Review cover Nubia Redmagic 8 Pro NX729J Gaming Phone (Hardware)
Official GBAtemp Review

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Nubia's latest offering has landed and I'm here to put it to the test.

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When I last reviewed Nubia's Redmagic 7S Pro I had a lot to say in terms of the grunt, given the previous model (the 7 Pro) seemingly still had the edge when it came down to actual visible performance. This time around, Nubia contacted me personally, praising my honest opinion on the 7S Pro and offering me the freshly released 8 Pro to get my emulation-base thoughts on.

The question is: did they listen?

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Specifications:

Model: Nubia Redmagic 8 Pro NX729J 5G
Released: Dec 26, 2022
Dimensions: 164 x 76.4 x 8.9 mm (228g)
RAM options: 8GB / 16GB
Storage options: 128GB / 512GB (Not expandable)
Display: 6.8" AMOLED, 1 Billion Colours, 120Hz, 1300 nits peak
Resolution: 1116 x 2480 pixels, 20:9 ratio, 400 ppi
Chipset: 4nm Qualcomm SM8550-AB Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
CPU: Octa-core (1x3.2 GHz Cortex-X3 & 2x2.8 GHz Cortex-A715 & 2x2.8 GHz Cortex-A710 & 3x2.0 GHz Cortex-A510)
GPU: Adreno 740
Cameras: 50 MP, f/1.9, 25mm (wide), 1/1.57", 1.0µm, PDAF, 8 MP, f/2.2, 120˚, 13mm (ultrawide), 1/4.0", 1.12µm, 2 MP, f/2.4, (macro), 16 MP Selfie under-display HDR
Sensors: Fingerprint (under display), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, 520Hz triggers
Sound: Stereo Loudspeaker, 3.5mm headphone jack, 32-bit/384kHz audio, BT 5.2, A2DP, aptX, LE
Battery: Li-Po 6000 mAh, Fast charging 80W (China) 65W (international), PD 3.0
Cooling: 20k RPM RGB Turbo Fan, right-side exhaust
Connectivity: GPS, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, Tri-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e/7, USB-C 3.2

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Sleek, Smooth And Incredibly Stylish

Unboxing is a similar experience to the previous entries, with the device packing in a USB-C to USB-C cable, 65w GaN mains charger, and a sleeker-than-ever silicone case that only encompasses the top and bottom as well as the back. Though I'm not a huge fan of this minimalist cut-down style case, it does allow you to form a more tactile bond with the raw metal of the device. I always detest having to put on chunky overly padded-out silicone cases because it changes the form factor of your brand-spanking new device and takes some of the sheen off. Regardless: I want to protect it and keep it nice for as long as possible. In this casing I inexplicably, constantly, fear that the sides are unprotected, but it certainly feels divine in your hand.

From the moment you boot up this device you realise that Nubia has stripped back the layers to reveal a more speedy, less cluttered and gimmicky user experience with Redmagic OS 6.0, which pays dividends. Gone is the immediate widgets and bloat, instead you can optionally add those features back into your home screen, or you can keep it as vanilla as possible, like me.

The UI is based on Android 13 OS and combined with Redmagic OS 6.0, and general navigation flows flawlessly across the AMOLED screen, thanks to the silky smooth 120hz refresh rates, a resolution of 1116 x 2480 pixels, and a 20:9 ratio pumping out vibrant rich deep colours. The UI is as intuitive and user-friendly as ever, which I adore.

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A Masterclass In Portable Media

The sound quality is top-notch on the 8 Pro. It's loud, punchy and incredibly clean with no notable areas that I would have to quibble over. Whereas before I complained about the "tinny" quality of the speakers, I have to say that this has definitely been improved and even the low-end frequencies are smooth and punctuate each piece of media superbly.

I began by watching some movies via VLC and Streaming from online sources, and to my absolute joy, the experience was wonderful. Combining the loud, well-refined sound quality and the AMOLED screens' deep rich colour gamut and contrast ratio; I honestly think this is one of the best screens I have ever witnessed for on-the-go gaming and media, even outdoors!

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The camera is slightly different to the previous load-out of the 7 Pro and the 7S Pro's 64 MP shooters. Instead, we have a 50 MP main with the same 16 MP selfie, 8 MP Wide and 2 MP Macro lenses. The 50 MP camera is now powered by Samsung's GN5 ISOCELL which packs a beautiful punch when it comes to capturing lifelike tones, colours, and likenesses, even in low-light situations.

The selfie camera also provides excellent image quality for video calls, and of course: taking selfies.

