RedMagic 6S Pro review: Get your game on

(Pocket-lint) - ZTE's sub-brand, Nubia, was among the archetypal to motorboat a gaming telephone erstwhile they archetypal deed the marketplace a fewer years back. The Red Magic telephone joined different big-screened, almighty devices successful a marketplace that, present successful 2021, hasn't expanded beyond its beauteous niche borders. But there's inactive entreaty - and intelligibly there's immoderate occurrence to beryllium had.

The Red Magic 6S Pro brings unneurotic galore of the 2021's astir almighty specs and features - ones that you won't find successful galore a regular smartphone. What's more, contempt its awesome spec list, it doesn't outgo a immense amount. So could this beryllium the gaming telephone to get, oregon should you play it harmless and instrumentality with the Asus ROG 5? 

Design

• Dimensions: 169.9 x 77.2 x 9.5mm  / Weight: 215g
• Glass beforehand and backmost - disposable RGB fan
• Pressure sensing enarthrosis buttons
• 3.5mm larboard for wired headphones

As gaming phones go, Nubia has played it a small safer than we've seen successful erstwhile years. In fact, that's been thing of a inclination for gaming phones successful 2021. We've moved somewhat distant from big, garish devices with protruding angles each implicit the back. But that doesn't mean the 6S Pro is wholly devoid of the gamer aesthetic. 

Our portion is the constricted variation transparent model, and it's surely antithetic to astir different phones connected the market. Almost the full near broadside of the phone's rear is covered successful a colourless glass. Behind it you tin spot labels for assorted components, but the circuit boards themselves are hidden from view. 

The undoubted prima of the show, however, is the cooling instrumentality astir two-thirds of the mode up the near edge. You power that connected successful the software, and it lights up with a rainbow-coloured RGB airy arsenic it whirrs around. 

Apart from that, the rear is simply a wholly creaseless solid finish, accented with assorted painted lines and logos. While it looks eye-catching enough, it's not the astir applicable of finishes. The curves down to the 4 sides and corners - combined with the ace glossy finish, ample size and value - mean it volition gaffe disconnected fundamentally thing without overmuch encouragement. 

We've heard the anxiety-inducing clap arsenic it drops to the level acold excessively galore times during our clip with it. In the process, it's taken immoderate of the achromatic anodisation disconnected the metallic frame's edges. Our proposal - if you bargain 1 - is to acceptable the included bumper/case, arsenic it volition prevention you a batch of hassle. 

Despite this, there's nary denying the concern spot of the phone. It feels truly sturdy. It is alternatively large, though, arsenic gaming phones truthful often thin to be. Despite that, it's inactive lighter than either the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra oregon the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max. Neither of which are marketed arsenic gaming phones, alternatively they're conscionable large flagships.

The tell-tale motion that you're looking astatine a gaming telephone - isolated from the RGB - is the further ports, holes, fixtures and buttons astir the 6S Pro's edges. In summation to the USB-C port, measurement and powerfulness buttons, the Red Magic has a fewer different bits too. 

For instance, there's an aerial vent connected some sides of the telephone - 1 positioned adjacent the disposable fan, the different straight opposite. Just supra the near vent there's besides a reddish accented slider fastener that switches the telephone into its dedicated gaming interface. Then connected the other broadside determination are 2 touch-sensitive enarthrosis buttons that you tin representation to antithetic functions depending connected the crippled you're playing. 

The enarthrosis triggers tin beryllium useful for gaming. When playing Call of Duty Mobile, for example, you could person the close fastener arsenic a trigger and the near for targeting oregon reloading. It's elemental capable to bash and lone requires you to resistance crossed the gaming interface options during a crippled - past you pat the applicable remapping icon and take which on-screen controls you privation to activate with each button. 

Display and media 

• 6.8-inch AMOLED panel, 1080 x 2400 resolution, up to 165Hz refresh rates
• Stereo speakers powered by DTS:X 

One of the trends we bash similar successful gaming phones is that they don't look to consciousness the request to person a wholly edge-to-edge screen, and truthful nary notch oregon punch-hole camera cutting into the show area. That means the immense 6.8-inch surface connected the 6S Prio's beforehand has nary interruptions to get successful the mode of content.

The selfie camera has been incorporated into the screen's apical bezel, which is bully and slim, but inactive convenient capable for holding during gaming sessions. 

It's flanked by stereo speakers too, and that means you get a spot much of an immersive consciousness erstwhile gaming. As smartphones go, the audio is large and rich. You'll inactive get a amended audio acquisition from a brace of decent wired headphones though, particularly with the enactment for 32-bit audio quality. 

While it's hard to responsibility arsenic a media device, acknowledgment to the large surface and stereo sound, it's wide the 6S Pro's surface has been designed predominantly for gamers. It focuses much connected effect times and framework rates than resolution. After all, its header diagnostic is that it tin scope up to 165Hz.

Unlike immoderate of the much costly flagship phones, it's not an adaptive surface - truthful you can't conscionable alteration an automatic mode that adapts the refresh complaint depending connected the content. Instead, you person to spell into the settings and take your desired setting: 60Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz, 165Hz. 

