Not because there are numerous manufacturers on the market, but rather because each one likes to release new variations every month or two, we’ve evaluated a lot of gaming phones over the past year. Compared to smartphones released less frequently, annually, this glut of gaming phones frequently results in lowered expectations and less excitement. More importantly, these quarterly “upgrades” are frequently insignificant and unnoticeable; they might include one or two new colours, a change in the camera lens, a little bigger battery, etc. We would be less likely to review the new RedMagic 7S Pro if Nubia has made modifications of that nature. Instead, a new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor and a new ICE 10.0 multi-dimensional cooling system are included in the 7 Pro’s successor. The new model gives mobile gaming a significant boost overall, therefore it merits your attention in addition to mine.
Design
It’s hardly surprising to see the design remain the same since Nubia changed it significantly with the Red Magic 7 Pro. It makes use of a combination of components like glass and aluminium that are often found in flagship phones. The biggest and most noticeable difference between this phone and standard handsets is a thick metal plate that runs down the middle of the back of the phone. Nubia claims that this will enhance heat dissipation, yet it dramatically increases the weight of the 7S Pro. At 235g, it weighs the same as the 7 Pro but is still among the heaviest smartphones available. Long gaming sessions don’t present a problem, although prolonged one-handed use can be uncomfortable. A rectangular back camera module with three lenses and a flash may be found inside that heat dissipation plate. With a 10mm thickness, the 7S Pro is relatively thick and nearly flush with the back of the phone. The Obsidian (black) model we tested is more subdued than previous Red Magic phones, despite the fact that it is clear from the rear design that this is a gaming phone. Although there is a silver variant as well, the transparent model is absent from the global version. The 7S Pro isn’t the phone for you if you’re searching for an eccentric design or bold colours. Nubia has done a wonderful job at keeping the built-in fan hidden on both models. You wouldn’t even notice it was there if it weren’t for a few grilles and the sound whirring it makes when it’s operating.
RedMagic 7S Pro review: Display
RedMagic gave the 7S Pro a 6.8-inch AMOLED screen with FHD resolution, and an under-display camera prevented any notch or punch-hole from obstructing the view. Although the RedMagic’s display patch covering the camera is a little more noticeable than it is on the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra, you hardly notice the difference in pixels when using the gaming phone. No matter which side of the gates the main cast was on, we could clearly see the action and details in the Stranger Things 4 Volume 2 teaser when we watched it on YouTube. The Upside-Down and other places appeared even more uninviting because the RedMagic’s default color profile is a touch colder than what you get on the Galaxy S22 Ultra. The RedMagic has a darker display than its competitors, as evidenced by the results of our display tests, but a remarkable Delta-E score for color accuracy, where a lower score indicates more accurate color reproduction.
Software
With Redmagic OS 5.5, Nubia’s most recent gaming UI, the Red Magic 7s Pro runs Android 12. The UI has been improved, with more accurate translations, as compared to the Red Magic 7, which we evaluated in June. However, if you look beneath the surface, there are still problems. The keyboard and the background, in this case the applications tray, are shown in the image above. you can read our article on RedMagic 7S Pro review. If you can get past a few UI quirks, the phone feels relatively stock, though more Android 10 stock than Android 12 stock because Material You and other Android 12 highlights are absent. App support is also excellent. On the 7s Pro, Nubia has pre-loaded a number of widgets to make it easier for you to access functions geared toward gaming A heart rate monitor via fingerprint scanning, a gameplay clock so you can see how many hours you’re spending in virtual worlds, and fan speed control were the pre-deployed ones on our phone. The Red Magic 7s Pro’s gaming enhancer gives you more precise control over your system once you’ve launched a game than non-gaming phones might. You can obviously adjust elements like fan control and switch between performance and power-saving settings.
