The Red Magic 8 Pro is a gaming smartphone that has garnered a lot of attention in the tech community. It comes with a powerful Snapdragon 865 chipset, up to 16GB of RAM, and a 6.65-inch AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate. The main highlight of this device is its gaming-centric features, such as shoulder triggers and an active cooling system. The phone also boasts a large 4,500mAh battery with 55W fast charging support, which ensures that you can game for longer periods without worrying about running out of battery. Additionally, the Red Magic 8 Pro comes with dual front-facing stereo speakers, which provide an immersive audio experience.
Switching to the 8Mp ultra-wide camera does let you include some extra content in the shot, but due to the placement I often found that the edge of my hand could be in the image unless I was careful. The colours are even duller on the ultra-wide and quality takes a hit.
The RedMagic 8 Pro builds on past successes but without addressing the two biggest traditional weaknesses for RedMagic phones photography and software localization. Moving from light to dark gave the metering something to think about, but again it did well in coping with something that can often catch out cameras.
Additionally, the Red Magic 8 Pro comes with dual front-facing stereo speakers, which provide an immersive audio experience. In terms of camera performance, the Red Magic 8 Pro has a triple-camera setup on the back, consisting of a 64MP main camera, an 8MP ultrawide camera, and a 2MP macro camera. While the camera quality is decent, it may not be on par with other flagship smartphones in the market.
Redmagic 8 Pro Review: Budget Gaming Has Never Been So Powerful
Gaming-focused smartphones are all about getting that last tiny bit of performance out of the hardware to make your experience as thrilling as possible. With specs as prominent as they have to be, finding a ‘budget’ gaming phone is not an easy task, which is where Nubia comes in. The latest in its Redmagic series - the Redmagic 8 Pro - offers high specs worthy of a gaming phone at as competitive a price as possible.
Nubia Redmagic 8 Pro
Probably the biggest thing to note is the price. Here in the UK, the Redmagic 8 Pro retails at £579, a significantly lower price than the likes of the flagship Asus ROG phone. Its broad specs promise a high degree of performance with Qualcomm’s SnapDragon 8 Gen 2 chipset at the heart of the smartphone, backed up by 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage in the base model. You have other models which go up to 16 GB RAM and 512 GB storage; but with one of the main selling points being the cost-effective price, I suspect the 12/256 model will be the one most people move to.
The other three elements that are seen as ‘default tech’ in gaming smartphones can also be found here - namely a larger than average batter (6000 mAh), two shoulder-mounted ‘air’ buttons that can be remapped as touch-presses on any part of the display, and active cooling with a fan drawing air through the chassis to help keep the heat down around the chipset and allow it to run for longer in a higher performance mode.
Nubia Redmagic 8 Pro
One area where the Redmagic Pro 8 breaks with convention (or at least most of the convention) are that this gaming phone does not scream gaming with excessive amounts of neon and sculpted multicolor panelling. Don't get me wrong; there’s still a lot more on show than a plain blank plate under some gorilla glass.
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Amy Danise EditorThere’s a rather simple design cue in all this, namely, get rid of the curves. The 8 Pro offers an angular blocky shape, a rectangular block punched out of a larger rectangular block. The rear of the phone has a curious three-level effect that you can see through the glass, which gives hints of a well-assembled phone without looking gaudy. The only touch to the gamer aesthetic is the RGB color ring around the fan, which lights up during operation. I feel a monochromatic light would be more in keeping with the design.
It’s also worth noting that the triple camera lenses do just out of the back so it’s not perfectly smooth. Nubia has been criticized on previous Redmagic phones as to the camera quality, so there was likely a feeling of ‘don’t compromise here’, but it does feel wrong in the hand and means there’s a tiny rock when you place the handset on a flat surface.
Nubia Redmagic 8 Pro
Round the front, you have a flat screen - no distortion here to get in the way of your gaming - with incredibly small bezels. Nubia has lifted the Redmagic 8 Pro closer to the ‘all-display’ front than most, something helped by putting the selfie camera underneath the display itself.
The screen itself shows a few compromises, though. The brightness does not go as high as other gaming smartphones, and it only refreshes up to 120 Hz rather than the potential of 165 Hz found in other gaming phones. That’s not as bad as you might think, because only a handful of games support or need the 165 Hz refresh. What it does show is that, in terms of hardware, Nubia has made a few smart decisions on where to compromise - that sub £600 price has to be achieved somewhere.
Nubia Redmagic 8 Pro
Where the Redmagic 8 Pro feels a touch let down is in the software. Again, sticking with the norms of the established gaming smartphone format, you have an Android launcher and a standalone gaming launcher. The former is functional at best. There are some curious bundled apps (with NextWord mashup of web browser and translation) standing out as a ‘why are you here?’ app; all your apps are going to be on the home screen rather than in a draw, and there’s a general feeling that a little bit more focus on consistent UI elements (eg the font size and spacing) would pay dividends.
