MANILA, Philippines – Razer, a brand known for its gaming accessories and laptops, is attempting to conquer new grounds as it prepares to unveil a smartphone, its first. 

The company teased its followers with an image posted on Twitter of what appears to be a man grinning at a mobile device on his hands. The image also includes the date of the unveiling, November 1: 

WATCH for our biggest unveiling…
https://t.co/gwrwrxbhf9 pic.twitter.com/OyBFVocHOF

— RΛZΞR (@Razer) October 11, 2017

While that’s still a couple of weeks away, the device’s potential specs have already found its way online via the benchmarking site GFXBench, which showed a listing for the upcoming device simply called “Razer Phone.” Here are the specs according to the website:

OS: Android 7.1.1 Android Razer Edition
Display: 5.7-inch Quad HD screen (2,560 x 1,440 pixels) 
CPU: Qualcomm octa-core running at 2.4GHz
GPU: Qualcomm Adreno 540
RAM: 7.5GB usable; 8GB total
Storage: 49GB usable; 64GB total
Rear camera: 12MP
Front camera: 8MP

These specs are what you’d expect from a flagship in 2017. But what stands out is its 8GB of RAM. Most flagships are in the 4GB range, with a few ones carrying 6GB. There are some who argue that more than 4GB is not necessary for phones, but for Razer and its gaming background, having 8GB might have some benefits geared towards an incredible mobile gaming experience.

Of course, mere specs don’t decide whether a device is great for gaming. Just as important is how optimized the whole package is. Certainly helping out Razer is their acquisition of Nextbit back in January 2017. Founded by former Google Android team members and HTC’s design head, Nextbit released the crowd-funded Robin smartphone back in 2016, which was lauded for its innovative cloud features.

It’s intriguing how Nextbit’s ideas will integrate with the Razer Phone’s bid to be a go-to gaming phone. Currently, there is no one phone that can lay claim to such a title – nor is there evidence that the market wants a truly gaming-centric flagship. After all, the leaked specs show components that can be already found on other flagships. The question for Razer is, beyond specs, what features or optimizations can Razer create to make a phone truly desirable to a mobile gamer? – Rappler.com