Thomas Dietrich
The new Razer Edge gaming console will go on sale in the US on January 26th in partnership with cellular provider Verizon. There will be a 5G version and a Wi-Fi only variant. The Razer Edge Wi-Fi will cost $400 in the US. Or you can grab the Founders Edition including Razer Hammerhead True Wireless (2021) earphones for 500 US dollars. Reservations for the Wi-Fi model are already open.
Razer Edge in the US for $400
Alternatively, there’s the $600 Verizon version, which is also available with a new $360 contract ($10 a month for 36 months) for a limited time. Another option is to buy a new 5G smartphone in addition to the Razer Edge 5G. This brings the price of the console down to $180 ($5 per month for 36 months).
The Razer Edge comes with a Kishi V2 Pro controller. It is detachable, so that afterwards you actually only hold some sort of mobile phone in your hand. If you can actually use it to make calls is not yet known. Razer uses a Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 chipset based on the Snapdragon 888. The console features active cooling, 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The latter can be expanded by up to 2 TB using a microSD card.
The advantage over the Steam Deck and the Nintendo Switch is the 6.8-inch AMOLED display. It has a resolution of 2,400 x 1,080 pixels (20:9) and a refresh rate of 144 Hz. For comparison: the Nintendo Switch OLED has a 7 inch OLED display, the Steam Deck has a 7 inch LCD panel. However, both only have a resolution of 720p and only run at 60 Hz. The touch sampling rate is not yet known.
Wi-Fi 6E, sub-6GHz 5G and mmWave
All versions of the Razer Edge feature Wi-Fi 6E connectivity. You can use it to stream games from your gaming PC or console and use game streaming services. Of course, the chipset is also powerful enough for native Android gaming. The version offered by Verizon has both sub-6 GHz 5G and mmWave. All connections feature low latency with minimal lag.
Bluetooth 5.2 and a 3.5 mm headphone jack are also on board, as are 2-way speakers with THX Spatial Audio and two microphones for voice chat. There’s also a single 5-megapixel front camera capable of 1080p at 60fps. The battery has a capacity of 5,000 mAh, the charging speed is not yet known. The Razer Edge weighs 264 g.
