The Razer Phone 2 has not received an OS upgrade in almost 19 months

[Redaktion]

The Razer Phone 2 has only received one OS upgrade since its release in October 2018. The former flagship smartphone may still receive security patch updates, but it remains stuck on Android 9.0 Pie with no upgrade to Android 10 in sight.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-Razer-Phone-2-has-not-received-an-OS-upgrade-in-almost-19-months.494272.0.html

[Chris Kinney]

When contacting Razer, they tell you it's your carrier that sends out the upgrade. Then, your carrier says it's the phone manufacturer. There's no way to talk to anyone from Google. WTF!?!

[Tmunee]

I have always loved Razer and supported their products; but, the Razer phone has arguably been the worst purchase I've ever made and definitely the worst phone I've ever had. If I had the option I would gladly have just gone back a phone or 2 ago rather than use this POS.

[John _]

What features are people looking to get from Android 10? Unless there was some crazy security flaw with 9, I see no reason why Razer should sink resources into updating the OS.

@Tmunee: What was wrong with your phone? I got a Razer 2, and while it's not as polished as a flagship Samsung, it's been great for me.

I won't say it's without flaws (I got one with a bad speaker), but considering the price and what it's done right, I would consider it a great purchase.

[BeauC]

I will second the motion that Razer Phone 2 is a POS phone.  I purchased it primarily for the stereo, front-facing speakers and the monster battery. 

After 10 months of standard usage, the speaker grill has completely clogged with pocket lint, gunk, general grime. This meant I could barely hear the thing, even on maximum volume. I used a toothbrush, I used electrical cleaner, isopropyl alcohol, and various other methods to clean the grill out.  Nothing worked.  Finally, I just used a drill bit to create my own speaker grill.  Lo' and behold it worked!  Instant speaker upgrade.

Next, the battery.  It didn't hold up well over time.  Coming from a long line of Samsung phones, I was used to having quality battery management and long drain times.  Not so on the RP2.  I had to ensure I had my charger with me if I was going to be AFK for more than 6 hours.  That is, even without using the phone the battery would just drain away.  Factory resets didn't help.  Monitoring battery usage didn't help.

All said and done, after 10 months, I decided to walk away from the phone.  I got a OnePlus (w/ dual front speakers) and couldn't be happier.  After reading all the reviews on the RP2 (speakers going out, microphones going out, screens going out, batteries dying), and their customer support woes, I wouldn't buy another RP phone ever again.

And it doesn't surprise me that Razer hasn't updated to Android 10.  My guess is that they're getting out of the phone game.  And they certainly should, based on my experience with their product.

[SixSixSevenSeven]

"However, few would have predicted the device to receive such poor software support."

Company that put out no upgrades for its previous device puts out no upgrades? Shock horror. Anyone could have seen that one coming.

[Melo]

I bought a used RP2 for the display, speakers and battery life. I went from a Pixel 2 (with now Andorid 11) to the RP2 and I keep going back to my Pixel. I got so used to navigating the Pixel 2 that going to Android 9 annoyed me. I know it's personal preference but I really was hoping this phone would get the Android 10 upgrade. It's a shame it hasn't and probably never will because I do enjoy the display and speaker of the phone.

However, I must say that the selfie camera is terrible. The pictures look grainy. And I must agree with other posters that the speaker grill does get dirty. I have yet to find a way to clean it out. Maybe submerge it some sort of degreaser solution and use a toothbrush.

Overall, the phone disappointed me and that's because Razer no longer supports it and it has an older OS.

[Fang Zhang]

Google razer phone usb c and see all the issues. If you still have to use this pos like me, invest in wireless charger cause the usbc crudes on u after 1 year.

[RealChris]

I upgraded from a Windows Phone to  Razer Phone 2, While I don't have the luxury to pay for different phones like others comments, I can safely say, if you take care of the phone, it's worth the investment, It's defiantly not water resistance like they claim, but besides that, my grill does slightly get dirty, but doesn't interfere with sound quality on my end. In fact, getting all the protection and warranty works wonder's for me, i invested into a screen protector, gel phone case, water proof cover, 1tb card, and seal phone case when not using it, and enabled the Chroma effect only when i use the phone, disabling the notifications.

The only annoying thing about the phone from my side is the OS glitches every once in awhile whereas the notifications vibrate rather make sound, so doing a restart fixes which takes less than 30 seconds, so not really a bif deal to me, overall, this phone for me was a big deal and a big upgrade from the windows phone, and i never miss the WP, I am happy with my purchase. I get so many compliments all the time abd people always ask me where i got that phone from and love it.

[encreed]

I just upgraded my phone attaching bulk popsocket to it. Seriously it looks great on my phone and helps me to take an additional grip, which is especially useful for larger smartphones. If you frequently drop your phone or find it hard to hold a large phone comfortably, a PopSocket fixes that.