{"id":99868,"date":"2022-10-17T19:24:07","date_gmt":"2022-10-17T19:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/399-razer-edge-tries-to-make-android-gaming-tablets-happen\/"},"modified":"2022-10-17T19:24:07","modified_gmt":"2022-10-17T19:24:07","slug":"399-razer-edge-tries-to-make-android-gaming-tablets-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/399-razer-edge-tries-to-make-android-gaming-tablets-happen\/","title":{"rendered":"$399 Razer Edge tries to make Android gaming tablets happen"},"content":{"rendered":"<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<figure class=\"intro-image intro-left\">\n  <figcaption class=\"caption\">\n<div class=\"caption-text\">enlarge <span class=\"sep\">\/<\/span> The new (not old) Razer Edge.<\/div>\n<p>Razer<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside id=\"social-left\" class=\"social-left\" aria-label=\"Read the comments or share this article\">\n<\/aside>\n<p><!-- cache hit 1313:single\/related:f1dfbdd132ca3ec688a62c7b184659ae --><!-- empty --><\/p>\n<p>After trying for years with gaming phones, the next big product category hardware manufacturers are trying to <em>make happen <\/em>is apparently &#8220;Android gaming tablets.&#8221;  You basically throw a Nintendo Switch into a photocopier, load Android on it, and hope users will be content picking through Android games and the growing (shrinking?) collection of cloud gaming services out there.  Logitech kicked things off with the G Cloud Gaming Handheld last month, and now Razer is throwing its hat into the ring with a new Razer Edge handheld.  This was teased last month and got a full unveiling over the weekend, and there are actually some interesting specs to go over.<\/p>\n<p>First off, a major differentiator for Razer over the Logitech handheld is that the Razer has active cooling.  Razer neglected to show any internal pictures, but the 10-mm-thick body and six vents on the back make it look like there&#8217;s some decent heat dissipation going on.  Even if Razer slapped a normal phone chip inside, a fan would probably make it outperform any phone, thanks to not having to instantly throttle.  Razer and Qualcomm say this is the first device with a &#8220;Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 Gaming Platform&#8221; SoC, but that seems to just be marketing fluff rather than any new technical development.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"image shortcode-img full-width\" style=\"width:980px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"The back, featuring a lot of cooling vents and shoulder buttons. \" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6-5-980x459.jpg?resize=980%2C459&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"980\" height=\"459\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption\">\n<div class=\"caption-text\">enlarge <span class=\"sep\">\/<\/span> The back, featuring a lot of cooling vents and shoulder buttons. <\/div>\n<p>Razer<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Qualcomm&#8217;s page on the new G3x Gen 1 doesn&#8217;t provide any technical details, a major red flag that suggests there&#8217;s nothing here worth bragging about.  Razer only says the chip runs at 3 GHz.  Unofficially, we can pick through the Geekbench listings for some details.  The chip codename &#8220;Lahaina&#8221; means this should be a rebranded Snapdragon 888 SoC, Qualcomm&#8217;s flagship smartphone SoC from 2020. That would make it a 5 nm chip with one 3 GHz Cortex X1 core, three 2.42 GHz Cortex A78 cores, and four 1.8 GHz Cortex A55 cores.  Those frequencies are all reported from Geekbench, and they&#8217;re all normal compared to the phone version, meaning this chip didn&#8217;t even get a frequency bump.  Again, though, the phone chips throttle extremely quickly, so the fan should give this product decent gaming performance not found on a phone.  It seems like Qualcomm just didn&#8217;t want to admit it&#8217;s shipping a 2-year-old chip in this device.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad_wrapper\" aria-label=\"In Content advertisement\">\n    <span class=\"ad_notice\">Advertisement <\/span>    <\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The 2-year-old chip will help get the price down from the usual $1,000 Android phone, but all of these gaming tablets are going to have a tough time competing with the Nintendo Switch at $299 (and $199 for the Lite version).  Other specs include a 6.8-inch, 2400\u00d71080 OLED display at a whopping 144 Hz, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a 5000 mAh battery.  There&#8217;s a MicroSD slot, 3.5 mm headphone jack, USB-C port, 5 MP front camera (no rear camera, it&#8217;s a tablet), and Wi-Fi 6E compatibility.  The $400 version is Wi-Fi only, and a second SKU, the Verizon-exclusive &#8220;Razer Edge 5G,&#8221; promises Sub 6 GHz and mmWave connectivity for an undisclosed price.  This is partially pitched as a portable cloud-gaming device, so cellular access would let you play it away from home, though it will incur a large data bill.