Nubia Redmagic 8 Pro review

Gaming telephones stay one thing of a distinct segment market, however one which’s presently served with some engaging units. Nubia has up to date its in style Redmagic line with the 8 Professional, providing what appears to be high-end gaming efficiency however with a value that’s decidedly within the mid-range at $649/£579. I’ve hit the beginning button to see if the Redmagic 8 Professional actually is a participant.

Design & Construct

• Trendy, squared-edge design
• Constructed-in fan
• No IP certification

The truth that this can be a gaming telephone is clear even earlier than you are taking the gadget out of the field. Nubia goes with a silver livery for the packaging with techno-style labelling, albeit considerably extra refined than with among the extra garish ones I’ve encountered previously. Eradicating the lid reveals some fairly funky paintings emblazoned on the inside field, depicting a cool robotic determine standing earlier than a spaceship, whereas an anime-style lady rushes by way of a futuristic metropolis on her motorcycle. It’s actually a refreshing change from the stark-white packaging you normally get with trendy telephones. 

Foundry

With all this flash on show, you is perhaps anxious that the telephone itself will likely be weirdly formed, with a number of glowing sections and different decorations that make gaming mice and keyboards look a bit crap. Fortunately, that’s not the case. 

The Redmagic 8 Professional is definitely a fairly neat wanting telephone. The size are 164 x 76.4x 8.9mm, with a weight of 228g, making it a big however not uncomfortable handset. You gained’t discover any rounded edges or curved screens right here although, because the design is an angular one, with squared off edges all spherical, making it look one thing from the present Sony Xperia vary. 

The entrance panel is a 6.8-inch AMOLED show with solely minor bezels across the edges and no notch, due to the selfie digicam being situated underneath the display, as is the fingerprint sensor. The latter was a bit hit or miss when it comes to reliability, with pressings typically leading to my print not being recognised. This could possibly be as a consequence of the truth that my every day driver not too long ago has been the Xiaomi 12 Lite, which locations the sensor a little bit decrease down. If I took my time, then the outcomes have been extra constant, so it might simply be muscle reminiscence inflicting the issue. 

The steel chassis options some tell-tale indicators that this can be a gaming-focussed unit, together with the fan consumption and retailers on both facet of the body, 520Hz contact delicate set off buttons alongside one edge, stereo audio system situated on the highest and backside of the gadget, plus a headphone jack for low latency audio. There’s additionally the crimson Recreation Area Change that activates the devoted modes for gaming the place you may tailor the system to your private preferences. Extra on that later.

Foundry

A matt end on the rear panel provides the Redmagic 8 Professional some much-wanted grip, and the design mimics that on the outer lid of the field. There are three cameras within the line down the higher part of the panel, all of that are barely raised, which means the telephone gained’t sit flat on a desk when resting on its again, even when positioned within the included hard-plastic case. 

As you’d count on, the charging port is USB-C, however this additionally doubles as an output for HDMI, so you possibly can join this to a monitor if you wish to take your gaming to a bigger show.

Sadly, there’s no IP score listed, which means you’ll need to hold the telephone away from water or mud, curbing any bath-time gaming periods, however the 6,000mAh battery means you’ll be capable of spend many of the evening taking part in your favorite titles as soon as your ablutions are completed.

Within the field you’re blessed with a 65W charger (glory be!), USB-C charging cable, the aforementioned case, and a SIM tray ejector device. 

Display screen & Audio system

• 6.8-inch AMOLED, 120Hz show
• Gorilla Glass 5
• Stereo audio system

A 6.8-inch, 20:9, FHD+ AMOLED show takes up nearly all of the entrance panel, aided by these under-screen elements talked about above. The skinny bezels across the show make it really feel nearly like an edge-to-edge display and it’s spectacular how effectively hidden the selfie digicam is on this mannequin. Significantly, you simply can’t discover it in any respect except you actually go searching. This makes the show really feel big and uninterrupted when utilized in panorama orientation, which will likely be the place a gaming gadget spends nearly all of its time. Plus, it’s nice for watching video, as you don’t have the annoying dot at one finish or a honking nice notch to take care of. 

Foundry

Brightness has seen a little bit of consideration since final yr’s Redmagic 7 Professional, which was a little bit on the dim facet. Now, Nubia claims, you may hit a most brightness of 1,300 nits when firing on all cylinders, though this gained’t be the case more often than not, particularly in order for you any battery life in any respect.  

Utilizing a light-weight meter, I measured the utmost brightness at 568 nits when in a darkish room. Which means that the Redmagic 8 Professional can cope admirably with a shiny day exterior and close to blind you with its luminescence when indoors. 

The refresh price tops out at 120Hz, which is strong for any trendy telephone, though you may set it at both 90Hz or 60Hz if you wish to save battery life. The telephone will mechanically modify to the upper price when gaming, so that you don’t should fiddle with the settings earlier than beginning a session. 

