Nubia Redmagic Nova Review: Big Screen, Big Performance

Worth When Reviewed

$499

Greatest Costs Immediately: Nubia Redmagic Nova

Nubia’s Redmagic model is synonymous with gaming smartphones. The corporate’s line of handsets has been featured many occasions on this website, most of them gaining robust evaluations for his or her mix of efficiency and value.

Now, the Redmagic model is showing on a bigger show with the discharge of the brand new Nova gaming pill. So, does the magic scale up? Right here’s the total Tech Advisor assessment. 

Design & Construct

Compact design

Aluminium chassis

Fingerprint sensor on the facility button

Slightly than going for an outsized building that might show unwieldy when enjoying video games, the Nova is a pleasantly compact 253.3 x 164.6 x 7.3 mm (9.97 x 6.48 x 0.29 in) and weighs in at a manageable 530g / 1.17lbs.

The body itself is an aerospace-grade aluminium shell, with controls across the edge for quantity and energy. The latter can be dwelling to the built-in fingerprint sensor to unlock the machine. Every of the shorter edges has twin audio system, plus there’s a USB-C port for charging. 

Turning the machine round reveals a relatively uncommon plate alongside the highest fringe of the panel. That is the place you’ll discover a clear cowl that allows you to see the fan (together with its multi-colour LEDs you could choose within the software program), the digicam module, components of the inner cooling system, plus the Redmagic title which additionally will be illuminated by the color LEDs.

That is much like what you’ll discover on the Redmagic 9S Professional and its forebears, and whereas it’s admittedly cool, the identical holds right here because it does there in that you simply’ll by no means actually be capable of see the lights, as they’re at all times going through away from you. Nonetheless, they’re cool. 

The underside edge has the 5 steel pins that make up the magnetic connector with which you’ll connect the non-obligatory Redmagic Nova Magnetic Keyboard, though that’s bought individually, as are all the different equipment. These embody an ordinary folio case, a devoted stylus, and a Redmagic gamepad to remodel the machine right into a form of mini console. You do no less than get a cable and 80W charger within the field, which is best than another producers. 

Alongside the highest fringe of the Nova, you’ll discover a small rounded rectangular space. That is the magnetic attachment for the stylus which additionally makes use of NFC. Nubia says a fast 1-minute cost for the stylus will get you two hours of writing time, which appears fairly respectable to me. 

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The aforementioned ICE 2.0 cooling system is a complete design, comprising 9-layers which embody an under-screen aluminium panel, a superconducting copper foil space on the mainboard, a 3D warmth pipe such as you’d discover on a PC, an inside circulation duct, plus the 20,000RPM fan to push the air about. 

There’s no IP waterproof score talked about by Nubia, which might be because of the fan and air expulsion required to chill the circuitry, so don’t get the machine moist. 

Following the custom of Henry Ford, you will get the Nova in a variety of colors, as long as they’re black (or Midnight). 

Display & Audio system

10.9-inch IPS show

144Hz refresh price

Quad audio system

The compact nature of the Nova pill is due largely to the ten.9-inch IPS LCD panel. This can be a excellent measurement for each enjoying video games handheld or with the machine propped up on a desk and a Bluetooth controller linked.

It’s an honest show too, with a 2880 x 1800 decision (16:10, 312ppi) protecting issues clear and properly outlined. The ultra-fast 144Hz refresh price additionally ensures the whole lot is easy and detailed even when there are fast adjustments taking place on the display – excellent for gaming. 

Response occasions are fast as properly, with as much as 840Hz contact sampling charges. This made it straightforward to really feel in command of issues in frantic gaming classes, because the Nova executed my instructions swiftly and with out error (the failures within the video games had been sadly all on me). 

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There are slim bezels across the fringe of the display, however this helps with unintentional touches as you may have someplace to your fingers to go when gripping the pill. It additionally means you don’t have any notches or punch holes within the show because the front-facing digicam is neatly ensconced within the higher bezel. 

