Earlier this yr, I examined Lenovo’s 8-inch Legion Tab Gen 3 gaming tablet to see the way it held up as a small gaming pill in opposition to the iPad Mini. Spoiler alert: It did fairly nicely. However shortly after testing that pill, gaming phone-maker RedMagic reached out to ask if I wished to check its new gaming pill, the 9-inch Astra.

After just a few weeks of testing, I can safely say that whereas Lenovo’s little pill remains to be wonderful, the Astra beats it in a few key areas. An important of them is efficiency: It is simply flat-out sooner than the Legion Tab. However, the Lenovo is a greater choice as a small, general-purpose Android pill that is additionally nice for gaming (and it is repeatedly inexpensive than the Astra, too). Nonetheless, if gaming options and efficiency, in addition to a standout design, are what you care most about, the RedMagic Astra is price paying a premium for and is why it is an Editors’ Alternative award winner.

Flagship {hardware}

I totally loved the Legion Tab’s design, and it satisfied me of the advantages of your entire type issue. Whilst somebody who enjoys cellular gaming, I actually don’t love carrying round an enormous cellphone all over the place I am going, so having one thing that is large enough to recreation on with out being as huge as an iPad or Galaxy Tab, and particularly a laptop computer, is fairly nice.

Although barely bigger, the Astra nonetheless completely matches that in-between house for me. It has a 9-inch display, however RedMagic packed it right into a small, smooth pill that may actually slot in my again pocket. The design is paying homage to the iPad Mini with its spherical edges and flat sides, however the bezels are symmetrical and solely 4.9mm vast, slimmer than the iPad Mini’s, which makes Apple’s littlest pill look outdated.

There’s additionally a fingerprint sensor within the energy button, which is sort of welcome, particularly contemplating different extra premium tablets just like the OnePlus Pad 3 (and even the Legion Tab) do not have one. The front-facing digicam helps face unlock (just for the pill itself) and, at 9 megapixels, is completely tremendous for streaming or video chatting.

The one rear 13-megapixel digicam is suitable, however not far more than that. It is tremendous if you could use it, however RedMagic has by no means been recognized for its nice cameras, and that definitely applies right here as nicely.

RedMagic is thought for packing its gadgets with all the newest top-of-the-line specs you might need, and the Astra continues that pattern. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, as much as 24GB of LPDDR5x RAM and as much as 1TB of UFS 4.1 storage. The bottom mannequin with 12GB of reminiscence and 256GB of storage is $549 and much like what you’d get within the $550 Legion Tab Gen 3 (although the Legion repeatedly goes on sale for around $100 less). I examined a $699 model of the Astra with 16GB of reminiscence and 512GB of storage. The maxed-out Astra with 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage is a hefty $899.

Complementing the Qualcomm processor is RedMagic’s personal gaming chip, the RedCore R3 Professional. The thought is that the R3 Professional palms a number of the gaming-specific duties from the primary chipset to assist preserve peak efficiency and maintain the Snapdragon 8 Elite from throttling down sooner.

The 9.1-inch OLED show exhibits off all of your favourite video games with a 2,400×1,504-pixel decision (331 ppi) and a fantastically clean 165Hz refresh charge. It additionally will get as much as 1,600 nits peak brightness, which is greater than shiny sufficient if you end up caught within the solar. I would say it is probably the greatest screens I’ve seen on a pill and unbelievable for any recreation. (By comparability, the iPad Mini’s display has a pixel density of 326 ppi). 

Powering all of that is an 8,200-milliampere-hour battery with assist for as much as 80-watt quick charging. I simply bought via a number of days of use with this pill, which included an hour or two of gaming and one other hour or two of primary utilization. On CNET’s YouTube streaming check, it averaged 10 hours, 32 minutes, which is nice, however you will not get that whereas gaming solely. The one draw back is that there isn’t a charger within the field, though you must have the ability to get quick charging with most 80-watt chargers.

Soundwise, the twin DTS:X Extremely audio system sound fairly good for a small pill. In fact, you aren’t getting the room-filling sound from the 4 audio system on the iPad Professional, however that is additionally a a lot bigger and far more costly machine. The Astra’s audio system are tremendous for gaming or streaming, however for FPS video games or these the place each noise issues, you will need some good gaming headphones.

One odd design selection

RedMagic made a reasonably odd design selection with the Astra by offsetting the USB-C port towards the highest of the pill. This implies the ability button is now located straight throughout from the USB-C port, so in case you attempt to use a USB-C controller, you will probably hit the ability button when taking the controller on and off. I did expertise this in my testing, and whereas it was annoying, I would not say it is sufficient to maintain me from shopping for it. It did not occur as soon as I had the controller on, and Bluetooth controllers clearly will not have this problem. (RedMagic would most likely admire you dropping an additional $129 for its Bluetooth gamepad anyway.)

