Product test
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 tested: works better and better
by Jan Johannsen
My first gaming smartphone: testing the Nubia Red Magic 7S Pro
31.10.2022
Translation: Patrik Stainbrook
I’m not a big smartphone gamer. When playing on the go, it’s on my Nintendo Switch. Nevertheless, I gave Nubia’s gaming smartphone a chance, also testing whether the device holds up in other disciplines too.
In truth, I, a casual mobile gamer, am not a target customer for the Nubia Red Magic 7S Pro. In everyday life, my smartphone mainly serves for mobile work, entertainment and photography. Nevertheless, I’m interested in how such a gaming phone feels to use. Consequently, I didn’t just game with the Red Magic, but also used it as my daily companion for a week – and was positively surprised for the most part.
A durable workhorse
Nubia’s gaming flagship is a big boy, coming in at a proud fighting weight of 240 grams. If you have small hands, you’ll have problems operating the device. The phone feels high-quality and well made, but it looks a bit too much like a gaming device for my taste, especially from the back.
Nevertheless, the Red Magic 7S Pro is excellent to have for everyday work – not least because of the long-lasting 5000 mAh battery. Even on workdays with intensive Teams, Google Docs and hotspot usage, I easily still have 30% to 40% battery left at the end of my shift. However, there’s a slight bitter aftertaste: the device doesn’t support wireless charging.
The sound quality during calls was also convincing. In tests, my friend at the other end of the line could hear me without any problems, even when I was far from the microphone. And vice versa, I could hear the caller just as clearly thanks to the loud speakers. At this point, I should apologise to the other commuters on my train who had to endure our test calls.
A loud party machine
Unconvincing cameras
My dog Lino has an Instagram account, having become a real petfluencer with his 1,400 followers. I take the photos for his profile exclusively with smartphone cameras. During an extensive walk with Lino, I test the camera setup of the Red Magic 7S Pro and compare it with my current smartphone.
In difficult lighting conditions, the Red Magic camera needs quite a while to process images in night mode, but still delivers a very dark and blurry result. Many details in Lino’s coat and fur are lost. Despite the slightly too warm white balance, I definitely prefer my Galaxy S22 in such situations.
The selfie camera is hidden under the display of the Red Magic 7S Pro. The somewhat darker and lower-resolution area in the screen behind which the camera is located usually goes unnoticed during normal use. However, this doesn’t make the resulting selfies any nicer.
The Red Magic selfie looks washed out and pale. Numerous details are missing, clearly visible in the Galaxy S22 photo. If you take a lot of selfies or make a lot of video calls, you won’t be happy with the under-display camera.
A powerhouse for mobile gamers
The massive smartphone demonstrates its true strength during intensive gaming sessions. The installed Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor with 12 GB of RAM should provide enough power for even the most demanding games. In my tests, I was even able to play graphically complex titles such as «Grid Autosport», «Call of Duty Mobile» and «Apex Legends» without frame rate drops on the highest graphics settings.
Unlike other non-gaming smartphones with similar chipsets, the Red Magic 7S Pro has an active fan installed. It can be turned on and off for games as well as other intensive computational tasks. Thus, the smartphone doesn’t get uncomfortably hot, even during longer gaming sessions, and I didn’t notice any performance loss.
The aforementioned bright AMOLED screen also cuts a good figure when gaming. You can optionally set the display’s refresh rate to 60, 90 or 120 hertz. And the loud stereo speakers are a real blast, especially when playing games in landscape mode.
I tested most of them with an Xbox controller, because I don’t like touch controls in general. If you prefer to play without a controller, you’ll find two capacitive shoulder buttons on the right side of the smartphone, which you can use to aim and shoot, for example.
If you’re unhappy with the settings while playing, you can swipe from the right or left edge of the screen to conjure up handy widgets and optimise your gaming experience on the fly.
Optionally, other apps can also be launched in a picture-in-picture mode using the quick settings. This way you can quickly write back to someone or search the Internet for solutions to a puzzle without interrupting your game.
As befits real gaming hardware, the hub also contains various settings for the LED lights on the back of the device. These can flash while playing or visually indicate notifications and alarms.
Apart from native Android games, I tested various games from the Xbox cloud on the device. Both on the road using the 5G network and at home on my 10 Gbit line, I stream and play without any major problems. This smartphone supports the WiFi 6 standard, promising a more stable connection and lower latency, which can be a big advantage in cloud gaming.
Verdict: an interesting device for gamers and power users
The Nubia Red Magic 7S Pro is a potent gaming smartphone that also does quite well in other areas. I was particularly impressed by the large AMOLED screen, the incredibly loud speakers, the excellent battery performance, and the device’s software, tailored to hardcore mobile gamers.
The cameras weren’t as wonderful – I didn’t expect much and was still disappointed. If you like to take pictures often, you should look for another smartphone. If you don’t care about photography anyway and just need a device to stream, work and game all day, I can highly recommend this titanic telephone.
Domagoj Belancic
Senior Editor
Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.chMy love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.
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