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Owners of the original Razer Phone should finally start seeing Android 9 Pie update soon following reports that the company rolled out the firmware earlier today before pausing it. According to widespread reports, the update was halted due to a relatively minor bug.
The update was and is expected to bring a plethora of changes when the roll-out starts up again. That’s not just because the firmware update itself weighed in at right around 1GB. The new version delivered all of the Android 9 Pie features that would be expected from what is, aside from proprietary gaming-related tweaks, basically a stock experience.
Users should expect features such as support for Google’s Digital Wellbeing suite, gesture-based navigation, and better notification management. It will also include Android 9 Pie’s even adaptive battery, which will certainly be useful for the 2017 gaming device.
Last but not least, the update brings the security patch level to June 2019.
A quick refresher on the Razer Phone
This update, when it does begin rolling out again, will be a welcome refresh for the now nearly-two-year-old handset. For its time, the original Razer Phone was a powerful flagship gadget packing in a Snapdragon 835 octa-core SoC. That’s coupled with an Adreno 540 GPU and healthy 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 64GB expandable storage (up to 256GB). It also shipped with an advanced internal cooling system to take some weight off of the system.
It’s 4,000mAh Quick Charge 4+ enabled battery allows up to 50-percent charge in around 15 minutes. Its 12-megapixel dual snapper and 8-megapixel selfie camera were no joke either. But the biggest advantages the original Razer Phone brought to and still brings to the table are its display, audio, and connectivity.
The Razer Phone delivers a 24-bit DAC with full Dolby Atmos support just to start. NFC, Bluetooth 4.2, and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/a are part of the package as well as a huge range of LTE bands globally.
On the display front, the gadget shipped with a respectable 5.73-inch HD (2560 x 1440) LCD panel made by sharp for wider-than-usual color gamut coverage. Setting it even further ahead, apart from competing devices of the day, that was set at a 120Hz refresh rate. That’s still an achievement that the overwhelming majority of phones simply don’t come close to matching.
Why the Razer Phone Android 9 Pie update was paused
Since starting its roll-out various reports have cropped up online claiming that Razer has paused the update to Android 9 Pie for the first-generation Razer Phone. The problem is said to be centered around a bug that breaks Game Booster. The feature effectively blocks background apps among other things in order to allow a better, uninterrupted gaming experience.
As noted above, the update was live for several hours and was undoubtedly downloaded by a significant number of users before being halted. Meanwhile, the Android 9 Pie update for the device’s follow-up — the aptly named Razer Phone 2 — rolled out back in February. That all should provide ample motivation for Razer to get things fixed and roll out quickly. For now, there’s no timeframe attached to how long the wait might be.