Nubia Redmagic 11 Pro review: The first choice of serious gamers

Finest Costs At present: Redmagic 11 Professional

Redmagic is an organization that doesn’t relaxation on its laurels. Relatively than launching easy iterations of its gaming telephones each six months, the Chinese language producer often consists of some advance in expertise that units a brand new mannequin aside. That’s definitely the case with its newest – the Redmagic 11 Professional – which it says is the world’s first mass-produced smartphone with AI server-grade liquid cooling.

There are additionally a number of different nips and tucks right here and there to make this new gaming telephone attention-grabbing to those that wish to play on the go. However can the brand new cooling system preserve issues flowing?

Design & Construct

• Stable and acquainted design
• New liquid-cooling panel
• IPX8 waterproof ranking

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Redmagic has remained fairly in line with its design ethos over the previous few years, so the 11 Professional isn’t actually breaking any new floor when it comes to development.

The acquainted giant rectangular body with an aluminium-alloy band is available in solely fractionally larger than its predecessor, the Redmagic 10S Professional, measuring 163.82mm x 76.54mm x 8.9mm, with a weight of 230g. It’s hefty beast, however one which feels stable within the hand, or slightly two fingers, as it may be unwieldy in just one.  

The substantial body homes the 6.85-inch AMOLED panel which, in basic Redmagic custom, has no notches or punch-holes within the show because of the selfie digital camera and fingerprint sensor positioned below the display screen.

As this can be a gaming-focused smartphone, there’s extra occurring when it comes to buttons and controls on the flanks. The suitable aspect is residence to the ability and quantity controls, together with the ‘Magic’ pink sliding button that’s a staple of the model. That is used for launching the Sport House devoted gaming software program however might be reassigned to quite a lot of duties within the settings in case you choose – corresponding to opening the digital camera or turning on the flashlight.

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There are two 520Hz touch-sensitive shoulder triggers, one positioned at both finish, now in a bigger rectangular form that differentiates the 11 Professional from the smaller curved rectangular ones on the 10S Professional. Redmagic additionally says that these are upgraded variations that assist Portrait mode gameplay, so you should use them in Pokemon Go and related titles without having to the touch the show.

Either side options outlet vents for the interior fan, with the appropriate additionally residence to the Sport Mode strip, which contains a few RGB lights that match these embedded within the shoulder triggers. These might be set to indicate your most popular colors, permitting you to personalise the looks of the system. There are extra RGB lights to be discovered behind the brand on the rear panel in addition to surrounding the seen fan, all of which have been an everyday function on Redmagic telephones for years.

A 3.5mm headphone jack lives on the highest edge, whereas the underside is the place you’ll discover the USB-C charging port and one of many audio system (the opposite is alongside the highest of the show). These have additionally been tweaked to supply deeper bass responses and a barely higher vary of sound.

The rear panel is the place the obvious adjustments might be seen. Sure, it’s nonetheless a flat glass panel with the digital camera modules beneath – avoiding any sort of bump that might be uncomfortable to carry whereas enjoying video games – however the centre of the panel reveals a big ring with blue liquid inside. That is the brand new liquid cooling system, which I’ll cowl in additional element later, and I’ve to confess it’s fairly unusual to launch a recreation and watch the liquid transfer via the ring because it helps decrease the interior temperature.

Clearly, you don’t see this in case you’re truly listening to the show (like a lot of the RGB lighting) however it’s enjoyable to muck about with and appears fairly rattling cool.

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The Redmagic 11 Professional is available in three colourways – Nightfreeze (clear black), Subzero (clear white) or Cryo (charcoal gray). Bafflingly the Cryo possibility covers up the cooling liquid circle on the again, so I’ve no thought why you’d select that possibility.

With all that liquid flowing across the place, it’s considerably ironic that the brand new mannequin receives a boosted IPX8 ranking, that means it’s protected in opposition to immersion in water past one metre, which is a marked enchancment on the splash-proof IP54 ranking of the Redmagic 10S Professional.

You get a full plastic case within the field, which is a step up from the partial ones which have been included up so far. It’s a frosted-style design, which suggests you continue to get a view of the cooling ring on the again. Good.