Additionally, when utilizing a controller, the pill now sits farther down and turns into a bit unbalanced. Once more, this wasn’t a deal-breaker for me as I ended up resting the pill on the desk or my lap, and it virtually grew to become even higher for me, so I did not have to carry it as a lot. Your mileage might range right here, and I do perceive how uncomfortable it may be for some, however I’d say do not knock it until you strive it.

I requested RedMagic why it used this structure, and an organization consultant stated the top-mounted USB-C retains the charging cable from getting in the best way of your palms whereas it is charging, so you possibly can nonetheless play whereas plugged in with none points. That is sensible to me and has been one of many points I’ve had whereas gaming on telephones or different tablets. Additionally, the side-mounted energy button is offset to work with many third-party gaming controllers which have buffer zones to keep away from unintended activation. I would even be prepared to guess that although this can be a gamer-focused pill, the client knowledge RedMagic has exhibits that much more folks play with out a controller than with one.

All of the efficiency you might need

As you may count on from the spec sheet, this factor simply flies via something you throw at it. Apart from gaming, I used it as a traditional pill as nicely, which included shopping, researching new automobiles (I bought rear-ended, in order that’s been enjoyable), some YouTube and emails. As anticipated, all the pieces I did was clean and quick. No points.

Clearly, with the ability to play the most effective video games easily is a crucial a part of efficiency, however RedMagic is all about supplying you with the very best gaming expertise attainable on a cellular machine.

All the most well-liked video games I attempted ran nice on the highest attainable framerates. I persistently hit 120 frames per second on Name of Obligation: Cell, and RedMagic has promised excessive refresh assist for different widespread video games, together with PUBG, Delta Drive and League of Legends.

RedMagic’s Recreation Heart software program even permits you to increase body charges in supported video games like Genshin Influence. On cellular, Genshin presently solely natively helps 60fps, however the Astra can increase the body charge to 120fps via the Recreation Heart software program.

Additionally, with its high-speed wi-fi, streaming video games via Recreation Move or PlayStation Distant Play ran nicely, making the Astra a really all-around cellular gaming powerhouse.

Is it full overkill for most individuals? Completely. Is it nonetheless ridiculously enjoyable? Heck sure.

	Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 3	RedMagic Astra
Wild Life Limitless	17,320	23,187
Geekbench 6 CPU (single core)	2228	2641
Geekbench 6 CPU (multicore)	6600	7990
Geekbench 6 GPU	16624	19223
Octane 2.0	75924	158865

Quick software program, however do not count on updates

I used to be pleasantly shocked with the Astra’s out-of-the-box software program expertise. Even just some years in the past, RedMagic’s software program was nonetheless very closely skinned and regarded like one thing out of a nasty sci-fi film. Lately, the corporate considerably toned down its software program expertise, and now, it is really fairly usable.

Nonetheless, there’s a respectable quantity of bloatware, however most of it is simply eliminated, and the remainder of it’s a fairly clear construct of Android. Other than the Recreation Area, it isn’t too completely different from what you’d discover on most some other Android pill as of late. There are just a few translation errors scattered round, but it surely’s definitely far more usable than it was even only a couple years in the past. RedMagic deserves some credit score for a way a lot progress it is made.

The place it nonetheless falls woefully behind, nonetheless, is on updates. The Astra runs on Android 15, and to be sincere, I would not count on any main platform updates. From my previous expertise with RedMagic gadgets, you will get some safety updates over the subsequent two or three years, and there is a probability you will get shocked with a platform replace, however the firm makes no assure of it, so do not maintain your breath.

That is not a deal breaker for me, as that is primarily meant to be a gaming and leisure machine and never one thing I would use for banking or something private. So long as main new video games that come out within the subsequent few years run on it — and so they virtually definitely will — I am not too upset concerning the lack of updates. The corporate completely must do higher about it, however I would not let that cease you from shopping for it.

Additionally, in case you’re searching for a whole package deal of equipment within the field, you will be disenchanted. As I discussed earlier, there is no charger included, however RedMagic will sell you one for $29.90. A display protector and folio case can be found, too, for $24.90 and $39, respectively, however they appear to promote out of them shortly. And, whereas the Astra does have energetic pen assist, RedMagic would not presently have a pen as an adjunct, although one is anticipated to be obtainable. That is the place the Lenovo Legion Tab has a bonus as a result of there’s a charger, display protector and folio case included with the pill, and you may get a pen from Lenovo for about $40. It won’t have the Astra’s efficiency, however it’s a higher deal on this sense.

Finest technique to recreation on the go

As of proper now, I’ve not examined some other small pill that is higher for gaming than the RedMagic Astra. The Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 3 has final yr’s specs, an outdated design and just one configuration. If you could find it on sale, it is price it, however at $549, the Astra is hands-down the higher choice.

The iPad Mini has big bezels and nowhere close to the ability of the Astra, plus it is dearer. And also you’re caught in Apple’s ecosystem, which has its personal set of issues. The upper configurations of the Astra, together with the one I examined, are costly, and you continue to need to pay additional for any equipment if you need them. However in case you’re all in on cellular gaming, there isn’t a higher machine for it proper now than the Astra.