Figures apart, the show is vibrant, clean and pleasing on the attention, which is sweet factor as eager players will likely be staring intently at it for hours at a time. The contact sensitivity can also be as much as snuff, with a most contact sampling price of 950Hz, which makes sport characters immediately conscious of instructions. 

The dual audio system are positioned at both finish of the gadget and venture some glorious audio. Sounds are loud and effectively balanced, with a full and highly effective combine, although they aren’t as spectacular as these discovered on the Asus ROG Telephone 7 Final. The position additionally turns into a hindrance when gaming, because the audio system are typically the place your palms are gripping the telephone. The best facet isn’t too unhealthy, because the speaker sits increased, however the left if normally lined, making the sound extra boxy. 

After all, you may bypass this totally through the use of the three.5mm headphone jack or Bluetooth earbuds, with Excessive Definition Audio assist accessible if in case you have appropriate headsets.

Specs & Efficiency

• Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor
• 12GB RAM
• 256GB storage

Clearly, the place gaming is concerned you want a whole lot of energy. It’s pleasing then that Nubia has used the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor in a telephone that sits at this mid-range value. Teamed up with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB UFS 4.0 storage, issues transfer fairly rattling rapidly on the Redmagic 8 Professional. Must you require much more energy, there’s additionally a 16GB/512GB variant for those who’re keen to spend extra. 

Firing up a demanding title like Genshin Influence is usually a problem for some telephones, however on the Redmagic 8 Professional it’s a breeze. In busier components of the sport, when the motion is kicking off, there’s no noticeable slow-down or frame-rate dropping. The identical is true with the likes of Asphalt 9 and the opposite standard suspects that make calls for on each the processor, GPU and temperature controls.

Nubia matches the Redmagic 8 Professional with its ICE 11.0 cooling system, comprised of a graphene layer underneath the show to dissipate warmth effectively, a 20,000RPM fan with consumption and outlet valves on the perimeters of the chassis, plus a double-layer vapour-chamber liquid-cooling plate and different conductive layers and elements (there are 10 layers in all). I don’t faux to grasp the expertise that’s gone into all this, however the outcomes are that the handset stays cool when taking part in video games and the fan isn’t too loud, particularly for those who’re carrying headphones. 

Foundry

See also  Oppo Find X7 Ultra review

All this effectivity and cooling implies that there’s little in the way in which of thermal throttling required, so efficiency stays excessive everytime you’re utilizing the telephone for extra demanding duties – ie, gaming. 

Right here’s the benchmark outcomes that present how the Redmagic 8 Professional compares to its rivals:

Cameras

• 50Mp f/1.88 most important digicam
• 8Mp f/2.2 vast digicam
• 2Mp f/2.4 macro digicam

Gaming could also be the principle focus of the Redmagic 8 Professional, however good cameras are all the time excessive on the checklist of issues that individuals need from their units lately. On this space the 8 Professional doesn’t fare brilliantly. The primary 50Mp f/1.88 shooter is provided with a Samsung GN 5 sensor, which you’ll additionally discover on units just like the Samsung Galaxy S23 and Vivo iQoo 11, however the Redmagic gained’t be worrying these rivals with its photographic prowess.

Foundry

The primary digicam can take some first rate images, dealing effectively with publicity and focusing in blended scenes, however the colors do come out considerably muted. This could possibly be a pleasing shock when in comparison with the usually oversaturated photos I see on many smartphone cameras lately, however it simply makes images really feel a little bit flat except you do some submit processing.  

Switching to the 8Mp ultra-wide digicam does allow you to embody some additional content material within the shot, however because of the placement I typically discovered that the sting of my hand could possibly be within the picture except I used to be cautious. The colors are even duller on the ultra-wide and high quality takes successful. 

That’s to not say they’re unusable. By no means. With some good mild you may seize good photographs, and the evening mode does an excellent job of permitting you to take footage the place the sunshine would usually be too darkish (as long as you may lean the telephone on a flat floor to carry it regular). There’s an oversharpening of the pictures in darkish mode, however that’s not unusual because the software program is working onerous to drag every part it may possibly out of the image. 

Selfies, portraits and macro photographs are positive however not spectacular, though delving into the menus you will discover some enjoyable modes to play with. My favorite was for capturing mild trails from automobiles going by at evening. It did take a number of makes an attempt to seize one thing I used to be pleased with, however I gained’t mark the digicam down for this as I used to be typically doing it handheld. One annoyance is {that a} watermark displaying the digicam’s identify is turned on by default, and you may’t take it off of the pictures. Silly thought. 

Video is sweet, with footage being reliable, precisely focussed and effectively uncovered. It may possibly shoot 4K@60fps, and outcomes are very usable, plus for those who don’t care about burning up all of your storage then there may be the choice for 8K@30fps. An anti-shake mode makes use of EIS to clean issues out, and it does a positive job.

Strolling together with the Redmagic 8 Professional whereas filming didn’t present the bobbing attributable to my motion, and there weren’t any apparent indicators that the app was cleansing issues up. Shifting from mild to darkish gave the metering one thing to consider, however once more it did effectively in dealing with one thing that may typically catch out cameras. 

