose "they" didn't make it. SD is made by Valve, not by Sony. I have a SD and I had a Vita. The SD is not even a "spiritual successor". It's something completely different.
@@vhateg my lazy comment more implies that Sony is just leveraging the steam deck with their pc game releases. Why make the hardware when valve did for them?
@@mrsittingmongoose Makes sense, this way they don't have to develop the hardware or sell it at a loss like they did with PSP and Vita.
So what makes this the most powerful handheld yet? It gets creamed by the old gen one and ran over by the gen 2. The screen isn't even significantly bigger than the red magic so I'm not sure what this device is supposed to be and even more baffled by the title
Maybe the price to performance ratio?
The purpose made dedicated portable console is half the price of those phones you list, even less. So that's the reason why handheld console is not the same thing as a smartphone. This is the most powerful Android handheld console and that's true. The red magic isn't a handheld console and isn't priced like a handheld console.
It's priced like a smartphone with cameras and bunch of other features that would be redundant or useless on a console
@@michaelcorcoran8768 I see where you're coming from in terms of value. However, with the RedMagic latest phone adding game docking software to play on larger screens, it really is a console, not just a smartphone. So Razer trying to take the title 'The Ultimate Gaming Handheld' is a hollow statement not backed up by anything. The edge pushes decent speed for the price, but is not the fastest.
Absolutely love mine. I like not having my phone die due to heavy/long gaming sessions. The 5G is really strong in my area. Cloud gaming legit anywhere is awesome. The checkout line was super long and I had the edge in my daughters diaper bag. Jumped on and finished power washing the playground on Powerwasher sim via gamepass🤣 my only wish would be for a higher brightness level. I use an iPhone 14 pro max daily and the extra brightness would be great on the edge.
Overall super happy with my edge. Use it for hours daily.
That aspect ratio is horrible, for most gaming specially for emulation 16x10 is the golden ratio. These devices just uses display from phones to save cost but charges consumers so much premium.
I was stuck between upgrading to the s23 ultra or getting this as a my handheld thanks for the video
400$ isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It would be cool if they offered it for 300 without the kishi.
I liked mine. My analog went out after 3 days tho. The screen was nice. I liked the audio. I did not like that fact it only read FAT32 SD Card format limiting file size to the SD Card. Also, You can no longer move games to the SD. IDK if android disabled that for all devices or if it has to be enabled by the manufacture. In the end, I ordered an Odin Pro to replace it after dealing with support.
I can still move apps to SDcard in my mobile
What version of Android does this run? There are issues about storage Android 11+. I see from the UI further in, looks like 13. That damned scoped storage is less emulation and for manager app friendly.
Running a particular command through ADB (either through USB debugging or wireless debugging mode), you can repartition/reformat the card to have some percentage of it as storage for apps, which you can move more of an app over to the card than with the older way. If the app only uses its private storage area and not the part accessible from a file manager, it can be pretty much fully moved to the card - app, data, cache, and all. (the part accessible from a file manager may not be able to be moved to a card, at least not without an option in the app to do so) I've done this for I think 3 different Android devices from various makers and on different versions (oldest I tried was I think 8.1) and it's worked great, though it may be slow for some apps if you have a slower card.
Wish this was more of a phone instead of a tablet. would have been a nice upgrade from my phone
What I don't fully understand is why they didn't go all the way and make the Verizon version a full fledged phone. It already has a modem and SIM card so it can connect to 5G data. How much more could it have cost, especially when they're partnered with a major telecom and the company that makes the best modems to bring it to market...
@Matt Davis it would also increase sales. People would be able to justify the cost if they could replace their phone with it, but at that price point and utilitie of it i think many people would rather get a steamdeck
I’m very interested in a handheld emulation device but I don’t know what to get. The Steam Deck seems like the best option for me but I really don’t like the screen on it.
