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    RedMagic 8 Pro Review: A Gaming Phone With Lots of Power and Problems

    6.0 RedMagic 8 Pro You’re receiving value alerts for RedMagic 8 Pro Like
    Vibrant display lacks digital camera cutout

    Ample storage

    Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip

    Affordable value
    Don’t like
    Short dedication to software program updates

    Photos are blended to dangerous

    Frustrating settings and default apps
    On the floor, the RedMagic 8 Pro has quite a bit to supply for its $649 (£579, roughly AU$1,100) value. It runs on Qualcomm’s newest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, comes with loads of storage and reminiscence, and has a brilliant 6.8-inch show with a clean 120Hz refresh price. The RedMagic’s new processor and different media-friendly specs come at a value that undercuts telephones just like the $800 Galaxy S23 and $699 OnePlus 11 5G.But look a bit of deeper, and you start to understand why the RedMagic 8 Pro is cheaper than the competitors. It solely will get one Android model improve and two years of safety updates, making it arduous to suggest. The software program pores and skin RedMagic offers on prime of Android 13 makes a variety of selections that you will undoubtedly need to tweak, like altering your default browser and eradicating a watermark added to each photograph by default. The front-facing digital camera — regardless of being positioned beneath the display — leaves quite a bit to be desired. Watch this: RedMagic 8 Pro Review: What to Know About This Lower-Priced Gaming Phone
    05:28 While the RedMagic 8 Pro has a shocking display, an attention-grabbing design and different perks that avid gamers will recognize, its shortcomings may make on a regular basis usability troublesome. These points change into particularly evident in contrast with gaming telephone rival Asus, whose ROG Phone 7 line contains beefy specs together with double the size of software program and safety replace assist. The Titanium model of the RedMagic 8 Pro has a clear again. Mike Sorrentino/CNETRedMagic 8 Pro design, show, specsThe RedMagic 8 Pro is available in three fashions: a standard matte black together with clear fashions that showcase the within of the telephone. That contains having the ability to see the telephone’s inner cooling fan and the Snapdragon chip.I examined each the Matte mannequin, which incorporates 12GB of reminiscence and 256GB of storage, and the step-up $799 Titanium mannequin with an enormous 16GB of reminiscence and 512GB of area. That’s a number of storage and reminiscence for the worth, particularly when in comparison with a telephone just like the OnePlus 11 5G which has 256GB of storage and 16GB of reminiscence for $799. When used together with the Snapdragon chip, I’m able to load a number of video games and apps simply.  The RedMagic 8 Pro in Matte black. Mike Sorrentino/CNETThe 6.8-inch show will be set to a really brilliant 1,300-nit max brightness, which made the display straightforward to see outdoors. Like different gaming telephones, the RedMagic 8 Pro has a responsive show with this display together with a 960Hz contact sampling price. This means it responds in a short time to faucets and swipes, which I discover are useful for taking pictures and preventing video games. You may also program two sensors on the corners of the telephone to behave like shoulder buttons when enjoying a recreation horizontally — as an illustration once I play Fortnite I exploit the left for aiming and the precise for taking pictures.The telephone’s included 65-watt quick charger can shortly recharge its 6,000mAh battery, which in my testing took the telephone from 3% to 97% in 38 minutes. A headphone jack can be included. When launching a recreation, the RedMagic 8 Pro activates a variety of efficiency choices whereas disabling notifications to assist focus the telephone on gaming. Mike Sorrentino/CNETRedMagic 8 Pro gaming efficiencyThe RedMagic 8 Pro, like with prior fashions, features a devoted {hardware} change that boots the telephone right into a gaming-focused launcher. It makes use of a variety of settings that can assist you keep centered on video games, together with tweaks to the telephone’s efficiency and turning off notifications. Many of those options may even activate do you have to resolve to launch a recreation from the usual Android launcher.I sometimes choose the balanced efficiency choice, which nonetheless permits me to set most Android video games to their highest graphics settings. You can select efficiency settings that prioritize utilizing extra energy, or prioritize battery life. It’s all the time enjoyable to load up Fortnite and choose the best frames per second choice, the best graphics choice and know that the sport will run easily. The RedMagic 8 Pro can boot right into a gaming-focused menu. Mike Sorrentino/CNETWhile the RedMagic 8 Pro provides clean gameplay, it does get heat when enjoying for 20 minutes or longer. The telephone has a cooling system that features a bodily cooling fan to assist preserve the temperature down, however I like to recommend placing the RedMagic 8 Pro right into a case when utilizing it for longer play classes. By comparability, I discover the $1,000 Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate to be extra comfy throughout an extended gameplay session, although it lacks a fan. I ought to observe that an earlier RedMagic 8 Pro evaluate unit did overheat on me a number of instances throughout my testing, resulting in the telephone powering itself off. That situation did not repeat itself on the substitute unit RedMagic lent me.During recreation play, you’ll be able to swipe in a menu overlay for different tweaks with out having in addition again to the telephone’s menu, like efficiency settings and recording instruments. You may also use the charger simply to energy the telephone moderately than replenishing its battery throughout gameplay, serving to you save battery once you’re away from an outlet.  A menu overlay will be activated throughout video games, permitting for fast entry to settings. Mike Sorrentino/CNETOur benchmark checks put the RedMagic 8 Pro and the Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate roughly on par with one another utilizing the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme software for evaluating graphics on cellular units. 3DMark Wild Life Extreme benchmark 3DMark – Wild Life Extreme rating 3,692 3,7483DMark – Wild Life Extreme frames per second 22.1 22.4
    RedMagic 8 Pro

    Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate
    Note: Higher scores are higher
    Shifting over to Geekbench 6 testing, which focuses on basic processing energy, the RedMagic pulls forward of the Asus however each stay in shut vary of one another.Geekbench 6 benchmark testing Geekbench 6 Single Core 1,916 1,876Geekbench 6 Multicore 5,358 5,117
    RedMagic 8 Pro

    Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate
    Note: Higher scores are higher
    The RedMagic 8 Pro’s cameras can take first rate pictures, however aren’t nice with shifting topics. Mike Sorrentino/CNETRedMagic 8 Pro camerasThe RedMagic 8 Pro has a important 50-megapixel digital camera, an 8-megapixel large angle lens and a 2-megapixel macro lens. However — like with different gaming telephones — the cameras on their very own aren’t a purpose to purchase this telephone. The rear digital camera setup is first rate sufficient to offer OK pictures in most conditions. But its photographs aren’t nearly as good as these taken on telephones just like the Pixel 7A or Galaxy S23. The foyer of the Public Theater, taken on the RedMagic 8 Pro. Mike Sorrentino/CNETThe digital camera app features a Night mode, which did an honest job of capturing CNET’s very darkish TV testing lab, and a Portrait mode that solely works on this rear digital camera setup. CNET’s TV lab is almost pitch black, and the Night mode on the RedMagic 8 Pro was in a position to fill in a number of the particulars. Mike Sorrentino/CNETI took the telephone on my first journey into Grand Central Station’s Long Island Rail Road terminal, documenting the brand new indoor corridors, a really lengthy escalator and finally the primary terminal ground. There had been undoubtedly moments the place the cameras blurred shifting topics, resembling folks strolling by. There was additionally some blur from shaky palms as I used to be taking fast pictures whereas exploring the terminal. The Long Island Rail Road platform, taken on the RedMagic 8 Pro. Mike Sorrentino/CNET The entrance to the escalators at Grand Central Station, taken on the RedMagic 8 Pro. Mike Sorrentino/CNET Photography on the RedMagic 8 Pro will get blurry when there’s motion within the background, resembling on this photograph of the Starbucks in Grand Central Station. Mike Sorrentino/CNETBut for nonetheless topics, such because the structure of the Grand Central Station’s important concourse, the cameras deal with the main points fairly properly. Grand Central Station’s important concourse, taken on the RedMagic 8 Pro. Mike Sorrentino/CNETMy low-light dinner images additionally diverse. With the precise lighting, the cameras bought a transparent shot of my beef curry and hen dishes.  Chicken with greens dish taken on the RedMagic 8 Pro. Mike Sorrentino/CNET Beef curry dish taken on the RedMagic 8 Pro. Mike Sorrentino/CNETA photograph of my buddy Mark, whom I used to be consuming with, makes him look OK however you may also see that the digital camera struggled with smoothing out folks shifting behind him, resulting in blurriness. My buddy Mark is in focus, however shifting folks within the background are blurry. Mike Sorrentino/CNETThe RedMagic 8 Pro additionally misplaced out in my photograph check in opposition to the Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate. In my comparability pictures beneath utilizing a grass wall in CNET’s workplace, I discovered the RedMagic 8 Pro made your entire wall appear to be an analogous shade of inexperienced, whereas the Asus did a greater job at differentiating between totally different shades whereas displaying the white flowers extra clearly.   The grass wall in CNET’s workplace tackle the RedMagic 8 Pro. Mike Sorrentino/CNET The grass wall at CNET’s workplace taken on the Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate. Mike Sorrentino/CNETThe rear cameras may also shoot video at 8K decision and 30 frames per second, or 4K decision and 60 frames per second.While the rear digital camera is a blended bag, the 16-megapixel front-facing digital camera’s finest function is its potential to remain hidden behind the telephone’s display. The photograph high quality is so dangerous, it is like RedMagic needs you to neglect it is even there.  