Colors are heat and properly balanced, with the Nova delivering a most brightness, in accordance with Nubia, of 550 nits. In my very own exams, the display managed simply over 500 nits, which is nice indoors however does battle a bit outdoors. The reflective display additionally doesn’t assist issues, so that you may not discover the Nova a completely cell gaming platform should you spend lots of time in strongly lit areas. 

You’ll be able to’t plug in headphones both, as there’s no 3.5mm headphone jack on the pill. This appears a bizarre omission, because the small Redmagic telephones nonetheless have the characteristic included and it’s a should if you wish to use many gaming headsets. There’s Bluetooth 5.4 although, which is a quick and secure technique of wi-fi connection, so that you’re not with out choices. 

After all, you may depend on the built-in quad-speakers that are surprisingly good. They will get fairly loud earlier than starting to distort, and the sound is balanced throughout the frequency vary. They help DTS-X Extremely Sound with 3D audio, and it does make a distinction to the standard of the tones the Nova kicks out. 

The one draw back is that the audio system are positioned on the shorter sides of the pill, which can be the place your palms must be should you’re holding the pill. So I did discover that the audio may lose a few of its high quality if I held too tight and lined them up.

Specs & Efficiency

3.2GHz Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Main Model

12/16GB LDDR5X reminiscence

256/512GB UFS 4.0 storage

The Redmagic line has at all times been about efficiency over just about the whole lot else, and the Nova isn’t about to begin upsetting any applecarts. It comes with a 3.4Ghz Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Main Edge processor (that is the tweaked, sooner model of the usual Snapdragon 8 Gen 3), joined by both 256GB or 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage and 12GB/16GB of LDDR5X reminiscence.

It’s a potent combine, because the Nova pill flies by life with out seemingly a care. Apps pop open immediately, and efficiency is usually easy and fast throughout the board. That is additionally true throughout gaming classes, as I didn’t discover the Nova struggled with something, even busy video games of graphics-heavy titles like Genshin Affect.

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This shouldn’t actually be a shock, because the pill is designed particularly for gaming and subsequently revels on this pursuit. The cooling system additionally works very properly to maintain the Nova lukewarm more often than not, so I by no means frightened in regards to the machine overheating or changing into too toasty to carry. It’s a powerful and succesful machine. 

Nubia Redmagic Nova benchmarks

Right here’s how the Nova fared in opposition to its rivals in our customary efficiency benchmark exams.

Cameras

20Mp entrance digicam

50Mp rear digicam

4K/30fps video

Cameras on tablets stay one thing of a marmite problem for many individuals. Why on earth would you maintain up a honking massive show to take images when you almost certainly have a smartphone in your pocket? Likelihood is that the smaller machine may also have higher cameras, because the lenses on the Nova are serviceable relatively than splendid. 

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The 50Mp rear module can get some good pictures if mild is wealthy and the themes comparatively stationary. However something apart from that may be troublesome. Low mild shortly introduces grain, and focussing will be problematic at occasions. It’s the same state of affairs on the 20Mp front-facing digicam.

Sure, you may rise up to 4K video, however that is solely at 30fps and doesn’t look that spectacular. The Nova does have cameras, and so they can take photos, however I wouldn’t suggest you employ them that usually. 

Listed here are a number of examples of photographs taken with the Nova:

Battery Life & Charging

10,100mAh Twin-cell battery

80W quick charging

80W Charger included

The Nova comes geared up with a big 10,100mAh battery, together with an 80W quick charger within the field. This can be a strong mixture.

I discovered I may get a very good 4-5 hours of reasonable gaming out of the pill earlier than it wanted to be plugged in once more. Then, it’s solely round an hour to get that cell utterly refilled. If you happen to haven’t received that lengthy and must be again within the sport, then a 15-minute cost received me to 39% and in half-hour the Nova replenished 70% of the battery. 

You’ll be able to after all eke out extra life by lowering display brightness and turning off another power-hungry apps and settings, however this may additionally make the expertise rather less immersive. 

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When not gaming, the Nova appeared glad to final all day, taking mild web browsing, Netflix binging, and a spot of studying in its stride, with nonetheless a bit of left within the tank by bedtime. In our customary PCMark battery take a look at, the Nova racked up 7 hours and 23 minutes, which is a good rating on this class. 

