Redmagic 8S Pro Review: Flawed Gaming Monster

Worth When Reviewed

From $649 | Mannequin reviewed $799

Finest Costs Right now: Redmagic 8S Professional

Redmagic is again with yet one more gaming telephone.

The 8S Professional arrives just some months are its predecessor, the Redmagic 8 Professional, Whereas the corporate hasn’t sat on its laurels, with varied tweaks and efficiency boosts on the brand new mannequin, there’s nonetheless room for enchancment.

Design & Construct

• Cumbersome, square-edged design
• Stable development
• No water-resistance score

The Redmagic 8S Professional is almost a spitting picture of final yr’s 8 Professional. The size are virtually equivalent, with the 2 gadgets measuring up like this:

• RedMagic 8S Professional: 164 x 76.4 x 9.5 mm (6.46 x 3.01 x 0.37 inches)
• RedMagic 8 Professional: 164 x 76.4 x 8.9 mm (6.46 x 3.01 x 0.35 inches)

Martyn Casserly

There’s solely 0.6mm distinction in thickness and each weigh in at a hefty 228g / 8oz, so that you’ll always remember that both of them is in your pocket. The brand new mannequin additionally has the identical 6.8in AMOLED show, Gorilla Glass 5 on the entrance (and again for those who select the Aurora color scheme), metallic chassis, and normal feeling of high quality that impressed me because the machine it replaces. 

The Redmagic 8S Professional is a beast. There are not any tender, curved edges on the body. As a substitute, it’s a pointy, virtually harsh development that convinces you that this can be a severe machine. Trying on the flanks you’ll discover quantity up and down buttons, an on/off button, plus the now-famous pink change that allows the Recreation Area (extra on that later). This lets you arrange the pair of set off buttons. 

USB-C is of course the order of the day in relation to charging, with help for as much as the 65W charger that comes within the field. There nonetheless isn’t a water-resistance score, primarily because of the massive openings on the edges of the machine for the cooling system.

Turning the telephone over reveals the identical triple digital camera system because the earlier mannequin, all lined up vertically. There’s additionally a round cutout that reveals the spinning fan contained in the machine, replete with RGB lights to make all of it look fairly. You received’t see it – after all – for those who’re enjoying a sport, however I fairly just like the opulence of it. The telephone additionally has lights underneath a number of the areas on the rear which mild up when a message has been acquired. Good.  

Martyn Casserly

My evaluation mannequin has the Aurora end, which is definitely a glass again that reveals off a number of the innards. It’s not fairly as attention-grabbing as you may suppose, as all of the elements are enclosed, nevertheless it does look cool. You can even get the Redmagic 8S Professional in Platinum and Midnight color schemes. 

Within the hand the 8S Professional is an imposing telephone. Heavy however effectively balanced. It’s true that each one that cup makes it a little bit of a fear in relation to dropping the factor. There’s a case within the field, however to be able to accommodate the fan, exhaust ports and the set off buttons, a lot of the sides are uncovered. It feels sturdy, however I wouldn’t need to have it slip from my arms onto a tough floor.  

Display & Audio system

• 6.8in AMOLED, 20:9, 120Hz show
• Stereo audio system and three.5mm headphone jack
• Beneath show selfie digital camera and fingerprint sensor

The show stays the identical as on the 8 Professional, which implies you get a really good 6.8in AMOLED panel with a 2480 x 1116-pixel decision. As this can be a gaming telephone, there’s the anticipated naked minimal 120Hz refresh price (not as excessive as a few of its rivals, together with Redmagic’s personal 7) plus the height brightness is rated at 1,300 nits. Ramping it as much as its highest setting and disabling auto-brightness, I noticed a really respectable 1141 nits in my exams. 

Martyn Casserly

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Colors are effectively represented on the show, together with the sharpness you’d anticipate of an higher mid-range telephone. It additionally has the brightness to stay simply legible open air in vibrant sunshine. And that’s good for gaming on the go.

The whole lot is stored clean because of the 120Hz refresh price, however the Redmagic 8S Professional can intelligently choose 90Hz or 60Hz in response to the actions you’re enterprise, all to make sure power effectivity and respectable efficiency. It can’t go any decrease than 60Hz, although, as some flagship telephones can.

The panel has a contact sampling price of 960Hz, once more making it very responsive for gaming or on a regular basis use. 

Trying carefully on the show, you’ll discover that there’s no notch or pinhole for the front-facing digital camera. It is because the Redmagic 8S Professional has continued with the under-display digital camera that the 8 Professional had. Whereas this causes a number of points with digital camera efficiency, it does make the 6.8in show good for watching content material or enjoying video games as there are not any interruptions within the graphics.

There’s additionally an under-display fingerprint sensor, however like with the 8 Professional I discovered it to be fairly temperamental. 

The panel is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and it additionally comes with a pre-fitted display screen protector. The latter proved to be simply scratched, even when it got here into contact with arduous surfaces. I’d say you’d be higher off eradicating it solely and counting on the display screen itself or shopping for a tempered glass protector for those who’re frightened about harm.

