Weekly poll: do you think gaming phones have a future?

15 April 2018
Will the Razer phone, the Xiaomi Black Shark, the nubia Red Magic and other entrants win or fail?

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  • A
  • AdamBoy64
  • Fv4
  • 24 Apr 2018

Vegetaholic, 18 Apr 2018At the moment no chance. Xperia Play actually the last prop... moreThe Xperia Play was a great device. Truly in a class of its own.

    • D
    • AnonD-148576
    • Yfs
    • 18 Apr 2018

    agreed

      At the moment no chance. Xperia Play actually the last proper gaming phone. Physical controls implemententation inside the body with software emulation of ps1. If failed cause SE didint take it seriously. It had hardware controls and even games was there to support controls. What they didint do properly was computational power. Every decent phone back in 2011 was faster than Xperia Play. In the rise of dual cores and powerful GPU's they equipped with outdated 1 core CPU and not the best gpu, plus giving it 512mb of RAM while competition was already moving to 1GB. People didint buy it, cause it was already outdated. If it would be equipped with top of the line chipset, it would be definitely selling millions. Nowadays gaming phones doing everything opposite. Puts some top chipsets but does not make great physical controls or concentrate on providing exclusives. Actually if you really want to create a killer gaming phone, you need to make your own custom chip only optimised for your particular device to wipe out regular phones, plus make some nice exclusive games and make sure you implement physical controls properly and optimise some top emulation programs and you have a winner. Sure it will require some spending on R and D and it will not be cheap, but you will single handedly will own a market cause there is no such a device :) wondering which company will do it right. Come on Sony make Play 2 :)

        With no great software to justify those "gaming" phones, most likely it will fail... if you can play games in your normal smartphone without problems, then there is no reason to buy those devices.

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • sAZ
          • 17 Apr 2018

          Future of "gaming phones" lies on "mobile games."

          Personally I think most mobile games just not worth my time and my money. Most are just low quality cash grab filled with lootboxes but at the very least most of them are free to play unlike all the AAA titles that are pay to play but still fill with lootboxes.

          But I wouldn't mind "gaming phones" as long as its got good specs, features, and looks nice. I don't really like Black Shark design, a bit too childish for my taste like most of the "gaming laptop."

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • I01
            • 17 Apr 2018

            Gaming phone with no headphone jack? Pass

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • ut@
              • 17 Apr 2018

              Anonymous, 17 Apr 2018It isn't cheap compared to Xiaomi's Mi 7 and that cooling s... moreNot to mention closed-loop liquid cooling doesn't make sense in something as densely packed as a smartphone. Liquid cooling will require a pump to be actively powered, which will take its toll on battery life, pose the risk of leakage, and take up more space than a smartphone can afford to provide. This is the reason, why you don't see any form of active cooling for eg. air cooling (fans) in smartphones and they'd be easier and cheaper to implement.

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • ut@
                • 17 Apr 2018

                Geo, 17 Apr 2018Flagships can handle any game but Blackshark is half the pr... moreIt isn't cheap compared to Xiaomi's Mi 7 and that cooling system is marketing speak (like Samsung Galaxy S7 for eg.) until teardowns prove otherwise.

                https://bgr.com/2016/03/03/galaxy-s7s-liquid-cooling-system-doesnt-have-any-liquid-in-it/

                  • G
                  • Geo
                  • 3pR
                  • 17 Apr 2018

                  Flagships can handle any game but Blackshark is half the price and has Soc of a flagship and a cooling system for the cpu.

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • tZ4
                    • 17 Apr 2018

                    Gaming phone should have removable battery and memory card slot. The game controller should integrate on the bezel and side frame. The main camera should be able capture AR and playing realtime AR game for mobile phone gaming.

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • ut@
                      • 17 Apr 2018

                      Fulljack, 16 Apr 2018anyone who believes smartphone as gaming device has no futu... moreWhat does the idea of "smartphone as the future of gaming" has anything to do with the success of Nintendo Switch. If anything, it goes against your point. People are buying the Nintendo Switch because it is NOT a smartphone. If it had nothing but smartphone games, no one would've bought it.

                      There are reasons as to why smartphones are not the future of gaming:

                      1. Games
                      People are not willing to pay more than $5 for a mobile game. In contrast console/PC gamers pay $60 + DLC for a new game. Coupled with ease of piracy and cheap knockoffs, this makes mobile platforms an investment risk for developers/publishers, which explains why you don't get a lot of quality games on smartphones. Thus Free 2 play with micro-transactions is the most common monetization model.

