There was a lot of gamers smartphone that emerged in 2018. It began with Razer who started things off with its smartphones, then entered another mobile manufacturer, Xiaomi with the Black Shark, Honor Play and Asus with the ROG Phone. And here we are with Nubia’s alternative, dubbed the Red Magic.
The new smartphone wants to bring in a whole new world of experience for gamers, and it will be arriving in Europe and the United States to be precise. What everyone wants to know is it going to be welcomed by players. Let’s find out below.
Design
Unlike most gaming smartphones who always come out with a clear-cut plan, the ZTE Nubia Red Magic distinguishes itself from the rest of the gaming smartphones and offering an original look.
From the look of things, Nubia wants to kill two birds with one stone. And what I mean is that they want to both attract gamers and as many users as possible with the ZTE Nubia Red Magic.
This smartphone doesn’t come with a notch, and it features a more eccentric backside with more marked lines, a vertically placed fingerprint reader, red dual speakers, and an RGB LED bar that exudes lights when you have a call or notification. You will also find a red button at the right-hand side used to activate the “Game Boost” mode.
The overall pattern of this smartphone is impressive. The color combination (red and black) suits this device and gives it some originality without entirely being classified as a gamer smartphone. The ZTE Nubia Red Magic properly fits into one’s palm despite featuring a large 6-inch FHD+ LTPS IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, and it’s all thanks to its well-rounded edges.
The screen has a resolution of 1080 x 2160 pixels and 402 pixels per inch density offering a total 78.5% screen to body ratio. This smartphone is also light weighted measuring 185 grams, and I think that’s amazing for a robust smartphone of that nature.
The Gaming Phablet has an aspect ratio of 18:9, with super minimal bezels, offering gamers the Full View experience when playing games. You still see the Dinorex T2X-1 glass on the front, offering shock and scratch resistant.
Camera
To be sincere, the camera of this smartphone doesn’t seem to be its strength, especially in low light conditions, though it’s not a disaster. This smartphone appears to be specialized for the gamer audience than fans who love to take photos.
The back of the ZTE Nubia Red Magic comes with a 24-megapixel camera (Samsung 5K2X7SX sensor with f/1.7 aperture) which is all good in daylight. The camera offers a reasonable amount of detail and realistic colors.
Meanwhile, the front of this device arrives with a single 8 MP, f/2.0 camera setup. The camera also comes with the HDR mode (which is already disabled by default). The bokeh effect is absence on the Red Magic, and focusing isn’t its strong point (4K is possible at 1080p and 60 fps).
Performance
The ZTE Nubia Red Magic houses the Snapdragon 835 chip from Qualcomm uses the Octa-core processor accompanied by a 64-bit CPU architecture. The 8-cores of processor clocks at 2.35GHz with 16nm process technology. Meanwhile, the Adreno 540 is the graphics processor from Qualcomm which is in charge of graphics.
The ZTE Nubia Red Magic comes in with two storage configurations. Let’s begin with the standard version which comes with an 8GB RAM / 128GB internal storage and the less expensive version which arrived with a 6GB RAM / 64GB storage. While the internal storage doesn’t support expansion, the RAM speed clocks over 1.6GHz. The Nubia Red Magic runs on Android 8.1 Oreo Operating System and also uses a new user interface from Red Magic.
Battery
The ZTE Nubia Red Magic houses a powerful 3800mAh non-removable Li-Po battery. The battery also employs the fast charging technology which is capable of offering you an extra battery juice in no time. With the fast charging feature, it took my team and me 1.9 hours to get the battery of this device from 0% to 100%.
Other Features
- FM ~ No,
- 3.5mm Jack ~ Yes,
- Expandable storage ~ No.
- Dual Cameras ~ No.
ZTE Nubia Red Magic Price
The ZTE Nubia Red Magic became announced in April 2018, but it wasn’t released until the end of September when was officially on sale on its website. The price tag for this device is placed at 449 euros which is equivalent to 510 dollars (N185,000) to get it. You can also get this device from most import sites that can deliver things around your region.
- Must Read: OPPO Find X Review – Specs, Features & Price
The Nubia Red Magic was among the cheapest gaming smartphones so far in 2018. The smartphone’s price tag is way lesser than the recently announced Razer Phone 2 (though with a faster processor) or Asus’ ROG smartPhone. The only competitor when it comes to the price range of this smartphone is the Honor Play.
Verdict
The Nubia Red Magic is a good smartphone for gaming. Many users will be appealed by the low price and excellent performance of this smartphone. This smartphone arrives with all the features that any moderate gamer smartphone should feature.
Though this device comes with lots of amazing features, it sure comes with its bad sides like its old processor and mediocre photo quality. But at the end of it, all this smartphone leaves something to be desired.