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Making everyone stay at home during a global pandemic means that more people have gotten into gaming, whether out of sheer boredom or renewed interest — and going back out into the world again two years later doesn’t mean that the gamers would just disappear. But it’s not exactly easy to lug a gaming laptop/computer around just to satisfy your gaming itch, so that’s where gaming smartphones come in.
With mobile gaming gaining more and more traction, the smartphone industry has been scrambling to get decent smartphones out on the market that can handle heavy gaming. In fact, there’s no shortage of gaming-dedicated smartphones out there — and here’s our review of one of them: the REDMAGIC 7s Pro.
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REDMAGIC 7s Pro Specs
- Processor: Qualcomm SM8475 Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (4 nm)
- GPU: Adreno 730
- Display: 6.8" AMOLED, 120Hz, 600 nits
- Memory: 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM, 512GB 18GB RAM, 1TB 18GB RAM
- Rear Camera: Triple Camera, 64MP (Wide), 8MP (Ultrawide), 2MP (Macro)
- Front Camera: 16MP
- Weight: 235g
- Dimensions: 166.3 x 77.1 x 10mm
What’s in the Box?
- REDMAGIC 7s Pro
- x1 Charger
- x1 Type C Cable
- x1 Clear Cover
- x1 Quick Start Guide
Build & Design
The REDMAGIC 7s Pro has one of the coolest designs I’ve ever seen on a smartphone. We got the Mercury version as our review unit, which is a dark translucent design with a little window on the back that shows the RGB fan that just screams “this is a gaming phone”. It’s nicely weighted and feels quite solid in hand.
Meanwhile, the triple cameras are set in a tidy rectangle in the top middle, along with the flashlight.
Like most conventional smartphones, the power button and the volume rockers are on the right side of the phone; the Type-C charger port goes on the bottom, along with the SIM tray, while the 3.5mm headphone jack is located at the top of the phone.
Now that we’ve got the basics aside, let’s look at what’s special about this gaming phone: the shoulder triggers and the Game Space switch, situated on the right and left of the phone respectively.
The REDMAGIC 7s Pro’s shoulder triggers are not actual buttons — they’re just capacitive touchpoints that have a touch sampling rate of 520Hz and a 7.4ms response time. Situated conveniently where your index fingers are placed naturally when holding the phone horizontally, they’ve come in plenty handy when playing games like Call of Duty, where two thumbs is just not enough for everything that’s happening at the same time.
The Game Space switch is yet another feature gamers will enjoy. Instead of having to scroll through the hundreds of apps on your phone for that one game, the slider on the left of the phone takes you straight into the Game Space, where you can access your favourite games easily at just a push of a button.
Display
At 6.8”, the REDMAGIC 7s Pro is one of the biggest phones you can get. According to Nubia, it has the world’s first no-notch, true-to-life display, which is achieved by hiding the front camera under the screen. This makes fullscreen endeavours, whether gaming or watching movies, even more enjoyable, as there’s no camera notch in the way.
Contrary to its predecessor, the REDMAGIC 7S Pro only has a standard (for flagships, that is) 120Hz refresh rate, but the screen is pretty responsive, as a gaming smartphone should be. It’s bright and clear enough for indoor and overcast usage, though it might be a little hard to view the screen under direct sunlight since it only sports a maximum of 600 nits.
Camera
The camera is not the main focus of a gaming smartphone, and it shows on the REDMAGIC 7s Pro.
The phone sports a 64MP wide-angle main camera, an 8MP ultrawide, and a 2MP macro camera, supported by Nubia’s own Neovision AI photography. For the price of the phone, these camera specs are less than impressive on paper, but the software side of things helps considerably. Images taken on the REDMAGIC 7s Pro have decent details and colour, though it doesn’t quite shape up to some of the other specialized camera phones out there.
The Night Mode worked surprisingly well either, though it has to be manually selected in the camera app. Without Night Mode, however, low-light photos are noisy and riddled with flares; Night Mode helps stabilize the picture significantly, though it’s sad to say that ultrawide does not work in this mode.
Without Night Mode:
With Night Mode:
Software & Performance
The REDMAGIC 7s Pro proudly proclaims its Snapdragon 8+ Gen1 processor on its translucent back, along with other specifications like the ICE 10.0 cooling system, the 20000 RPM max fan, and 5000mAh battery capacity. With this setup, it lives up to the name of a gaming smartphone.
Truth be told, I never really liked to game on a smartphone. There’s only so much space on a smartphone screen, and my thumbs cover about two-thirds of that valuable screen for the sake of controls. And the controls are slippery at best and frustrating at worst, since everything is touchscreen and there’s no actual click click click that tells you your actions are registered, unlike with a keyboard and mouse on a computer.
On the REDMAGIC 7s Pro, all of my reservations about mobile gaming are pretty much addressed: a large display means I can see more of the screen and where I’m going, shoulder triggers to make controls easier as it vibrates, so there’s feedback on my inputs, and finally, the graphics are clean and smooth. I experienced no lags whatsoever when playing Genshin Impact, even on the highest graphic settings.
The prominent fan on the back of the phone does more than just add to the aesthetics as well. Mobile gaming is notorious for making phones overheat, but while the REDMAGIC 7s Pro gets a little warm after about three hours of high-intensity gaming, that’s about the worst it gets. It doesn’t heat up to the point of discomfort, unlike some other gaming alternatives.
The one thing that irked me slightly was the sound of the fan, though. It turns on automatically when in gaming mode, and it is almost as loud as my laptop’s fans, which I thought were already loud. Then again, it does its work, so grab yourself a pair of earphones and all will be well.
Battery
Another thing that most gamers worry about is battery life. With 5000mAh capacity, the RedMagic 7S Pro is capable of running Genshin Impact at the highest settings for three hours, with some leftover battery for regular smartphone usage (including about 30 mins of navigation).
On regular usage with minimal gaming and fans turned off, the phone easily lasted a good part of two days before needing another charge.
The charging speed is also pretty decent, since it offers 65W fast charging. From my experience, you can get from 3% to 100% in just under an hour.
Conclusion
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