REDMAGIC 8 Pro Review – True Full-screen Smartphone for Gamers

Rating： 4.5

I purchased REDMAGIC 8 Pro.

Gaming phone unencumbered by holes or rounded corners

The REDMAGIC 8 Pro is a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 powered smartphone.

The “edge display,” “punch holes,” and “rounded corners” that are common in recent high-end smartphones are solved with a flat display with 93.7% screen occupancy and an under-screen in-camera, allowing you to immerse yourself in games and videos without being disturbed by anything.

There are many useful features for gameplay, such as shoulder triggers, macros, and charge separation, and it looks and feels more like an Xperia than a gaming phone.

This review is done with NX729J_CNCommon_V2.18, 12GB+256GB version.

• All-screen smartphone with bezel-less and under-screen camera
• Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for both high performance and power savings
• Cooling fan and shoulder trigger
• Separate charging to reduce battery load
• 6,000mAh high-capacity battery
• 3.5mm earphone jack available
• USB 3.2 Gen1 with video output support

• Heavy
• Angular and slightly difficult to hold
• High brightness mode does not work

	REDMAGIC 8 Pro NX729J
OS	Android 13
RAM	8GB / 12GB LPDDR5X
Storage	128GB / 256GB UFS 4.0
SoC	Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
Display	6.8inch FHD+ 2480 x 1116 Aspect ratio 20:9 120Hz Refresh rate AMOLED
Size	163.98×76.35×8.9mm
Weight	228g
SIM	nano SIM + nano SIM
Rear Camera	50MP (Samsung S5KGN1) + 2MP (Macro GC02M1) + 8MP (Ultra-wide)
Front Camera	16MP (OV16E1Q)
Battery	6,000mAh
USB Port	USB Type-C (USB 3.2 Gen1)

Included are a hard-type protective case, USB Type-C cable, charger, and instruction manual.

Unfortunately, the charger is of a type that can only output a maximum of 20V / 2.25A = 45W in 100V regions.

One of the most complete smartphone displays

The REDMAGIC 8 Pro has a flat, small rounded corners, no punch holes or notches, and bezels that are almost equally narrow on all four sides, an ideal design for a smartphone display.

It is a 6.8″ 2480*1116 resolution AMOLED with 120Hz refresh rate support.

The in-camera is embedded under the screen and is usually completely invisible.

It is barely visible when the in-camera is in use, for example, when you reflect light at close range and look at it consciously.

The immersive experience is outstanding because there is nothing to block the game or images.

Although the angular design makes it a little difficult to hold, the frame is not perfectly square and the corners are somewhat rounded, so it is less likely to hurt.

It is a diamond pixel array, and the dots are circular in the in-camera area.

With the Xiaomi MIX 4, which has the same under-screen in-camera, the difference in density was a bit larger, but with the REDMAGIC 8 Pro, the difference with the in-camera portion is smaller and much less noticeable.

The BOE is working with the under-screen in-camera.

When measuring brightness with the LX-1336B during HDR video playback with automatic brightness adjustment on, the maximum brightness reached 421 nits.

Even with automatic brightness adjustment, sunlight mode, and enhanced display mode turned on, I could only get a maximum of 453 nits.

The brightness should be close to 1300 nits, but it is not functioning, perhaps a bug.

Touch sampling rate of 960 Hz can be enabled in game mode.

The total touch latency measured by the WALT Latency Timer was 40.8ms.

Widevine L1 allows streaming in HD quality on Amazon Prime Video (beta) and others.

In-screen fingerprint sensor accuracy is so-so

The REDMAGIC 8 Pro has an in-screen fingerprint sensor.

Accuracy is a bit less than recent high-end smartphones and could fail.

It can be used in conjunction with face unlock.

In-camera quality is subtle, but at least eKYC is fine

When taking pictures with the in-camera, the overall appearance is blurry and white.

While this is not ideal for taking selfies, it is not a problem for the geeks who buy the REDMAGIC 8 Pro, as they are not likely to take selfies.

The eKYC and identity verification with Revolut‘s selfie worked fine.

Calm back design without gaming smartphone feel

The REDMAGIC 8 Pro is available in two color variations, black and transparent, with the black version having a more relaxed design that does not look like a gaming smartphone.

The REDMAGIC logo on the left side can be illuminated during gaming.

It is smooth and fingerprint resistant.

It is heavy, weighing 228.4g.

Camera is centered to prevent rattling

The rear cameras are aligned in the center.

The small protrusion makes it less likely to rattle when placed on a desk.

The macro and super wide-angle cameras are an added bonus, so it would have been better if they were not included…

All photos were taken handheld and auto and are stored here.

It is possible to take beautiful pictures during the day.

Flare and ghosting are likely to occur, so it is not suitable for shooting at night with bright lights or backlighting.

In night view mode, the camera was able to capture enough images to show the location of the stars, but there is a lot of noise.

