Unleashing Power: The Nubia Redmagic 10 Pro Gaming Experience Reviewed

If your focus is on gaming with a smartphone, the Nubia Redmagic 10 Pro is specifically designed for you. This giant mobile gaming powerhouse combines remarkable performance with a large, high-quality display and sufficient battery life to keep you engaged for days. It even features a built-in fan for cooling, programmable buttons, and highly adaptable gaming software. All this is available at a relatively reasonable starting price of $649 (£579) for the model with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage when purchased directly from Nubia.

There’s often a drawback with aggressively priced smartphones. Provided you’re okay with the large, angular design, which lacks pocket-friendliness, you might be put off by the somewhat glitchy software, inconsistent camera quality, or absence of wireless charging. However, keep in mind that hardware like the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset is typically found only in much pricier devices.

Gamer Aesthetic

I experimented with the clear RedMagic 10 Pro, which Nubia names Moonlight, and it boasts an attention-grabbing industrial design with rugged metal framing glass that reveals some internals and RGB lighting that activates when engaged in gaming. There are vents on both sides of the frame accompanied by a visible fan intended to keep the processor cool. This can be beneficial for prolonged gaming sessions, although it does produce some sound, and you may occasionally perceive the warm air escaping.

Nubia features customizable capacitive-touch shoulder triggers at the upper edges when the Redmagic 10 Pro is held in landscape mode, along with a glossy textured red switch that launches the gaming hub software by default. The rectangular shape and round power button remind me of the older Sony Xperia design, but this is a considerably larger device, making it a challenge to extract from a denim pocket. We’re talking about a height of 6.5 inches and a width of 3 inches.

Photo: Simon Hill

The Redmagic 10 Pro is smooth and incredibly slippery, having slipped off tables, chairs, and my leg numerous times over the past weeks. Surprisingly, the Gorilla Glass surface remains untouched thus far, but I do worry about its long-term durability. It’s probably wise to utilize the clear case provided in the packaging. With fan openings, limited water resistance is to be anticipated, and it won’t withstand immersion.

It’s important to note that the entry-level Nubia Redmagic 10 Pro is only obtainable in solid black or white (Shadow or Lightspeed), while the transparent versions ($799) require additional expenditure, although they do offer an upgrade to 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage. If you desire the sci-fi gamer aesthetic, opt for the transparent variant.

Go Big or Go Home

Photo: Simon Hill

This device is substantial, providing gamers with two key benefits due to the dimensions of the Redmagic 10 Pro. Firstly, it features an uninterrupted, nearly bezel-less 6.85-inch AMOLED display that is simply stunning. It boasts a somewhat unusual resolution of 2,688 x 1,216 pixels, supports up to a 144-Hz refresh rate, and peak brightness levels of up to 2,000 nits. This makes it perfect for gaming, watching films, or browsing the internet. There’s a reasonably responsive fingerprint sensor located at the bottom and a front-facing camera concealed beneath the screen at the top.