There are stereo audio system which give loads of quantity. Their placement, at both finish of the handset, means they’re fairly simple to dam whereas enjoying video games or watching films, however that’s arduous to keep away from with any telephone. Spatial separation is respectable, with bass just a little missing however not less than current. 

In order for you the very best quality sound, the three.5mm headphone jack offers the power to make use of wired headphones or there’s at all times Bluetooth 5.3 for wi-fi alternate options. 

Martyn Casserly

Specs & Efficiency

• Overclocked 3.36GHz Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset
• Upgraded ICE 12.0 cooling system
• Most 16GB/512GB configuration

As you’d anticipate from a smartphone geared toward hard-core gaming, the processing energy of the Redmagic 8S Professional is spectacular. It makes use of an overclocked 3.36GHz Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, the most recent and best obtainable on the time of launch, aided by a devoted Purple Core 2 gaming processor.

The latter is there to take care of audio processing, haptic responses and RGB lighting. The concept is that syphoning off these duties permits the principle processor to do the heavy lifting unencumbered by trifling duties. Whether or not or not that truly works, the 8S Professional performs very effectively in day-to-day use, albeit with some software program glitches that I’ll cowl later. After all, it comes into its personal when enjoying video games. 

Firing up the likes of Genshin Affect and Asphalt 9: Legends and settling down for a gaming session proved to be very pleasurable. The 8S Professional handled all of the motion easily, even on the best settings. I didn’t discover any lag or slow-downs throughout my time with the machine, and the big display screen is a pleasure to make use of.

You can even map the set off buttons on the highest edge (when in panorama) to execute varied actions that might in any other case require tapping the display screen. These work very well, thanks in no small half to their 520Hz sampling charges. 

Redmagic has revamped the cooling system this time round, with the upgraded ICE 12.0 system. This consists of a 2068mm3 double-layer super-large vapour chamber cooling plate, new duct construction, cooling gel, a layer of graphene underneath the show and the 20,000rpm fan.

This additional give attention to thermals was well worth the effort because the 8S Professional stayed reasonably cool even underneath the fairly intense graphical calls for that I put it by way of. Clearly, for those who play for a very long time then issues do get just a little heat, however by no means to the scorching temperatures that might have you ever frightened in regards to the elements. The fan is quiet, however you’ll discover it because of the uncommon nature of a telephone having one within the first place. 

Martyn Casserly

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Right here’s how the Redmagic 8 Professional fared in our exams.

Redmagic 8S Professional benchmarks

There are two completely different configurations of the 8S Professional, with the Midnight livery having 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage, whereas the Aurora and Platinum fashions double the capacities to 16GB and 512GB. 

Cameras

• 50MP, f/1.88 (large) 
• 8MP, f/2.2, 120 ̊ (ultrawide) 
• 2MP, f/2.4 (macro) 
• 16MP under-screen selfie digital camera

The cameras on the 8S Professional are equivalent to the 8 Professional, so that you get three lenses to play with. The primary shooter has a 50MP Samsung GN5 sensor with an f/1.88 aperture. In well-lit circumstances, the pictures it produces are good, however the software program processing results in oversharpening that may make issues look just a little synthetic at instances.

It additionally has the silly default setting that was so annoying on the 8 Professional, the place a watermark is utilized to all pictures. That is simply modified, however actually must be off from the beginning.

Colors are wealthy, if considerably oversaturated, and the 8S Professional does an honest job of autofocusing and publicity in most pictures. 

When ranges drop, the devoted Evening mode stunned me with some pretty photos that held quantity of element whereas holding again on the noise. You’ll want regular arms to get sharp photos, so I’d suggest leaning the telephone on a wall or another flat floor when taking the shot and for those who do you need to be fairly proud of the outcomes. 

Martyn Casserly

Switching to the ultrawide lens will increase area of view to 120°. It’s an identical case to most different ultrawide cameras we’ve seen at this type of value although, the place you lose a number of the color and sharpness. Once more, images are nonetheless usable.  

You’ll discover all kinds of additional modes obtainable within the bizarrely named Digicam-family part, together with macro (for mediocre close-ups), Star path (astrophotography), doc scanning and a devoted one for taking ID images – this features a headshot define overlay that can assist you place the topic correctly. Most are enjoyable, however I feel they’re unlikely for use that a lot. 

Video high quality on the 8S Professional tops out at a whopping 8K at 30fps however do not forget that you’ll want a monitor (or TV) that helps this stage of element. Sadly, I didn’t have one whereas testing the 8S Professional, so I can’t confirm it’s as crisp because the numbers recommend. I’d suggest utilizing the more-storage-space-friendly 1080p/60fps setting, because the footage was completely acceptably and advantages from digital picture stabilisation that did a good job of smoothing out any bumps as I walked alongside.

Autofocus was additionally respectable and audio was clear all through, if just a little quiet. The 8S Professional additionally has a 4K/60fps mode, which is equally good for those who’re planning on utilizing the telephone for extra broadcast-standard movies, plus there’s 1080p/240fps for sluggish movement. 

