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There aren’t many types of phones that are only known for their gaming phones. The first is likely Asus with its great ROG Phone series (though its Zenfone series is just as good), and the second is likely RedMagic. Smartphone gaming isn’t a new idea, and with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, Qualcomm has improved on some of the things that make a great gaming phone.
The RedMagic 8 Pro was one of the first phones to have Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which made it one of the best gaming phones we have ever used. As is always the case with RedMagic, the 8 Pro is a great phone whose software is the only thing that holds it back. We can use almost any smartphone and have a good time with it. Back in the day, when ColorOS 6.1 looked exactly like iOS but worse, we could even stand it, but the company’s OS is almost impossible to use every day.
RedMagic 8 Pro SPECIFICATIONS
| Specification | Description |
|---|---|
| Display | 6.65 inches, AMOLED, 1080 x 2340 pixels, 144Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 |
| RAM | 8GB / 12GB LPDDR5 |
| Storage | 128GB / 256GB UFS 3.0 |
| Battery | 4,500mAh, non-removable, fast charging 55W |
| Rear Camera | 64MP (wide) + 8MP (ultrawide) + 2MP (macro) |
| Front Camera | 8MP (wide) |
| Operating System | Android 10, Redmagic 3.0 |
RedMagic 8 Pro: Design
The style of the Red Magic 8 Pro is one of the most unique I’ve seen in a smartphone in recent years. It looks like a box, with squared-off sides and much smaller curves at each corner of the screen. The screen goes all the way to the edges, and since the camera is under the screen, there is no notch to talk of. These days, it’s hard to find a phone with a display like that, and ZTE is one of the main competitors with its under-display cameras in its flagships. This makes it a great phone for watching movies and TV shows, let alone for playing games.
RedMagic 8 Pro: Display
The RedMagic 8 Pro’s 6.8-inch FHD AMOLED screen is one of the biggest you’ll find on any phone, but it would have been nice to have a higher QHD quality as well.Still, the screen is nice and bright, with a maximum brightness of 1,300 nits, according to RedMagic.
This makes it easy to play games outside in the sun, or at least in what London in January passes for sunlight. It’s also bright, which is perfect for gaming. When we watched movie clips on YouTube, we thought the colors were too bright. This made movies like Renfield look fun, but it made more serious movies like You People look a little strange. You can buy this phone from its official website
RedMagic 8 Pro: Cameras
The RedMagic 8 Pro is the first upgrade to the main camera of any RedMagic phone, Pro or not, since the RedMagic 5G in 2020. It swaps the 64MP sensor for a 50MP one with a bigger sensor but lower resolution. It has the same Samsung GN5 sensor as the Samsung Galaxy S22 or the Google Pixel 7 line. And those are all great phones for taking pictures.
In this comparison with the iPhone 14 Pro Max, which is our best camera phone right now, we can see that the new hardware does a good job of capturing an Elizabeth Line tube sign. The picture from the RedMagic is cooler than the picture from the iPhone, but it’s also a lot more detailed because the file size is so much bigger when both phones are in their normal camera modes.
Performance and Software
Our review unit comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage as standard. If you need more space, you can upgrade to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. It may not be a surprise that this is the fastest phone we’ve tried so far, since the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered iQOO 11 already had the best benchmark scores, and when active cooling is added, things only get better.
The RedMagic 8 Pro can easily handle any game you throw at it, and it stays pretty cool even when it’s busy. The active cooling fan does a great job of removing heat, and while some older RedMagic devices got pretty hot because their aluminum frames were used as heat sinks, the latest model never got too hot to be comfortable.
Price and availability
The RedMagic 8 Pro and 8 Pro+. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset is what makes both phones work, but the memory and battery numbers are a little different. On February 2, 2023, sales started. The 12GB/256GB Matte Black version of the RedMagic 8 Pro starts at $649. The Transparent Void version, which has great specs like 16GB/256GB memory, costs $799. The same types are also sold by third-party sellers like Amazon, but they cost a lot more.
Final Words
As we took the RedMagic 8 Pro out of its box, we hoped it would be the best phone the company had ever made. Most of the time, it is, and it has every right to be one of the best gaming phones. But there are still rough spots that have been there for so long that you would think they would have been smoothed out by erosion by now.
RedMagic 8 Pro review: THE GOOD AND THE BAD
The Good
- Excellent battery life
- Amazing value
The Bad
- More bad software translation
FAQS
Design. The Chinese company that makes smartphones just released two new models. Both of them are designed to look like games.
If you plan to play games a lot, the Galaxy S23 series seems to have a skip charging mode, which is often found on devices like the ROG Phone, Black Shark, and Red Magic that are made for serious gamers.