The Razer Edge wasn't always one of my favorite handhelds, but now that Black Friday has worked its magic, I've got more reasons to buy one over a PlayStation Portal. For not much more than Sony's remote player, you're getting an android device that can stream games from your PS5 and emulate classic capers -something I wish the Portal could also do.
Over at Amazon, you can now grab the Razer Edge for $212.48 thanks to a 15% off Black Friday discount. This is a new record low following the Android handheld's previous price cut from $399 to $250, so I'm pretty chuffed to see it even cheaper already. There's a good chance that this might even be a clearance offer rather than an ordinary deal, so you might want to move fast if you fancy grabbing one.
If I'm being frank, the Razer Edge could end up becoming one of my best gaming handheld picks if it stays at this price point. I suspect it either won't or will end up discontinued, but it's pretty great value for not much over $200. You're still going to want to dive into Black Friday Steam Deck deals if you're looking to run PC games, but if you've got remote play and emulation on your mind, the Edge is now an affordable powerhouse.
Should you buy the Razer Edge this Black Friday?
In my Razer Edge review, I call it an oddball handheld with an off-putting price tag. The latter part of that statement is what ultimately kept me from widely recommending the Android device, but its current Black Friday discount serves as a redemption arc. For just over $12 more than the PlayStation portal, you're getting a powerful Snapdragon G3X Gen 1 portable console that can access PS5 games using remote play and handle games offline, making it inherently better value.
To give the PlayStation Portal some credit, Sony's handheld has also gained the ability to stream PS5 games via the cloud using PS Plus. Adding that feature into the mix has also changed my opinion on the portable player's $199 price tag, but I'm still itching to play PS1 and PS2 classics on it.
Could we end up with that feature down the road? Maybe, as hackers have already got PSP emulation working on the handheld. But, the Portal's innards aren't really designed to do much more beyond game streaming, whereas the Razer Edge can keep up with some of the best gaming phones with its Snapdragon chipset. Put it this way - I've used the Edge to both play Final Fantasy 12 with 4x scaling and played a chunk of FF16 using remote play, all while enjoying its Kishi controls and vibrant AMOLED screen.
To play devil's advocate, the Portal does benefit from a full built-in Dualsense gamepad complete with all the haptic tricks of the PS5 version. The screen also measures in at 8-inches compared to the 6.8-inch Edge, not to mention it uses a normal 16:9 aspect ratio rather than an elongated 20:9 display. If the latter weird wideness isn't an issue, you will gain faster 144Hz visuals, which could come in handy for shooters like Call of Duty mobile.
Whether or not to pick up a Razer Edge all boils down to how much functionality you want for $200. If you really just want something for PS5 games and nothing else, the PlayStation Portal is probably still your best bet. However, those of you with your sights on emulating a bunch of retro consoles or even accessing other streaming services like Xbox Game Pass and Steam Link will want to seriously consider the Android alternative instead.
Still shopping around for discounts? Pop by Black Friday TV deals and Black Friday gaming monitor deals for screen savings.