The selfie digicam is hidden underneath the show, however this doesn’t make for good picture high quality. All of the selfies I took have been washed out and had noise. In the event you don’t use this characteristic a lot, then it will be acceptable, however for those who’re a selfie fan then you will see the telephone irritating. 

Right here’s some examples of the pictures I captured with the Redmagic 8 Professional:

Battery Life & Charging

• 6,000mAh battery 
• 65W quick charging (with charger in field)
• Costs to 50% in quarter-hour
• No wi-fi charging

Nubia opts for twin 3,000mAh cells within the Redmagic 8 Professional, giving the gadget successfully a 6,000mAh battery. Not solely is that this a beneficiant quantity of cost storage, the effectivity of the cooling and top-spec processor means that you could get by way of a number of hours of gaming with nonetheless sufficient gasoline left within the tank to pay attention to a couple podcasts earlier than bedtime. 

Foundry

See also  Nest WiFi Pro review: Google’s WiFi 6E mesh is more approachable than the rest

In our customary battery benchmark, the Redmagic 8 Professional managed 15 hours and 35 minutes, so it ought to hold even probably the most ardent players going all day. That’s severely spectacular longevity.

Must you discover your actions do drain the battery, then you definately gained’t have lengthy to attend earlier than you get again within the motion, because the included 65W charger will restore 51% of cost in solely quarter-hour. Whereas a full recharge solely takes round 40 minutes. Spectacular stuff. 

Software program

• Android 13
• Redmagic OS 6.0
• Devoted Recreation Mode

There are two sides to the software program on the Redmagic 8 Professional. The primary is the final implementation of Android 13, which wears the Nubia Redmagic OS 6.0 pores and skin. That is fairly customary fare, with not a lot in the way in which of bloat, however there have been a number of cases once I stumbled throughout Chinese language textual content quite than English. 

One omission, which I’ve seen on another Chinese language telephones, is that I used to be unable to arrange Google Pay. Whether or not that is regional or not, I’m uncertain, however within the UK plainly this specific handset wasn’t keen to play ball. 

Sliding the crimson swap on the facet of the gadget launches the devoted gaming software program, which has loads of fascinating options. Essentially the most helpful is having the ability to map the shoulder buttons so as to use them in video games you play. I have to admit, this proved tougher than anticipated, with the directions given by Nubia on the best way to enter the setup mode proving fruitless.

There’s meant to be a swipe motion that reveals an additional choice for choosing the mapping characteristic, however it by no means appeared. I finally labored it out, however it all felt unpolished and extra complicated than obligatory. 

Foundry

With the Recreation Mode engaged you may tweak fairly just a few settings and ensure that the acceleration is working for the video games you’re taking part in. Hopefully, by the point you learn this, the complicated parts may have been smoothed out so you may simply benefit from the plentiful options on supply. 

Worth & availability

With the high-end specs and devoted gaming expertise onboard, you may count on this to be an costly handset to purchase. However, that’s not the case. In the event you decide up the baseline mannequin with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, then it’s a really inexpensive $649/£579. Step as much as the 16GB/512GB model and also you’ll nonetheless solely should pay $799/£709 which may be very cheap for a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 outfitted gadget. 

This places it in the identical ballpark because the Black Shark 5, that’s round $899/£729 for a equally configured mannequin because the baseline Redmagic. The ROG Telephone 6 which can run you $899.99/£899.99 albeit with a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 underneath the hood. 

Verdict

In the event you’re on the lookout for a devoted gaming telephone that may additionally lower it within the day-to-day, then the Redmagic 8 Professional is a superb selection. Efficiency is top-notch, whereas the cameras, show and different basic appointments are all adequate at this value level to make the entire package deal really feel like a real cut price. Recreation on. 

Specs

• 6.8-inch FHD+ AMOLED show, 1116×2480, 20:9, 120Hz, 960Hz contact sampling price, 1300 nits max brightness, Corning® Gorilla® Glass
• Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 8 Gen 2
• Adreno Pink Core 2
• REDMAGIC OS 6.0 primarily based on Android 13.0
• 12GB LPDDR5X Reminiscence
• 256GB UFS 4.0 Storage
• ICE 11 Multi-Dimensional Cooling System
• 20,000 RPM high-speed turbofan
• 50MP f/1.88 most important digicam
• 8Mp f/2.2 vast digicam
• 2MP f/2.4 macro digicam
• 16MP, 2nd technology under-display-camera (UDC) selfie digicam
• Twin Nano SIM
• 5G
• Wi-Fi 7 802.11b/g/n/ac/ax/be (Tri-band 2.4G, 5G, 6G) with HBS assist
• Bluetooth 5.3
• GPS, AGPS
• NFC
• 6000mAh Twin Cell Battery, with 65W quick charging
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• 163.98mm x 76.35mm x 9.47mm
• 228g