RedMagic Nova Gaming Tablet Review: Powerhouse of Android Gaming

RedMagic Nova Gaming Tablet Review: Design

Tablets suffer from design problems. Where mobile phones and laptops bend, fold, and roll, tablets are more like that – straight glass and maybe plastic or metal. RedMagic tries to shake things up with a few tweaks to the gray aluminum rear panel.

At the top of the panel (or side, depending on the orientation of the slate), your eye is immediately drawn to the glowing RGB RedMagic logo. While the company is speaking my language of different colors, the most interesting is the clear panel that shows the internals of the tablet, including several heat pipes and a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip. According to RedMagic, the peekaboo screen makes the Nova the world’s first screen tablet. It’s a nice feature, but now I want a glass back panel even though it’s not possible.

Next to the window is a 50-megapixel rear camera housing. Unlike the window that has a metal back, the sensor housing protrudes slightly. This means that the slate will not lie flat on the floor, which is annoying. The RedMagic logo sits in the center of the group, looking like a late 90’s stamp, being equal parts fun and sad.

The front of the tablet is made of glass, measuring 10.9 inches surrounded by thick bezels. The 20MP camera sits in the middle of the top (or right) bezel. Like the back panel, the sides of the tablet are made of anodized aluminum, with a power button that doubles as a fingerprint scanner on the left side and a volume rocker near the corner. The USB-C charging port sits in the center of the right side of the Nova, and you’ll find speakers on either side of the slate. Finally, on the bottom, you’ll find Pogo connectors for the optional magnetic keyboard ($109). Surprisingly, the tablet does not have an audio jack.

The Nova weighs 18.7 ounces (530 grams) and measures 11 x 7.4 x 1.89 inches (279 x 188 x 48 millimeters). Comparatively, these are larger than the existing ones iPad mini modelwhich weighs 10.3 ounces (293g) and is 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.25 inches (195.4 x 134.8 x 6.3 mm). Remember that the iPad is a smaller tablet than the entire RedMagic.

RedMagic Nova Gaming Tablet Review: Display and Sound

It’s not OLED, but I’ll take it anyway. Taking my eyes off the Nova’s 10.9-inch, 2880 x 1800 LCD display was difficult. The colors almost pop out of the screen with great clarity. In fact, the details were so sharp in the “Show Forgiveness” trailer that I could see the texture of the threads on the bare canvas and the brush strokes left in the paint as it touched the canvas. The show did a great job with actors André Holland, Andra Day, and the skin of John Earl Jelks. The colors, however, were the best part, whether it was the vivid blues and violets in the paintings or the yellows and reds worn by some of the characters.

While you can watch movies, read comics, and check your social media accounts, this is a gaming tablet. As such, the Nova’s games look beautiful on its display, especially with its 144Hz refresh rate. The screen also has an 840Hz touch model if you use the touch screen to play fast FPS games instead of Bluetooth controls. I was interested in exploring around and defeating the interesting creatures in Wuthering Waves.

The tablet’s quad speakers are incredibly loud, enough to put several of the ultraportable systems to shame. Even at high volume, the Nova delivered warm, clear audio even when downloading music from Spotify or Tidal. The chatter and blasting of my mobile game also sounded better. My only issue is the lack of bass, but considering it’s a tablet, it’s not too surprising.

RedMagic Nova Gaming Tablet Review: UI and Software

Even Nova moves Android 14RedMagic has RedMagic OS 9.5. Its design does not set the world on fire. The default skin is a series of grays and light blues that are designed to give a futuristic look. However, the lock and home screens are customizable, and RedMagic offers several themes. That’s fine, except for Hot Apps and Hot Games, a bunch of 20 apps made up of bloatware instead of anything useful.

Since the Nova is a gaming tablet, it makes sense that there are apps to support this music. Game Space is the main app for this, as it collects all the games you have installed and allows you to open them from within the app. In the Game Lobby, you can change the number of touch samples, smoothness, accidental edge protection, CPU and GPU profiles, and displays.

