Redmagic 8S Pro review

Redmagic is again with one more gaming telephone.

The 8S Professional arrives just some months are its predecessor, the Redmagic 8 Professional, Whereas the corporate hasn’t sat on its laurels, with varied tweaks and efficiency boosts on the brand new mannequin, there’s nonetheless room for enchancment.

Design & Construct

• Cumbersome, square-edged design
• Stable development
• No water-resistance score

The Redmagic 8S Professional is sort of a spitting picture of final 12 months’s 8 Professional. The size are virtually similar, with the 2 units measuring up like this:

• RedMagic 8S Professional: 164 x 76.4 x 9.5 mm (6.46 x 3.01 x 0.37 inches)
• RedMagic 8 Professional: 164 x 76.4 x 8.9 mm (6.46 x 3.01 x 0.35 inches)

There’s solely 0.6mm distinction in thickness and each weigh in at a hefty 228g / 8oz, so that you’ll always remember that both of them is in your pocket. The brand new mannequin additionally has the identical 6.8in AMOLED show, Gorilla Glass 5 on the entrance (and again when you select the Aurora color scheme), steel chassis, and basic feeling of high quality that impressed me because the machine it replaces. 

The Redmagic 8S Professional is a beast. There are not any mushy, curved edges on the body. As an alternative, it’s a pointy, virtually harsh development that convinces you that it is a critical machine. Wanting on the flanks you’ll discover quantity up and down buttons, an on/off button, plus the now-famous purple swap that allows the Sport House (extra on that later). This lets you arrange the pair of set off buttons. 

USB-C is of course the order of the day on the subject of charging, with assist for as much as the 65W charger that comes within the field. There nonetheless isn’t a water-resistance score, primarily as a result of massive openings on the edges of the machine for the cooling system.

Turning the telephone over reveals the identical triple digicam system because the earlier mannequin, all lined up vertically. There’s additionally a round cutout that reveals the spinning fan contained in the machine, replete with RGB lights to make all of it look fairly. You gained’t see it – in fact – when you’re taking part in a sport, however I fairly just like the opulence of it. The telephone additionally has lights beneath a number of the areas on the rear which mild up when a message has been acquired. Good.  

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My assessment mannequin has the Aurora end, which is definitely a glass again that reveals off a number of the innards. It’s not fairly as attention-grabbing as you may suppose, as all of the parts are enclosed, however it does look cool. You may as well get the Redmagic 8S Professional in Platinum and Midnight color schemes. 

Within the hand the 8S Professional is an imposing telephone. Heavy however effectively balanced. It’s true that each one that tumbler makes it a little bit of a fear on the subject of dropping the factor. There’s a case within the field, however in an effort to accommodate the fan, exhaust ports and the set off buttons, many of the sides are uncovered. It feels sturdy, however I wouldn’t need to have it slip from my arms onto a tough floor.  

Display & Audio system

• 6.8in AMOLED, 20:9, 120Hz show
• Stereo audio system and three.5mm headphone jack
• Beneath show selfie digicam and fingerprint sensor

The show stays the identical as on the 8 Professional, which implies you get a really good 6.8in AMOLED panel with a 2480 x 1116-pixel decision. As it is a gaming telephone, there’s the anticipated naked minimal 120Hz refresh price (not as excessive as a few of its rivals, together with Redmagic’s personal 7) plus the height brightness is rated at 1,300 nits. Ramping it as much as its highest setting and disabling auto-brightness, I noticed a really respectable 1141 nits in my exams. 

Martyn Casserly

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Colors are effectively represented on the show, together with the sharpness you’d count on of an higher mid-range telephone. It additionally has the brightness to stay simply legible open air in vibrant sunshine. And that’s excellent for gaming on the go.

All the things is stored clean due to the 120Hz refresh price, however the Redmagic 8S Professional can intelligently choose 90Hz or 60Hz in response to the actions you’re enterprise, all to make sure vitality effectivity and respectable efficiency. It can’t go any decrease than 60Hz, although, as some flagship telephones can.

The panel has a contact sampling price of 960Hz, once more making it very responsive for gaming or on a regular basis use. 

Wanting intently on the show, you’ll discover that there’s no notch or pinhole for the front-facing digicam. It is because the Redmagic 8S Professional has endured with the under-display digicam that the 8 Professional had. Whereas this causes a number of points with digicam efficiency, it does make the 6.8in show excellent for watching content material or taking part in video games as there are not any interruptions within the graphics.

There’s additionally an under-display fingerprint sensor, however like with the 8 Professional I discovered it to be fairly temperamental. 

The panel is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and it additionally comes with a pre-fitted display protector. The latter proved to be simply scratched, even when it got here into contact with onerous surfaces. I’d say you’d be higher off eradicating it totally and counting on the display itself or shopping for a tempered glass protector when you’re apprehensive about harm.

There are stereo audio system which give loads of quantity. Their placement, at both finish of the handset, means they’re fairly simple to dam whereas taking part in video games or watching films, however that’s onerous to keep away from with any telephone. Spatial separation is respectable, with bass a little bit missing however a minimum of current. 