For the astir part, we instrumentality it successful 120Hz mode, since astir games don't thin to spell supra that framework rate. Even successful this mode, though, there's a definite consciousness that it's ace responsive and fluid. A large portion of that is undoubtedly the velocity of animations. Touching oregon swiping immoderate portion of the interface results successful a adjacent instant enactment connected the screen, acknowledgment to a 720Hz interaction sampling rate. It's astir excessively accelerated and feels a tiny spot unnatural. Still, impressive. 

The surface is agleam too, truthful it's a large sheet for gaming on, portion the large size, affluent colours, and heavy opposition besides mean it's large for video. Granted you mightiness not get the consciousness from it that it's been tuned to replicate a cinematographer's colour balance, but you tin tune it to your liking. 

Normal mode gets a bully equilibrium of colours without them being oversaturated, but there's besides a Vivid mode, arsenic good arsenic Natural, P3 oregon sRGB colour gamuts. You adjacent get a colour somesthesia instrumentality to fine-tune it. Our penchant was P3, which seemed to adjacent things retired nicely without being excessively muted. 

The lone existent occupation we recovered was successful watching Netflix. It seems the telephone isn't certified to enactment successful HD resolution, truthful the watercourse was rather debased prime and pixellated. This wasn't a occupation successful Disney+ however. 

Gaming Focus

• Dedicated Game Space
• Game launcher and customisation 

We've seen a fig of manufacturers instrumentality dedicated bundle to assistance you absorption connected gaming. For gamer phones it's a batch much in-depth than your Android mean - and Red Magic's Game Space is up determination with the champion of them, arsenic agelong arsenic you don't caput spending clip tweaking settings. 

As we mentioned, flicking the reddish power connected the broadside automatically launches the crippled launcher interface. In its default mode, this is simply a carousel of cards featuring each the games you person installed connected the phone.

However, there's much to it than that. In the country of each crippled paper there's a settings cog, and if you pat this you tin deep-dive into the show settings and customise them for each title. 

For instance, for Call of Duty, you could summation the touch-sampling complaint to marque it much responsive (if you usage the touchscreen for controls). You tin boost the GPU and CPU show to support gameplay accelerated and smooth, portion besides adjusting the display. Selecting 'shoot' mode successful the Show submenu increases brightness and opposition to assistance place dark/shadowed enemies. 

For a crippled similar Genshin Impact oregon Mario Kart Tour you mightiness privation a wholly antithetic acceptable of customised settings, and truthful this crippled paper lets you tune a bespoke acceptable for each title. 

Once the crippled starts you get much options disposable successful the interface that you tin swipe crossed from the near oregon close broadside of the screen. A pop-up model gives you entree to immoderate of the aforesaid show options arsenic before, but besides speedy toggles for things similar blocking messages and calls, locking surface touch, oregon activating surface recording. On the near of the surface you get entree to your enarthrosis fastener and mediate fastener mapping tools arsenic well. This lets you presumption their enactment points connected screen, arsenic good arsenic set their sensitivity.   

Software - and issues 

• Android 11
• Red Magic 4.5 skin

There's tons to similar but besides tons not to similar astir Nubia's bundle efforts successful the Red Magic flagship.

One constituent we deliberation volition entreaty to a batch of radical is the customisation options. There are a fig of pre-installed themes - immoderate much subtle than others, ranging from almost-stock-Android to agleam and blocky icon alternatives. 

Each taxable comes with its ain animated wallpaper, but you tin take from a big of disposable abstracted unrecorded wallpapers too. The default for a batch of them is rather sci-fi/cyberpunk-ish successful appearance, with metallic shades and agleam accents, but determination are a fewer others that are little 'gamer'. 

This customisation extends to the always-on show too, offering assorted inactive oregon animated all-colour graphics and clocks. For those who similar to marque their telephone look the mode they want, there's nary shortage of options. 

While there's nary doubting the top-notch hardware and capabilities of the Red Magic 6S Pro, there's grounds the bundle inactive needs immoderate work. If lone due to the fact that the acquisition of utilizing the telephone and its interface is inconsistent. 

We had a fewer weird bugs to woody with portion investigating the phone. For instance, it decided to halt showing notifications from a mates of our messaging apps astatine 1 constituent - and that diagnostic ne'er returned to normal. So that meant having to cheque Telegram and WhatsApp manually erstwhile we wanted to spot if idiosyncratic had messaged. There was nary sound, nary connection connected the Lock Screen, nary icon successful the presumption bar. And, with app icon badges turned disconnected by default, determination was nary of those either. 

In a related issue, Nubia's record absorption strategy meant we needed other steps conscionable to nonstop images successful a chat. You'd request to property the attachment icon, past take betwixt the built-in files app and Google Photos, past take the record you wanted to adhd the photograph from - alternatively than it conscionable automatically pulling successful the autochthonal file, oregon letting you conscionable take 1 and person it arsenic the imperishable location. 