Go to Game Base, and you can check the pre-installed plugins for the tablet and the games that can use them, including the basic features or the free demo, which allows you to change the game’s appearance and create the look and feel. This is where you can customize Mora, RedMagic’s AI assistant. In addition to changing his clothes, you can watch his various activities. When activated, Mora acts as a guide in Game Space and can be used throughout the phone to communicate with notifications and system alerts such as low battery. Although Game Space is easy to navigate, it can be difficult to find. I searched for the app high and low but found it in the quick options in the notification shade.

RedMagic is committed to having a single version of Android OS, so Nova should upgrade to Android 15. The company will also support two years of security updates. This is not as long as what Samsung or Apple offer for their devices, but it is better than anything.

RedMagic Nova Gaming Tablet Review: Performance

The Nova is powered by a 3.4-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 8th Gen 3 Leading Version processor, which is the original SoC version. That extra oomph and 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM allowed the Nova to easily handle my 50 open Google Chrome tabs, light image editing in Adobe Photoshop Express, and several open Google Docs. But most importantly, combined with its Adreno 750 GPU, the tablet delivered fast, smooth gameplay in every taxing game I threw at it, including Dead Cells, Zenless Zone Zero, and Alien Isolation.

I ran a few benchmarks to see how the Nova performs. I have to say, I am very impressed. On Geekbench 6, the slate scored an average score of 2,208 with a maximum core score of 6,422. When I ran the 3DMark Steel Nomad Light benchmark, which tests the GPU, the tablet returned a respectable score of 1,743.

When the Nova is working hard, it cranks up a 20,000-rpm fan to keep things cool. According to RedMagic, the Nova is the world’s first gaming tablet with an integrated turbo fan and 3D heat pipe. I spent two hours fighting Dead Cells. At the start of my playthrough, the middle of the rear panel tested a cool 78 degrees Fahrenheit (26.5 degrees Celius) with the fan running. Two hours in, the temperature rose to 91 degrees (32.7 degrees). It was warm but not uncomfortably so.

RedMagic Nova Gaming Tablet Review: Cameras

The Nova has two cameras: a 50MP rear camera and a 20MP front shooter. Both cameras take solid pictures and can handle video conferencing or any streaming you need. They also have the same modes you would find on a smartphone (Time-lapse, Panorama, and Slow Motion). No matter which camera I used, I was very impressed with the color reproduction and detail.

The colors in my area look great in selfies, and they didn’t wash out my skin. The camera captured the mustard yellow in the background. In the shot of my friend holding the Astro Bot plushie, the green wall, as well as his shirt, are nice and cool. The detail was sharp enough that you could make out some of the words on the tag when you got up close with little difficulty.

To be specific, look at the pictures of my children on my sofa. Not only do you see the shine of their beautiful fur, but also human hair. You can also see the amazing detail in the fabric section of my section.

RedMagic Nova Gaming Tablet Battery Life

I squeezed 12 hours and 18 minutes out of the Nova’s 10,100mAH battery while the tablet played a 24-hour video at 50% brightness. That time was very short when I started playing. I only spent 3 hours and 29 minutes playing Wuthering Waves before it hit the recorder.

As for the charger, it’s rare to see someone shipped with a smartphone these days, let alone a tablet. RedMagic packs an 80W charger with the slate, and the company estimates that it takes 55 minutes to charge the tablet from 0 to 100%.

RedMagic Nova Gaming Tablet Review: Verdict

I’m not a fan of pills. Specifically, I don’t believe in them, not when cell phones produce or shake about 8 inches. But before my deliberate avoidance, I have to admit that RedMagic Nova has done well. Logo stamp aside, I love the design, especially the RGB display screen. Even after a few hours of playing, I experienced a slight lag. And although the screen is not OLED, the color is good and bright; paired with impressive quad speakers, you’re in for a treat. And depending on what you’re doing, you can expect solid battery life.

The user interface is taking some getting used to, and I wish those enhancements came with the tablet. Overall, the RedMagic Nova Gaming Tablet is a great choice for gamers or people looking for a tablet that Apple or Samsung doesn’t make.