VoLTE supported

The REDMAGIC 8 Pro has a SIM slot, USB Type-C port, and speaker located on the bottom frame.

I have confirmed that 5G connectivity and VoLTE calling is possible.

USB 3.2 Gen1 port with DP Alt Mode support

The USB Type-C port on the REDMAGIC 8 Pro is USB 3.2 Gen1 compatible and can output video in DisplayPort Alt Mode.

When outputting video, audio is output from the monitor side.

Mirroring the screen allows you to play smartphone games on a large screen.

With earphone jack and Snapdragon sound for wireless

The REDMAGIC 8 Pro has a 3.5mm earphone jack on the top frame.

It supports Snapdragon sound, which allows for high-quality music playback both wired and wirelessly.

The upper side is a speaker that doubles as a call speaker, and there are holes on the sides as well, but they are not symmetrical stereo speakers.

There was not much difference in volume balance. There is no function to change the playback channel according to the rotation of the screen, and when playing with the power button side facing down, the left channel sound is heard from the right side.

Bass is thumping and a little stronger, and treble is clear but hard to hear.

The WALT Latency Timer measured the audio output delay of the earphone jack to be 23.7 ms.

96 kHz playback can be turned on in the sound settings.

Equipped with familiar cooling fan and shoulder trigger

The right side includes the power button as well as the shoulder trigger and game switches.

When the switch is turned on, the device enters game mode, from which you can open an application to change macros, aiming assist, key positions, and more.

You can also turn on “charge separation,” which allows power to be supplied without charging the battery, so you can play without worrying about the battery level while reducing heat generated during play.

Shoulder Trigger allows you to place a button anywhere you like and tap or hold it down without touching the screen.

With a finger, it is difficult to see the screen or physically press a button quickly, but with the shoulder trigger, you can easily operate the buttons.

On the left side there is a volume key and an exhaust vent.

The combination of a cooling fan and a 2068 m2 3D VC provides powerful cooling.

Fairly high graphics performance

The REDMAGIC 8 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which exceeds all 2022 gaming smartphones.

In Geekbench 5, the Genshin disguised version scored 846 single-core and 4861 multi-core, while the regular version scored 1489 single-core and 5168 multi-core.

The benchmark scores are made to look good, but in actual gaming applications, the performance is blatantly squeezed to prevent heat generation…. It is still good, though, because you can bypass the limitation by putting it in Beyond mode.

AI performance measured in Geekbench ML with TensorFlow Lite/NNAPI was score 530.

The 3DMark Wild Life Stress Test in 3DMark with a disguised package name (=unaffected by the manufacturer’s illegal boosting) had a score of 11713 to 9137.

The Wild Life Extreme Stress Test in 3DMark with disguised package name showed a score of 3679 to 2906, with a temperature increase from 23°C to 38°C (15°C increase) and battery consumption of 8%.

Temperature rise and battery consumption are moderate while maintaining high performance.

PCMark Work 3.0 (package name disguised), which measures performance in everyday use such as document manipulation, scored 12783.

Storage is UFS 4.0, which is quite fast, especially for sequential writes and random reads.

LPDDR5X memory speeds are also significantly faster than other LPDDR5 memory models.

When we played Genshin at the highest quality, 60 FPS setting, and with a cooling fan, and measured with WeTest PerfDog, the average power consumption was 103.4 mW per FPS at 60.1 FPS.

While the power consumption is a bit higher than other Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered models, the watt performance is much better than the 8 Gen 1.

The battery temperature rose to a maximum of about 36°C, and the side frames got a little hotter, but not so hot that they could not be held.

The battery temperature of 36°C and the side frame being a little hot means that the heat dissipation is good, so the performance seems to be stable even during long hours of play.

In World of Tanks Blitz, when played at 120 FPS settings and all graphics settings at their highest values, the average was 120.8 FPS, with a power consumption of 37.06 mW per FPS.

This is one of the most power-efficient and stable FPS among Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 smartphones.

Conclusion

• All-screen smartphone with bezel-less and under-screen camera
• Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for both high performance and power savings
• Cooling fan and shoulder trigger
• Separate charging to reduce battery load
• 6,000mAh high-capacity battery
• 3.5mm earphone jack available
• USB 3.2 Gen1 with video output support

• Heavy
• Angular and slightly difficult to hold
• High brightness mode does not work

 

The REDMAGIC 8 Pro is a full-screen smartphone that is one of the most complete smartphones available, and is recommended for those who do not want to be disturbed by notches, edges, or rounded corners.

Thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and cooling system, you can keep playing stable even at the highest image quality, and you can expand your playing options by using low-latency wired earphones or by using DP Alt Mode to output to a monitor.

The REDMAGIC 8 Pro is available in China for 3999 yuan and up.

AliExpress

GIZTOP

ETOREN

Global version will be sold at $649 and up.

REDMAGIC