Razer moves into wireless power, debuts HyperFlux mouse and pad
The wireless charging movement is getting one more boost today, this time from the world of gaming. Razer, the tech giant that has built a brand (and very loyal following) as a gaming-first hardware company, is announcing HyperFlux, a new wireless power technology that will be making its first appearance a new mouse, the Razer Mamba HyperFlux, and a corresponding power mat.
Priced at $249.99 (€279.99) the mouse and matt will be launched in Q1 of this year.
The decision to opt for a mouse is interesting for a couple of reasons. The first is that the mouse is the product with which Razer — which went public last year in Hong Kong, and now has a market cap of around $4.7 billion — first made its name several years ago.
The second is that the reason it was Razer’s first big peripheral, and remains a key item, is because of its central role for gamers. I’m guessing that if adoption of it takes off — along with a general growth of wireless charging overall — we might see Razer adding more products into the mix.
While Razer is not known for making entirely new products that no one has ever seen before, what it’s generally very good at is building and optimizing typical hardware in a way that makes it especially useful and appealing to gaming enthusiasts (and in particular those who are already Razer fans).
That is the case with the HyperFlux, too. Razer said it has built it using a magnetic field to transfer power to the mouse in real-time, rather than charging a battery, as many other wireless architectures are built today (for example for phones). This means that the mouse is lighter, and moves faster, making it especially good for gaming.
Razer claims the wireless charging sans-battery is a world-first.
“While other companies have attempted to do wireless charging for mice, they have been unable to achieve true wireless power as their mice still need a battery to be charged. HyperFlux Wireless Power Technology is a game changer in the world of wireless gaming,” said Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder and CEO. “Gamers are no longer held at the mercy of a battery or cable. Instead, there will be true wireless freedom with a cordless gaming mouse that’s the same weight as a wired mouse.”
Announced during CES in Las Vegas, the new HyperFlux-equipped mouse also uses Razer’s Adaptive Frequency Technology for its signal strength, which Razer says is more stable. Other features include a 16,000 dots-per-inch (DPI) 5G optical sensor for finer movements. The mat, meanwhile, is two-sided to allow for faster (hard side) or finer, slower (cloth side) movements. It’s also equipped with Razer’s now ubiquitous Chroma lighting for colour effects that match the rest of Razer’s kit.
Razer also uses the show to show off concept ideas that may or may not ever make it to the market but are interesting to consider as reference ideas where Razer is playing with themes that it might eventually use elsewhere.
This year it’s showing off something called Project Linda, which is a laptop with a built-in cradle for the Razer phone in place of a mousepad (the Razer phone being the new device launched last year after Razer acquired Robin-maker Nextbit). The cradle charges the device, uses it as a touch-pad for the laptop and presents it as an extension of the screen. The idea might appeal to those who are all-Razer in their hardware choices, and would be an obvious way for Razer to lock more people into their ecosystem.
It’s also showing off a new line of speakers that it is calling Nommo, specifically Razer Nommo and the higher-end Razer Nommo Pro.
Unlike the rest of what we seem to be seeing today, these are not “smart” speakers that respond to your voice commands, but are instead focused on sound quality that is optimised for the gaming experience.
In the case of the Nommo Pro is a THX Certified, 2.1 speaker system with Dolby Virtual Speaker “technology for gaming immersion” that will sell for $499.99/€579.99. The Razer Nommo is the more moderately priced alternative at $99.99/€109.99, and a second version featuring Razer’s Chroma lighting at $149.99/€169.99.
“We created the Razer Nommo line as an ultimate entertainment speaker line for gaming, movies and music,” says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder and CEO. “There is a common perception that gaming speakers don’t have quality audio. The Razer Nommo line changes that once and for all.”
The speakers are coming on the market this month.
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