RedMagic Astra Review: This Is the Best Gaming Tablet You Can Buy

Earlier this 12 months, I examined Lenovo’s 8-inch Legion Tab Gen 3 gaming tablet to see the way it held up as a small gaming pill towards the iPad Mini. Spoiler alert: It did fairly nicely. However shortly after testing that pill, gaming phone-maker RedMagic reached out to ask if I needed to check its new gaming pill, the 9-inch Astra.

After a couple of weeks of testing, I can safely say that whereas Lenovo’s little pill remains to be glorious, the Astra beats it in a few key areas. An important of them is efficiency: It is simply flat-out sooner than the Legion Tab. Then again, the Lenovo is a greater choice as a small, general-purpose Android pill that is additionally nice for gaming (and it is often cheaper than the Astra, too). Nevertheless, if gaming options and efficiency, in addition to a standout design, are what you care most about, the RedMagic Astra is value paying a premium for and is why it is an Editors’ Alternative award winner.

Flagship {hardware}

I totally loved the Legion Tab’s design, and it satisfied me of the advantages of your complete kind issue. Whilst somebody who enjoys cellular gaming, I actually don’t love carrying round a large cellphone all over the place I’m going, so having one thing that is sufficiently big to sport on with out being as massive as an iPad or Galaxy Tab, and particularly a laptop computer, is fairly nice.

Although barely bigger, the Astra nonetheless completely matches that in-between house for me. It has a 9-inch display, however RedMagic packed it right into a small, smooth pill that may actually slot in my again pocket. The design is harking back to the iPad Mini with its spherical edges and flat sides, however the bezels are symmetrical and solely 4.9mm extensive, slimmer than the iPad Mini’s, which makes Apple’s littlest pill look outdated.

There’s additionally a fingerprint sensor within the energy button, which is kind of welcome, particularly contemplating different extra premium tablets just like the OnePlus Pad 3 (and even the Legion Tab) haven’t got one. The front-facing digicam helps face unlock (just for the pill itself) and, at 9 megapixels, is completely effective for streaming or video chatting.

The only rear 13-megapixel digicam is suitable, however not rather more than that. It is effective if you could use it, however RedMagic has by no means been recognized for its nice cameras, and that actually applies right here as nicely.

RedMagic is understood for packing its gadgets with all the most recent top-of-the-line specs you would need, and the Astra continues that development. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, as much as 24GB of LPDDR5x RAM and as much as 1TB of UFS 4.1 storage. The bottom mannequin with 12GB of reminiscence and 256GB of storage is $549 and much like what you’d get within the $550 Legion Tab Gen 3 (although the Legion often goes on sale for around $100 less). I examined a $699 model of the Astra with 16GB of reminiscence and 512GB of storage. The maxed-out Astra with 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage is a hefty $899.

Complementing the Qualcomm processor is RedMagic’s personal gaming chip, the RedCore R3 Professional. The thought is that the R3 Professional palms among the gaming-specific duties from the principle chipset to assist preserve peak efficiency and maintain the Snapdragon 8 Elite from throttling down sooner.

The 9.1-inch OLED show reveals off all of your favourite video games with a 2,400×1,504-pixel decision (331 ppi) and a superbly easy 165Hz refresh charge. It additionally will get as much as 1,600 nits peak brightness, which is greater than brilliant sufficient if you end up caught within the solar. I might say it is among the best screens I’ve seen on a pill and unbelievable for any sport. (By comparability, the iPad Mini’s display has a pixel density of 326 ppi). 

Powering all of that is an 8,200-milliampere-hour battery with help for as much as 80-watt quick charging. I simply bought by means of a number of days of use with this pill, which included an hour or two of gaming and one other hour or two of fundamental utilization. On CNET’s YouTube streaming take a look at, it averaged 10 hours, 32 minutes, which is nice, however you will not get that whereas gaming solely. The one draw back is that there isn’t any charger within the field, though it is best to have the ability to get quick charging with most 80-watt chargers.

Soundwise, the twin DTS:X Extremely audio system sound fairly good for a small pill. In fact, you do not get the room-filling sound from the 4 audio system on the iPad Professional, however that is additionally a a lot bigger and rather more costly machine. The Astra’s audio system are effective for gaming or streaming, however for FPS video games or these the place each noise issues, you may need some good gaming headphones.

One odd design selection

RedMagic made a fairly odd design selection with the Astra by offsetting the USB-C port towards the highest of the pill. This implies the ability button is now located straight throughout from the USB-C port, so for those who attempt to use a USB-C controller, you may seemingly hit the ability button when taking the controller on and off. I did expertise this in my testing, and whereas it was annoying, I would not say it is sufficient to maintain me from shopping for it. It did not occur as soon as I had the controller on, and Bluetooth controllers clearly will not have this challenge. (RedMagic would most likely admire you dropping an additional $129 for its Bluetooth gamepad anyway.)