Then there is the gaming launcher, handily available by the titular magic 'red switch' on the side of the machine. This brings you into a landscape launcher which has almost no Android conventions but feels far more suited to the task inland - namely getting to your games and making sure the configurable hardware elements associated with each game are available
Once you are in any game, you can swipe in from the side of the display to have all the customisable options available to you. The CPU and GPU settings are on show, and there is a dizzying lis of items that can be tweaked… touch sensitivity, frame rate, cooling fan speed, and the aforementioned shoulder triggers are perhaps the key ones to find the beast gaming environment.
This speaks to what it means to be a gaming smartphone. Every smartphone can play games, and smartphones sitting with the latest chipsets such as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 can play the games… but if you need that final frame per second, that slightly smoother experience, or any of the other small adjustments you need to make to be a better gamer, then you need a gaming smartphone with all of these options exposed quickly and easily while you are playing. Which the Nubia software allows.
Nubia Redmagic 8 Pro
In use I found the Redmagic 8 Pro to be a solid phone for playing. It is heavier than most, but personally, I’ve always preferred my hardware to be heavier and feel more robust - although for long playing sessions, it can become tiring. As for the blocky regular shape, I felt this gave me a comfortable hold thanks to the edges; these helped the handset feel secure in my hands.
The various techniques to aid cooling - from the fan and vents to the internal design - keep the heat more than manageable. Yes, the handset can get warm when put under load for some time, but it was never uncomfortable. Frame rates stayed high on key titles such as Dead Cells, Genshin Impact, and Call Of Duty Mobile. What’s less impressive is the speaker design. Using the earpiece as one speaker, and a regular side-mounted speaker as the second will have helped the price point, but these aren’t the forward-firing speakers of the competition. Thankfully there is a 3.5mm headphone jack, so getting latency-free audio into your headphones should not be a problem.
Nubia Redmagic 8 Pro
Nubia has iterated both on its previous gaming handsets, as well as the technology available, to bring a gaming smartphone to market at a very competitive price. It’s curious to call the £600 mark as ‘budget’ but there are many hardware requirements that are necessary to be seen as a relevant gaming smartphone which pushes any smartphone into this price range.
Yes there are compromises, the darker screen and the speakers are likely going to be the ones you first notice, but there are others that slowly come to light such as the lack of an IP rating. I’d also like to see the work put into the hardware design and the game launcher contribute towards the base Android experience.
So there are some downsides to the device, but in relation to that price, how large are the downsides? To be honest, not that much - unless you are going for the absolute top-tier games that benefit from that level of hardware, the Redmagic 8 Pro can comfortably meet the needs of those looking to get into serious smartphone gaming while offering an attractive upgrade package for those in the space looking to access the latest chipsets and innovations.
Disclaimer: Nubia provided a Redmagic 8 Pro for review purposes.
As for the software, the Red Magic 8 Pro runs on a customized version of Android 10, called Redmagic OS, which offers a clean and minimalistic user interface. The phone also supports 5G connectivity, enabling faster download and upload speeds for online gaming. The **Red Magic 8 Pro is worth considering** for serious mobile gamers looking for a device that can handle demanding games with ease. Its powerful hardware, gaming-centric features, and fast charging capabilities make it a solid choice. However, if camera quality is a priority for you, there might be better options available in the market..
Reviews for "Red Magic 8 Pro: A Gaming Powerhouse in Your Hands"
1. Rachel - 2 stars - I was really disappointed with the Red Magic 8 Pro. The battery life on this phone is terrible, I constantly have to charge it throughout the day. The camera quality is also very poor, the photos appear fuzzy and blurry. The phone tends to lag and freeze up, even with simple tasks. Overall, I don't think it's worth the price and I regret purchasing it.
2. Mark - 2 stars - The Red Magic 8 Pro is not as good as it's made out to be. The build quality feels cheap and flimsy, and it's not very durable. The screen scratches easily, even with regular use. The software has a lot of bugs and glitches, which can be frustrating to deal with. The customer service is also lacking, as it took them a long time to respond to my issues. I wouldn't recommend this phone, there are better options available on the market.
3. Sarah - 1 star - I had high expectations for the Red Magic 8 Pro, but unfortunately, it fell short in many aspects. The phone overheats quickly, making it uncomfortable to hold for extended periods of time. The sound quality is also poor, the speakers are not loud and the audio tends to crackle. The phone is quite heavy and bulky, which makes it inconvenient to carry around. The overall performance is average at best, and for the price, I expected better. I would not recommend this phone to others.