Verdict
The RedMagic 8 Pro is a solid gaming phone with top - snick gaming performance . You get stellar hardware bundle in an attractive and sturdy build . The battery animation is great , and the phone is able to sustain gambling performance over longer session . The tv camera carrying into action is average , the software has a few bugs , and the software update hope is weak , but overall , this is a well phone for those that want to game on the go .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
play phones have arrive to become a mainstream smartphone class in late age . Nubia torpedo - sword RedMagic has been along for the ride , making some pretty good play earphone . The RedMagic 8 Pro is the latest in the lineup and packs in some impressive hardware .
The RedMagic 8 Pro is available worldwide with online stores in the UK , US and EU consumers , as well as a global store that serves other body politic around the populace . It starts at $ 649/£579 for the 12GB/256 GB Matte opaque back model and $ 799/£709 for the 16GB/512 GB model , available in Void black transparent back and Titanium whitened / Ag transparent back finishes . I had the 16GB/512 GB Titanium manakin in for review .
It competes with the segment drawing card that is theAsus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate , shoot a line top - of - the - channel spectacles and gaming - centric software . While the RedMagic 8 Pro absolutely nails the computer hardware , and the software looks good on paper , this phone has a few quirks that may embarrass the overall experience for some .
Design and Screen
On the intent front , the RedMagic 8 Pro is an absolutely stunning phone . The Titanium rendering I had was a survey to lay eyes on , and it does the transparent back very well . The RGB lighting is also tastefully done and does n’t overpower the residual of the design . During my testing using this telephone as my daily driver , I had several folks ask me about which speech sound I was using . So if you want an attention - enamor twist , this definitely jibe the bank bill .
The running design , however , is a dissimilar news report . The two-dimensional edges of the earphone are gorgeous . No doubt . However , for a gaming phone , they make very little sense ergonomically . While not passing uncomfortable while play , I regain them bad than the curved boundary I ’ve used on other phones .
There ’s also a cooling fan that looks pretty cool and is actually functional in melt off temperatures while lodge and play . However , it adds a monumental pain point to the phone . The fan comes with intake and exhaust system vents , and with no meshing over the vent , a lot of dust and other subatomic particle terminate up under the back meth panel of the phone , becoming virtually impossible to clean house . Not only that , but it also ends up compromising the speech sound ’s sealing . That means no IP rating ( or even the unofficial authority of throw a plastered phone . )
The screen on the RedMagic 8 Pro is excellent . You get a 6.8 - in 1116 x 2480AMOLED screen . It has a refresh rate of120Hzand a 960Hz touch sampling rate . You get a flush brightness figure of 1,300 nits . The display is seamless , with very diminutive bezel and an under - display front photographic camera , which stand for no poke - hole or notch .
The colour are smashing , the screen door gets hopeful enough to be used outdoors , and theGorilla Glass 5 protectionis nice to have . The screen is only FHD+ in firmness of purpose , but that ’s enough proficient for a gaming speech sound , and the 400ppi pixel compactness will not leave you want more unless you ’re very picky about your screens .
Camera
The RedMagic 8 Pro has comely camera on board , but as with most gaming phone , it ’s clear that the cameras are n’t the focus of this phone . In fact , they ’re jolly average . You get a 50MP main camera , an 8MP ultrawide , and a 2MP macro crystalline lens on the rear end . On the front , you get a 16MP under - showing television camera .
The main 50MP camera produces decent image , but the colours are n’t always precise , and the photographic camera is n’t great at becharm motion . If you capture an trope in a well - illume environment with undifferentiated lighting , you get punchy colours . However , throw in a commixture of mixed lighting , and you could see the vividness begin to lose accuracy . The portrayal mode is reasonably good , though , and nailed the boundary detecting more often than not .
The ultrawide tv camera is n’t all that cracking , however . It does get the framing right , but the 8MP resolve is n’t practiced enough for 2023 , especially if you frequently take wide of the mark images . It does n’t have autofocus , either . The Macro mode is pretty solid , though , and direct some nice closeup range of a function , but it ’s mostly a gimmick used to bump up the television camera enumeration .
The selfie tv camera is the big compromise on this headphone , however . Due to the under - display photographic camera position , you will get washed - out and slimly blurry selfies , with processing compensating . I cognize under - showing cameras are n’t quite there yet , so RedMagic does n’t take the blame here . I think it ’s a self-colored trade wind - off to give a notch - free video display , especially since the point of this phone is immersion while gaming .
The low-down - Inner Light performance of the cameras is also ordinary . The depleted - spark look-alike captured by the main camera can look quite nice sometimes , but other times they look blown out and overprocessed . The ultrawide night modal value was not great , and the lower solution showed its shortcomings . Low - scant selfies were the bad result of all , with the lack of luminosity go to insufficient processing to adjust the under - display photographic camera output .
All - in - all , the camera performance landed on average at well . However , for a gaming - focused phone that has solid ironware otherwise , this one gets a walk .
Performance and software
The ironware on the RedMagic 8 Pro is really where it stands out , specially at the entering - degree price of £ 579/$649 . Under the hood is aSnapdragon 8 Gen 2chip , which is the best smartphone chip you’re able to get in anAndroid phoneright now . You get storage option of 128 , 256 , or 512 GB ofUFS 4.0 storageand LPDDR5X RAM choice of 12- or 16 GB .