Display screen & Audio system

• 6.85-inch 144Hz AMOLED panel
• 3,000Hz prompt contact sampling charge
• Twin audio system (1015a + 1115e)

The display screen has been upgraded from the earlier mannequin however shares lots of the identical specs. So, you get a 6.85-inch AMOLED panel working at 2688 x 1216 with a 144Hz refresh charge.

Because of the under-screen selfie digital camera and fingerprint sensor (the latter of which proved dependable more often than not), the 11 Professional additionally retains the spectacular 95.3% display screen to physique ratio (sure I do know that’s a proportion, however that is how the trade describes these phrases).

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The max brightness has dropped barely from 2,000 to 1,800nits, however I measured a really related 1200nits in regular use, so it’s virtually similar to the older mannequin.

One space that’s been improved is the moment touch-sampling. On the 10S Professional this was 2,500Hz however on the 11 Professional it’s been beefed as much as a fair faster 3,000Hz. ’m not going to fake that I might inform the distinction in actual life, however I’ll say that the responsiveness to onscreen actions was reliable and at all times felt instantaneous.

This time round Redmagic additionally introduces a ‘moist hand’ mode to deal with getting used within the rain or if you’ve simply washed your fingers. I examined this whereas strolling the canine within the rain. I didn’t have any issues working the 11 Professional, which exhibits that the brand new technolgy is working effectively.

As with all latest Redmagic smartphones, the show is gorgeous: full, wealthy colors, loads of brightness and no ugly cutouts to bother the consumer. This makes it one in every of my favorite smartphone collection for watching video or enjoying video games.

Sound is first rate, with loud quantity ranges obtainable which don’t present a lot breakup even when pushing the twin audio system laborious. However the very best outcomes are discovered by plugging in a wired set of headphones. Do you have to choose wi-fi, then the Bluetooth 4.2 capabilities proved simply as adept, whereas additionally offering a stable connection.  

Specs & Efficiency

• 4.6GHz Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor
• Glorious efficiency
• Spectacular new cooling system

It’s par for the course that Redmagic equips its smartphones with premium-tier {hardware}, so there’s no shock that the processor powering the 11 Professional is the newest 4.6GHz Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Alongside that, there’s the upgraded Redmagic RedCore R4 gaming chip, which aids in efficiency and temperature management.

These are accompanied by LPDDRX5T RAM (my assessment pattern has 16GB however you may stand up to 24GB), and as much as 1TB of UFS 4.1 storage (mine has 512GB). So, every part is quick and high of the road, that means the brand new system is claimed by Redmagic to spice up efficiency by 20% and GP by 30% over its predecessor.

Actually, from an on a regular basis perspective, the Redmagic 11 Professional flies alongside. Apps open immediately, nothing crashes, and gaming is clean. This has been true of Redmagic’s handsets for some time now, and I don’t see any issues down the road for the 11 Professional.

Clearly, because it’s a devoted gaming system, that new cooling system comes into play when assessing efficiency. Redmagic says that is the primary mass-produced smartphone with Liquid Cooling, and I can’t consider one other one, in order that appears to take a look at.

The strategy is fascinating, with the “miniaturised liquid movement channel design” that means that the telephone has ultra-fine liquid channels contained in the physique, via which flows the fluorinated coolant. By the way, because it’s anti-freezing coolant, it’ll nonetheless work in sub-zero temperatures, so all you arctic avid gamers on the market can rejoice.

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The liquid cooling is barely a part of the design although, because the Redmagic 11 Professional additionally includes a vapour chamber, above which sits a liquid metallic space for warmth dissipation (as on the earlier mannequin), plus for the primary time there’s a water and dustproof fan, and it’s sooner (24,000rpm) than the non-waterproof one within the 10S Professional.  

Apart from the very cool aesthetics I described above, the system works very effectively to maintain temperatures manageable even throughout heavy gameplay classes. I did discover just a little extra noise than I keep in mind with the 10S Professional, however nothing obtrusive. Additionally, I’d slightly a barely louder whirring sound {that a} hotter handset.

