The HTC Pixel 2 XL and the cutting-edge Razer Phone | #PNWeekly 277
The HTC Pixel 2 XL and the cutting-edge Razer Phone | #PNWeekly 277
2017-11-03
and we are live welcome to another
episode of the PocketNow weekly this
week talking you 11-plus in you 11 life
t-mobile and Sprint prepping for a
merger and Apple has some discussion
over there touch ID face ID some of the
controversies from videos that have been
posted while we also have a hot sexy new
phone from razor to talk about we've got
a lot to talk about so make sure you're
charged and ready for episode 2 7 7 of
the pocket now weekly recorded November
3rd at 12:30 Pacific time this weekly
podcast is where we dissect and discuss
those gadgets that make our lives mobile
smartphones tablets and wearables it's
all the stuff you wished existed when
you were a kid and a razor cell phone
was a very different kind of cell phone
as always i'm juan carlos bag now senior
editor at pocketnow.com blasting the
signal from sunny Southern California
joined as always by plucky podcast
producer mr. Jules Wong out on the East
Coast how's it going buddy boy it was
missing a letter - like you could yeah
but in Seoul vowels that your will and
what does it'll take that phone
absolutely
it was the L or a slab or a little thing
of fortune whereas this is we'll talk
about this in our rubber half of the
podcast but it is a I hear it's a badass
smooth thing and all I can see of it is
just a black slab which is supposedly
just smooth and and kind of Spartan in
its design yeah call someone summed it
up I can't remember I should've put this
in my in my notes someone on a on high
Mays first look video made that made a
joke about this being like the next bit
Robin going through its edgy emo face
pretty fun that would be a sophomore
decision I guess and terms right if
you're going okay seriously yeah Scott
Kroy was like yeah you know what I'm
gonna make this my statement I'm gonna
leave this a little bit and just head
out razor
I'm gonna go with flying flames all over
the
away that's true but we should out we
should probably jump into some tech
commentary before we get into those
shenanigans mister Mr Wong how might
people get in contact with us for this
show oh yeah that's right I should
probably turn up the Twitter page right
now because it's hilarious that you just
said that because if you can't hear I'm
typing in the background as I - pull up
the Twitter page hilariously and we
actually do most of all of heart live
interactions if you're watching live at
3:30 on the eastern time zone although
sooner or later here Boston we may be
moving into the Atlantic time zone but
that's neither here nor there what we
want you is to be here with the hashtag
P and weekly so that we can see your
comments can't do the YouTube live
because even with slow mode it's still
ridiculous how fast those things come
along and yeah we appreciate voluntary
that chatter is great but we can't
produce a show and keep up with it at
the same time
hashtag P and weekly is the thing and
we'll be able to see you there live and
if you can't be here live if you still
want to ask a question we do a mailbag
episode every so often end of the month
and we should do that this month as well
yeah no I I like in front of the plan
that we should do mailbag at the end of
the month and I thought that was a great
idea so now I'm wondering if that would
be our Black Friday episode this month
Oh what no I don't think so I think we'd
have one more what I think so because
it's it's the fourth Thursday then
usually that's the last one but so our
mailbag episode would be the 24th 20
yeah yeah maybe yeah maybe all right
what about that I might be it might be
broadcasting from an airport I will have
to check in good idea we'll be doing a
remote podcast I'll sound great a
podcast at pocketnow.com to get to the
point of things because that'd be an
interesting one so definitely we want
the echoes of the airport's blasting out
all the answers to your questions for
whenever you might be talking about
things that are really it's a tech
mobile tech we would appreciate that in
the meantime Twitter hashtag P and
weekly let's get out of the show let's
talk about some lazy that that has been
enriched that has been added to that has
been plus in some as one might be
inclined to discuss and of course we are
talking about none other than the HTC
you eleven plus like plus live to twelve
this in the videos title I mean do you
do you think that we might be looking at
HTC's attempt at trying to build a pixel
to excel so this was circulated about
with the verge they were talking about
this with one of their sources and this
sort of extended the lore a bit because
it did sound like that this was in the
plans as the new eleven series that was
planned for 2017 they were going to be
three in the early part of the year and
all them had Co names inside HTC that
had to do with ocean ocean master ocean
note ocean just ocean Ryan and he he
ultimately only got the you ultra and
the you eleven yeah basically and you
play but no one talks about that you
plays no okay so that's on me I keep
forgetting about the you play but I just
like this is this is just me saying oh I
sort of I sort of like that little cute
thing because he was between the time
like before the U 11 was launched we
sort of dropped off this ocean master
device for a long and then there was the
talk about the Google pixel two devices
originally there was going to be a
walleye which would be the regular pixel
- and then there was timeand or no
muskie muskie was first those were the
only two
- and to Excel and then there was this
little timing thing that came up in
which was even larger and or something
and supposedly LG had something to do
with that and between all that jostling
around and we finally found out yeah
LG is making screens for the pixel - EXO
so that's interesting in oh they're also
making the pixel - EXO itself so yeah
that sort of made sense and that's when
we start like a little bit after that
was when we started picking up on the
ocean mastery game like it was revived I
don't think there were there was there
was a sense of continuity but somewhere
and that was starting to be talked about
as what we see here today is the HTC you
a lot from so pixel to excel and the you
11 plus there are definitely a lot of
similarities a lot of sames a lot of the
same specs going on it would just have
to be the pixel you know internal design
language and how the PCB would have to
eat spread apart and also the supply
chain those would be different aspects
to that which would have to be a local
so and so I mean when we're starting to
dig into this dig into this story
HTC wasn't responsible for assembling
the pixel to excel I mean that that's
all in-house LG correct intern yeah it
would the assemblage would be LG yeah so
I think I think it's kind of interesting
like because we're watching these sort
of timelines unfold and one of the
things you were pointing to in that
verge story is we know that a certain
section of HTC manufacturing is just
gonna go and live over at Google now and
one of the reasons for that at least
stated reasons is to try and help
abbreviate the time and working with
partners to building device
incorporating new software developments
into the hardware optimizing it all and
so it's still been I think one of the
curious aspects of this pixel launch is
that they still worked with two
different manufacturers when now the U
11 plus comes along to sort of
illustrate that HTC
has been involved in trying to
manufacture you know sort of a more 2017
design language phone more a more
current device than than what the U 11
represented and so I think it's just
sort of that curiosity we'll never get
the full inside scoop what these
companies are going through internally
the negotiations the partnerships the
relationships but we we see this come
out and you think it's I just think it's
really interesting that HTC was already
on this kind of design language they
could have probably fulfilled the
manufacturer of the of the pixel 2xl
yeah and in time II goggle has really
made a point of just saying this is our
stuff this is our design and we made it
well I mean to be honest it's it's the
totally I mean I'm saying this as as if
it's 2016 it's a totally different
mission we're talking about this as a
consumer oriented front and that it
doesn't really matter who the odm is
although we have since been painfully
reminded that oh diems do matter or that
supply chain does matter because the
people are staring at the screens people
are wondering what the heck is going on
a Google itself I think I think the most
troubling part is Google keyway because
at the scene you know you can make the
unit's HTC and LG but when you start
shipping boxes with slip of paper and
say that yeah when it didn't pass QA and
they still ship the phone no see this is
I think this is a fair criticism of
