This 9-inch pill singlehandedly modified my thoughts about gaming on Android

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• The RedMagic Astra gaming pill is offered now, beginning at $700
• The pill provides unmatched efficiency for an Android pill
• When the fan is in use on the Astra, the battery does drain a bit sooner, and the value is up there for a pill.

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As far as gaming is anxious, I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve achieved all of it: consoles, PCs, handhelds, telephones, and now, tablets. For essentially the most half, I’ve discovered Android units to ship less-than-stellar outcomes. Tablets are sometimes too gradual or their shows aren’t as much as the duty, and telephones are just too small. That’s a disgrace, as a result of tablets and telephones are essentially the most transportable. 

Also: Why I like to recommend this Lenovo pill over competing fashions that price twice the value

Late final yr, nonetheless, I used to be despatched the RedMagic Astra Gaming Tablet, and it modified my opinion on gaming with Android. What about this pill has flipped the swap?

My expertise

With each Android machine, the onboarding is pretty easy, so I used to be in a position to get to the gaming pretty rapidly. Even earlier than that, my first impression was that this pill appeared sooner than any Android pill I’ve ever used. On high of that, the show was beautiful. The animations are as buttery clean as I’ve ever seen on an Android pill. By an extended shot.

After I performed round with numerous actions to maintain testing the animations and app opening speeds (which have been blazing quick), I made a decision to dive into what this pill was constructed for: gaming. I downloaded “Diablo: Immortal” as a result of I’ve skilled it on lesser tablets and witnessed firsthand what underpowered {hardware} can do to the sport. 

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The very first thing that struck me was how briskly the sport put in, after which how briskly the information obtain was. I’ve put in this sport on a number of Android units, and the information obtain was at all times gradual.

Within two minutes, I used to be enjoying the sport, and it was spectacular. The RedMagic Astra performs each bit in addition to a console system. The graphics are clean, the sound is surprisingly good, and the general expertise is phenomenal. 

And that was with out flipping the efficiency tuning swap. The Astra has a small pink swap you may toggle to allow a particular mode. When I switched it on, a brand new UI opened (referred to as Energy Cube) with the “Diablo: Immortal’ launcher ready to go. I’d already played the game for a while outside of this special mode, so I decided to see if there was any improvement to gameplay with it on.

Energy Cube features behavioral learning, an auto-fan option (to keep the tablet cooler during longer sessions), and on-demand recording. You can also tune the performance to meet your needs (or the needs of a particular game).

Once I launched Diablo: Immortal from the Energy Cube, there was a slight improvement in performance. Remember, however, that the game already played incredibly well outside of Energy Cube, so even a slight bump in performance was impressive.

Also: Why I prefer this Lenovo tablet over the iPad for multimedia consumption

The big thing I noticed while playing the game in Energy Cube is that the device didn’t get nearly as warm (thanks to the fan activation). At the same time, the battery did drain a bit faster. 

The tablet’s fan is a 20,000-RPM active-cooling fan, combined with a 13-layer IEX cooling system. Needless to say, this tablet does not get hot, so I wonder if the hardware is a bit overkill here. Even with a faster power drain, however, it still holds its own. The 8,200 mAh battery supplies hours of gameplay on a full charge.

What about everyday use?

This tablet absolutely excels at gaming (far beyond any tablet I’ve tested). But outside of that use case, I was just as pleasantly surprised. 

Also: This ultra-tough Android tablet can handle drop, bumps, and long hours on the job

Frist off, the Astra is on the smaller side (nine inches), which is great for gaming. I’ve tried gaming on a larger tablet, only to find my fingers and wrists grew tired after a longer session. For everyday use, the nine-inch screen is a bit small, but not too small to render it a burden for web browsing, email, and the usual tasks I do on a tablet. In fact, after a while, I got used to the smaller display and found I preferred it to the larger tablets I have. 

ZDNET’s buying advice

I have no trouble saying that this is the most satisfying Android tablet experience I’ve had to date. The RedMagic Astra Gaming tablet is offered in three different configurations, starting at $700. That extra 4GB of RAM and 256 GB of additional storage are well worth the price bump and contributed to my tablet’s fantastic performance. It’s not the cheapest tablet on the market, but its performance justifies the cost. 

If you’re looking for an Android tablet for gaming, this is definitely the one to beat (and I don’t see any Android tablet beating it any time soon). As well, if you want a high-end tablet for everyday usage (and you don’t mind the smaller screen), this is still a fabulous option.

The specs

• CPU – Snapdragon 8 Elite.
• Display – 9.06-inch 2.4K OLED.
• Cooling – 13-layer ICE-X cooling system.
• RAM/Storage – Up to 24GB RAM and 1TB of storage (a version that is only available on the RedMagic web site)
• Battery – 8,200 mAh massive battery with quick charging help.