Smartphone manufacturer Nubia launched its Redmagic series in 2021. These phones launched at competitive price points that put the devices above their competitors who sell mobile devices with no major dedicated gaming features. We are going to take a look at all the major features that make the Redmagic phone range wholly unique.
In this day and age, smartphones are lacking the flair that pushed certain innovations. It’s all about how big the battery is or how well-specced your camera can be. Many of them even share the same design cues. It just feels like we live in a world where the glass slab that lives in our pockets are all starting to feel the same. Well, that’s where gaming phones took the smartphone industry by storm. These feature-rich phones dare to challenge the conventional norms of the traditional smartphone market, by focusing on the niche.
Gaming by Design
Nubia entered this segment with its Redmagic 6S Pro and 6R, which offer a refreshing alternative option for those looking to get something beyond just another smartphone. Take the design, for example. The Redmagic 6S Pro wears its gaming prowess on its sleeve.
The entire phone is designed with horizontal gaming in mind. The rectangle shape is broken up by the indentations for the built-in shoulder triggers, while the back boasts a two-tone finish, accented by a futuristic pattern, and a triple camera system. The 6R sports a design that many smartphone users will be familiar with, but adds a few tasteful touches to set itself apart from the crowd.
What can Redmagic do that your phone may not?
The Redmagic 6S Pro feature two built-in shoulder triggers and a new sliding trigger support gesture control. The aim is to give you as much control over your mobile gaming as possible, but can also serve as an alternative to buying a third-party controller to play games on your phone.
If the triggers aren’t something you prefer, the 6S Pro also boasts a 720Hz sampling rate, which reduces the time the screen looks for a new input significantly. To put this into perspective, a phone with a touch sampling rate of 480Hz sits with a time at around 2.084ms before the screen looks for new input. The Redmagic 6S Pro features almost double the touch sampling rate.
It also boasts an air-cooled 5050mAh battery that supports up to 66W quick charging, giving you the confidence to take your gaming on the go. The stereo speakers with DTS X ultra should be more than adequate for content consumption and gaming. To top it all off, the 6S Pro has its own built-in fan to keep the thermals under control when doing intense tasks on the phone. This works primarily for gaming but can bring day-to-day benefits with it too
The 6R may not boast the same class-leading specs as its 6S Pro counterpart, but it does feature a vapour chamber liquid-cooling system, as well as a 360Hz touch sampling rate and its own set of built-in triggers.
Why is mobile gaming important?
Mobile gaming has really taken off in recent years. The market has seen exponential growth now more than ever. Whether you’ve just finished school or are about to retire, chances are you have at least one game on your smartphone. Some go for more leisurely titles such as Candy Crush and 8 Ball, while others go for competitive mobile games such as PUBG Mobile and Fortnite. Either way, mobile gaming has found its place in this world, and it’s exciting to see this grow from both a software and hardware perspective.
Regardless of the platform, gaming has always been an important aspect of our lives. Sometimes we just need to escape and give our attention to a game that improves our mood. However, we don’t always have the luxury of being near our consoles, and that’s where mobile gaming truly shines. It’s a home away from home, a way to get in touch with our inner gamer when we don’t have access to a powerful PC or console.
As smartphone manufacturers continue to create these powerful, dedicated gaming phones, we will start to see more and more developers striving to bring that AAA experience to our mobile screens.
Xbox Remote Play and xCloud
Microsoft currently offers its Xbox users the ability to play on their consoles remotely, using their Android phones. The Redmagic 6S Pro comes with a 165Hz 6.8” AMOLED HD+ screen, featuring a DCI-P3 100% colour gamut. This makes it the perfect alternative screen for those who make use of Microsoft’s Remote Play features.
For those not looking to invest in an Xbox, Microsoft is also bringing Project XCloud to our market in the future, which may revolutionize the way we look at mobile gaming. This cloud gaming comes with its own set of touch controls for those playing on mobile devices. Pairing that technology with the Redmagic 6S Pro’s triggers could redefine the experience indefinitely.
While there may still be time before we can truly experience Cloud gaming, having a smartphone that caters more specifically to this technology may just turn the Redmagic 6S Pro into a Nintendo Switch alternative. Well, one that can also make phone calls.
Keep in mind that while you can’t benefit from cloud gaming on the xCloud platform yet, we can still enjoy the local remote play. This means you can stream your games to the Redmagic phone while at home so you never miss your next gaming session.
Snapdragon 888+
The Snapdragon 888+ chip is an 8 core powerhouse. Clocking up to 3GHz and featuring the Adreno 660 GPU, this 5nm SoC is one of the fastest chipsets currently available on Android. In fact, due to Exynos being the main SoC on Samsung, the Redmagic 6S Pro and 6R will be the best budget option for those seeking out to get a phone with the Snapdragon 888+. Boasting incredible performance, the 888+ also features some amazing efficiency.
The improved AI Engine performs 20% better than the regular Snapdragon 888, while the Adreno 660 delivers 32TOPS (Tera Operations Per Second). This enhanced processing will also bring an upgrade to computational photography, but we will have to see how the rest of the phone stacks up during testing.
All of this translates to a smartphone that gives an incredible performance at a budget offering. The 6S Pro may be a dedicated gaming phone, but the battery, performance, and cooling benefits are useful beyond just mobile gaming.
If the Redmagic 6S Pro and 6R tick any of the boxes you are looking for in a smartphone, this may just be one of the best ways to get flagship performance without having to break the bank. If you’re interested in the Redmagic 6S Pro and 6R, feel free to sign up here to find out more about the phone when it launches in South Africa.