where we're at with Google as a first
party manufacturer now is they don't
have the Nexus excuse to hide behind
anymore
you know like you don't have as made by
Huawei or made by LG on the back of your
Google phone this is a made by Google
device and if you're gonna make that
claim then you have to be responsible
for the support for the QA and the buck
stops with Google not with al
not with HTC but I mean I kinda want to
get back to the to the you 11 plus I I
think this is this is a part of the
conversation when we see HTC is still is
still producing and releasing products
this is a second half of the year
flagship it's really late in the second
half of the year but it's a second half
of the year flagship just as we're gonna
start getting ready for conversations
and rumors about galaxy s 9s and LG G 7s
and things like that um what do you was
at the same time frame as with the bolts
last year a Kade the pretty champion and
also the one a9 which was kind of start
of a new push for the fall flagship yeah
and then and then also I think HTC's
distribution on this is a little wonky
too as to whether it's coming to what
what regions this phone will eventually
be dropped off in us is not gonna be
North America which is a sham and I hate
it
and well I do like the U 11 life at
least come into t-mobile because it's
been rough times trying to get HTC into
the carriers these days it's gonna be
with the sense version I really would
have liked to have seen what it would be
like with Android 1 which is going to be
around the world as opposed to just the
US but I don't know but yeah so I mean
just real quick I mean kind of like
detailing what what this this phone what
this phone is I mean we've been talking
a lot about it we actually knew you just
said what the phone is it's um a
snapdragon 835 64 gigabytes of internal
storage 4 gigabytes of RAM or an option
for 6 gigs of RAM and 128 gigabytes of
storage and it looks like the 12
megapixel ultra pixel sensor with an F
1.7 aperture is making its return and
the the I mean the biggest change from
HTC's current design language is
incorporating the taller aspect ratio
display and the three color options I
think one is really techie cool in not
just having a black and a silver you we
also have sort of a dark
translucent where you can see all of the
guts of your phone when are we going to
get over the Gameboy the Gameboy guy
like no I'd say do it anything that
helps a company stand out I mean this is
I was hoping to see a you 11 in solar
red as I thought that was one of the
most aggressive visible design choices
any company just look for a jingle
brands quality stuff where you can get
the light players of blue if you want
your phone to be the cause of lens flare
not just capturing photos with lens
flare so I was hoping to see something
like that and I think HTC is actually
succeeded in a discussion piece your
phone as a conversation piece the
translucent you 11 I think
I think achieves that at least in it's
more interesting than a lot of the other
glass back devices that we've been
playing with recently so all in all this
is again I think it's more evidence that
HTC manufacturing can still turn out a
good phone but not releasing in North
America makes me nervous for the future
of what's left at HTC and that all of
the the talent on flagships may have
been merged and migrated over to Google
well the thing is with HTC they've
always done the extra models going into
it
like the one m9 plus when a 10 player
whatever the heck they had for like s
that's right
and these little weird things and they
went out to your Airport to certain
parts of Asia they were market specific
and I don't think that what would do
what we dealt with back then is the same
as here because this is a secondary
flagship with like a change at a leading
transition of a feature that being the
2x1 display I don't think that is fair
to the market or to whatever HTC there's
so much there's so much manufacturing
from the U 11 that the company has
already sort of landed on you know the
the this is a u 11 with a taller aspect
ratio display
so this is this is what I mean like the
last sort of year of HTC devices cuz the
U 11 was probably what a year and a half
two years in development and so whatever
was left from that time frame in two
years will we see the brain drain moving
people from HTC over to Google start to
affect the manufacturing of devices in
2020 and and that's the oh that's that
open-ended big click baby hype question
is HTC you gonna be gone into year it's
to see 2020 well I you know this is also
where I'm kind of pointing to phones
like the U 11 life you know HTC globally
still has a reputation and find some
success in making mid Rangers and
entry-level devices they've been having
difficulties in their flagship end
especially for Western markets and in
Europe so now this is where I'm
concerned that HTC's the team of HTC
employees that went over to Google might
represent that flagship design team and
this could be that slow process of
pulling HTC IP over to Google without
having to face the same kind of
nitpicking or the same kind of criticism
that Google faced when they bought out
Motorola you know so this gives HTC
plenty of time to figure out what to do
with the vibe they'll exist as a
mid-range er brand across the world and
whatever flagship talent they have will
now be dedicated towards pixel 3 in
pixel 4 well I mean that that could be
it but they're still gunning for five or
six or seven flagship or whatever models
smartphone models next year as well
they're smart to keep on that schedule
I'm not sure if even that is sustainable
and and to be perfectly fair I am
reading a lot into one smartphone
release we do have a tweet from Ronda
great using the p-n weekly hashtag you
11-plus not coming to the US is
worrisome but people can import it and
that's my plan so it looks like there's
I know for a fact there are still some
HTC friendly folks out there especially
in
our audience people who are watching our
videos and watching and listening to our
podcasts and so if you're considering is
this does this help close the gap
between HTC in the competition is this
sort of up your alley a device it's
gonna be the right fit for you drop us
some comments shoot us some emails shoot
us some tweets because I think also
anyone launching a phone in in this
quarter we're already facing those
conversations of how does it how is it
gonna stack up against next year's new
phones probably landing sometime around
March and that's that's already if
you're talking about a seven eight
hundred nine hundred dollar investment
you know to turn around and know that in
three months you're gonna see a ton of
headlines about what's new and the next
generation of hardware and Android Oreo
8.1 and what does that mean for the
device that's currently in your pocket I
think that they can't afford to keep up
with this whole going with the numbers
thing because we had the seven m7m eight
and nine then it was like hey it's the
10 it's the perfect 10 and it was a
great phone it was a perfect 10 it's no
one no one bought it but still like what
do we is there anything clever about
going into the number 12 and because you
know you want to make like you know for
for HTC 13 you have like your baker's
dozen but you were saying that you you
kind of liked what you saw for the you
11 life making it to t-mobile what what
is it what is it that you're seeing in
that phone what what makes this stand
out for you opposite every there's other
like mid rangers just boring old specs i
mean really it's one of the first with
the new generation 600 series processors
that is gonna be widely available in the
US and less like the g we did the g5 s
from moto have like the 629 well 630 or
the 625 I can't remember now because I
think you might I think it might be
right but this this might be the first
with the 632
have a proper North American release not
just like that we could import another
manufacturer yeah I'll have to look at
I'm probably wrong sooner or later it
says the apparently has the 4:30 in
India at least so I'm assuming it's
gonna have the 4:30
sorry India they never give guys the
good chips that do they but this is
going to be a little bit of a little
litmus test in terms of how we expect
things to go
we love the 625 in many phone not just
the BlackBerry key one
so the Moto he's done other great 625 to
so this is uh this is a 5.2 inch full HD
1080p display it's an LCD so you won't
have to worry about any blue or red tint
if you tilt the phone and you look at it
off access these oh yeah ree gigabytes
of ram and i don't have and a 16
megapixel camera so that's that's not
embed that's not bad for not bad paper
specs i mean and with the price at 300
at t-mobile and 3 yeah well yeah and 350
and for HTC with the android one maybe
i'm not sure if that international
markets north america it's gonna be
cents yeah what in this oh go ahead