I agree. I wouldn't mind getting a steam deck but those bezels and overall design seem so dated there's no excuse for big black bezels in the year 2023 also make it oled
Ayn odin
I'd definitely recommend getting the Steam Deck or wait for steam deck 2. I honestly didn't notice the bezels as much. If you do get one make sure to put the VibrantDeck plugin on it. The color enhancements are night and day!😫🔥🙌🏼
@@MrWhis-fe5hs Ever held a steam deck in your hands? It's a premium device. Also it's way more powerful than this android based razer edge. The Steam deck is a full blown gaming pc which can play the latest AAA titles straight from your steam library. For the same price there is nothing on the market that can do that.
The steam decks screen is adequate for games. It's not meant for media consumption. I love mine, and with the aftermarket being as good as it is, it's only a matter of time before someone engineers a drop-in OLED replacement screen since that seems to be the biggest complaint people have about it.
For that price, I would get a real SD 8G1 phone + controller. Considering it is Android but without phone capabilities and huge bezels, it is not worthy, most of the emulation stuff runs ok even on SD 855
The razer kishi v2 is close to 100$, let’s say you get a used one for half. What 8gen1 phone with cooling system you can get that is around 350?
Razer pulled a little sneaky on us. :(
The CPU cores and GPU you have listed is wrong. The G3X is a beefed up 888, not a beefed up 8 Gen 1. It has an Adreno 660 and the same cores as an 888 (with higher clocks), not the newer cores of the 8 Gen 1.
It has a display ratio and a Verizon price, only a mother would love. Even for movies the curves mess that up.
Razer kishis are really awesome. You can find the original cheap for 20 dollars. I used them a lot for my phone and my kids phones.
This is pretty cool, I currently use my Google pixel with my kishi controller.
I was going to get one but after seeing the bezels and the mismatched rounded corners (rounded corners of the LCD has a larger radius than the device), it just looks comedic. Ordered a Odin instead.
Good choice.
great review as always ETA PRIME, do you prefer Razer Kishi V2 over Gamevice FLEX?
This is exactly the kind of tablet ive been looking for. Thank you for showing it to me.
wait am I the only one who likes the Basels
I'm still using a Oneplus 5T with the Snapdragon 835 and a Razer Kishi V2 for gaming. Actually works great and can emulate PSP and even some PS2 games. I'm upgrading soon and I see no reason to get a device like the Razer Edge when I could just get something like an S23 Ultra.
Most Phones have no active cooling which makes a difference in sustained performance and i think this beats buying a more expensive gaming phone. Having dedicated devices i think is a good thing, you game on the razer edge and use your phone as a phone, extend the life span of the phone by not using it for gaming. All use cases are different so each to their own.
I play oblivion on this thing. Winlator runs that one at around 30 fps consistently.. mobox or something else might run it higher.
All Bethesda games actually run well on this thing. Havent tested skyrim legendary edition yet tho. I might pretty soon.
This device does not have sd 8 gen1 but a 888 thats been overclocked to match.
I picked up the 5G version and I'm loving it. Haven't set up much emulation yet, but android games and cloud gaming is great.
Id like to see razer commit to a tablet finally and make a high end gaming tablet.
Love the STAB at Google Bloat.. lol
I wish it was one cohesive unit, with screen that wasn't so wide.
As it is, you're better off with phone, and a telescopic controller.
I purchased this last week and I have to say cloud gaming runs amazing on this device. MW3 on GFN is like playing on a local machine. The aspect ratio needs to be better for the next iteration.
Whoa, those bezels are far too big and only 6 gigs of ram, nah.
I mean, it's a cool little tablet and 144hz is nice but in a world where the Steam Deck exists for the same money...this tablet ain't the way to go.
Like others have said, $200-250 is the right price for this instead.
I have a Oneplus 7 Pro with an SD855 and plays exactly the same. I got it 2021 used for 80€ and also got a BSP-D3 controller from Aliexpress a couple of months ago for 15€. I personally find it to be an awesome combo, but the ultrawide display is a big letdown for older games. This costs four times more and offers slightly better experience. Honestly even G Cloud looks good now. Sure the G3X is great, but it does not seem to be made for gaming, at least not gaming other than native android. This looks like a missed shot.
