E-sports, or in layman terms, gaming, is now so mainstream, it debuted at the Asian Games earlier this year in Jakarta; not to mention the numerous big-money tournaments that happen all across the world.

Laptops catering to gamers have been around in the market for a long time and have also evolved at regular intervals. The glitzy back-lit keyboards and the snazzy designs on the top distinguish them from their staid counterparts.

But despite mobile gaming being a huge part of any regular smartphone user’s needs, smartphones with a gaming focus are still few and far between. But maybe that’s because power- and processor-intensive games have caught on only recently. Apart from the Razer phone, which is every mobile-gaming addict’s dream machine to own, there’s the Honor Play, which Huawei’s sub-brand came out with in August, with battery and performance optimisation for gaming. Now, users have another option that won’t burn too big a hole in their pockets — Nubia Red Magic.

While the Honor Play, despite packing some great gaming-focussed specs, did not stand out visually as a dedicated gaming device, the Nubia Red Magic goes all-out in letting you know that it means business (or playtime, rather).

Visually stunning

The smooth black back of the device gets a diamond-cut pattern, adorned with bright red lines near the corners. One of these red accents is the loudpeaker and the others are part of the phone’s cooling mechanism, so there is functionality hidden in that glamour. The single-lens camera is in a hexagon-shaped assembly, as is the flash above it and the fingerprint sensor below. But the most attractive feature of the phone is a thin LED strip stretching out on its back, starting below the fingerprint sensor. This lights up in various colours when the phone is charging, when there are notifications, or when the ‘GameBoost’ mode (more on this later) is on. When the phone is placed face-down, it helps you know when you may have unread messages or mails.

All that glitz on the back, but the phone gets a plain front. There are bezels, and there is no notch. But Nubia told BusinessLine that the notch would interfere with gameplay and its better kept out, which I rather agree with. The power and volume rockers are on the right side, along with a dedicated switch for the GameBoost mode, which is a handy addition and underlines this phone’s credentials for gaming.

Hardware and performance

The six-inch IPS LCD display is rather vibrant and does well with rendering graphics. Graphic-heavy games are handled well and so is streaming on Netflix and the likes. Sunlight legibility could have been slightly better but isn’t bad either. The loudspeaker does a good job, but maybe front-facing speakers could have given gamers a more immersive experience. Also, being a gaming phone, two loudspeaker grilles could have been a good idea.

The cooling mechanism on this phone is quite impressive. It has graphite below the metal on the back, which helps deal with heat more effectively. The air-cooling system also dissipates heat well. Though the phone didn’t heat up noticeably even with prolonged gaming, continuous 4K video recording did get the back a little toasty.

On the specs front, the Red Magic is impressive, with the only drawback being that it is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835, which is last year’s flagship. This is because the Red Magic was first revealed in April this year, when the 835 was still going strong. Nonetheless, it is a very capable processor and is proven in high-performance phones like the OnePlus 5 and 5T, and Samsung’s Note 8, among others. With a whopping 8 GB of RAM, which most laptops still find a great spec, this phone handles everyday tasks and gaming like a breeze. It gets an integrated Adreno 540 GPU that ensures graphics are rendered with minimal lag. The phone comes with 128 GB of internal storage, which is not expandable. The GameBoost mode cuts off incoming call and message notifications and lights up the LED strip on the back in a few lovely colours.

The 3,800 mAh battery will easily last you a day and more with regular use but put it through gaming and you will see it drop a lot faster. When asked, Nubia claimed that when gaming on mobile data, network issues might lead to the battery draining faster. I did not get to extensively pit gaming on mobile data versus gaming on WiFi a lot, but broadly, the battery ran out of juice quicker when gaming. There’s a fast charger in the box that takes the phone to full in less than two hours. I also asked Nubia if they would consider a bigger battery for gaming phones like the Red Magic, but they said that would depend on size and design constraints. With this battery, the company has done a fairly decent job of making sure the phone isn’t too heavy or difficult to hold.

Nubia has brought stock Android to the Red Magic, which is a welcome move. Gamers love fiddling with their device and stock Android offers a lot of possibilities on this front. It also keeps the interface bloatware-free.

The cameras on the Nubia hold their own at best. Nubia is known for its focus on photography, but the company said that cameras are secondary on the Red Magic and the focus is on gaming. This is evident because the primary camera is a single 24 MP shooter and doesn’t get a dual camera like almost all phones in the market, today. However, it is a decent camera with good daylight shots and crisp colours. Indoors too, the f/1.7 aperture helps its cause. However, night shots fall prey to noise and loss of detail. The 8 MP selfie shooter is functional, with a beauty mode (omnipresent now) to whiten and brighten your face.

Nubia does admit that this phone came to India a little later and have indicated that the next iterations will be released here closer to the global launch. The company claims that there are 79 gaming optimisations and over a 100 adaptations that went into making this phone and have promised to take user feedback through the community they seek to build. The Red Magic is an honest start and looks a sign of things to come from the Chinese phone brand.

Price: ₹29,999

Pros: Dedicated GameBoost mode, great looks and design, good performance

Cons: Yesteryear processor, cameras could be better

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