Consoles dedicated to cloud gaming are popping up like hotcakes lately. At Razer, we are also entering the race with a hybrid portable console/tablet proposition, dedicated to Xbox Game Pass: the Razer Edge. Compatible with the Razer Kishi V2 Pro controller, included in a pack or sold separately, this new, unique nomadic offer therefore consists of two accessories from the brand.
In my suitcase, there is…?
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Featuring the official colors of the brand, the packaging is not a model of sobriety and defends its marketing elements on all sides. When opening, we come directly onto the tablet, equipped with a 6.8” Amoled 144HZ FHD+ screen, i.e. 17 cm long by 9 cm high. The latter is perfectly held by a rigid cardboard case and packaged in transparent plastic which tells us more about how to engage the device on the controller, which is found in the false bottom.
The presence of accessories is completed by a cable with a length of 90 cm, both ends of which are USB-C, as well as a user manual. The container is quickly completed. No charging dock therefore, a situation that is increasingly common with products of this type…
Concerning the extendable pad, it can accommodate a large number of smartphones, in addition to Razer Edge and Razer Edge 5G tablets. The manufacturer’s website also gives us a non-exhaustive list of compatible models: Razer Edge, Razer Edge 5G, Samsung Galaxy S21 series / S22 series / S23 series / Note 8 / Note 9 / Note 10 / Note 10+ / Note series 20, Google Pixel 3/4/5/6/7 and other Android devices.
On the bottom of this controller is located, on the right, a USB-C output allowing you to charge your phone or console while playing, but also the 3.5mm jack socket which we spoke to you about above and thanks to which we can benefit from with a sound worthy of the name.
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You’re not short of ideas…
Aesthetically, the tablet is, unlike its box, very sober, even elegant. All black with slight curves on its back, it features the brand’s snakes.
Light, it weighs only 263 grams and it is not once connected to the controller that our wrists will suffer, it itself being light too. For comparison, it is 200g less than the Rog Ally, for an almost equivalent size. If we salute the feat, we quickly understand that certain concessions had to be made to achieve this result.
A USB-C output, located on the right in landscape mode and therefore on the bottom in portrait, an on/off button and two volume buttons. Sober, we told you so! No jack in sight on this tablet, so only headsets equipped with a USB-C port or with a Bluetooth connection will be compatible.
You should not rely on the sound of the console itself to hope to fully enjoy a game, a film or simply music, the latter being very disappointing, even unpleasant. The cause is distortion at high volume and a lack of sharpness when reducing it. The brand does not communicate on the sound system introduced in its machine and simply specifies: multidirectional speakers.
Let’s go back to the screen. If, on paper, its definition of 2400 x 1080 pixels makes it better than those available on most portable consoles on the market, we were not seduced in that regard either. To compare, we took our phone, a Galaxy S21 Ultra. If we remove the black bands present on the Razer Edge, we end up with a screen of equivalent size, for a smartphone sold at an equivalent price…
First try, a comic book: the Amoled panel works wonders and the difference between dark and lighter colors is much greater than on the smartphone, giving real depth to the panels of the book.
Convinced, we launch into the second test: the videos. Colors are still impressive, although we find the contrast a little too high for film. The adjustment possibilities are not as extensive as for the Rog Ally and we therefore cannot influence more than that. The worst being the impression that the outlines of the characters, environments or other details on the screen are “smeared” and lack sharpness. The fault of the wifi? Perhaps, but our phone does not reproduce this effect, under equal conditions…
Third try: cloud gaming, the spearhead of the Razer Edge. Here, no surprise with the continued presence of the “sloppy” effect, to the point that on certain games, the subtitles are almost illegible while on the phone, still no problem. We are equipped with fiber and play next to the router to avoid these inconveniences. The colors remain true to themselves, far too garish for video games and tire the eyes more than necessary. If in the menus this contrast seems incredible and gives us the impression of truly having one of the most beautiful screens in our hands, the effect quickly evaporates in game.
It is almost impossible to do without an internet connection if you want to play titles, apart from the possibility of purchasing and installing games and applications via Google Play and storing them on an SD card. All other launchers will only be there as a service dedicated to cloud gaming (Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Now) or streaming (Steam Link).
As a result, we can’t imagine what it would look like during a weak and unstable network connection, like on a train for example. And if the Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 chip, coupled with a 3GHz Kryo processor, allows for good performance in mobile games, it is unfortunately not as effective for cloud gaming.
Finally on the screen, if it poses no problem when playing outdoors with its maximum brightness of 1000 nits and suffers very little from reflections, like a smartphone, we can clearly see the limits of a wifi connection required.
… It’s the conviction to achieve them!
We haven’t mentioned it yet, but Razer’s newborn runs Android and so the interface is completely identical to a smartphone, right down to the way we play our favorite games.
The settings of the machine are also similar to a smartphone and the only difference we see, apart from being able to adjust the screen refresh rate up to 144Hz, is that the Razer Edge cannot neither call nor send messages through its own operating system. This is still possible thanks to third-party applications, such as WhatsApp or Messenger, the microphones being included directly on the tablet, above and below the screen.
Everything related to gaming is grouped in a tab called Nexus, which turns out to be the nerve center of the console. It will allow you to personalize the launcher, manage streaming, or configure the different controller options. But it is not specific to the Razer Edge since it can be downloaded on all Android devices. It is also here that we discover various proposals for games and gaming applications such as emulators or a sorting of available Xbox games (truly welcome), accessible via the touch screen or by a relatively poorly placed button, just above the start key. On several occasions, we found ourselves in the Nexus menu when we wanted to pause our game. Since the two keys are completely stuck together, we often make mistakes during our sessions in the dark.
Conversely, on the left side of the pad, the select key and the one allowing you to take a screenshot of the screen are well separated, one at the top and the other at the bottom (the exact opposite of start and Nexus ). Hard.
Aside from this flaw, the Kishi V2 Pro controller is the strong point of this entire set. The clickable buttons and joysticks are placed almost identically to a Nintendo Switch and the haptic feedback is successful. Unfortunately, not all games are compatible.
The tablet is equipped with two additional configurable triggers, located in the same place as the usual controller paddles. Smaller, they protrude slightly and, although their location seemed effective to us, they are perhaps too sensitive, causing us to click on them inadvertently several times.
Apart from some difficulties navigating the menus, due to an Android interface that is not always adapted and some problems detecting Kishi v2 which forced us to restart the console, we did not have any major bugs.
On the other hand, inserting any device into the controller systematically gives us a cold sweat as the USB-C output of the pad seems fragile to us, forcing us to twist it slightly to remove the tablet or smartphone.
Finally, the 5000 mAh battery does its job, long gaming sessions of more than 3 hours did not overcome the latter. Be careful though, although it is possible to charge during the game, the cable provided is very short and the console does not have fast charging, so you will have to plan ahead to play in the best conditions.
In terms of price, the console is available in a pack with its controller for €499.99 while the Kishi V2 Pro controller, sold alone, is available for €149.99.