<\/p>\n<div class=\"gallery shortcode-gallery gallery-wide\">\n<ul>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/5-3-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/5-3.jpg\" data-responsive=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/5-3-980x507.jpg 1080, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/5-3-1440x745.jpg 2560\" data-sub-html=\"#caption-1890466\">\n<figure style=\"height:635px;\"><figcaption id=\"caption-1890466\">\n                  <span class=\"icon caption-arrow icon-drop-indicator\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                      The bundled Razer Kishi V2 Pro is just an aftermarket smartphone controller.  No need to reinvent the wheel, I guess.                     <\/p>\n<p>\n                      <span class=\"icon icon-camera\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                              Razer                                          <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/7-3-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/7-3.jpg\" data-responsive=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/7-3-980x635.jpg 1080, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/7-3-1440x933.jpg 2560\" data-sub-html=\"#caption-1890469\">\n<figure style=\"height:635px;\"><figcaption id=\"caption-1890469\">\n                  <span class=\"icon caption-arrow icon-drop-indicator\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                      The tablet, sans controller.                     <\/p>\n<p>\n                      <span class=\"icon icon-camera\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                              Razer                                          <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/2-3-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/2-3.jpg\" data-responsive=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/2-3-980x328.jpg 1080, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/2-3-1440x482.jpg 2560\" data-sub-html=\"#caption-1890465\">\n<figure style=\"height:635px;\"><figcaption id=\"caption-1890465\">\n                  <span class=\"icon caption-arrow icon-drop-indicator\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                      The bottom of the Kishi &#8220;Pro&#8221; features a headphone jack.                     <\/p>\n<p>\n                      <span class=\"icon icon-camera\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                              Razer                                          <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/4-3-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/4-3.jpg\" data-responsive=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/4-3-980x505.jpg 1080, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/4-3-1440x742.jpg 2560\" data-sub-html=\"#caption-1890472\">\n<figure style=\"height:635px;\"><figcaption id=\"caption-1890472\">\n                  <span class=\"icon caption-arrow icon-drop-indicator\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                      One last look at the tablet.                     <\/p>\n<p>\n                      <span class=\"icon icon-camera\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                              Razer                                          <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p>Unlike the Logitech tablet, the controllers are not permanently attached to the Razer Edge.  Razer just built a normal tablet and threw a clamp-on gamepad into the box, the &#8220;Razer Kishi V2 Pro.&#8221;  You get two analog sticks, ABXY face buttons, and six (!) shoulder buttons: digital L1\/R1, analog L2\/R2 triggers, and unique &#8220;M1\/M2&#8221; buttons, which are small little nubbins next to the L2 trigger.<\/p>\n<p>The Razer Kishi V2\u2014the non-Pro version\u2014is already a standalone product.  Ars Tech Culture Editor Sam Machkovech reviewed it earlier this year and seemed to like the controller hardware while dinging the device for janky configuration software that didn&#8217;t allow for button reprogramming.  The Pro version fixes one of Sam&#8217;s complaints\u2014the lack of a headphone jack\u2014and adds &#8220;Razer HyperSense haptics&#8221; for audio-powered rumble.  The &#8220;Razer Nexus&#8221; controller software, with a rough 2.6-star rating on the Play Store, still seems bad.<\/p>\n<p>We doubt it&#8217;s a coincidence that Razer and Logitech landed on the same product idea a month apart.  The puppet master for both companies is probably Qualcomm, with reports last year indicating the chip company was experimenting with Nintendo Switch-like Android devices, including showing off a &#8220;Gaming Reference Device&#8221; to a few partners.  It seems like some OEMs took Qualcomm up on the offer and decided to commercialize the product idea.  With Qualcomm&#8217;s huge base of partners, don&#8217;t be surprised if more of these devices show up.  The Razer Edge ships Q1 2023.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>enlarge \/ The new (not old) Razer Edge. Razer After trying for years with gaming phones, the next big product category hardware manufacturers are trying to make happen is apparently &#8220;Android gaming tablets.