When looking at the Razer Raiju Mobile, you would expect a solid controller that is designed to work with just about everything since everything gaming has Bluetooth. What you get is a piece of highly-priced technology that creates problems and just doesn’t deliver in the areas you would expect a Razer product to excel in… Especially when you’re testing the controller with another Razer product, like the Razer Phone 2.
Tech Specs
At a glance
- 4 individually remappable multi-function buttons
- Hair-trigger mode for rapid-fire
- Adjustable phone mount
- Wireless and wired control
- Mobile app control
Tech Specs
- 4 multi-function buttons
- Mecha-Tactile action buttons
- Trigger stops for quick-firing action
- Mobile app for Android
- Up to 23 hours of battery life on a single charge
- Supports phone widths of up to 79 mm / 3.11 in
- Approximate size: 125 mm / 4.92 in (Length) x 159.4 mm / 6.27 in (Width) x 66 mm / 2.60 in (Height)
- Approximate weight (without cable): 306 g / 0.67 lbs
System Requirements
Product requirements:
- Android™ 6.0 Marshmallow (or higher)
- Windows® 7 (or higher)
- A free USB-C port or Bluetooth connectivity
Mobile app requirements:
- Android mobile device with Bluetooth compatibility
- Internet connection
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Now as I mentioned in the opening paragraph, I spent a lot of the time testing this controller with the Razer Phone 2, another Razer product that I was sent at the same time and was advised to use more for the testing phase of the device; which is why I think this review is going to come off a lot more negative than it should have. At the time of testing, I did not know about the Razer Raiju Mobile app that is available on the Google Play Store that seems to fix a lot of issues I had with the controller and its inability to work with the Razer Phone 2, and the issue of not being able to remap buttons for a lot of the games that this controller is meant to handle.
Speaking of things not working as intended, I’m going to take a moment to talk about using the Razer Raiju Mobile with PC games, which is something that the controller is meant to do by simply downloading the driver from the website and start playing. I must have installed, removed, and reinstalled this driver about 10 times and it never worked with anything. Hell, I couldn’t even get it to register with Bluetooth or USB connection in the Windows 10 Device Manager. As for getting this thing to connect to something like a Playstation 4 or Xbox One… Forget that! It’s not like those can connect to just about anything, including a cheap Chinese knock off controller that I have sitting on my desk at the moment. Nope, the Razer Raiju Mobile just wants to sometimes work with Android phones… and that’s on a good day.
Connection issues aside, the Razer Raiju Mobile is a very solid controller. It’s very durable, probably enough to withstand the average gamer rage of being thrown at a wall or TV (Mind you I didn’t do such a thing). The buttons, including those weird extra ones that are on hair triggers and whatnot, are extremely durable and could last for long play sessions of just about anything from shooters to fighting games and more.
The big thing about the Razer Raiju Mobile is that it comes with a nice sized cradle that can fit just about any sized mobile device (not tablets though) with no scratching to the device in question. However, not all is great with the cradle either. I found with both the Razer Phone 2 and Samsung Galaxy 9 (my normal phone) I had issues with the volume buttons or power button being pressed while in the cradle, causing issues with sound going too high or the phone randomly shutting off into the suspend mode while in the middle of a game.
But enough complaining, what does the Razer Raiju Mobile do right? Well, it works… kinda. When it does want to work you will find that you get the standard controller experience. The sticks work very well, the buttons press nicely with a little click to make sure you know you’ve got them pressed, and that’s about it. I found that with a lot of the games that it was a mixed bag as to what worked and what didn’t.
With games like PUBG Mobile, the Razer Raiju Mobile works like a dream. Turning to face someone in the distance and pick them off is just as good as using a keyboard and mouse. Yet with something that is meant to be confirmed to work by the Official Compatible Games List on Razer’s website, like ePSXe; you end up spending hours trying to get the damn controller to be recognized let alone work with the games. But using a SNES Emulator on the phone worked fine since you didn’t need a lot of the buttons, to begin with. I think the issue is that the more buttons you need, the harder it was for the phone to work with the controller.
At the end of it all, I didn’t enjoy my time with the Razer Raiju Mobile, finding it a very incompatible piece of technology for the most part. I think this might have something to do with the recently released Razer Phone 2. I did try a little with my Samsung Galaxy 9 with much different results. With the Samsung, I didn’t have as many issues getting things to work and the games worked without any needed remapping or extra apps to get working. But by that time I was just very much over working with this controller. Sure things might have improved with time since I returned the unit, but when it’s full of issues out of the box, I can’t recommend it at the standard retail price. If it’s dropped to standard controller price since its retail debut, then it’s worth a chance.
Razer Raiju Mobile: Nice First Attempt
The Razer Raiju Mobile is a nice solid piece of hardware that one would expect to see from a company like Razer. It’s designed well and built to do a specific task. However there are a few smaller things that let the overall experience down; especially when one of those things is working with your brands own mobile phone.
Pros
- A large list of compatible games to play with
- Solid Bluetooth and USB-C connections to use
- Long battery life
Cons
- Button remapping doesn’t work with a few programs
- Nothing mentioning the app in official paperwork
- Works better with non-Razer phones than the new Razer Phone 2
- The holder covers buttons on the phone causing volume and power issues
