Razer Edge Review! Finally playing PC games distributed by Steam on an Android portable game console that has landed in Japan!

On October 27, 2023, Razer's Android-powered portable gaming console, the Razer Edge, and its dedicated wearable controller, the Razer Kishi V2 Pro, went on sale in Japan.

Even heavy games can be played comfortably at hand! Five recommended portable gaming devices!

In recent years, Android smartphones have become more and more capable of playing full-fledged games, and PC games can also be remotely gamed on Android devices via "Steam Remote Play". Against this backdrop, the Razer Edge is a gaming device with physical controllers on both sides of the device, specializing in Android game play. We had a chance to touch and feel the device, and here is our review of it.

Android OS-based gaming device

The Razer Edge is a 6.8-inch AMOLED touchscreen with the Razer Kishi V2 Pro controller sandwiched between the two ends. The connection between the device and the controller is made via USB Type-C, with the connector located on the inside right side of the "Razer Kishi V2 Pro" housing.

The Razer Edge looks like a large smartphone, but it has only a 5-megapixel camera on the front, rather than a rear-facing camera that is usually found on smartphones and tablets. Of course, it does not support calls, making it more like a small Android tablet.

However, this is still a gaming device.

The processor used is the Snapdragon G3x Gen 1, the previous generation model of the Snapdragon G3x Gen 2, which was announced in August of this year. However, it should not be forgotten that the "Razer Edge" contributed greatly to the development of the Gen 2. The Razer Edge was the first gaming device to feature the Snapdragon G3x Gen 1, and this experience was the basis for the development of the new processor.

Touch screen with 144 Hz refresh rate

The Razer Edge's screen has a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels and a refresh rate of up to 144 Hz, which is average for a gaming notebook, but far above the 120 Hz (2x faster) refresh rate required for a gaming smartphone or portable gaming device. This is well above the average.

Processor Heat Issues

One concern with the Razer Edge is the heat generated by the processor.

The day before the Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 was announced, Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, a high-end mobile processor from the same Qualcomm Snapdragon series. This processor has high specs, but it generates so much heat that even a short period of gameplay can cause problems.

I have a gaming smartphone equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, but without an external cooling fan, the chassis would get so hot that I would get a low-temperature burn within an hour.

Based on this experience, I was wondering what about the Razer Edge, which uses the Snapdragon G3x Gen 1. I was curious about this, but I would like to discuss that later.

Playing "Hellish Quart," a Western sword-fighting game

In this review of "Razer Edge," I played a PC game available on Steam. The game was played remotely using Steam Remote Play.

The specifications of the PCs used in conjunction are as follows

Victus16 (HP)
Processor: AMD Ryzen™ 5 6600H
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti
Memory: 16GB

The first game we played was Hellish Quart, a Western swordsmanship simulator. The recommended specs are as follows

64-bit processor and operating system required
OS: Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i5
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA Geforce GTX 970 or RX 590
DirectX: Version 11

I tried to play this game on the Razer Edge, but to sum it up, it was not possible. It worked, but the image processing could not keep up, and the swordsman was in slow motion.

The gymnasium stage in "Hellish Quart" is light and should run well on an RTX3000 gaming laptop. Therefore, this is a surprising result. Unfortunately, we were not able to enjoy "Hellish Quart" to our satisfaction during this test play.

Playing the Napoleonic War TPS "Holdfast: Nations At War

The next game we tried was "Holdfast: Nations At War," a massively multiplayer TPS based on the Napoleonic Wars. Recommended specifications for this title are as follows

OS: Windows 8 64-bit or Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: 3 GHz quad-core
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection

This game requires the same level of graphics board as the previous "Hellish Quart" game, but it is a far cry from the previous game, which I was able to play comfortably on the Razer Edge!

Holdfast" is designed to be played with a keyboard and mouse, and unfortunately, the Razer Kishi V2 Pro is not enough to handle all the controls. Unfortunately, the Razer Kishi V2 Pro cannot handle all the controls, but the important thing to note here is that we had no problems playing with the Razer Edge.

The basic movements of an attack, such as loading a musket (an extension of a flintlock rifle) with powder and bullets, firing it, and loading it again with powder and bullets (......), are played out on the 6.8-inch screen of the "Razer Edge". Moreover, there are more than 100 soldiers (other players on the server in question) around him. All of them are moving dynamically and without any stuttering!

Playing "New Star GP," a formula car racing game

Another great PC game to play on the Razer Edge is "New Star GP," a formula car racing game.

This August, "New Star GP" was released for early access on Steam.

This is a racing game that looks like a polygonal corner, but what it is, it lets you relive formula car racing from the 1980s to the 2020s. The game also includes the concept of interacting with the team staff and pit work such as changing tires, refueling, etc.

There is a requirement that both the PC and the "Razer Edge" must be in a good online environment, but if you can manage that, the game feels almost the same as playing on a PC. If you can manage that, however, playing on the Razer Edge feels almost the same as playing on a PC. I even feel that "Razer Edge" is more comfortable because it has a physical controller.

Since the controls are not as complex as those of the aforementioned "Holdfast," I was able to play the game using only the controller throughout. I also feel that the 6.8-inch screen size is ideal for racing games. The Razer Edge and New Star GP were a great match!

And what I felt after playing so far was the "low heat generation. This is a completely different character from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, whose birthday is one day different, and it is certain to allow you to play games longer.

The performance in this area seems to be greatly influenced by the cooling fan installed inside the chassis.

It also generates less heat and can play more games. Notable Gaming Devices

From the above tests, it was found that PC games distributed on Steam can be played normally, depending on the title. In some cases, the Razer Edge can provide a level of comfort that exceeds that of playing games on a PC.

In Japan, the penetration rate of gaming PCs is still not very high, and Steam Remote Play for portable devices is not well known. However, there is a high possibility that such gaming devices will become popular in the future.

The Razer Edge is priced at 89,880 yen at the official Razer store. It is a remarkable device that has the potential to drastically change the way Japanese people play games.