sorry just i'm trying to think about how
i feel that sense these days because
it's during its if it we were talking
about it getting a little older that's
like long in the tooth right last year
then you have to wonder okay with the
skin if you can get your hands on the
630 series phone i would be very
concerned about performance on a
Qualcomm 400 series phone running a skin
like sense I mean and I'm sure it's been
optimized HTC has some great software
developers I know it's not gonna be the
same beast that we were left with with
like the one m9 we wanted either we
really need something like sense 5 where
it's just you you took away all the ski
morphism and you really just
who did ever although I do miss what was
it was a touch flow back on Windows
Phone Windows Mobile back in the day
where you would have like the analog
flap why I had to install so through I
finally got I don't even know where my
phone is so I put Nova Launcher back on
my V 30 I wanted something cleaner than
LG's sort of front interface and when
you do that you lose the LG clock widget
so I go and I get my beautiful widgets
and if anyone has a suggestion for a
better weather clock widget please send
it my way cuz I'm so out of touch with
what's new there so I throw it on there
and of course the first clock that
beautiful widgets has up is that like
old school 1970s flappy clock here just
like we've so so far left that visual
look it's so old it just brought me all
the way back to like run yeah in like
everyone was still doing that even up
through 2015 they were just placing it
there because they couldn't just deal
with that just didn't know how to quit
you 1970s flappy clock so pretty
terrible but um no this is this what
what I think is so critical about HTC
with the you 11 life here ip67
water-resistant I don't know that we've
seen many devices again with proper
targeted North American launches that
have included rated water resistance for
under $400 that's kind of a big deal
and in addition to that this this to me
speaks of a company that is finally
figuring out how to compete in North
America with attractive phone design and
reasonable mid-range specs and not just
making an iPhone clone like they did
with the one a9 at this rate design it's
terrific and it gets its HTC design it's
not because you know people will throw
these things back and forth like oh well
Apple Coppola copied HTC s antenna bands
and I think that's true but when you
look at an HTC m1 phone versus an HTC
a one phone that a nine was as close as
we'd ever seen an iPhone clone yet to
looking like an iPhone and this this is
an HTC design language its HTC DNA
camera placement look polished glass on
the back and incorporating important
lifestyle features that flagship phone
owners repairable and not doing it at
five hundred dollars where the AAA the
one a9 launched I would like to see this
as a like replacing the desire like this
prepaid absolutely and and and this was
probably gonna be mu throw plastic back
on this phone and more probably looking
at a desire phone you know what I mean
yeah so so this to me like if if we lose
HTC flagships but HTC becomes a force in
the mid-range where we can continue to
expect high quality lifestyle grade
devices you know this this to me looks
like a phone that will do a very good
job of not only covering the basics but
giving you a little bit more than that
people receive yeah yeah oh sorry this
seems like the first phone in which HT
has not just priced it above everything
else it just it wasn't stubborn with
that because they have been stay close
Eve throughout their portfolio for just
keeping it just a little bit but just
scoring that premium on the design of
things which to the credit was pretty
nice but it did make sense with
depreciation and with the specs and with
everything else considering and so I
just got this from random P mode ox4 is
IP 68 water-resistant under $400 and has
a headphone jack so yeah III forgot
about the x4 but it's a we're still
talking about a rarity in this market of
having those kinds of forget about the
x4 it's not project by
well and then also I just like I love
those conversations yeah and it has a
headphone jack you're right no that's
actually fairly I don't know how many
headphone jack is because I haven't been
impressed with Moto's audio Hardware of
late but it does have the convenience of
that jack being built in yeah yeah but I
mean I got I got these I got these J
bruh
Jabra whatever the elite sports eats 25e
which is launching over those we did um
we had it published late we did like a
little headphone review round up from
not headphone review a headphone roundup
from Aoife yeah and like we I was you
know I was spraying some time with Bayer
dynamic and I was walking over to
Sennheiser and the time that I spent oh
as for hit up aftershocks cuz I love
aftershocks the time I spent going to
three different booths to shoot footage
hi Mei was playing with the elite twenty
fives that whole time just Jabra Jabra
Jabra Larry battery life has lived up to
all expectations what did they what did
they claim that the runtime 18 hours and
like I haven't had enough continuous
usage to really get a context on that
but it seems like and you know if not 18
hours at least 16 because maybe there's
a little thing going on between yeah you
know when I sleep but in terms of like
the fit on the ears is the best that
I've ever had and that's because they
have the elongated ear buds the tip I
got to get back to some proper like neck
bands for pies I I think I'm gonna go
back to maybe my LG tone actives there's
week round I spent some time with Trend
labs they make these really inexpensive
truly wireless earbuds and they work
well they actually do but it is a
lifestyle shock going to a a wireless
audio solution that can barely last the
length of a Joe Rogan podcast running on
fumes after a couple hours you're like
this is so cool it's so flexible
I've got individual earbuds I can go to
one earbud use both but I know they
don't last very long so there's I guess
there had to have been a reason for the
air yeah for the air pod stems because
oh yeah a little bit a little bit better
battery capacity and that's also why I
think the the companies that have been
more successful in this space that your
buds are bigger I you know I think Joe
Burrus new current generation it's like
they had the and this is coming from
Jaime and they will do a better job of
talking up Jabra than I but explain yeah
we should just like can you just talk
about Jabra for an hour and then he will
um know that talking to their product
rep about how their design was can we
make truly wireless earbuds that above
medium volume can last for an average
competitors marathon and you're like
okay that actually makes a lot of sense
no one's gonna want to recharge earbuds
in the middle of marathon and so that is
a design philosophy actually I think
makes a lot of sense cuz that that that
carries over into just general lifestyle
are you really going to have these
things in your ears playing audio for
more than four or five hours at a
stretch
probably not if you can hit that window
great but then for some of the less
expensive solutions where you know maybe
a third that time maybe a quarter of
that time so let's get into some other
news stories on that GCU eleven plus in
the you eleven life so you can
definitely check that out on
pocketnow.com and you are going to add
Renata Laporte OMG beautiful widgets so
2010 some gadget guy another timeline I
love it
you're not I'm going to pull it up right
now while we're doing this podcast
downloading the address tech and we'll
probably sever my connection to hangouts
because my internet sucks as brought to
you by spectrum cable and before we the
dole talk to is a in winter do you think
Android one is a better implementation
of the
to google play edition phones and
personally I think there its equivalents
like you didn't really understand the
whole mission of Google Play edition
phones and that they used flagship and
alright so I don't know like but there
was a whole mission thing and it was
really much an awareness of it whereas
this is it's a shame that we're talking
about mid-range phones or what an entry
level in mid-range yeah you know you
know Jane I think it's interesting
because we're looking at different
philosophies Google Play edition was
really trying to showcase like like
Jules are saying that sort of flagship
grade product but supported by Google
and then it's really kind of sad that
that experiment didn't resonate more but
it was also at a time where Google
really had no relationship directly to
consumers buying hardware it was just
very ill-timed what I think is is so is
so positive about Android one the people
who are out there not spending seven
eight nine hundred thousand dollars on a
phone are often the ones who were
receiving far worse support from their
manufacturers especially in terms of
