If you’ve bought a flagship smartphone in the past two years, there’s a good chance it supports wireless charging technology; and wireless charging pads can be bought for cheap these days. So why would you want to spend $100 on Razer’s Wireless Charger? Lights! Fancy, colored lighting effects that add a bit of flair to your desk or bedside table.
The wireless charger uses the Qi standard, which means it supports all the Samsung Galaxy phones, the iPhone 8 and up, the Google Pixel 3, and a whole lot of other devices. It works best, however, with the Razer Phone 2.
PAD OR STAND
The Razer Wireless Charger is all black, and is notable for its cool strip of light around the bottom of the base that supports 16.8 million colors. It’s also adjustable as a pad or a stand — which you don’t see too often on most wireless chargers — allowing you to choose whether the phone should sit flat or upright.
The flat area your phone rests on has a rubbery coating, so you don’t need to worry about any scratches that may appear from carelessly plopping a phone onto the charger. There’s just one USB-C port on the back, and this is plugged into a wall adapter. It’s not the longest cable, so you may want a longer USB-C to USB-C wire if the outlet is far from the charger’s desired placement.
A button sits on the front base and when pressed, it turns on the strip of light. The charging pad will start cycling through colors slowly, which is handy if you want to keep it lit up even when there’s no phone on it. It does tend to automatically turn off after a period of time though.
It’s a well-designed system. The base is well-built, and it’s dead simple to change the orientation from a pad to a stand. It has a nice heft to it, so it doesn’t easily slide around when you place a phone down. The quality of the LED strip is also excellent — it’s not too harsh, rather delivering cool, soft colors that are pleasant to view.
BUILT FOR THE RAZER PHONE 2
The Razer Phone 2 is the latest gaming-focused smartphone from the company — you can read our full thoughts on the device in our review — and using the Razer Wireless Charger with it unlocks a few neat tricks.
The two are paired via the Razer Chroma app, which allows you to customize the type of visual patterns the colors cycle through: Wave, spectrum, breating, or static. Alternatively, you can select your own color, choose when the lights turn off, the direction for the Wave pattern, and more.
Exclusive for the Razer Phone 2, the base station changes color based on the type of notifications that arrive — exactly like the Razer logo changes on the back of the phone. Get a Gmail notification? The base station will turn red. Did someone send a Facebook Message? You’ll see a blue color. These colors unfortunately can’t be tweaked, and are set by the developer of these apps. It’s useful, but not a reason to buy the charger.
The Razer Phone 2 is just about the only smartphone you can place on the Razer Wireless Charger in portrait orientation without having issues. This has to do with the coils on the Razer Phone 2, which are quite low. For almost every other phone we tested — from the Galaxy Note 9 and Pixel 3 XL to the iPhone XS Max — we had to place the device in landscape orientation to make sure the phones were being charged. This wasn’t a problem for us at all, but it could be a deal breaker for those who want the phone in portrait orientation.
A word of caution — customizing the lights and patterns is only available if you have a Razer Phone 2 or an iPhone at the moment. The Razer Chroma app sadly is “incompatible” with every other Android phone we tried to install it on, but it surprisingly is available on the App Store, allowing us to pair the iPhone XS Max with it. If your phone is incompatible with the app, you won’t be able to change the brightness of the light, nor the pattern. It will still light up when you place the phone on it (you can always try to ask a friend with an iPhone to download the app and configure it for you, or we’ve seen reports that it can be installed on tablets).
CHARGING SPEED
How long does it take to juice up the 4,000mAh battery inside the Razer Phone 2? Around 3 hours. It’s an incredibly long time, considering the wired charger provided in the box can do it much faster, but that’s a trade off with wireless charging. It’s about the convenience, and not having to fuss about with cables.
We placed the Razer Phone 2 down on the charger at 7:57 p.m. with zero percent remaining, and it hit 46 percent at 9:08 p.m. At 11:05, it reached 100 percent. It’s far from fast, so you shouldn’t use this to charge up the phone if you’re in a hurry.
It’s equally not fast for any other smartphone. We placed a Pixel 3 XL on the charger, and it only went from 20 percent to 30 percent in the span of an half an hour.
PRICE AND AVAILABILITY
The Razer Wireless Charger costs $100, and is available now from Razer.
It’s easily the best wireless charger for the Razer Phone 2 — and the best-looking wireless charger, period — but the only reason you’d want it for any other phone that supports wireless charging is the lights. They look great, and they add a distinctive, fun style to your desk or bedside table. Despite its high price tag, if you’re all about RGB lights in your home, this charger is a essential.
Don’t care for the lights? Check out our best wireless phone chargers guide, where you can buy one for as little as $13.