                      2. Controls
                      Touchscreen is not suitable for gaming and lacks the tactile feedback of buttons, unless the only genre you play is turn-based RPGs. This puts limitations on games, as they have to be designed around the touchscreen. Controller support is few and far between (as touchscreen is the lowest common denominator), and when present is often hit & miss. The available controllers themselves aren't very good in terms of quality and comfort.

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • Pn$
                        • 17 Apr 2018

                        Anonymous, 16 Apr 2018Any mid range or flagship phone can handle all available ga... moreIf the gaming phone costs half of a flagship, why not?
                        By the way, mid range have snap 630, that doesnt run heavy games.
                        For heavy games you will need snap 835/845

                          • S
                          • Sunny
                          • KIJ
                          • 16 Apr 2018

                          If done right a future awaits them. But currently its not possible coz u want 1080p or 2k resolution which current hardware can't handle. At best we can have 720p resolution. Bigger and hopefully batter battery, probably a newer version of battery. More ram i think. Way batter cooling system. And a stylish design with lightning effects. Those r the dreams of a gamer. But the manufacturers r not ready for it. Our current available tecnology is no available for it and such cell phones wont be cheap so majority of consumers r not ready for it either.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • 6XU
                            • 16 Apr 2018

                            Any mid range or flagship phone can handle all available games. What's the point to make gaming phone?

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • Pn$
                              • 16 Apr 2018

                              Anonymous, 16 Apr 2018but gaming phones would have to improve on many things in o... morePaying more? But these gaming phones, specially Black Shark, is half the price of a flagship, with same hardware. Its not marketing for easy money, thats for sure.

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • uJx
                                • 16 Apr 2018

                                but gaming phones would have to improve on many things in order to secure a fruitful future, it took hp omen /acer predator /lenovo legion /asus rog so much time to finally make impressionable gaming brands that are now so much comparable and maybe better than dell alienware. who are we trying to kid if brands these days simply put in qualcomm snapdragon and call them gaming phones of questionable intent, such folly. did you think we would even get a gaming phone from samsung galaxy/ lg g or v/ htc one or desire/ sony xperia/ or whatever other smaller lesser brands? what future are we even seeing or are there even anything to consider before we truly see a true class leading gaming android or iphone?! will everyone from little boys and girls enjoy a game through to elderly men and women who can play a game to exercise their minds a little? what future do we truly need from a gaming phone? or a farce to trick and exploit people into paying and paying more for a mere smartphone that will never replace a dedicated console pc platform?

                                  • D
                                  • AnonD-700784
                                  • fv0
                                  • 16 Apr 2018

                                  yes, now im mostly spending time on my phone, and its impossible for me to spare enough time that allows me to enjoy gaming on my pc. ngage was not very bad in my opinion, i have the qd version, i used it last summer as my main phone, just to replay some of the best games that are released on it, most of them are fun and enjoyable, they drown you into that oldschool nostalgic atmosphere, it feels more like playing ps1 games. for those whom didnt play it, i recommend them to play red faction, ashen ( best of the best) , pathway to glory ( 2 games) , barakel, virtua cop... they are all great games really just go and play them all one by one just like i did.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • Iks
                                    • 16 Apr 2018

                                    Doesn't matter what OEM you're talking about, the fundamental problem for anyone claiming a smartphone is a gaming -> controls. No physical controls - more half the game genres simply cannot work, and at least 1/4 of the remaining half will be subpar compared to even home consoles (let alone PCs).
                                    Hardware power has nothing to do with something being a gaming device.
                                    Same goes for battery life - if it can reach 3.5 hours active gaming time, it's more than enough (the PSVita gets away with less)

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • utK
                                      • 16 Apr 2018

                                      Anonymous, 16 Apr 2018Irony? He is right actually. The future is in mobile gaming.Irony is that portability is just about the only thing common between Nintendo Switch and smartphones, unless you delve into hardware specifications. Consoles and smartphones are fundamentally different.

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • utK
                                        • 16 Apr 2018

                                        Anonymous, 16 Apr 2018Apple benchmark is kinda fake cuz they use less pixels than... moreDid I mention iPhone anywhere?