software and if Google can find a way to
execute timely updates bug fixes
security patches for people who can't
afford the top of the top of the line I
think that just speaks to a better
culture and a better climate for
everybody buying any kind of smartphone
or computing device I would be far more
inclined to recommend Android one to
someone who's also looking to save some
cash or they're on a budget their budget
conscious then some sort of you know
off-brand or sort of less well-known
manufacturer in the same space maybe
they can offer some better hardware
maybe they can offer some cooler
features but I really don't like the
idea of someone spending two to three
hundred dollars on a phone and then
being left out in the cold for support
and it's not enough at that price point
to say oh well you could route your
phone and install other roms like there
really does need to be a culture of
holding manufacturers up to higher
standards the future of our economy
the future of all of our services all
comes down to data data-driven devices
and if they can't expect good good
security good support and we're kind of
leaving a lot of people out in the cold
yeah yeah
and speaking of data and support and all
that um do you want to edit it in
let's hit the news block yeah let's do
that for the week of October 9 2017 this
is all the news that is fit to podcast
t-mobile CEO John Legere is reported to
have contacted Sprint CEO Marcello all
right about a new offer to merge Sprint
and Softbank chairman Masayoshi son had
developed some reservations about a
prior merger deal that would have left
him out of control of one of his largest
foreign assets no terms of this new deal
have been put out just yet
apparently the axon M is its own thing
as the teehee USA has confirmed to
friend of the show Andrew Wallace that
sequel to the axon 7 is planned not sure
it's gonna be called axon 8 but instead
cherished in this new axon line you have
someone to celebrate I guess Apple and
it's ensuing antitrust legal battles
with Qualcomm is said to be considering
modems from other companies like Intel
which has provided some of the modems
for some of the iPhones this year and
last year and even media attack yeah
we're talking about those people from
Taiwan from next year there is a growth
of counter litigation to deal with
between Apple and Qualcomm it doesn't
look like there's a settlement in the
cards for at least watch this space Dan
Richie L Apple's SVP for hardware
engineering has now twice insisted to
TechCrunch and Mashable that touch ID
was never part of the grand design for
the iPhone x10 whatever you call it
we have also wanted today that the
original due date for the 10 was next
year but through quote hard work
determination it is now a 2017 phone
nothing was really told of that been why
finally Best Buy has stopped offering
iPhone 10 buyers the option to pay a
lump sum for their iPhone 10 and also
have to pay a $100 surcharge for it as
it is basically doing the carrier's
bidding of selling the phones through
their respective financing options it
doesn't really make a turn unless Best
Buy decides to I don't know activate
their phones at the store so that's
where the $100 kickback comes in and if
the carrier is well they're lining that
it's there they're fighting the calling
it a kickback but well yeah that's true
they are available they are a bill
majeure in terms of that process and
that they provide an alternative they
want to be an alternative to Apple
stores uh who have people lining up well
actually let's let's jump in on that to
discuss news do you I had not heard of
any other retailers that would be
supporting iPhone 10 I mean you know
like back in the day we had Radio
Shack's all over the place that
basically just became mini stores for
other carriers and stuff
I hadn't heard of any other retail
outlet trying to do the same thing like
you're not gonna walk into a target
activate an iPhone 10 and have to pay
$100 premium on that and is that in part
because like you know you just won't see
iPhone 10 at Target or is it just this
Best Buy relationship is singular to how
they work with carriers do you think I'm
I mean Apple talks with the carriers and
then Apple sells its phones and whether
or not the carriers take up so much
stock they have control of their own
stock and they decide hey let's send
them over to Best Buy where we get them
to we get them to work with us in terms
of our financing deals our phones and
it's a case by doesn't have
accesed to the OEM because your best buy
stock is actually filled by the carriers
that's right that's why I'm saying here
because if the you know if it were
Motorola for Nokia that'd be great but
Apple really touching down clutching at
its I forgot about that correct and
saying it's not a kickback because if
the phones priced the same at a carrier
as it's priced at a Best Buy then
basically all you did was give all the
money to the carrier because Best Buy
had to buy that stock from the carrier
that's okay so in the blog post sorry
I've got to pulled up in front of me now
finally my internet super slow as
brought to you by spectrum cable so
quoting from their article from forever
cosponsor no not-not-not our sponsor but
this prod cast is literally being
broadcast I'm saying it's never gonna be
a sponsor and never will be I actually
well and listen they want to dump a ton
of money in my lap I will kindly ask
them just to give me a fiber solution
this is from the Best Buy blog these
unactivated phones were priced higher
than those we sold with a contract to
reflect the fact that the phone carriers
only pay us when a phone we've sold has
been activated on their network so yeah
this this smells this this looks bad
this doesn't sound great I can
understand where retailers saying this
phone is on our store shelves people
want to buy the phone from us but we
can't profit from that activity unless
we just build in a premium unfortunately
for Best Buy because the optics on this
look terrible it's one of those is it
like if you want to sell iPhones you
better hope that you're gonna make your
nut back by combining it with accessory
purchases just like we do with like
printers why for so long you would buy a
printer and it wouldn't have a USB cable
in the box it was because Best Buy
couldn't make any money on the printer
unless they sold you a $30.00 gold
plated USB cable
yeah exactly and I mean I understand to
some point that Best Buy was trying to
offer that options they wanted to be a
secondary option and you know it had
limited stock to offer and because of
the nature of iPhones where they're
basically some free they're not really
tight in anyone unless you get insert a
CDMA enabled than GSM whatever but it's
it's it's tough and I don't think that
they should have finagled something the
situation because that was just that's
kind of a good transition point cuz I do
want to touch quickly and we don't have
spent a lot of time on it cuz I'm sure
this is gonna be a story developing more
aspects of the story over time but um
talking about Apple and Qualcomm you
know we instantly saw this this
generation of iPhones there were the
stories coming out about the different
variations whether or not you were
really getting the same kind of LTE
performance and people recommending if
you were going to buy an iPhone buy the
Verizon variant because then that had a
Qualcomm modem in it because it had to
support CDMA technology which also in
turn even on a GSM carrier delivered
faster LTE speeds
I wonder how Apple will be able to build
phones for North America without
utilizing Qualcomm components I don't
understand how they can support Sprint
or Verizon over the next year or two
until I guess we're all everyone's just
you know LTE for everything without that
kind of modem support yeah I mean the
whole litigation started up throughout
the course of this year and we've seen
the suppliant chain I guess I have grind
to a halt and this is where I can say
kickbacks because that's what's being
described in the antis right antitrust
suits and the whole complicated site
bill of how manufacturers parts
manufacturers have to pay Qualcomm or ot
and whatever so at this point
we're we're looking at insel perhaps
taking the whole of the of the kitten
caboodle yeah or perhaps mediatek
starting to mix into that and yeah i
don't know i think intel probably makes
the most sense as a main components
supplier i i i'm unfortunately i'm not
very familiar with mediatek chipsets in
general which I just started able start
to be able to produce CDMA parts yeah
that's what we saw with the LG X charge
on Sprint I did not know that was a
media attack that's really interesting
so I'm sure so you know what maybe one
of the things about this story is the
fact that if Apple is going to start
pulling pulling suppliers to manufacture
on mass and they're looking at a
supplier like mediatek then it's
probably just built into the contract