The RedMagic 8 Pro performs really well , too . The benchmark number are up there with phones that cost £ 100s more , and it ’s no surprisal , give the ironware on offer . The benchmark number are telling , though it does fall shy of the astonishing power of the pricier ROG Phone 7 Ultimate .
The 3DMark Wild Life bench mark also contemplate the square operation on offering . The 20 - minute accent test have performance returned a GPU stability shape of 92.4 % . That ’s a effective stain that this headphone can do long play sessions without miss a measure .
Every plot I threw at this telephone — Fortnite , Genshin Impact , and lighter claim like Clash of Clans , did very well . The sustained execution was also pretty satisfying , and I did n’t finger the telephone set slow down or stutter even an hr into the gameplay . RedMagic has nailed the basics of a gambling phone — the gaming . Fortnite ran at Epic quality at 60FPS , with reasonably much no frame drops .
The cooling system , despite the one aforementioned design flaw , works wonders for the performance , letting the 8 Gen 2 achieve some with child levels of carrying out . The triggers are great , and the game musical mode switch over , although not entirely necessary , is a nice addition . you may set the secret plan way to be opened via an image in the launcher instead of the switch . However , the want of an choice to remap the switch to be a mute switch is a Brobdingnagian missed chance .
The audio performance on this phone is also stellar . The talker are tawdry and crisp and create a nice ducking when you ’re stake . The earpiece sound caliber was also very good . A surprisal addition is the headphone jack , which is peculiarly great for a play phone like this one .
The software is this earpiece ’s Achilles ’ heel . On one script , this phone intelligibly has well - tuned software that can output consistent gaming performance . On the other hand , if you appear past the gaming vista , the software falls myopic . My issues had to do with how far RedMagic ’s O stray from what we call stock Android .
Do n’t get me wrong — I ’m no Android purist . However , the apps RedMagic has bundled to replace the stock Android apps do n’t exercise as well . The phone app , for example , would just resist to show a fortune of my contact when searched and scrolled through . However , if I dialled the bit manually , the contact name would start up on the call screen .
Apps as fundamental as the headphone app really should n’t have bad bug like these . to boot , when I tried to replace the Phone app with Google ’s Phone app , it would n’t always work as well . RedMagic require to improve its own apps and make it even easier to use replacements if postulate . to boot , the auto smartness on this phone is also rather buggy at times , which is another introductory feature that should n’t have bug .
There are several small issues , like improper translations , spelling errors in UI , and uneven customization option . If I ’m not being nitpicky , however , I would say it ’s a survivable software system experience . I just wish it was good , and I desire RedMagic can fix these issues with future update .
I ’m mostly uncoerced to give the software issues a pass because of how unspoiled the telephone set is otherwise . However , the deficiency of a concrete software update promise is a bit disheartening . RedMagic has said the phone will get at least one software update and overall update for one and a half to two class , which is an improvement over older model that got no actual long - terminal figure backing , but it still is n’t nifty .
Battery life
The RedMagic 8 Pro delivers on stamp battery life as well . You get a massive 6,000 mAh battery , which can easy last you all day . In my testing , I rarely found myself attain for the courser except for the common end - of - the - day routine . Often that would be while the phone still had about 15 - 20 % charge leave .
During my testing , I used the RedMagic 8 Pro as my everyday number one wood . My workload unremarkably admit a good deal of texting and societal media , admit a lot of Telegram , Twitter , and Instagram , web browsing using Google Chrome , email using Gmail , and some phone calls every now and then . I threw in a bonnie bit of play every now and then since this is a gaming phone first , and the sound held up well . The battery benchmarks are as good as you would expect .
The RedMagic 8 Pro also comes with a quick charger in the box . The 65W pumped up charging is n’t the dissipated on the market place , but it ’s a good remainder . It charged the phone quickly enough , with the fan kicking in mechanically to boil down the heat . The stamp battery liveliness and charging on this phone did n’t lead any way for complaint .
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Should you buy it?
The RedMagic 8 Pro will work any wandering game you throw at it , and does really well at long play sessions .
:
The RedMagic 8 Pro does n’t have great software and limited software update support , making it less appealing to non - gamers .
Final Thoughts
The RedMagic 8 Pro is a brilliant piece of hardware enclosed in one of the good smartphone shape ’ I ’ve ever seen . It save on its hope of gambling and keeps up the public presentation during foresighted gaming sessions .
It ’s a gaming - first phone and comes with flock of feature of speech with that goal in mind . However , the software program has a bunch of small bugs . RedMagic also has n’t given a concrete software elevate hope . This phone may be officially supported for two years at the most .
However , the performance and battery aliveness of this phone are excellent , and it comes at a very attractive toll . At £ 579/$649 for the 12GB/256 GB Matte version , this telephone is a honorable note value leverage . The £ 709/$799 toll for the 16GB/512 GB versions seems a piece too much to spend on this telephone , peculiarly because of the confine update hope for a phone that already has a few software issues .
If gambling performance is your only anteriority and you do n’t need to drop too much money , the RedMagic 8 Pro is a groovy phone .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every mobile telephone we review exhaustively . We use manufacture received trial to compare features properly and we use the speech sound as our main twist over the follow-up period . We ’ll always separate you what we determine and we never , ever , accept money to review a product .
FAQs
No , the vents prevent the phone from offering any variety of debris or body of water resistance – even on the side .
Yes , you ’ll get a 65W degraded courser in the box .
Test Data
Full Specs