The selfie digital camera lets the facet down. This was the identical with the earlier telephone and Redmagic hasn’t improved issues on the 8S Professional. As a result of under-display place, all pictures are foggy and tender. It’s merely one of many worst selfie cameras I’ve ever used. If selfies are vital to you, then keep away from the 8S Professional in any respect prices. But when, like me, you by no means take selfies, it may be ignored when you benefit from the pretty, uninterrupted show. 

Right here’s a collection of photos taken with the Redmagic 8S Professional:

Battery Life & Charging

• 6000mAh battery
• 65W quick charging
• No wi-fi charging

One other hold-over from the 8 Professional is the large 6000mAh battery. Technically it’s two 3000mAh cells working collectively, and oh how they work effectively. Getting by way of a standard day of social media, telephone calls, listening to podcasts, net searching and the occasional sport normally left me with loads of juice at bedtime. Heavier gaming periods clearly eat into this, however even then I may recover from 4 hours of strong enjoying earlier than reaching for the charger. 

Martyn Casserly

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Charging again up once more is quick, with the supplied 65W charger taking it from flat to 100% in round 35 minutes, with a fast 15-minute top-up replenishing 58% of the battery. There’s no wi-fi charging obtainable, so if that’s your most well-liked technique of powering up a telephone then you’ll be disillusioned. 

Software program

• Android 13 with RedMagic OS 8.0
• Recreation Area
• Nonetheless some annoying bugs

The Redmagic 8S Professional runs Android 13 with the Redmagic OS 8.0 pores and skin on high. It’s a really customisable platform, permitting you to actually tinker with the look of icons, themes, in addition to how the telephone behaves. In order for you plain Android, then this isn’t the telephone for you, nevertheless it does have its charms.  

Sadly, there are additionally bugs that have to be ironed out to make the expertise higher for day-to-day use. I had a number of apps shut down unexpectedly, with audio apps usually stopping playback randomly. I up to date the software program and checked the apps themselves, however the issues appeared particular to the telephone as I didn’t have the identical points with different telephones I had available.

Martyn Casserly

The Recreation Area function is spectacular and is enabled by sliding the pink change on the sting of the telephone. With this on it offers you varied methods to customize your expertise, together with connecting exterior gadgets, managing screenshots and quick-launching video games. Swiping in from the facet whereas in sport opens up all kinds of choices, settings and monitoring info too.

There’s a severe quantity of freedom obtainable, so for those who’re a devoted cellular gamer you’ll be in heaven with the 8S Professional. 

Worth & Availability

The Redmagic 8S Professional shall be launched on 3 August 2023. After that date, that is how a lot it’ll value:

• Redmagic 8S Professional (Midnight) 12GB/256GB – $649/£579/€649
• Redmagic 8S Professional (Platinum) 16GB/512GB – $779/£689/€779
• Redmagic 8S Professional (Aurora) 16GB/512GB – $799/£709/€799

Nevertheless, an early hen supply within the US and UK means you pay $1/£1 to have the ability to buy a day earlier (2 August) and get a free $30/£30 Redmagic voucher. The latter shall be legitimate for 3 weeks after the official launch.

However even for those who don’t benefit from this supply, the priciest mannequin remains to be less expensive than the likes of the Asus ROG Telephone 7 Final which, whereas sensible, is far more costly at $1399 / £1199 / €1399.

For extra alternate options, see our roundup of the perfect gaming telephones.  

Verdict

The overclocked chip, quick storage and beneficiant quantity of RAM make sure the 8S Professional has incredible efficiency – precisely what you need from a gaming telephone. That is enhanced by the set off buttons, efficient cooling system, wonderful battery life and devoted software program options.

It’s additionally an ideal platform for media consumption because of the stunning show and the shortage of a punch-hole or notch to spoil issues.  

As an on a regular basis telephone it’s rather less interesting. The machine is heavy, has no water-resistance score, common cameras and selfies are laughably unhealthy. Software program bugs persist, however these could be mounted with updates.

In the end, for those who’re on the lookout for a strong gaming telephone that doesn’t value the Earth, then the Redmagic 8S Professional is straightforward to suggest. .

Specs

• 6.8-inch AMOLED show, 2480 x 1116 decision, 20:9, 120Hz refresh price, and 960Hz contact sampling price.
• Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor (overclocked at 3.36GHz)
• REDMAGIC OS 8.0 primarily based on Android 13.
• 12GB or 16GB LPDDR5X RAM.
• 256GB or 512GB UFS 4.0 storage
• 50 MP, f/1.88 (large) 
• 8 MP, f/2.2, 120 diploma (ultrawide) 
• 2 MP, f/2.4 (macro)
• 16MP selfie digital camera
• 520Hz contact delicate shoulder set off buttons
• ICE 12.0 cooling system
• 20,000rpm cooling fan
• Beneath-display fingerprint sensor
• Bluetooth 5.3
• Wi-Fi 7
• NFC
• GPS
• Stereo audio system
• Twin haptic motors
• USB-C charging port
• 6000mAh battery with 65W quick charging.
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• 164 x 76.4 x 9.5 mm (6.46 x 3.01 x 0.37 in)
• 228g/8.04oz