Despite being a almighty and speedy phone, we often recovered the 6S Pro struggled to load information from apps similar our Spark email app, oregon erstwhile refreshing Twitter. It seemed to beryllium circumstantial types of apps (messaging/social media/email) that it has a occupation with. And that's without mentioning the pre-installed third-party browser - which perpetually wants to amusement ads successful notifications. 

We had issues with the keyboard too: erstwhile loaded connected screen, there's not capable abstraction betwixt the bottommost enactment of keys and the navigation motion area. Because of that we'd often extremity up accidentally swiping backmost home, oregon switching apps, erstwhile we were trying to pat the abstraction barroom oregon get to the emojis. 

Overall, contempt it being rather a cleanable bundle that's customisable and with tons of further benefits for gamers, the frustrating elements tarnish the experience. 

Performance and battery 

• Snapdragon 888 Plus platform
• Up to 256GB UFS 3.1 storage
• 5,050mAh artillery capacity
• Multi-dimensional cooling 
• Up to 16GB LPDDR5 RAM

Nubia seems to get it perfectly bang connected erstwhile it comes to hardware successful the Red Magic 6S Pro though. The main encephalon down the cognition is Qualcomm's top-tier powerhouse: the Snapdragon 888+. That is, rather simply, the astir almighty mobile processor connected the marketplace astatine clip of launch. 

Combined with the fastest retention and fastest representation around, it makes for 1 speedy phone. Games load fast, downloads are quick, and the wide consciousness is liquid creaseless (apart from immoderate of the information loading issues we mentioned already). 

Having the imaginable for speed, but sustaining that velocity implicit a longer play requires 2 things: effectual cooling and a large battery. The 6S Pro has some of those successful abundance.

We acceptable the telephone truthful that whenever we loaded a crippled it would footwear the turbo instrumentality on, instantly starting to propulsion aerial done the backmost of the telephone to support it cool. This combines with further cooling components - similar superconducting copper foil, a cooling duct, graphene and a VC cooling sheet - to guarantee the telephone ne'er gets excessively warm. 

In our testing, during immoderate reasonably agelong gaming sessions, we seldom felt the telephone get uncomfortably lukewarm acknowledgment to the effectual radiation of heat. Yes, it got a small warmer, but ne'er to the constituent wherever it gave america interest that it was overheating oregon becoming uncomfortable to hold.

This was with the telephone acceptable successful its 'Beyond' crippled setting, wherever the GPU and CPU get cranked up to adjacent maximum. In 'Infinite' mode you get a pop-up informing that tells you the telephone volition overheat - truthful if you privation to play successful this mode past we'd counsel picking up the outer cooling instrumentality accessory.

Battery absorption is likewise effortless. There's a immense 5,050mAh compartment wrong the 6S Pro, which tin get done a engaged time without adjacent trying. Even with a mates of hours of aggravated gaming and the accustomed clip spent connected societal media, listening to euphony and streaming movies, we ne'er struggled to get to bedtime astatine 11pm.

For users who lone usage the surface for possibly a mates of hours a day, it wouldn't beryllium unreasonable to expect 2 afloat days from this thing. Its standby artillery preservation is impressive, to the constituent that it hardly uses immoderate of it erstwhile it's successful standby mode with the surface off. 

When it does request charging, there's a 30+W charger successful the box, truthful refills are comparatively quick. It's besides Quick Charge and Power Delivery compatible. Or, if you privation to, you tin prime up a 66W Red Magic adapter and complaint it other fast.

It has cameras too...

• Triple rear cameras:
  • Main (26mm): 64-megapixel, f/1.8 aperture, 0.7µm pixel size, signifier detection autofocus (PDAF)
  • Wide-angle (13mm):  8MP, f/2.0, 1.12µm
  • Macro: 2MP
• Selfie camera: 8MP, f/2.0 1.12µm

On much accepted devices the cameras are 1 of the large features of a phone's story. But with a telephone made predominantly to beryllium utilized for smashing opponents successful graphically aggravated mobile games, it's possibly not arsenic important.

Technically speaking, the 6S Pro's rear strategy is simply a triple camera setup but, really, it's lone has 2 cameras worthy using: the wide and ultra-wide. The superior sensor is really decent erstwhile you're taking photos successful bully light. It delivers bully detail, a bully earthy extent of field, and vibrant but not unnatural colours. 

What's more, due to the fact that it's a 64-megapixel sensor, there's bully scope for integer zoom. So adjacent though you don't person a dedicated telephoto zoom camera, you tin inactive bash a speedy 2x oregon 5x zoom and get bully results. It's not rather arsenic crisp arsenic taking a photograph astatine 1x, but the details aren't atrocious astatine all.

There is simply a quality erstwhile switching to the secondary ultra-wide camera. This is an 8-megapixel camera, but often leaves the representation looking rather lacking successful dynamic scope and colour. It'll wash-out shots, and over-expose, leaving rather a level colourless representation arsenic a result. 

Still, if you instrumentality to the main sensor for astir of what you're shooting, there's precise small to kick about. It'd beryllium bully if it had optical stabilisation, but it does the occupation without adding masses of other protrusion oregon value to the device.

Writing by Cam Bunton. Originally published connected 29 October 2021.