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The Black Shark looks like a gaming phone, runs like any other
Some of the most popular mobile games have player bases far exceeding those of big-name, AAA console titles. And where simple but addictive puzzlers like Candy Crush Saga used to be the pinnacle, we now have much more elaborate and engaging games like PUBG Mobile and Arena of Valor. Already this year, we've seen a resurgence of devices aimed specifically at the 'mobile-gamers' demographic. In Europe, there's now one more: The Black Shark, which recently went on sale, starting at the introductory price of €469/£409 (roughly $525).
Nubia's latest gaming phone comes with up to 10GB of RAM
Mobile gaming has come a long way from Candy Crush, with more graphically intense games and esports coming to smartphones in recent years. Chinese manufacturer Nubia is looking to service the gamer-on-the-go with its Red Magic Mars smartphone, a device packed with a powerful Snapdragon 845 processor and up to 10GB of RAM.
Honor’s Play gaming phone is far from perfect for 'PUBG'
The new Honor Play is business as usual for Huawei's under-brand. A marriage of surprisingly good specs, premium-esque design and a mid-range price tag is Honor's modus operandi, but the Play was created with a specific demographic in mind: The avid mobile gamer. While most phones are more than capable of running games, the Play has a couple of special features that are supposed to give you, the player, an advantage over the competition.
A brief (and depressing) history of gaming phones
ASUS' surprisingly ambitious ROG Phone is a clear sign the company has confidence in the gaming smartphone category. And it wasn't that long ago that the likes of Razer, Xiaomi and Nubia thought they saw an opportunity for a cash grab here. But as history has shown, gaming hardware is risky business, especially a segment this niche. Remember, not even Nokia at the height of its powers could crack the gaming phone equation with its legendary infamous N-Gage. While we wait for the ROG Phone to arrive later this year, let's take a stroll down memory lane and revisit some of its precursors.
Razer Phone leak suggests it's made for the gamer faithful
We knew that Razer was working on a high-end gaming smartphone, but a leak from one of its partners shows just how powerful it might be. According to a (since deleted) page from a UK mobile plan reseller called 3G, the Razer Phone will have a 5.7-inch, 120Hz IGZO display, Dolby Atmos sound with dual front speakers and amps, a dual 12- and 13-megapixel wide angle/zoom camera, 4,000mAh battery and 8GB of RAM. Adding credibility to the leak is the fact that 3G is a retail partner with UK operator Three, which recently announced an "exciting global strategic alliance" with Razer.
Nextbit ends customer support for its Robin 'cloud phone'
When gaming peripheral maker Razer acquired Nextbit this past January, the phone maker promised to support the Robin, its beautiful yet flawed "cloud phone," providing updates and security patches through February 2018, along with warranty and customer support for another six months. Now that it's been that long, Nextbit tweeted that it has "shut down support for Robin" as of August 1st. A further clarification on Twitter notes that the company has "only ended customer support at this time, not software support." We've reached out to Nextbit and Razer for comment and will update when we hear back.
Keepin' it real fake: Nckia's N-Gage knockoff harkens back to a simpler, side-talkin' era
Imagine a world where Nokia's N-Gage is the mobile platform of choice -- there's no iOS, no Android, and Nintendo's 3D ventures ended mercifully with the Virtual Boy. It's a world where the Nckia NG belongs. In our universe, a knockoff of the stillborn Nokia 7700 doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense, even with a MicroSD slot and added buttons for dialing. And then there's the fact that the handset runs a JAVA OS that doesn't exactly offer a bounty of mobile gaming choices -- which was sort of the whole point of the N-Gage. As for other familiar features, we can't be sure that this will be the rebirth of side-talkin', but with what could be a speaker slot on the side, we've got our fingers crossed. No word on pricing, but if you're truly nostalgic for a time that never was, you can pick one up from Huaqiangbei in Shenzhen. Get a closer look after the break.
Sony Xperia Play hits the UK on March 31st, thumbsticks coming never
Readers in the British Empire get ready for Sony Ericsson's biggest UK marketing campaign ever. That's in the lead-up to the release of the Xperia Play, a phone that we've been hearing about for so long that we'd need some pretty shocking commercials to get us all excited again. You may feel differently, though, so mark your calendars for March 31st. That's the end of the month and falls in nicely with the "late March" word we'd heard for elsewhere in the world, though that is awfully late. As to where you can buy it, it's said that "all the mobile operators and retailers" will have it, so you shouldn't have to wander too far. And, with six games pre-installed, you should even be reasonably well equipped to kill the rest of that Thursday.
Sony Ericsson files patent on haptic gaming device, doesn't call it PSPhone
It's nice to know that Sony Ericsson is plugging away on making our crazy, dare-to-dream fantasies a reality. The latest proof that someone up there (and by up there, we mean Japan) likes us comes in the form of a new patent for a touchscreen handheld that forgoes physical buttons for a haptic-feedback scheme. The design mandates that the phone / game device would be free of the pesky clutter of regular buttons, and would instead by configurable to any number of forms (PSP, phone, MP3 player, digital camera) by arrangement of on-screen controls. The device would vibrate in accordance with button-presses, though it's unclear whether this will just be a standard vibration, or a more advanced, location-specific feedback system. Even with a little buzz, we're not quite sure you can replicate the feeling real gaming controls provide -- and that could seriously interfere with our typical success in games.[Via Unwired View]
Samsung files a gaming phone patent... again
If we didn't know better, we'd say Samsung really wants to develop some type of hybrid gaming / phone device. One need only look back on the plethora of patent applications from the electronics-maker to realize that something game-related is going on over at HQ. Whatever the case may be, the Korean company has applied for another iteration of device, this time taking a more modular approach to the layout of buttons and screen. In this new configuration, a RAZR-like clamshell would actually house a swiveling screen which allows the unit to flip open, thus placing the display squarely between two "wings." The resulting arrangement would be a symmetrical device that would encourage a more familiar hand position for gamers. Of course, like those other designs, these are just images on paper -- though it does spark the imagination considerably.[Via Unwired View]
Samsung looks to patent two new gaming phone designs
Samsung looks to move forward into the realm of mobile gaming with two new U.S. patents involving gameplay-oriented handsets. For starters, patent #1 (pictured above) describes a "portable communication terminal for games." The display on this design involves a hinged "flip" that unveils a dual-row numeric keypad complete with phone navigational array when opened, and a gaming d-pad when closed (we hope that hinge is solid); the 'A' and 'B' buttons are near the earpiece and always visible. More info on the second patent application after the break. [via Unwired View]Read - Patent 1Read - Patent 2
