nubia Red Magic 3s review

Design and gaming ergonomics

Compared to its immediate predecessor, the Red Magic 3, the Red Magic 3s hasn't changed a lot apart from its paint job. Now the handset comes in a blue-red-purple gradient giving it a more gaming aesthetic, not necessarily more mature, though.

As we've already established in our previous review, the Red Magic 3s design concept is like a "blast from the past," and we mean that in a good way. There's no glass sheet on the back, which makes sense as the metal back is better thermally-conductive than glass, so it would help with the heat dissipation during long gaming sessions.

The back has a nice curve to it lies comfortably in your hand. It keeps the aggressive accents and lines from its predecessors. There's a Superman-like shaped camera bump. The air intake grille is right under it, and it's followed by fingerprint reader below. A big RGB LED strip goes along the back. The Red Magic logo feels like a sticker, but it's a whole plastic or glass piece incorporated into the chassis.

The back seamlessly transitions into the side frame since it's a one-piece unibody chassis. On the left, you will find the connector for the dock station, the SIM card tray, and the dedicated switch for the so-called Game Space. The right side of the frame incorporates the touch triggers positioned near the corners, an exhaust vent for leading the hot air out of the chassis, the power button and the volume rocker.

On the top you'd find the 3.5mm audio jack while the USB-C port and what appears to be a speaker grille are located at the bottom. However, the grille is merely decorative or acts as an echo chamber because there's no actual speaker behind it as far as we could tell.

Moving on to the front, we find a 6.65-inch panel without cutouts or holes of any sort. Sure, the top and bottom bezels are a bit on the thick side, but they look symmetrical and provide extra grip for your thumbs when holding the phone horizontally during gameplay. Additionally, there's enough space for the big loudspeakers, and the top bezel easily accommodates the front-facing camera and the accompanying sensors. The side bezels are pretty thin, though.

The slippery anodized aluminum and the rather big 6.55-inch screen aren't ideal for one-handed use, but it's clear that nubia has prioritized two-handed use for gaming. The buttons, the triggers, the screen size, everything seems to be well-thought-through, and we don't have any issues ergonomics-wise.

The cooling fan is a cool novelty feature to have on a gaming phone, but the grilles are big enough to draw small particles and dust inside the chassis. It can build up over time as you can't really keep the phone in sterile conditions - you will use it outside, and it will be inside your pocket most of the time. And opening up the device for cleaning isn't advisable if you are not familiar with the process. And you risk messing up the tiny fan.

We can't say it's going to be an issue for sure, but we wanted to point it out so you can consider the possibilities. It's always like this when buying tech with moving parts - whether it's a pop-up camera mechanism or a cooling fan, there's always a higher risk of malfunction in the long run.

Also mind the rather hefty and bulky body of the phone. Weighing in at 215g and measuring 9.7mm in thickness, this is one of the heaviest and thickest handsets around. Then again, the Red Magic 3s houses an elaborate active cooling system and a huge 5,000 mAh battery so we can let that one slip by.

Here's how the phone looks from all angles in our 360-degree view.