REDMAGIC Nova Gaming Tablet Review

REDMAGIC has become a top brand in the world of gaming phones, delivering top-tier performance with the latest processors. Now, it’s looking to deliver that enthusiast-level experience in a bigger way, through the Nova Gaming Tablet. Does bigger mean better? This is my review.

Powerful performance

The REDMAGIC Nova Gaming Tablet comes equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Leading Version processor, which delivers a top speed of 3.4 GHz. What does this mean in terms of real-world performance? Well, the best Android tablet performance. It’s lightning-quick and dominates in even highly intensive games. This processor is bolstered by the 16 GB RAM and 512 GB of storage, which are great specs to see.

Immersive display

So the internals are great, but what really makes a tablet is the display. REDMAGIC has equipped the Nova Gaming Tablet with a 10.9” 2.8K display, capable of refreshing at 144 Hz. Combine that with the touch sampling rate of 840 Hz and the result is a highly responsive, super-crisp and smooth, large mobile display. Audio is great, too, with four separate speakers.

Battery is another area where REDMAGIC’s new gaming tablet shines. The 10,100 mAh battery is made even more impressive by the 80W fast-charging support. Even hardcore power users will be satisfied by the longevity and rapid recharge of this device.

Keeping things cool

I suppose it wouldn’t be a REDMAGIC product without an unconventional cooling system. The Nova Gaming Tablet comes equipped with a 9-layer system featuring a 20,000 RPM fan. This kicks in during gaming to help keep performance high and stable for as long as possible, whereas other devices might throttle under the heat load.

When I first saw the “20,000 RPM” spec, I became very concerned about noise, but it’s barely audible and even low game sound drowns it out nicely.

Let’s get gaming

As you might imagine, when it comes to pushing frame rates in intensive games like Genshin Impact, the Nova Gaming Tablet delivers in spades. The souped-up processor paired with the cooling system maximises FPS and cuts down on any stutter that might be experienced on other tablets. What’s more, for those games which can take advantage of it, the 144 Hz display makes for super-smooth gameplay.

During my testing, in addition to running games natively on the Nova Gaming Tablet, I also used it to stream my PC and PS5 games. It works brilliantly, especially for PC titles, where I could fully utilize the high resolution and refresh rate on the Moonlight app.

It could be brighter

When it comes to downsides, there are a couple of hiccups. The first is the only spec that lets the display down: brightness. While it’s bright enough indoors, the Nova Gaming Tablet’s limited max brightness is likely to cause headaches when trying to game outdoors in bright sunlight.

The other negative is the software experience. While I appreciate REDMAGIC often tries to go the extra mile in making their phones explicitly gaming-oriented with the pre-installed apps, I think less would have been more with the tablet.

Disclosure: Review sample provided by REDMAGIC.