Additionally, when utilizing a controller, the pill now sits farther down and turns into a bit unbalanced. Once more, this wasn’t a deal-breaker for me as I ended up resting the pill on the desk or my lap, and it virtually grew to become even higher for me, so I did not have to carry it as a lot. Your mileage might differ right here, and I do perceive how uncomfortable it may be for some, however I might say do not knock it until you strive it.

I requested RedMagic why it used this structure, and an organization consultant mentioned the top-mounted USB-C retains the charging cable from getting in the way in which of your palms whereas it is charging, so you possibly can nonetheless play whereas plugged in with none points. That is sensible to me and has been one of many points I’ve had whereas gaming on telephones or different tablets. Additionally, the side-mounted energy button is offset to work with many third-party gaming controllers which have buffer zones to keep away from unintentional activation. I might even be keen to wager that though it is a gamer-focused pill, the shopper knowledge RedMagic has reveals that much more individuals play with out a controller than with one.

All of the efficiency you would need

As you would possibly anticipate from the spec sheet, this factor simply flies by means of something you throw at it. Other than gaming, I used it as a standard pill as nicely, which included shopping, researching new vehicles (I bought rear-ended, in order that’s been enjoyable), some YouTube and emails. As anticipated, every thing I did was easy and quick. No points.

Clearly, with the ability to play the perfect video games easily is a vital a part of efficiency, however RedMagic is all about supplying you with the very best gaming expertise doable on a cellular machine.

All the most well-liked video games I attempted ran nice on the highest doable framerates. I persistently hit 120 frames per second on Name of Responsibility: Cell, and RedMagic has promised excessive refresh help for different widespread video games, together with PUBG, Delta Pressure and League of Legends.

RedMagic’s Sport Heart software program even permits you to enhance body charges in supported video games like Genshin Influence. On cellular, Genshin at the moment solely natively helps 60fps, however the Astra can enhance the body charge to 120fps by means of the Sport Heart software program.

Additionally, with its high-speed wi-fi, streaming video games by means of Sport Move or PlayStation Distant Play ran nicely, making the Astra a very all-around cellular gaming powerhouse.

Is it full overkill for most individuals? Completely. Is it nonetheless ridiculously enjoyable? Heck sure.

Quick software program, however do not anticipate updates

I used to be pleasantly stunned with the Astra’s out-of-the-box software program expertise. Even only a few years in the past, RedMagic’s software program was nonetheless very closely skinned and seemed like one thing out of a nasty sci-fi film. Lately, the corporate considerably toned down its software program expertise, and now, it is truly fairly usable.

Nevertheless, there’s a respectable quantity of bloatware, however most of it is simply eliminated, and the remainder of it’s a fairly clear construct of Android. Other than the Sport House, it is not too totally different from what you’d discover on most another Android pill lately. There are a couple of translation errors scattered round, nevertheless it’s actually rather more usable than it was even only a couple years in the past. RedMagic deserves some credit score for a way a lot progress it is made.

The place it nonetheless falls woefully behind, nevertheless, is on updates. The Astra runs on Android 15, and to be sincere, I would not anticipate any main platform updates. From my previous expertise with RedMagic gadgets, you may get some safety updates over the subsequent two or three years, and there is a probability you may get stunned with a platform replace, however the firm makes no assure of it, so do not maintain your breath.

That is not a deal breaker for me, as that is primarily meant to be a gaming and leisure machine and never one thing I might use for banking or something private. So long as main new video games that come out within the subsequent few years run on it — they usually virtually actually will — I am not too upset in regards to the lack of updates. The corporate completely must do higher about it, however I would not let that cease you from shopping for it.

Additionally, for those who’re on the lookout for a whole bundle of equipment within the field, you may be disenchanted. As I discussed earlier, there isn’t any charger included, however RedMagic will sell you one for $29.90. A display protector and folio case can be found, too, for $24.90 and $39, respectively, however they appear to promote out of them shortly. And, whereas the Astra does have energetic pen help, RedMagic would not at the moment have a pen as an adjunct, although one is anticipated to be obtainable. That is the place the Lenovo Legion Tab has a bonus as a result of there’s a charger, display protector and folio case included with the pill, and you will get a pen from Lenovo for about $40. It may not have the Astra’s efficiency, however it’s a higher deal on this sense.

Finest solution to sport on the go

As of proper now, I’ve not examined another small pill that is higher for gaming than the RedMagic Astra. The Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 3 has final 12 months’s specs, an outdated design and just one configuration. If you’ll find it on sale, it is value it, however at $549, the Astra is hands-down the higher choice.

The iPad Mini has big bezels and nowhere close to the ability of the Astra, plus it is costlier. And also you’re caught in Apple’s ecosystem, which has its personal set of issues. The upper configurations of the Astra, together with the one I examined, are costly, and you continue to need to pay additional for any equipment if you would like them. However for those who’re all in on cellular gaming, there isn’t any higher machine for it proper now than the Astra.