Software program

Android 14 

Redmagic OS 9.5

Solely two years of safety updates

The Nova pill comes with Android 14, though it’s buried underneath the Redmagic OS 9.5 overlay. There’s a good quantity of customisation choices out there, with a collection of themes and icon packs included, all of which may make a huge effect on the feel and appear of the machine. Need a futuristic aesthetic? That’s straightforward to attain. Favor a easy vanilla Android flavour? There’s that too. 

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You’ll know that this isn’t simply Android although, as you encounter translation errors right here and there, plus the information feed that you simply open by swiping proper on the Dwelling display is fairly horrible. With the Google model you get helpful tales by which you could be genuinely , on Redmagic it feels very random and low high quality. 

However, the software program works easily and I didn’t actually encounter any crashes or issues. It’s not the prettiest, nevertheless it will get the job completed. The phrase useful involves thoughts. 

One Redmagic staple is Sport Area. That is the devoted software program suite that permits you to change numerous settings – equivalent to when the fan comes on, CPU and GPU efficiency, degree of contact sensitivity, put in video games and tweaks for in-game controls and choices.

On the Redmagic telephones, there’s a devoted button to open Sport Area, however that is curiously lacking on the Nova pill. As an alternative, you may entry Sport Area by swiping in from either side of the show when in a sport. It’s a improbable addition for critical players a cornerstone of the Redmagic expertise. 

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One draw back on the software program entrance is that Nubia has advised me that the Nova will solely obtain one Android model improve and safety updates will solely final for 2 years.

The latter is especially disappointing because it implies that the pill will doubtlessly grow to be unsafe to make use of as soon as the updates are discontinued. Two years isn’t an extended lifespan for a tool nowadays, particularly when rival tablets provide considerably longer help. 

Worth & Availability

The Redmagic Nova is offered straight from the Redmagic web site, the place it begins at £439 within the UK or $499 within the US. That will get you 12GB of RAM and 256GB of inside storage, although you may step as much as £559/$649 for the 16GB/512GB variant.

There aren’t many gaming tablets available on the market for the time being. One notable mannequin is the Lenovo Legion Tab (Gen 2) which encompasses a 12GB/256GB complement, however solely a 3.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor. Nonetheless, the £400/$699 price ticket that it usually sells for does soften the blow. 

Whereas not a devoted gaming pill, the Honor MagicPad 2 does characteristic a Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset, 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for round £500, and naturally, there’s at all times the 11-inch iPad Air (2024) which options a variety of sport titles and the spectacular M1 chipset for the asking value of £599/$599.

Any premium pill ought to present a strong platform for cell gaming, you may check out our greatest pill information for some glorious choices. 

Do you have to purchase the Crimson Magic Nova?

The Nova has lots of issues going for it. Efficiency is spectacular, the audio is nice, and the compact design feels sturdy and sturdy. Battery life is middling, though it’s additionally quick to recharge.

Total, it’s an awesome gaming pill, arguably the perfect Android one at the moment out there, plus it isn’t costly for what it’s. 

The one disadvantage, and it’s a reasonably large one, is the shortage of promised software program help. If Nubia holds to what it has said, then the Nova may very well be rendered out of date in solely two years, which is much too quick a lifespan for a product nearly as good as this. 

Specs

Android 14 

Crimson Magic OS 9.5

10.9-inch IPS show, 144Hz refresh price, 2880 x 1800 pixels, 312ppi, 16:10 ratio

Quad audio system

3.4GHz Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Main Model

12GB/16GB LDDR5X reminiscence

256GB/512GB UFS 4.0

ICE 2.0 cooling system

20Mp f/2.0 entrance digicam

50Mp f/1.8 rear digicam

Embedded Fingerprint sensor in Energy button

WiFi 6

NFC (no funds help)

Bluetooth 5.4

USB-C charging port

10,100mAh Twin-cell battery

80W quick charging (charger included)

253.3 x 164.6 x 7.3 mm (9.97 x 6.48 x 0.29 in)

530 g (1.17 lb)