that mediatek is the company that's
licensed licensing Qualcomm's patents on
CDMA connectivity and that then apples
just doing business with media tech to
supply the actual part that's coming in
something like that I think could
actually make a lot of sense I didn't
know that there was another player out
there who was outfitting CDMA compatible
radios I thought Qualcomm still had the
monopoly on that perhaps and you know
monopoly is kind of the term that is
being wielded around but still in
disputes the ugly aspect of have even
having C CDMA shouldn't exist it was a
way like to kind of create the illusion
of competition in the United States but
it was never going to be the the world
technology was never gonna play at the
world stage so you know Qualcomm has
this COO and I don't mean this to sound
is flip or is dismisses of dismissive of
quality he scored a coup and being the
only company that was really building
high quality radios and modems and
that's why Brent went into y mx yeah Oh
WiMAX
what was it it was my
was it my you know it was no wasn't the
Evo was on the epic was the galaxy fest
but it was the one with the keyboard was
the only galaxy s with the slider
keyboard and it had it had that WiMAX
radio in it and I was I all felt like I
was such tough stuff man I could I had
like 10 megabit downloads in the middle
of la who could even think of that data
speed this is amazing days out of 2008
right well and at the same time also
like I have tens of minutes of battery
life when I use that CD that WiMAX
exactly and that's what that's basically
what wasted the evo 3d for me so that's
my first actual phone from 2012 because
I got that we've got a we've got a
couple it's coming in here P and weekly
from Renato Laporte these are actually
pretty cool first of all he just
mentioned Huawei they have really nice
modems if only they would provide them
for others while we make great
connectivity gear but I do believe they
have yet to support CDMA which is again
why this is so sort of precious in North
America as Verizon and Sprint combined
make up a pretty sizable chunk of the US
carrier market but this is a this is you
sort of not breaking news but this is
stupid
this was posted up Broadcom on Bloomberg
I am Bloomberg so broad comedy has the
right chip maker Qualcomm this could be
huge yeah apparently they're talking
about $100 bid for Qualcomm 100 billion
dollar hands not $100 bid that's $70 per
share if you want to talk market but and
this would be both the largest would
this research yeah it would be topping
EMC and whoever bought that Intel maybe
I don't know in terms of all this
because Broadcom was in the news this
week also for having reincorporated from
Singapore which they have been for a
while back to the US and had they've
been talking about
tax reform and and how the u.s. is gonna
try and do that make corporate tax
reform I'm not sure in terms of the
whole repatriation thing where foreign
earnings have to be taxed again where
they have to be brought back to the
United States that's gonna be worked in
to this legislation that's being crafted
right now that's been talked about and
is being bandied about so big impacts
all around in broad common I think is
one of the pushers of the dominoes and
could also be one of the dominoes itself
yeah in this whole scheme you know
that's true yeah I mean but the numbers
on this urn saying what current
valuation Broadcom 111 billion Qualcomm
91 billion and they'd be seeking $100 a
hundred billion dollar bid for Qualcomm
this would be this would be enormous if
that actually went through I wonder what
kind of opposition governments would
have against this kind of an acquisition
well I mean there could be something
with NXP because call comes has been
trying to chase an XP for 47 billion
dollars and they make a little sound
parts to I think a lot of sound parts
for phones so there there's just a whole
Hungry Hungry Hippos at the very top end
of the tech sector here in terms of
valuation and they're all involved in
making our phones work well yeah rightly
the chips sorry prices of chips have
been rising everyone's been citing that
raw material costs are skyrocketing I
mean we talked about a couple months ago
when we were talking about battery tech
to I mean like the materials that go
into our phones are gonna be facing
increased competition from IOT and cars
and everything else imagine that coming
from one source like one freakin source
when you also combine the fact that you
know like Broadcom radios are also in
Apple products too so this would
probably cloudy the waters on whatever
kind of future deal the two companies
would be able to execute let's uh let's
just kind of
shift gears here real quick I want to
point this one out because I was super
proud of our buddy Andrew Andrew Wallace
he was a guest commentator on the
podcast a couple weeks ago just on his
own felt like reaching out the axon 7
was a fan favorite for people who like
mid-range mid-range premium flagship
mid-range phones whatever you want to
call them there's a $400 phone it's in
the middle of the market it's a
mid-range phone value flagships okay
well you you can you can preface however
you want I'm saying it was probably one
of the best phones of last year and it
just happened to be priced halfway in
the market of smart phones especially if
you were into audio because this was
definitely one of the audio champs of
last year opposite the v20 so uh you
know Andrew just on his own we saw the
ax on em thought hey you know screen
flipping school but you know the axon 7
was was a great phone I wonder if we'll
get a follow up besides he's gonna go
out tweet tweet ZTE and CT he replied to
him ZTE doesn't reply to me asked about
whether or not we'll have an axon II but
he did get a reply from ZTE and
apparently there is some notion of a
follow up hopefully to the axon 7 I mean
yeah yeah good good on Andrew I think
timing also helped because this was
after the there missed flagship corn
unquote launch and where the states
which was the Exxon and there and so
that's the timing bit but also every so
often and you know the just the straw
that breaks the camel's back because
there aren't whether they're on social
media and they do get asked about all
these sorts of stuff all the sorts all
stuff my cut is my conjugation correct I
don't know yeah close enough I get what
you're saying what they get you know all
these questions all the time it just you
know one fan on this one particular
moment goes and asks the same question
as like yeah we're going to answer that
question because now is the time that we
can actually talk about this so yeah so
I I mean if they can also the same
philosophy for an axon 8 that they that
we saw exhibited in
on seven that could be really compelling
device I mean you know we've been fans
of phones like from oneplus and Huawei
in this sort of mid pack market but
there were few devices that I think
ticked all the check boxes for multi
media powerhouse like the axon 7 did so
I you know I know a lot of people who
would have said like just give me the
exact same axon 7 but throwing that
Qualcomm
835 and charge a little bit more for it
and that would have been a 20-17 dream
phone for a lot of people like the axon
7 was a 2016 dream phone for a lot of
people so I'm very curious in what they
might be able to deliver because I think
it's it's nice to be seeing this kind of
competition start filtering more
aggressively into the unlocked market
yes yeah well I was gonna say just wrap
it up an axon 8 on Amazon you know as
part of like Amazon's new push for
unlocked phones would be really exciting
I think ZTE is having a soft year this
year I mean they've gone through the
whole huh I mean to the what was it the
Iran sanctions where they were training
was Iran and back in 2012 and they had
to pay like 800 billion million dollar
excuse me fine to the International
Trading Commission then there was the
thing with CX a CSX which was the
crowd's phone thing and that had to be
retracted and reworked and you haven't
heard anything on that French it was
supposed to be talked about in September
or October again we haven't heard
anything on that and then there's this
there's the axon M which was a great
opportunity I think who shows something
off on a major carrier 18 T mm-hmm it
sort of had to be this kind of thing
that is an anomaly to everything else
that we've worked with so soft year well
yeah it definitely has and and I think
as emblematic by because I have not held
I've not played with and I don't mean to
speak ill of the
dual-screen acts on em but I do find it
to be a curious entry when they
delivered such a great experience on the
axon seven to not have a follow-up phone
for that but what I hope what I really
hope is that we'll see a traditional
carrier like for example I think Amazon
is sort of the juggernaut that a lot of
other retail outlets should be looking
