2019 was an important year for the gaming smartphone market. The last twelve months have seen the arrival of valid devices with unique features dedicated to gamers. It was a very important year for games too, just think of services like Apple Arcade and titles like Call of Duty Mobile (here our review).
However, one of the biggest problems on the market is the price of this type of smartphone, since these devices often configure themselves in the range above 800 euros (we think of products such as ASUS ROG Phone 2 and Razer Phone 2). On the other hand, it is not easy to keep costs down when there is a need to offer top-of-the-range performance and features that can truly be defined as gaming.
Well, the "desire for revolution" comes once again from China. Nubia has in fact created the Red Magic 3S, a smartphone that tries to offer a satisfying gaming experience at a price of 479 euros (8 / 128GB model), a cost that is about half that of competing solutions. Will the Chinese company have managed to achieve its ambitious goal?
Design and unboxing
The sales package includes, in addition of course to the smartphone, a 9V / 2A (18W) charger, Red Magic stickers, the pin for extracting the dual nanoSIM compartment, a red USB Type-C / USB Type-A cable for reloading and manuals vary.
Red Magic 3S has dimensions equal to 171.7 x 78.5 x 9.65 mm, for a weight of 215 grams. We are talking about above-average numbers, which are felt when you hold your smartphone in your hand. It is certainly not the best device to use with one hand, but in general the ergonomics are good. The grip is also not bad: Red Magic 3S is never too slippery.
However, the size and weight are entirely justified by the excellent metal used, which gives the smartphone a above-average constructive solidity, and by the presence of an internal dissipation system based on the vapor chamber.
As for the design, the device has a very "aggressive" look, just like you would expect from a gaming smartphone. The backcover has geometric lines and the dominant color of the inserts is red. In the center it is present an RGB LED strip that lights up , which can be controlled by software. Just above we find the fingerprint sensor, also with a shape that has hardly been seen in other smartphones.
The unlocking speed is average, but as always we preferred to use the quick Face Unlock (which is available on this Red Magic 3S).
Special feature of this smartphone is the presence of a small internal fan to dissipate the heat, located under the holes that are located in the part immediately below the one "diamond" shaped camera and the LED flash. Below is the backlit Red Magic logo.
The coloring we tried is called Mecha Silver and we liked it a lot, but the Eclipse Black and Cyber Shade variants are also available.
In short, we are talking about a backcover that differs a lot from that of other smartphones, trying to satisfy the tastes of gamers. We particularly appreciated the stylistic choices made by Nubia, but we can understand that a certain type of user prefers more sober lines. In any case, the desire to experiment with the Chinese company must certainly be underlined, which is quite rare nowadays.
Moving on to the front of Red Magic 3S, we find a panel with an aspect ratio of 19.5: 9 which has rather noticeable edges. Surely it is not a display that points to the highest screen-to-body ratio on the market, but all in all this allows you to have no problem with viewing content in full screen, since there are no notches or the like. The notification LED is located on the top left.
Interesting the presence of speakers both in the upper and lower edge. The only thing to report is the fact that we found a pre-applied film not exactly in the best way (a small portion of the screen is left on the right).
There are very interesting details in terms of connectivity. In the lower part of the smartphone we find the speakers, the microphone and the USB Type-C port, while in the upper part only the 3.5 mm headphone jack peeps. The right side houses the power button, the volume rocker, i holes for the dissipation system and two triggers. The latter are clearly used to "emulate" the backbones of gaming controllers. Put simply, the goal is to not have to use external control systems.
On the left the SIM trolley, the second microphone, a slider able to activate the gaming mode (and consequently the dissipation system) and the PINs that are used to connect the Magic Adapter, sold at a price of 46,90 euro on the official website.
The latter adds a 3.5mm audio jack, an Ethernet port (100Mb) and a USB Type-C port. In short, it is an accessory that wants to allow the user to never have problems in terms of connection and battery. Summing up, Red Magic 3S is a device that differs a lot from the others on the market and we must really applaud Nubia from this point of view.