In order for you the highest quality sound, the three.5mm headphone jack gives the power to make use of wired headphones or there’s all the time Bluetooth 5.3 for wi-fi alternate options. 

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Specs & Efficiency

• Overclocked 3.36GHz Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset
• Upgraded ICE 12.0 cooling system
• Most 16GB/512GB configuration

As you’d count on from a smartphone geared toward hard-core gaming, the processing energy of the Redmagic 8S Professional is spectacular. It makes use of an overclocked 3.36GHz Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, the newest and biggest accessible on the time of launch, aided by a devoted Pink Core 2 gaming processor.

The latter is there to take care of audio processing, haptic responses and RGB lighting. The thought is that syphoning off these duties permits the primary processor to do the heavy lifting unencumbered by trifling duties. Whether or not or not that really works, the 8S Professional performs very effectively in day-to-day use, albeit with some software program glitches that I’ll cowl later. In fact, it comes into its personal when taking part in video games. 

Firing up the likes of Genshin Impression and Asphalt 9: Legends and settling down for a gaming session proved to be very pleasant. The 8S Professional handled all of the motion easily, even on the best settings. I didn’t discover any lag or slow-downs throughout my time with the machine, and the big display is a pleasure to make use of.

You may as well map the set off buttons on the highest edge (when in panorama) to execute varied actions that may in any other case require tapping the display. These work very well, thanks in no small half to their 520Hz sampling charges. 

Redmagic has revamped the cooling system this time round, with the upgraded ICE 12.0 system. This consists of a 2068mm3 double-layer super-large vapour chamber cooling plate, new duct construction, cooling gel, a layer of graphene beneath the show and the 20,000rpm fan.

This further deal with thermals was definitely worth the effort because the 8S Professional stayed reasonably cool even beneath the fairly intense graphical calls for that I put it via. Clearly, when you play for a very long time then issues do get a little bit heat, however by no means to the scorching temperatures that may have you ever apprehensive in regards to the parts. The fan is quiet, however you’ll discover it as a result of uncommon nature of a telephone having one within the first place. 

Martyn Casserly

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Right here’s how the Redmagic 8 Professional fared in our exams.

Redmagic 8S Professional benchmarks

There are two totally different configurations of the 8S Professional, with the Midnight livery having 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage, whereas the Aurora and Platinum fashions double the capacities to 16GB and 512GB. 

Cameras

• 50MP, f/1.88 (broad) 
• 8MP, f/2.2, 120 ̊ (ultrawide) 
• 2MP, f/2.4 (macro) 
• 16MP under-screen selfie digicam

The cameras on the 8S Professional are similar to the 8 Professional, so that you get three lenses to play with. The principle shooter has a 50MP Samsung GN5 sensor with an f/1.88 aperture. In well-lit situations, the pictures it produces are good, however the software program processing results in oversharpening that may make issues look a little bit synthetic at occasions.

It additionally has the silly default setting that was so annoying on the 8 Professional, the place a watermark is utilized to all photographs. That is simply modified, however actually must be off from the beginning.

Colors are wealthy, if considerably oversaturated, and the 8S Professional does an honest job of autofocusing and publicity in most photographs. 

When ranges drop, the devoted Evening mode shocked me with some beautiful pictures that held a great quantity of element whereas holding again on the noise. You’ll want regular arms to get sharp pictures, so I’d suggest leaning the telephone on a wall or another flat floor when taking the shot and when you do try to be fairly pleased with the outcomes. 

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Switching to the ultrawide lens will increase subject of view to 120°. It’s an identical case to most different ultrawide cameras we’ve seen at this form of value although, the place you lose a number of the color and sharpness. Once more, pictures are nonetheless usable.  

You’ll discover all kinds of additional modes accessible within the bizarrely named Digital camera-family part, together with macro (for mediocre close-ups), Star path (astrophotography), doc scanning and a devoted one for taking ID pictures – this features a headshot define overlay that can assist you place the topic correctly. Most are enjoyable, however I feel they’re unlikely for use that a lot. 

Video high quality on the 8S Professional tops out at a whopping 8K at 30fps however keep in mind that you’ll want a monitor (or TV) that helps this stage of element. Sadly, I didn’t have one whereas testing the 8S Professional, so I can’t confirm it’s as crisp because the numbers recommend. I’d suggest utilizing the more-storage-space-friendly 1080p/60fps setting, because the footage was completely acceptably and advantages from digital picture stabilisation that did a decent job of smoothing out any bumps as I walked alongside.

Autofocus was additionally respectable and audio was clear all through, if a little bit quiet. The 8S Professional additionally has a 4K/60fps mode, which is equally good when you’re planning on utilizing the telephone for extra broadcast-standard movies, plus there’s 1080p/240fps for gradual movement. 