at how can they compete against Amazon
is a storefront and the the way you
compete against Amazon isn't to sell
your products on Amazon I like that
that's not that's you you need to right
now you currently need to do that if you
want to exist you need to have a
presence on on a market like Amazon but
what what I would really hope to see and
I think it makes the most sense in the
grand scheme of things I think it makes
the most sense for like say a t-mobile
to start acting as an unlocked phone
disrupter so you could go to amazon.com
and look at pictures of unlocked phones
and decide whether or not you want to
try one buy one of those and you know
potentially you know look at video
reviews on sites like pocketnow.com
who make phenomenal video reviews of
smart phones tablets and wearables or
what if you had a kiosk at a t-mobile
store where you could go in and they
aren't the official t-mobile launch
phones but these are compatible with
t-mobile right you go in and you can
play with an axon seven you know the the
person at the counter can say well this
won't support our Wi-Fi calling but it
supports everything else on our network
and you'll still have your binge on and
you'll still have your international
travel works in all these different
countries and it's guaranteed to work on
our network it's just not supported like
a galaxy phone with t-mobile branding on
the back I think there could be
something really compelling about having
just one little corner just one little
chunk of retail floor space dedicated in
the back of a store where consumers can
engage with other types of devices and
other types of products and you would
actually be able to go hands-on with
that gadget in that store space and see
what makes it different I think that
could be a really compelling way to try
and compete against amaz
John's current and I'm sure they're
going to be building into other devices
too LG releasing a bunch of their phones
including the g6 for this Amazon
unlocked sort of experience a carrier to
get into this I think could be a really
interesting way to turn up the heat on
retail competition I can't hear you
Jules I don't know if it's me or did you
unplug yourself we have make funny in
here it's off it's now it's not I'm not
recording anything you know what I want
to take this opportunity to record the
rest of your podcast from here pixel so
everybody listening to this podcast
you're about to hear a market quality
difference in Jules's audio and we'll
have to see hangouts audio in between
now and then I'm trying to figure out
where the hell I don't know that there
is one on the pixel I so I ended up
returning my pixel to I was gonna see if
Murray wanted it but she she we were
playing with it and it was unfortunate
that um you know I decided I didn't want
to keep it it really wasn't a phone for
me and I reached out to Google and I
asked like you know I bought this phone
I don't like it
my wife is really interested in it she
thinks she thinks this is gonna be a
good phone for her is there any way that
we can not only transfer her account but
also buy her protection plan since we're
still within the two-week return window
and they were super helpful in
transferring the phone over to her
account only to then say oh and adding a
protection plan is impossible sorry and
so it was really disappointing that
there wasn't any way to try and make
that happen
I typically don't buy protection plans
on my phones because I have way too many
phones and it's highly unlikely that
I'll have one phone and constant
operation long enough for me to worry
about really damaging it beyond being
able to use it but my wife is a one
phone throw it in her purse it's chucked
around by our daughter she needs you
know better support than just that and
so they're only so
Ellucian even though the phone wasn't
damaged the phone was still within its
two-week return window of you know full
price you know a grace period was well
you can return the phone and then buy a
new phone and buy the protection plan
with the new phone and my wife went well
no I can just buy any phone then and we
sent the pixel back
I was really disappointing but I don't
believe there was just a straight-up
memo recorder on the pixel - and I can't
hear you again Jules this is this is
some some hot podcasting right now I
love this this is summer this is some
hot crap indeed I wouldn't record this
hopefully with my b20 and this is gonna
be okay the laptop Mike's gonna be okay
for the live broadcast at least because
life no I'm really great it's okay so
you're moving to the v20 this will be
the experiment when we go back and
listen to this podcast after the fact
how much did Jules is audio change going
from a zoom h2 to an LG V 20 and I mean
I'd want to like compare simultaneously
that yeah unfortunately we won't be able
to do that because your zoom h2 turned
off but um we can wrap this up here real
quick I did want to touch on very
quickly Sprint t-mobile central merger
for a while I brought six months seven
months well I mean ever since what ever
since sprint was bought out by was a
soft Bank we've been talking about
blink first and merging with Sprint or
buying Sprint or you know acquiring
Sprint and t-mobile seems to always kind
of come up as being the right merger to
compete against Verizon and AT&T I kind
of hoped this wouldn't happen I
rationalize everyone saw the writing on
the wall for Sprint it was very likely
this company would get optioned by
another company or acquired by or
another company but I really miss having
more competition in this marketplace so
I always held out hope that Sprint would
find a way to build up its user base and
become a bit more
recive opposite t-mobile and especially
opposite 18 t and Verizon but you know
there are only so many so many resources
for people to want to shop when looking
at cell phone coverage so here's the
point where I get into my argument with
PC Mag Sascha Segan because he was
cheering against the whole thing -
cheering if the merger and heat width
and he was about a week ago when
Softbank was you know Masayoshi Shawn
was son was trying to you know I wanted
to get out of the deal because he wasn't
he was about to lose control of one of
his largest assets which I guess is
understandable it's green it's part of
the whole doing business kind of thing
and he has a big personality too so
again he wants to exert control and you
know do something unique and whatever
that's that's his prerogative
purportedly I said this is kind of
stupid because I really wished like we
would have more competition and that
would be through a new carrier that
would pop up somehow or a new major
player a new fourth-placed player where
they would be able to act on whatever
concessions
go through reg a regulatory speaking
because they would have to give up some
spectrum they would have to give up some
assets they would have to give so those
away and that would bolster a great
maybe a US Cellular even though I don't
think that family is trying to expand or
someone we've seen Canada make its own
network outs and they had wind mobile
for time back in 2008 it started up its
own network and we're very hard so you
try and work it out very expensive task
I understand that but but suppose every
market we would want to see some road
where someone could walk into this
market and compete and on four
generally it seems like we're back into
a very you know very few number of
players that are controlling the mass of
towers in spectrum and like the idea of
like starting a carrier today like the
inevitable isn't doesn't care if you
live or die
it's pretty it's pretty cutthroat like
that so unfortunately that means in in a
continuingly unregulated market it's
just going to become easier and easier
for companies to merge or acquire and
that's where we find ourselves at today
where you know US Cellular stands as I
always go Tom Brokaw whenever I say
cellular nuclear sorry I apologize to
anyone Tom Brokaw if you're listening
that was that was uncalled for
it's it does a good job doesn't care
yeah I'm sure he doesn't care about what
I have to say about his gorgeous voice
but it's a it's a troubling aspect of
where we find ourselves now that for
t-mobile and for Sprint to compete
against AT&T and Verizon it really does
make a lot of sense for them to merge
and to unite their their user bases but
that also means increasingly there are
fewer places for consumers to turn to if
you have a problem with you know Verizon
service you can kind of go to 18 t but
that means maybe having to buy a new
phone or going to a t-mobile or a sprint
and now that's increasingly becoming and
so like with the only opportunity is for
a company like Apple or Google to start
selling their own service that's not
necessarily addressing the problem of
who actually controls the pipes and what
service do you get from the person who
controls the lines of access to the