I'm exactly in the same use case as you that's pretty funny
I have a Snapdragon 865+ phone and I use the same controller as you hehe
I recently replayed super Mario Galaxy 2 on the phone, it was such a blast (with a patch to play with the controller it was a blast)
Maybe in the future buying a steamdeck would be the best choice for me tho
80€ thats a steal
@@qwertyuser8541 yeah, it had some screen burn in and the mic is not working properly, but I use dark mode, so the burn in is not visible and using a pair of bluetooth headphones or handsfree fixes the mic issue. Other than that it worked flawlessly :)
@@jigenos4546 I have a steam deck as well, but this setup is much more portable, and the controller is light enough to take anywhere. Also the battery lasts forever, so yeah :)
I would suggest the Steam Deck tho. I have not had much time with it, but it is definitely one of the best handhelds I have.
My brain thought this was finally the Razor Phone 3. 😢 Please Razor! Give us the 3. 🙏
Very good. I just winged it and ordered this since Verizon was offering that $10/ mo. deal, and my mother in law can get my OnePlus 9. Her current 6T is starting to die.
I knew this was an epic failure by Razer, should have gone with Razer Phone 3 with the SD8 Gen 2. Why would Razer want to have this device with low audience for that kind of handheld mobile gaming, while they screw up the specs.
Always love your reviews... you love tech for tech sake
Wow. Putting an actual fan in there, I would have thought they'd have much bigger slits for ventilation. I can't see them helping much
ETA mentioned a few times that there’d be a follow up video/ emulation showcase. Is that no longer happening?
dang... sorta like this. im still holding off man, i want that loki mini pro to work well. after that ima pull the trigger on either loki/razer/steam . im sorta still leaning on steam deck for community support but this looks really good
Did you do any research outside of the spec sheet? The SoC is identified as a SD888 and had an Adreno 660. We knew this days after the device got into user's hands. Hell, Dolphin tells you it's a 660 when boot a game.
Such an odd device. Can you turn off the "curved/rounded" edges? It looks like they literally took a phone display and slapped it into a thicker shell + fan to make it "gaming". And the specs were some what of a bait and switch as well. Honestly whatever phone you had in the Razer Kishi 2 (I imagine its the new Redmi (spelling sorry on both the Razer Kishi/Redmi)) looks arguably better than the Razer tablet in its own grip. That you would think was more specifically designed for it. Sort of another miss unfortunately with these Android gaming handhelds.
not bad. besides the 6G ram. It will be good device when its on sale blackfriday for $299 🙈
I got mine delivered to me on launch day but never opened it since I had already seeing reports of the bate and switch with the specs so I promptly returned it. However, Razer thinks its okay to short refunds by around $33. Sleezy compony if you ask me, while typing on my Razer Blade 14.... ;)
Before buying a Razer mobile, remember the Razer Phone 2 never got Android 10 despite it getting released within a year of each other. Razor abandons projects like this.
The bezels aren't the problem, it's the ridiculous radius on those corners.
I got the zfold4 with the gamesir x2 pro = best combo ever. The huge screen of the zfold4 makes a yuuge difference.
for dedicated gaming device, no 16:9 aspect ratio is really annoying. you get black bars regardless if you're game streaming or emulating, lol just feels like a fat phone with fat bezels.
Normally when product names have the word 'Edge' in it, the edges are slimmer.