The selfie digicam lets the aspect down. This was the identical with the earlier telephone and Redmagic hasn’t improved issues on the 8S Professional. Because of the under-display place, all photographs are foggy and mushy. It’s merely one of many worst selfie cameras I’ve ever used. If selfies are vital to you, then keep away from the 8S Professional in any respect prices. But when, like me, you by no means take selfies, it may be ignored when you benefit from the beautiful, uninterrupted show. 

Right here’s a collection of pictures taken with the Redmagic 8S Professional:

Battery Life & Charging

• 6000mAh battery
• 65W quick charging
• No wi-fi charging

One other hold-over from the 8 Professional is the large 6000mAh battery. Technically it’s two 3000mAh cells working collectively, and oh how they work effectively. Getting via a standard day of social media, telephone calls, listening to podcasts, internet looking and the occasional sport often left me with loads of juice at bedtime. Heavier gaming periods clearly eat into this, however even then I may recover from 4 hours of stable taking part in earlier than reaching for the charger. 

Martyn Casserly

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Charging again up once more is quick, with the offered 65W charger taking it from flat to 100% in round 35 minutes, with a fast 15-minute top-up replenishing 58% of the battery. There’s no wi-fi charging accessible, so if that’s your most popular methodology of powering up a telephone then you can be dissatisfied. 

Software program

• Android 13 with RedMagic OS 8.0
• Sport House
• Nonetheless some annoying bugs

The Redmagic 8S Professional runs Android 13 with the Redmagic OS 8.0 pores and skin on high. It’s a really customisable platform, permitting you to essentially tinker with the look of icons, themes, in addition to how the telephone behaves. In order for you plain Android, then this isn’t the telephone for you, however it does have its charms.  

Sadly, there are additionally bugs that should be ironed out to make the expertise higher for day-to-day use. I had a number of apps shut down unexpectedly, with audio apps usually stopping playback randomly. I up to date the software program and checked the apps themselves, however the issues appeared particular to the telephone as I didn’t have the identical points with different telephones I had available.

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The Sport House function is spectacular and is enabled by sliding the purple swap on the sting of the telephone. With this on it offers you varied methods to customize your expertise, together with connecting exterior units, managing screenshots and quick-launching video games. Swiping in from the aspect whereas in sport opens up all kinds of choices, settings and monitoring data too.

There’s a critical quantity of freedom accessible, so when you’re a devoted cellular gamer you’ll be in heaven with the 8S Professional. 

Value & Availability

The Redmagic 8S Professional will probably be launched on 3 August 2023. After that date, that is how a lot it’ll price:

• Redmagic 8S Professional (Midnight) 12GB/256GB – $649/£579/€649
• Redmagic 8S Professional (Platinum) 16GB/512GB – $779/£689/€779
• Redmagic 8S Professional (Aurora) 16GB/512GB – $799/£709/€799

Nonetheless, an early hen provide within the US and UK means you pay $1/£1 to have the ability to buy a day earlier (2 August) and get a free $30/£30 Redmagic voucher. The latter will probably be legitimate for 3 weeks after the official launch.

However even when you don’t benefit from this provide, the priciest mannequin remains to be less expensive than the likes of the Asus ROG Cellphone 7 Final which, whereas good, is rather more costly at $1399 / £1199 / €1399.

For extra alternate options, see our roundup of one of the best gaming telephones.  

Verdict

The overclocked chip, quick storage and beneficiant quantity of RAM make sure the 8S Professional has implausible efficiency – precisely what you need from a gaming telephone. That is enhanced by the set off buttons, efficient cooling system, glorious battery life and devoted software program options.

It’s additionally an important platform for media consumption due to the beautiful show and the shortage of a punch-hole or notch to spoil issues.  

As an on a regular basis telephone it’s rather less interesting. The machine is heavy, has no water-resistance score, common cameras and selfies are laughably dangerous. Software program bugs persist, however these might be fastened with updates.

In the end, when you’re on the lookout for a robust gaming telephone that doesn’t price the Earth, then the Redmagic 8S Professional is straightforward to suggest. .

Specs

• 6.8-inch AMOLED show, 2480 x 1116 decision, 20:9, 120Hz refresh price, and 960Hz contact sampling price.
• Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor (overclocked at 3.36GHz)
• REDMAGIC OS 8.0 primarily based on Android 13.
• 12GB or 16GB LPDDR5X RAM.
• 256GB or 512GB UFS 4.0 storage
• 50 MP, f/1.88 (broad) 
• 8 MP, f/2.2, 120 diploma (ultrawide) 
• 2 MP, f/2.4 (macro)
• 16MP selfie digicam
• 520Hz contact delicate shoulder set off buttons
• ICE 12.0 cooling system
• 20,000rpm cooling fan
• Beneath-display fingerprint sensor
• Bluetooth 5.3
• Wi-Fi 7
• NFC
• GPS
• Stereo audio system
• Twin haptic motors
• USB-C charging port
• 6000mAh battery with 65W quick charging.
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• 164 x 76.4 x 9.5 mm (6.46 x 3.01 x 0.37 in)
• 228g/8.04oz