Internet and that is I find I find it to
be somewhat worrying situation that we
find ourselves in today if this if this
deal goes through but I think it'll
probably take a while to hammer out the
specifics because you know for Sprint
being the fourth place carrier they're
still worth about half of what
t-mobile's market cap now
that's a big chunk of change to try and
address if one company is looking to buy
out the other indeed
so that's something that we have to keep
on the back burner which is still
burning somehow but yes gonna keep
burning until quietly smoldering I don't
know that we have market fire there's
the embers are still glowing yeah yeah
and with that I would say that we
haven't had to read but Jules where
might someone find more information on
these types of Technology stories if one
were so inclined to look up you know
really cool new sites and videos and
stuff on the state of the mobile
industry you can see full details on
these stories on more hip pocket now
that common look for the podcast section
to get to this episode's rundown you can
chat with us about what you have been
reading yourself like Renata Laporte did
yeah that was awesome didn't you I'm the
hashtag PN weekly and also be sure to
check out Jaime Rivera in the pocket Mel
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able to nosh that sponsorship yeah I
feel again I don't know if it's you or
we're having some fun meltdown issues
this week on this week's podcast you
went for all the noise I mean I have no
idea if we're actually still connected
or not maybe it's all the noise that's
been generated from the webcam because
it has to make do with the like
compensate for the dark background in
which case I wish I had better lighting
here I'm sorry for that I'm using really
nervous people work lamp I'll send you
one it's super gross but it seems we've
got to talk about the razor phone you
know we are our own I may be Vetta went
and spent some time playing with the the
fruits of the acquisition of next bit
team under the razor umbrella and I
think they've they've managed to release
something which is is at least garnering
a healthy amount of discussion people
interested in another player in this
market potential offering from a trusted
brand in the world of gaming and this is
striking up a bunch of questions like
gaming phones is this now a market that
people need to start taking more
seriously or is gaming just one of those
things that on a phone isn't going to
appeal to a mass-market
audience and so just to break down real
quick the razor phone we're looking at a
Snapdragon
welcome snapdragon 835 the Adreno 540
GPU it's a 5.7 inch quad HD so it is 16
by 9 Gorilla Glass 3 on the front face
with 8 gigabytes of RAM and 64 gigabytes
of ufs storage they don't mention if
it's you FS 2 or 2.1 hmm I was assuming
it probably would be at this point right
now a 12 megapixel rear camera 8
megapixel front shooter 1/4 dual camera
come on man you can't bring it about
that point yeah that's right that's
right I apologize
I missed the zoom sensor on this bullet
point sheet here four thousand milliamp
hour battery which is pretty great
especially if you've been a fan of
phones like Huawei's in the past
that's an excellent number of milliamp
hour milliamp hour capacity to have a
quick charge for from Qualcomm they
claim 85% charge in one hour and a
machined aluminum body coming with Nova
Launcher
as the front skin with Android 7.1.1
nuga backing up the guts of the software
a pretty compelling offering a very
minimal machined hardware very low
profile buttons not really marring or
distracting from the design and
front-facing stereo speakers which I
think a lot of people are going to be
happy about in terms of multimedia know
how big so no head pointing if anyone is
playing a lot of games you're using your
battery more aggressively so having a
headphones plugged in and not being able
to charge at the same time might be a
consideration for some folks but of
course then you can just start dealing
with the Bluetooth but the biggest flip
side to that is with that bright XO LCD
you have also the 128 Hertz the splash
that you're playing around with which is
fire and it's also titled an ultra
motion because you've got a brand your
brand your technology like that but it's
about you know
smooth and it's great hopefully all the
games support that and well they've this
is this is what was really compelling
again you're bringing something new to
the table
this isn't just a powerful smartphone
with a razer logo slapped on the back
they are trying to make sure that their
gaming DNA is incorporated in this phone
so when the discussion reaches like the
the frame rate of the screen scales to
the actual frame rate of the app on the
screen yeah all the way up to a hundred
and twenty frames per second if this
phone can drive a game at 120 FPS the
screen will properly match that frame
rate for the grey for the gameplay that
is actually kind of a big deal if we're
talking about a multimedia device yeah
and certainly I mean we have a lot of
multimedia to talk about here because as
Weezer's wants they have a ton of
partnerships that will help them or for
a gaming phone because when you bring
out the term gaming phone you kind of
have to wonder well what games am I
going to play on that that would totally
make sense and they have run out Arina
Fowler as one of them where there was a
tabletop care things the beat'em ups no
no I am a gamer so high no but it's
illegally League of Legends kind of
thing going there and there's also a
pocket edition of Square Enix is Final
Fantasy 15 so fans of that franchise
have lots to look forward to of course
you have all the new tender stuff but I
would say that as a richly richly
textured thing that I've only ever
played like two hours of I think that's
a pretty good I think that's pretty good
you like the game or not but also it's
what I think is really interesting is
this is another phone that I've seen
really fronting a partnership with honor
of kings yeah that was Oppo had
something to show off with one of their
last phone releases talking about this
and ten cent has been blowing that up
especially in the Chinese market but
it's become a very popular game
elsewhere too so that they're also
working a collaboration with DC for
honor of Kings where you can play DC
characters yes and seeing as how I'm
like a massive nut and I was totally
addicted to my Marvel future fight
mentioning DC characters in a game like
honor of kings like actually has me
somewhat more interested in trying yeah
so I might have to break that out and
see you like if I can be Batman always
be Batman that's kind of big i things
that we do need to mention the no
headphone jack but it does sound like
they're following the google pixel model
for their their headphone dongle so a
little less terrible that it'll
hopefully be a proper 24-bit portable
DAC as opposed to you know like an HTC
or motors have you seen the whole thing
cuz it's actual debt yeah it's a chunky
little thing right but what I'm hoping
is is unlike a proprietary dongle like
Motorola solution where the moto dongle
only works on the moto it doesn't work
on like a laptop
hopefully that DAC will be compatible
with any computer like the Google pixel
dongle is because that could be kind of
cool like if say your laptop has crappy
headphone audio and you can just pop out
from the USB C port you don't have to
detach the dongle from your headphones
you can plug it into your laptop and get
much better audio that is I think the
right way to do this moving forward I
still think it's a bummer that it
doesn't have a high quality headphone
jack but this takes a little bit of the
sting off it's also not gonna be
water-resistant so I know some people
who are concerned about an expensive
phone not having some kind of IP rating
that might be a bummer there but we are
talking about US six hundred and ninety
nine dollar phone and that sounds like a
lot but that's still way less than I was
about to say that sounds like a lot but
no no it's not anymore
yeah the iPhone 8 is $6.99 hello to you
yeah and when you consider that if you
took a one plus five and just
I mean this is kind of a sense it makes
sense a 700 bucks like already we're
seeing the 1 + 5 t get little hints and
little triggers going on and who knows
what that might be priced but we're
talking about the screen technology the
audio I mean KJ X had which is whether
subsidiaries had you that stereo
speakers and just a bunch of other kind
of back you know back flanking of
franchises coming in to support this
thing and so we ultimately have to
arrive at a question though is gaining a
killer app that has been missing from
the smartphone market I think this is
gonna be a really interesting first test
case is if razor can start building a
core user base to become evangelists
really built around that idea of mobile
gaming III think it's a it's a section