&#8221; You basically throw a Nintendo Switch into a photocopier, load Android on it, and hope users will be content picking through Android &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/399-razer-edge-tries-to-make-android-gaming-tablets-happen\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">$399 Razer Edge tries to make Android gaming tablets happen<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":98243,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/razer-edge-android-handhelds-revealed-xbox-cloud-gaming-specs-price-and-more\/","url_meta":{"origin":99868,"position":0},"title":"Razer Edge Android handhelds revealed: Xbox cloud gaming, specs, price, and more","date":"October 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Hot on the heels of the expensive Logitech G Cloud, Razer may have already made Logitech's recent efforts obsolete. First teased back at Mobile World Congress in September (opens in new tab)Verizon has detailed collaboration with Razer, dubbed the Razer Edge 5G, built from the ground up for native Android\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":84287,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/razer-edge-5g-steam-deck-and-nintendo-switch-just-got-new-competition-but-wheres-sony\/","url_meta":{"origin":99868,"position":1},"title":"Razer Edge 5G: Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch just got new competition, but where&#8217;s Sony?","date":"October 2, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Razer Edge 5G is a handheld with the highest possible gaming power offered by Qualcomm, which is sure to compete with the Steam Deck.The market for handheld gaming devices is becoming increasingly large and competitive. We recently saw the launch of Logitech's handheld, as well as the incredible success\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"Razer Edge 5G","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gamefreaks365.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Razer-Edge-5G.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":81277,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/razer-and-verizon-tease-a-5g-gaming-handheld-that-can-play-games-locally\/","url_meta":{"origin":99868,"position":2},"title":"Razer and Verizon tease a 5G gaming handheld that can play games locally","date":"September 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Razer, Qualcomm and Verizon are working together on a 5G gaming handheld. The carrier teased the Razer Edge 5G at Mobile World Congress Las Vegas. Details on the device are sparse, but what we do know is that it will feature Qualcomm's . Announced in December, the chipset features an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":81195,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/razer-joins-the-handheld-streaming-console-wars-which-are-now-a-thing-somehow\/","url_meta":{"origin":99868,"position":3},"title":"Razer joins the \u201chandheld streaming console\u201d wars, which are now a thing somehow","date":"September 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"enlarge \/ Fun fact: The divot in the middle of the D-pad can also hold a very small amount of salsa or dip. Just one week after Logitech confirmed its Android-based, streaming-focused G CLOUD Gaming Handheld, fellow peripheral maker Razer is getting in on the act. The Razer Edge 5G,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"Razer's Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 Gaming Platform dev kit, as revealed last November.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/gaming_2-640x427.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":98317,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/razers-cloud-gaming-handheld-starts-at-400-for-the-wifi-only-model\/","url_meta":{"origin":99868,"position":4},"title":"Razer&#8217;s cloud gaming handheld starts at $400 for the WiFi-only model","date":"October 16, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Razer, you may recall, recently teased a 5G handheld device that's focused on cloud gaming. The company took the opportunity at RazerCon to formally announce the system, which it calls the Razer Edge \u2014 yep, Razer finally went there with its branding. The Edge has a 6.8-inch AMOLED screen with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60604,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/logitechs-cloud-gaming-handheld-leaks-with-android-apps-and-switch-like-ui\/","url_meta":{"origin":99868,"position":5},"title":"Logitech&#8217;s cloud gaming handheld leaks with Android apps and Switch-like UI","date":"August 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Logitech's new cloud gaming handheld has leaked weeks after the company teased it was working on the new device. Logitech G and Tencent Games confirmed their plans for a dedicated handheld earlier this month, and now Evan Blass has tweeted pictures of the handheld which reveal access to the Google\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/8-2-760x380.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99868"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99868\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}