I wish android phones were still this wide. I hate tall phones with skinny screens
To be honest I’d rather get the red magic, 8+ for an android device, turned into a handheld
For $400 just get a steamdeck. Of course this might serve a specific purpose like if android is a must have or if portability matters a lot. But $400 is steep
Or a gaming phone with a controller, you probably already have a 300$ + phone on you, add 400$ to that and you can get a nice gaming phone
With all respect, ETA Prime, It's pretty critical, but Razer's kind of selling is just not acceptable. The passthrough "charging" cut in half of potential; no data from that port means the tablet has to be taken out of the "handheld", (which its simply not); 8GB "advertised" and only being 6GB; given your description update, having the wrong soc, and the fact that Razer has advertised incorrectly several times before, and again now.. It's not good practice to back and invest in. It's not hard to update the online specs once the final version is ready for production and selling, but they didn't do that, not once.
It's just another e-waste gimic again from Razer, producing simply because they want to waste money and convince buyers enough that they have bleeding-edge hw implementation.
Aside from the truths of this device, I appreciate your work and time for covering performance potential, and general review quality.
The big bezels in 2023 on such a piece of hardware is a huge head scratcher!
It almost look like they do it in purpose, to leave room for upgrading the screen and getting more money
What about switch emu?
Honestly the junglecat was the best implementation of the handheld design
Why is that? Was curious but didn't want to look at reviews. Are the joysticks any better?
What about PS2 heavy games? Ratchet and Clank 3 for instance (my pixel 7 pro with a Gamevice flex is having some quite hard times to emulate it)
I was considering to try the Ratchet and Clank trilogy ps vita version with Vita 3K, since the vita runs on an ARM chip as far as I can remember, and should be easier to emulate for android.
I also still own a PS2, PS3 and PS Vita, each one with its own copy of R&C 3/trilogy, but I would like to play it in a more comfortable way rather than having to pick the consoles and plug them with cables and adapters every time
when you do the emulation video can show us the setting you use? ive been having trouble setting up AetherSX2 on mine, also if you pair the tablet with RIG Nacon MG-X PRO it feels perfect. you can game on it until battery dies
+1. I'd love a video from ETA where he takes a number of recent Snapdragon chips starting with the 845 (what the Odin Pro has... and my LG!) and working upwards, showing optimal set-ups for certain popular PS2 games on Aether. Many I can figure out on my own, but some like 'GT4' it befuddles me how he can get it to run as good as he does on equivalent or weaker hardware. People in the comments of these comments have offered a lot of advice when I've asked in the past in ETA's comments section, which I'm grateful for, but, I can't get it to run anywhere near what he shows.
Wish the aspect ratio was closer to 16:9.
So Razer just lied to customers and waited until after people complained to change the website. Good lord Razer. How are they in business?
Would love to see a dedicated steam link game streaming video. Also want to see PUBG mobile running on here.
They lied about what processor was in it once it released. That's super sketchy. Also even though they ended up changing it to a weaker processor they didn't decrease the price...
seems like a borderline useless product to me... its basically just a phone with a razer kishi attached. i don't see the appeal here
Razer should bring down the price to $249 after this fiasco
The included Razer Kishi has a built in headphone jack? What's stopping them from including a headphone jack on the standard model? What's stopping any of the companies that make these USB-C gamepads?
Just go my 3 delivered!!!!! VERY EXCITED...but ..the knobs...are really tiny. I will need to get some thumb grips. I saw it had 6gb of ram for sometime. I ordered this on Saturday, and got it today. Absolutely quick!!!
This is a phone, tablet with their pro controller. And it is thin... No power brick. I have a S22 ultra, same specs but less ram.
The microsd slot is fat32 so it is really slow. Playing PS1 & PS2 era games is a hassle with it, just put them on the internal storage.
this looks very kool, but I honestly don’t know why anyone would buy this tho when the steam deck exists?
I dont know what this feels very underwhelming when you can get the Xiaomi pad for like 100 bucks less and a bigger screen, is like you are paying the extra 100 just for the Kishi
Waiting for the Rog Ally competitor
Okay it's time for Razer to make a Lunar Lake handheld so that it's not limited to crappy Android XD
Those bezels... Will have another look at the V2 when they get slimmer. Even my Ayaneo2 has zero bezels.