of smartphone use which is often
overlooked
we talk about gaming in our reviews and
stuff but I think for a lot of people
out there you're gonna spend $700 on a
phone gaming is one of those activities
that kills phone batteries right you
know you don't want to have your phone
dead at yo before dinnertime because you
still need your phone as a primary
communications device when you know
games eat through battery life a lot
more aggressively now I think razor has
done exactly the right play in talking
about fast charging technologies and a
larger battery thermal cooling system
that they have to hopefully keep your
phone running more efficiently and I can
say I can get through a significant
amount of Marvel future fight on my mate
mate 9 because this battery is ginormous
compared to a lot of other devices in
its class especially a lot of other
devices at its price point so III guess
I'm I'll be really curious to see do you
think people are gonna are going to
latch on to this idea do you think we'll
get enough people
latch on to this idea that we can build
a fan base around it because this isn't
the same argument that like a one plan
is making I don't have the answer for
that right do you know that no you
liquid future you get the future wrong
you're gonna push this greatly and this
is because they have some retail flex
with this because they have their own
razor stores of course which are farmed
for you between but there's also the
Microsoft Store for at least the North
America I'm trying to still parse out
the partnership but they have a lot PC
periphery bills so maybe they felt like
I saw that maybe they're trying to
leverage that going on and they're also
able to still use I still use the razor
laptop so I'm very tied into their
product line exactly and they're and
they're also partnering in Europe at
least for with three and they also work
with three for design and hardware and
they made an agreement like earlier this
summer so there we go there's some
movement on this phone whether or not
the case gets made for it is is that
well maybe up to Microsoft
maybe it's up to the carriers and
hopefully well the nice thing like it
won't be for lack of trying
I think these are all of the right plays
like and I'll be shocked if this phone
isn't available on Amazon on B&H on any
other sort of web retailer I'll be very
surprised so I think they've made pretty
much every right move you can make in
launching a new phone very very few
leaks very few you know like you know
spy pictures or blurry cam photos
anything like that they controlled the
narrative of its announcement they they
arrived with pricing and availability
information ahead of some other products
that always seem to announce a phone and
then not tell you how much it's gonna
cost or when you can buy it and then
knowing that it's gonna have some decent
launch partners even if they aren't
carriers is at least showing that
there's been some relationship building
going on behind the scenes for this
phone
we've got a bunch of tweets a bunch of
questions on this let's go ahead and
jump into those so that we can wrap this
podcast up from from Andrew Wallace he's
got a couple tweets here does anyone
else wish that Razer had included better
PC to mobile streaming solutions I want
to be able to play sieve five
civilization five on mobile and what
strategy do you think Razer should use
in order to sell the there 700 ollar
phone if they aren't going through
carriers actually we kind of talked
about that but I do want to talk about
game streaming because we've got Samsung
has a big well and then also we've seen
from traditional gaming platforms you
know Microsoft has been working on sort
of game mobility the Xbox stick
PlayStation the same thing Nvidia and
steam all working on how can you get a
game from your PC to your living room
and then you've got a you know a common
a mainstay sort of I think the leader of
mobile gaming Nintendo blurring the
lines between console quality and mobile
gaming quality with the switch I
actually do kind of wish that I that we
saw something that was you know like
because Razer has a living room solution
to that I think about it it would have
been really compelling to have some kind
of service that could offload a PC
driven game just displayed on a phone
screen it's just then also I think you
would have had to have had the
discussion about game controller or
peripheral that could interact with a
phone well enough to actually control
the game that you were streaming from
your PC yeah yeah and one of the odd
bits that I noted while the event was
going on was that they had the whole
preamble about how they've become the
number one in PC peripherals and and
console peripherals and they also made
an announcement about their streaming
equipment that they have for PC and they
said and if you're worried and we've
been out of stock for a while
talk soon and that was one of the few
times during that preamble that people
actually applauded that there was an
actual strong applause
that's funny I mean okay sorry I'm just
I'm also going through our tweets at the
same time here Joel I didn't mean to cut
you off like that well no no no it's
just that like when they say that
there's my gamers I presume that when
they have trying to fill their audience
maybe maybe that was what they were
asking for and yeah they're from Zayn
winter hashtag peon weekly are you
surprised
Nvidia isn't making a shield phone or
partnering with razor for theirs well
first of all I seriously doubt Nvidia
would be trying to partner with Razer as
I think they would view them as more of
a competitor in this space but you know
III it's kind of interesting to see you
know Nvidia had tried to enter the
mobile space the chipset space with
Tegra and when Tegra didn't become a
primary chipset for manufacturers to
compete against Qualcomm they seemed to
lose interest in that space I don't know
I I don't see them really trying to make
any other mobile gear shield tablets or
shield controller mobile gaming setups
anymore so I just don't think there's
enough interest in the space for them
when they're more focused on streaming
solutions and graphics cards so I mean
the race is on they're not necessarily
in the hole in terms of components in
terms of serving up software to stream
like that that's really the only
vertical that they are competing in but
just doing hardware and micro components
I don't know how much how much of that
means something to them in order for
them to collaborate or go or not and
then this is well I this is what I think
is so interesting is like you're
launching a phone in 2017 this is kind
of becoming you know like the 2018 model
year you know like just with cars yeah
is the end of this year so it's
technically next year's phone and you
don't I mean anyone who's walking into
the space knew first of all they just
have to know that this phone isn't gonna
sell like crazy for the first gen
especially when it's priced at a you
know the bottom end of the premium tier
of the market but we've seen other
players try and so I'd love to have a
conversation with someone internally a
razor and I know they'd never let us
kind of do you know talk candidly and
publicly about stuff but like what what
about the timing now really made them
feel that this was the right time to
play especially when they aren't trying
to make the same argument NVIDIA did
with console or PC quality gaming on
Android powered devices but lastly this
is from Jonas and this made me laugh
Jonas Timothy Kemal the razor phone
isn't worth the price without chroma RGV
[Laughter]
look look they have the special edition
they're gonna produce 1337 leet unit
with snake the Tri snake force logo at
the back in green cup row green is more
than anything you'll ever have no jewels
jewels what we need what we need is a
rainbow ripple effect every time you
touch the screen just like they have on
my keyboard and that's that's what's
gonna sell some phones
there's no RGB come on I'm actually
shopping our GB RAM in a separate window
as we speak because I've got to rebuild
this workstation
and I want pretty colors on all the
things but yeah let's go ahead and wrap
this up here I think that's that's an
amount to dinner yeah and I want to
thank all the folks that were yo
chatting and we saw that we saw a lot of
chatter on this episode and then all the
people sending us in tweets and stuff
don't forget we're gonna be doing our
mailbag viewer mailbag episodes at the
end of each month so shoot us those
emails if you're listening to this and
the the recorded audio version of this
podcast and I'm gonna pull up my script
here to get us back out
contract in the sack
there you have it folks this episode of
the PocketNow weekly is over the
conversation continues though on Twitter
where Jules is outpoint Jules and I'm
humbly at some gadget guy pocket now is
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