nubia Red Magic Nova review

Introduction

If you have ever wondered what a true gaming tablet should be - here it is - the Red Magic Nova! It's the best gaming slate right now, with powerful and properly cooled hardware, comfortable size and a launch price of €500!

Many people think of iPads as gaming tablets because of the relatively powerful hardware and, well, great eco-system with a ton of apps. However, Apple's devices have weird limitations or overcomplications because they were meant to be great all-around devices first and foremost.

There are console games ported for Android already, and Red Magic Nova seems the best place to play them. It has a 10.9-inch LCD screen with high resolution and 144Hz refresh rate and runs on the most beefed-up version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip SM8650-AC, and it has Snapdragon Elite Gaming support. You can get it with up to 24GB LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1TB UFS 4.0 storage.

Red Magic built a 9-layer cooling system with a 3D heat pipe, a circulation aid duct, a dissipation alloy, graphene, copper foil, thermally conductive gel, and a 20,000 RPM internal fan. This system should provide excellent stability during long gaming sessions. And this system is partially visible on the back, surrounded by some cool but not flashy insignias.

The tablet has an aviation-grade aluminum chassis with four stereo speakers around the frame. It packs a large 10,100mAh battery capable of fast charging up to 80W, battery bypass when gaming, and the integrated fan can cool the battery so it can speed up the charging process.

The Red Magic Nova tablet starts at €499, which is lower than any other powerful tablet from the current flagship crop on the market.

ZTE nubia Red Magic Nova specs at a glance:

• Body: 253.3x164.6x7.3mm, 530g; Glass front, aluminum frame, aluminum back; RGB light on the back, Built-in cooling fan (Illuminated), Aviation-grade aluminum frame.
• Display: 10.90" IPS LCD, 144Hz, 550 nits, 1800x2880px resolution, 14.4:9 aspect ratio, 312ppi.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM8650-AC Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (4 nm): 8-core (1x3.4GHz Cortex-X4 & 3x3.1GHz Cortex-A720 & 2x2.9GHz Cortex-A720 & 2x2.2GHz Cortex-A520); Adreno 750 (1 GHz).
• Memory: 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM; UFS 4.0.
• OS/Software: Android 14, Redmagic OS 9.5.
• Rear camera: 50 MP.
• Front camera: 20 MP.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
• Battery: 10100mAh; 80W wired, 100% in 55 min (advertised).
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi; BT; NFC.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); stereo speakers (4 speakers).

The Red Magic Nova relies on an IPS LCD screen instead of an OLED and this could be considered as a potential deal-breaker. But considering this tablet is meant for hardcore gamers, most if not all of them will actually appreciate the LCD screen.

Unboxing the Red Magic Nova

The Red Magic Nova arrives in a cool gray box, which contains the tablet itself, a 9A-rated USB-C cable and an 80W power adapter.

Nubia is also selling an optional keyboard and stylus if you need some of these to expand your tablet experience.

The optional keyboard and pen accessory