Technical features
Red Magic 3S is pushed by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ octa-core processor operating at a maximum frequency of 2.96 GHz (2 x 2.96 GHz + 3 x 2.42 GHz is 4 x 1.8 GHz), flanked by an Adreno 640 GPU and 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM. We are talking about a configuration that offers the best currently present on the square. There is little to say: we are facing one of the most powerful devices available on the market.
We then find 128GB of internal memory UFS 3.0 not expandable. This is not a particular problem given the large space available, but it certainly could make someone turn up their noses, since video games tend to take up more and more space.
Turning to the display, we find a large 6.65-inch AMOLED panel with Full HD + resolution (2340 x 1080 pixels), 90 Hz refresh rate, 19.5: 9 aspect ratio and HDR support. Here Nubia has done a really good job, creating a display that is well suited to video games. The colors have in fact an above average contrast (by default the Colorful Mode is set, but it can be changed from the settings) and they manage to give an excellent feeling during the game sessions. This, combined with the excellent brightness, creates a satisfactory panel. There is also a Display Ambient mode which shows a preview of the notifications when the screen is turned off.
No problem of course with the optimization of the aspect ratio, since we are talking about a common panel without notch. The choice of Nubia makes sense, since it allows you to enjoy all the titles in full screen. The 90 Hz refresh rate is also excellent, which makes itself feel positive and manages to ensure greater fluidity to the smartphone. However, the absence of HDR 10 and Widevine DRM L1 certifications should be noted. It is therefore not possible to view HD content on platforms such as Netflix.
We now come to one of the major pain points of Red Magic 3S: the photographic sector. The latter only has a 16MP front camera (f / 2.0) and a single Sony IMX586 48MP rear sensor (F / 1.7). The former can record videos at 1080p / 30 fps, while the latter even reaches 8K / 15fps (or 4K / 60fps). The quality of the videos is not the best, however, since they sin of stabilization and in low light contexts too many details are lost.
In short, the support for 8K / 15fps, which Nubia among other things declares in Beta and recommends to use only externally, seems to be more of a marketing gimmick than a really useful feature.
The camera software has a somewhat confusing design that cannot convince and is only available in English. Among the available features we find Camera-Family, Pro, Night and Beauty. In short, the application is not the best and some users may want to install other software. However, we are not talking about anything serious, all in all the Camera app can be used.
The quality of the photos offered by the single rear camera is below the average of the price range and cannot convince because of an image processing that distorts the real scene too much. The color balance is not the best and the shots at night barely reach enough. The use of HDR manages to improve the situation a bit in certain contexts, but in general we are faced with a photographic sector that absolutely cannot compete with those of the other smartphones in this price range.
The shots from the front camera are average. In any case, the final result can be fine if you are not too demanding and you usually use the camera of the mobile device only to make some shots to post on social media. You can see some uncompressed photos by consulting our Drive folder dedicated to Red Magic 3S.
The autonomy guaranteed by the 5000 mAh battery, which often allowed us to arrive in the evening with 35% of the remaining charge. During the trial weeks we clearly stressed the smartphone on the gaming side a lot and certainly with more "contained" gaming sessions you can safely get to two days.
Everything obviously depends on how much you use the LEDs, the dissipation system and all the various possibilities offered by Red Magic 3S. In any case, surely Nubia has done a great job on the autonomy side. We remind you that 18W charging is supported, which allows several hours of use with relatively few minutes of charging.
Turning to the connectivity side, we find support for 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac and Bluetooth 5.0. NFC and wireless charging are therefore missing. The audio sector is excellent, which has a good maximum volume and is able to perceive the best sound even when holding the smartphone in landscape mode. Good reception, we have not encountered any problems during our tests.
Software
Red Magic 3S mounts Android 9 Pie with security patches dating back to August 5, 2019. The operating system is essentially stock: there are few real changes made by Nubia. We find an "animated" background that makes the fan spin as soon as the smartphone starts and the various settings related to LEDs, the docking station and video recording. For example, it is possible to set the pattern and coloring of the strip and logo on the backcover directly from the settings or by passing through a convenient pre-installed application.