Redmagic 11 Professional benchmarks

Cameras

• 50Mp f/1.88 23mm principal
• 50Mp f/2.0 13mm large angle
• Improved under-display selfie digital camera

The cameras on the Redmagic vary have been slowly enhancing through the years, and with the 11 Professional you may definitely get some top quality photographs if there’s a superb stage of sunshine or the topic is stationary. To be trustworthy, it’s laborious to search out unhealthy cameras on smartphones lately, and for lots of conditions the optics on the 11 Professional shall be adequate for most individuals.

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The principle shooter delivers stable footage with shiny colors and tonal steadiness. Taking it round my native city, I used to be capable of get a satisfying collection of pictures, even with the lighting being a bit awkward with the flat, shiny daylight that dogged all my pictures classes.

Switching to the 50Mp f/2.0 13mm large angle lens didn’t see the drop in color saturation that I’ve skilled previously with different fashions, making it a much more usable digital camera if you want a wider subject of view – nice for landscapes and if you’re too near the topic for the conventional lens.

Each are assisted by a 2Mp depth sensor to assist with focus and isolating portrait topics, so that you get the bokeh that everybody craves.

Video is sweet too, and you may go as much as 8K at 30fps, however the 4K/60fps would be the candy spot if you wish to create YouTube movies or simply high-quality residence recordings. Focus monitoring is quick, with not an excessive amount of looking, and the publicity steadiness rapidly offers with shifting from brightly lit to dim areas.

Surprisingly, the entrance dealing with digital camera (which is hidden below the show) has improved fairly a bit from the terrible ones that appeared on earlier Redmagic units. If selfies are your precedence, you would possibly discover the marginally over-sharpened photographs don’t fairly match your needs, however for the occasional shot to publish on social media the 11 Professional is definitely fairly usable.

Right here’s a collection of images I captured with the Redmagic 11 Professional:

Battery Life & Charging

• 7,500mAh battery
• 80W quick/wired charging
• Glorious battery life

The 11 Professional comes with a whopping nice 7,500mAh cell, which additionally boasts 80W quick charging and wi-fi charging.

When you’re utilizing this as a normal telephone, you’ll simply get two days out of it, perhaps extra. These figures naturally drop if you hearth up a recreation or two, however even then the efficiency was good. Light titles like Stardew Valley (which performs splendidly on the big uninterrupted show) solely knocked off 5% of the overall cost after an hour of play.

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Extra graphically difficult titles, corresponding to Asphalt Legends, Eternium and others, exacted a better toll. With these, I discovered the 11 Professional used up round 10-15% of its cost per hour, which remains to be an honest return, as you may get 7-8 hours of gameplay. Clearly that is affected by whether or not the sport requires an web connection, the brightness of your show and so forth. However total you’ll be capable to get some critical recreation time in with the 11 Professional earlier than that you must cost.

While you do, it’s not too lengthy earlier than you’ll be again up and working. Redmagic claims {that a} zero to 100% recharge will take an hour when utilizing the included charger and cable. Sadly, the assessment unit I used to be despatched got here with a US charger and I’m within the UK. I used a 67W charger from a earlier mannequin, which took an extended 1 hour and 57 minutes to get the unit again to full power. quarter-hour of charging introduced the system as much as 13%, however once more, it needs to be sooner in case you get an included charger that works in your area.  

Redmagic says the wi-fi recharge is just like a wired one (with perhaps an additional 10 minutes or so), however I wasn’t capable of take a look at this myself as I solely had an previous Qi charger handy. Working the Redmagic 11 Professional via the PCMark battery take a look at we use for all opinions returned a time of 9 hours and 50 minutes, which could be very respectable certainly.

Software program

• Android 16/Redmagic OS11
• Sport House devoted gaming suite
• Not a lot bloatware

Redmagic makes use of its personal pores and skin that runs on high of Android, and has finished so for years. With the 11 Professional you get Android 16 and Redmagic OS 11. Every part works as you’d count on. There’s loads of customisation choices in OS 11, with themes and icon packs to make issues extra futuristic and game-like. You don’t want to make use of them after all, however some are fairly enjoyable and cool-looking.

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I used to be stunned to nonetheless discover a number of situations the place Chinese language characters appeared in messages or with system gadgets, however they have been uncommon and it’s extremely doubtless that these shall be translated correctly in additional updates as soon as the pre-release software program I used to be utilizing has been changed.