The front-facing digital camera of the RedMagic 8 Pro doesn’t take nice pictures, with photographs that lack element. Mike Sorrentino/CNET In a darker surroundings, the front-facing digital camera can not seem to understand me. Mike Sorrentino/CNETBut the flexibility for the digital camera to perform in any respect from behind a show continues to be very cool. Even although the picture high quality is scratchy and harking back to flip telephone cameras from 10 years in the past, that is an space that I completely anticipate will enhance within the coming years. If telephone makers can discover a method to embrace an honest selfie digital camera beneath the show, that might rid us of the varied show notches and cutouts at the moment required to squeeze a digital camera within a display.One vital observe concerning the digital camera, which I realized when reviewing final yr’s RedMagic 7: Go into the settings and switch off the watermark that’s set by default. Otherwise each photograph you’re taking will function an commercial for the telephone.RedMagic 8 Pro software programThat photograph watermark situation leads me into my largest qualms concerning the RedMagic 8 Pro. Even although RedMagic runs on Android 13, the UI that the corporate makes has an unintuitive settings menu and makes unusual default app selections, resembling utilizing the NextWord browser, which I instantly swapped out for Firefox. Fortunately, all default apps will be swapped out in your most popular choices. By default, the telephone would not have the app drawer turned on, as an alternative inserting all apps throughout varied homescreen panels. I toggled that on so I can preserve nearly all of my apps hidden from the homescreen to make it seem much less cluttered. This won’t be a difficulty for a cell phone gamer who already prefers to arrange their very own launchers and customise an Android telephone towards their actual wants. But it is value calling out that this is not an excellent telephone for Android novices or somebody that prefers to make use of a tool straight out of the field.My largest downside with the RedMagic 8 Pro is its brief dedication to software program and safety updates in comparison with rival telephones. Currently, the telephone is just set to get one main software program replace to Android 14 and its safety replace dedication is just for about one and a half to 2 years. Asus however is now committing to 2 years of software program updates and 4 years of safety updates for its ROG Phone 7 line. Even cheaper telephones just like the $499 Pixel 7A are getting three years of software program updates and 5 years of safety updates.This implies that somebody who buys the RedMagic 8 Pro ought to achieve this with the understanding that they need to improve their gadget inside two years. Perhaps the telephone is supposed for a gamer who is aware of that they may need the most recent and best chip in two years anyway, nevertheless it’s a shortcoming that is vital to know when different comparable telephones are getting 4 or extra years of safety updates.  The RedMagic 8 Pro is let down by its irritating software program expertise and brief assist dedication. Mike Sorrentino/CNETRedMagic 8 Pro backside lineThe RedMagic 8 Pro will get quite a bit proper with its design, show and specs for gaming, however its efficiency as a telephone is the place issues begin to crumble. Even although video games look and play nice on the RedMagic, its complicated customization of Android 13 mixed with its brief software program and safety replace dedication make the telephone arduous to suggest. If you purchase the RedMagic 8 Pro to make use of as a telephone, you will have to make changes to its settings in an effort to flip off or take away junk, and the much less you utilize the front-facing digital camera the higher.Because of those software program points and the brief assist dedication, I usually suggest the $1,000 Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate as an alternative, even with its greater value. Its Android UI has a a lot lighter contact than what RedMagic offers, its gaming modes are stacked with choices, it has comparable specs, images is healthier and the telephone provides an extended assist cycle. How we check phonesEvery telephone examined by CNET’s opinions workforce was really utilized in the actual world. We check a telephone’s options, play video games and take pictures. We look at the show to see if it is brilliant, sharp and vibrant. We analyze the design and construct to see how it’s to carry and whether or not it has an IP-rating for water resistance. We push the processor’s efficiency to the extremes utilizing each standardized benchmark instruments like GeekBench and 3DMark, together with our personal anecdotal observations navigating the interface, recording high-resolution movies and enjoying graphically intense video games at excessive refresh charges.All the cameras are examined in quite a lot of circumstances from brilliant daylight to darkish indoor scenes. We check out particular options like night time mode and portrait mode and evaluate our findings in opposition to equally priced competing telephones. We additionally try the battery life through the use of it each day in addition to operating a collection of battery drain checks.We have in mind extra options like assist for 5G, satellite tv for pc connectivity, fingerprint and face sensors, stylus assist, quick charging speeds, foldable shows amongst others that may be helpful. And we stability all of this in opposition to the worth to provide the verdict on whether or not that telephone, no matter value it’s, really represents good worth.

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