RedMagic 7S Pro review: Hardware and performance
The Red Magic 7S Pro has a few minor changes, but the processor is undoubtedly the most important. It is powered by Qualcomm’s newest flagship chip, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. Minor improvements over the standard 8 Gen 1 are made, but the Red Magic brand’s reputation for superior performance is upheld. The model we tested combines it with 12GB of RAM, but if you require more power, there is also an option for 18GB. Given the outstanding performance the 7S Pro already provides, we doubt it. With its quick, smooth images and outstanding responsiveness, this phone makes gaming a pleasure. There was absolutely no lag when we tested some of the most taxing Play Store games, such as Call of Duty: Mobile, PUBG Mobile, and Asphalt 9. We felt like we had a significant advantage over players using a conventional smartphone because to the 120Hz frame rate and 960Hz touch sampling. The fan, which starts up as soon as you load a game and is rather noisy, is the one drawback. It implies that the phone never feels very warm to the touch, but unless you turn on some music, it can be distracting. We attempted to entirely switch off the fan, but the phone quickly became quite hot; we wouldn’t advise doing this. Excellent gaming performance translates into practical application as usual. Even when using split-screen multitasking, popular programmes like Chrome, Gmail, Maps, and YouTube all function flawlessly. Actually, it provides much more performance than you’ll ever require for any simple activities.
RedMagic 7S Pro review: Camera
The cameras on gaming phones are typically not very good. This is one of the first specifications to suffer as a result of the additional performance-enhancing components, it is a reality. Unsurprisingly, the camera technology on the Red Magic 7S Pro is mostly unaltered from that on the Red Magic 7 Pro and even the Red Magic gaming phones from the previous year. It has the same 1/4.0″ 8MP ultrawide sensor and 1/1.97″ 64MP wide sensor both with an f/1.8 aperture. There is no telescopic lens and only a meagre 2MP macro sensor serves as a backup for the primary cameras. Everything screams “mid-range.” You get performance on par with earlier Red Magic cameras. In good lighting, detail and exposure can be tolerated, but in low light, the results significantly degrade. Though the results of the built-in Night mode aren’t the worst we’ve seen, they are lower-midrange nonetheless, with a lot of noise and a general lack of sharpness that you would expect from a lack of OIS and bog-standard algorithms. The Red Magic 7S Pro is destroyed by the main cameras on the OnePlus Nord 2T, Realme 9 Pro Plus, and of course the Pixel 6a—all of which are available for less than £400. Cooler colours and far less detail may be found in the ultrawide, which marks a significant drop down in dynamic range and exposure. Thanks to the excess of pixels, 2x zoomed images are actually extremely useful here, but noise appears when you crop in any deeper. Nubia’s ongoing insistence on watermarking images by default just makes matters worse. It seems oddly braggadocious to yell about the camera given the obvious lack of photographic skill here. Selfie photos are atrocious. Not so much the usage of the modest 8MP sensor, but rather the placement of the sensor behind the display, which prevents it from receiving as much natural light as a “typical” selfie camera, is to blame. Extremely soft photographs with poor exposure, overexposed highlights, and washed-out skin tones are the end result.
Battery life
The sequel has a 5,000 mAh battery, similar to the Red Magic 7 Pro, which should result in an amazing battery life. In our tests, we discovered that the phone had a battery life of up to 12 hours and 48 minutes when locked at a basic 60Hz refresh rate and 10 hours and 48 minutes when set to its maximum 120Hz refresh rate. That puts it among our top phone battery life contenders, although it falls short of the incredible 15-hour+ performance shown by the ROG Phone 6 Pro. In the United States and the United Kingdom, the RedMagic comes with a 65W wired charger, which is disappointing considering that the Chinese version of this phone receives a 135W charger for even speedier recharging. A 65W brick is still quite potent, though. We charged the phone from 1% to 60% in 15 minutes and to 95% in 30 minutes (while the cooling fan was on). This places the RedMagic 7S Pro near the top of our list of phones that charge the fastest. The Black Shark Pro 5 needs 18 minutes to charge fully after being completely discharged.
Price and availability
Comparatively speaking, the RedMagic 7 Pro cost $799/£679, thus there has really been a slight price decrease since the previous model. The RedMagic 7S Pro gives something of a price discount compared to the ROG Phone 6 Pro, another gaming phone running the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 that starts at $999/£1,099 instead.
Conclusion
The Nubia RedMagic 7S Pro is a good gaming smartphone, but it is a bit user-unfriendly in some places. If you want to use the 960 Hz sampling rate for the touchscreen, you have to activate it first, and you also have to set the higher refresh rate first. It is also a pity that the navigation in the system is limited to 90 Hz. However, if you are looking for pure performance and do not want to lug around a clunky plug-on fan, the RedMagic smartphone is the right choice, but you will have to put up with a loud, high-frequency fan. However, it manages very good long-term performance. The 520 Hz sensor keys are also a useful addition and work well.