Leaving aside the gaming sphere, the personalization implemented by Nubia seems to be "lazy". In fact, several translations are missing and the software gives the idea of being lean in general. Furthermore, the software version has not been updated and there is no information on the possible arrival of an update to Android 10.
In any case, software is certainly one of the points on which we must work more and the little care taken by the Chinese company from this point of view is certainly not a positive aspect. By customizing it with launchers and various software, the problem can be somewhat curbed, but unfortunately we cannot have detailed information on the updates.
Performance and benchmarks
The performances of Red Magic 3S are of a high level compared to the price at which it is sold. The device is definitely in the top positions of the ranking of the most powerful models in terms of "brute force".
For benchmark lovers, think that the smartphone has registered a total of 500345 points on AnTuTu. On Geekbench, however, it reached 785 points in single-core and 2564 points in multi-core. In short, numbers out of scale, which have very few competitors.
To give you a concrete example, ASUS Zenfone 6, smartphone sold at a price similar to that of Red Magic 3S, marks a total of about 380000 points on AnTuTu.
In short, the Nubia device offers performance that can also look to the future.
Gaming
Arriving at the focal point, we decided to test Red Magic 3S in the gaming field mainly with 5 titles: Call of Duty Mobile, Aspalth 9, Need for Speed No Limits, Black Desert Mobile and eFootball PES 2020.
Call of Duty Mobile runs flawlessly on this smartphone: you can easily set the "Max" preset.
We also managed to run the Tencent Games title fluidly by manually enabling all the "secondary options" of the case, from depth of field to bloom, passing through shadows in real time and anti-aliasing. No lag and no problems during the game sessions, fantastic.
Black Desert Mobile is a particularly resource-consuming game, for a title that shows a high polygonal amount on the screen. Well, Red Magic 3S has managed to manage all situations in an optimal way, without ever presenting any lag or drop.
It is not possible to set the game to the maximum detail, probably due to limitations wanted by the developers, but you can use the Quality preset, which sets everything to "High" and allows you to enjoy the title in an optimal way even with a close view.
eFooball PES 2020 runs at its best and adapts well to the large panel of the smartphone, allowing the user to have a wide view of the playing field. The same goes for Need for Speed No Limits, which does not have custom graphics options but which runs excellently on Red Magic 3S.
Very interesting Aspalth 9, which runs at maximum and is among the titles officially supported by the smartphone. Starting the game is indeed possible enable 4D Shockor rather a more precise and advanced vibration than the classic one. The system works quite well and guarantees good feedback.
For the rest, the gaming mode, activated via the physical slider on the left of the smartphone, it allows you to choose between four presets that optimize performance (Auto Mode, GPU turbo, CPU turbo and Super Mode). You can then set your own triggers, manage the connected controllers, start WhatsApp in Picture-in-picture, start the internal fan, block messages and calls, make screenshots, record videos and avoid accidental opening of the notification panel .
There is also no shortage of details on GPU, CPU and network usage and internal temperatures. There are also options to set the brightness, to exit the game and to start the Game Space screen, which acts as a hub for all the installed titles. From here you can also access various settings related to the LEDs, the fans and the refresh rate (for example, you can force the 90 Hz). Also very interesting is the RedMagic Time feature, which keeps the screenshots in memory and divides them by single game.
In short, we are talking about one of the most complete gaming modes on the market, which does not really leave anything out.
THE 90 Hz of the display they help a lot the fluidity and all the tests that we have carried out have been conducted with Super Mode preset activated. As for the fan, it never makes too much noise and does not cover the sound of the speakers. The dissipation system works very well and always manages to maintain good temperatures. In short, surely Nubia did an excellent job from this point of view.
Turning to the physical triggers on the right side of the smartphone, they must be set manually and can therefore potentially be used on any game. We tested them mainly with COD Mobile and we must say that we found ourselves well, even if occasionally some inaccuracies are present. In any case, a vibration signals to the user when a "soft-touch" key has been correctly pressed, so there are no particular problems. This is certainly an interesting solution, even if the use of an external controller guarantees better performance.