Updates are higher too, with the 11 Professional attributable to obtain 5 years of assist within the EU and UK for Android upgrades and safety patches. It’s not fairly nearly as good within the US and different territories, which solely get three years.

There are a number of bits of bloatware on the 11 Professional out of the field, however these are just some apps that may be deleted with out fuss.

Sport House stays one of many jewels within the crown for avid gamers. This software program suite might be accessed in-game by swiping concurrently from the appropriate and left flank or by the pink slider change on the highest edge.

In right here, you’ll discover loads of methods to tweak system efficiency and controls, in addition to gaming instruments corresponding to upscaling video, aiming instruments, sound enhancements to listen to enemy footsteps, in addition to methods to handle screenshots.

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It’s not modified a lot in the previous couple of years, because it’s already a well-evolved set of instruments, however for cell avid gamers it’s a treasure trove of helpful additions.

There are a few new updates although, as Mora (the anime-style assistant) is now capable of provide AI-powered suggestions in addition to the flexibility to obtain and execute voice instructions in-game. The function wasn’t totally operational throughout my take a look at interval, however it needs to be reside by the point you learn this assessment.

Worth & Availability

With prices seemingly going up throughout the board in expertise, it’s good to see that Redmagic remains to be pricing its units sensibly. You’ll be able to decide up the Redmagic 11 Professional now from the Redmagic store or Amazon if you live in the UK, in a number of totally different variants and with the next costs:

• Cryo 12GB/256GB – £629/$749
• Nightfreeze or Subzero – 16GB/512GB – £709/$799
• Nightfreeze or Subzero – 24GB/1TB – £879/$999

There are not any present networks that supply the Redmagic 11 Professional on a contract, so you’d most likely be finest pairing it with one of many gives in our SIM offers roundup.

Gaming telephones are considerably of a distinct segment market now, with the one actual rival to Redmagic’s providing being the ROG Telephone 9 Professional. Whereas that’s a formidable little bit of package, it’s now over a 12 months previous, way more costly than the 11 Professional, and we’re unsure if Asus intends to carry a brand new mannequin to the desk any time quickly.

When you’re positively out there for a gaming platform, there’s at all times the choice of searching for the older Redmagic 10s Professional. It shares lots of the options of the newer mannequin and could be obtainable cheaper now that it’s been outmoded by the 11 Professional.

Do you have to purchase the Redmagic 11 Professional?

Redmagic has been pushing the boundaries of what to anticipate from a gaming telephone for a number of years now. Its units at all times include high-end {hardware} and cheap value tags. Within the 11 Professional we see the right distillation of those concepts.

It’s a vastly highly effective gaming system, matched with state-of-the-art cooling, however its value undercuts many commonplace flagship telephones. It’s arguably the very best worth system not solely in gaming smartphones, however the smartphone market as a complete.

Specs

• Android 16 / Redmagic OS11 (with 5 years of updates)
• Sport House software program suite
• 6.85-inch 144Hz AMOLED panel (2688 x 1216)
• 3,000Hz prompt contact sampling charge
• 1800nits max brightness
• 95.3% display screen to physique ratio
• 520Hz shoulder controls
• 16GB LPDDRX5T RAM (can go as much as 24GB with different fashions
•  512GB UFS 4.1 storage (can go as much as 1TB with different fashions)
• AquaCore Liquid Cooling system
• Liquid Metallic 3.0 cooling plate
• Vapour Chamber
• Redmagic waterproof 24,000 RPM fan
• 50Mp f/1.88 23mm Primary digital camera
• 50Mp f/2.0 13mm Huge Angle digital camera
• 2Mp depth digital camera/sensor
• 16Mp f/2.0 under-display selfie digital camera
• Twin SIM
• NFC
• 5G Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 5.4
• Twin audio system (1015a + 1115e)
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• Magic button (Sport House or user-assignable)
• 7,500mAh battery
• 80W Quick / Wired Charging
• USB-C
• IPX8 waterproof ranking
• 163.82mm x 76.54mm x 8.9mm
• 230g