The software surrounding the camera is virtually identical to the previous devices, so modes such as Pro, Video, Night and Portrait offer up some familiar features and abilities. The special effects modes return too with star trails, multi-exposure, time-lapse and slow-motion modes amongst others. The Redmagic 8 Pro is a standalone editing beast too, meaning you can swiftly and powerfully rework and apply after-effects without batting an eyelid.

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A Wolf In Sheeps' Clothing

Benchmarking Nubia's Redmagic 8 Pro with its Octa-Core Kalama processor cluster was eye-opening. Hammering a single-core score of 1385 and a multi-core of 5166: the 8 Pro markedly outperforms the 7 Pro (Single-core: 1252 and a Multi-core score of 3864) and the 7S Pro (Single-core: 1349 and a Multi-core score of 4268). The ultra-capable combination of the 1/3/4 processor cluster within the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2's chipset, the Adreno 740 GPU, the 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512 GB of UFS 4.0 storage makes for a very, VERY, snappy affair.

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An Emulation Powerhouse With Plenty Of Promise

Emulation performance quite simply: doesn't skip a beat even in regular balanced mode. Bearing in mind that all tests I perform are on fresh installs, the latest versions (including available nightlies), with vanilla settings, no mods, and no enhancements; the bassline for this device was utterly amazing!

Whereas in previous tests the 7Pro (and particularly the 7S Pro) has small notable slowdowns in places, the 8Pro blew me away with its ultra stable 59 FPS in Super Mario Galaxy 2's intro screens, with a small short dip to 43-53 FPS upon initial loading of some scenes, and a stonking normal range of 58-61 FPS average throughout the majority of the game!

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Switch it up into "rise" mode and the 8 Pro sails through by slightly overclocking and upping the core power consumption to push out more frames. In this mode, I rarely saw those 43-53 FPS drops at all, with an almost bare minimum of 55 FPS on average. Incredible!

I gave it quite the testing, because, I absolutely adore the Super Mario Galaxy series and I honestly cannot fault The 8 Pro combined with the latest builds of the Dolphin Wii/GC emulator. Sound quality is precise, haptic feedback rumbles nicely, colours pop, and the screen delivers an aesthetically exquisite experience for the duration.

This is definitely my go-to, pocket method, of playing SMG2 on the regular, not to mention that you have the active shoulder buttons already, or you could connect a BT controller and attach it to a dock like that of the Steam Deck to play on the big screen! Testing this out I did notice the device automatically goes into "Rise" mode in order to display the 8 Pros output on the big screen as well as the small screen, and the default internal resolution on display with Dolphin itself definitely shows a lot more jaggies on a 65" 4K TV than you see on the 6.8" display.

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Aether SX2 also ran The Simpsons hit & Run game flawlessly. Gone was any slight stutter, gone was any dip to the mid to low 20s that I was seeing on the previous devices. I would go as far as to say that the performance is entirely playable, from start to finish regardless of the special effects on screen. I was so impressed that it ran so well that I got entirely lost in playing the game and ended up playing a good two hours on it and lost most of my afternoon to it!

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Having run my usual set of tests, I decided to up the ante and go for broke. Skyline is a fledgling Nintendo Switch Emulator for Arm V8 Android devices, built with input from the Ryujinx and Yuzu teams. At the time of writing the version is #1844, and using docked mode I achieved 24-27 FPS which was approximately 60% too slow to be fully playable. Testing Mario Odyssey, which is one of the few games to boot into gameplay, there is a weird yellow tinge to it all and fog is entirely not working. Still, the basis from something great is already there, and the 8 Pro will definitely be the device to watch this software mature alongside.

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Messing with the settings and increasing Executor Slot Count and Force Max GPU Clocks boosts RAM usage and power consumption but puts the game into the range of 32-37 FPS. This makes the sound less juddery, and the game a little smoother to play, buts it's still around 50% too slow even with these mitigations. It's an extremely promising start though!

Equally, during my time reviewing this device, the emulator Vita3K for android landed and I simply had to indulge.

Whilst the state of that emulator is extremely early (0.2 at the time of writing), I can say that the homebrew and retail games I managed to run ran very well considering. Just like Citra 3DS emulator: make sure to use decrypted games and you will be on your way to success.

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(Note: Adrenalin didn't work, but that's fine, that is what PPSSPP is for, and that already runs flawlessly too!)

There are the expected visual glitches and sound issues with a fledgling emulator, and the compatibility of Vita3K is especially low right now, but in due course, the emulator should flourish just as well as the others have, given time to become enhanced and refined.

Having access to emulation up to a console that was released just five years ago is absolutely incredible and knowing that you can play hundreds of games from the last 30 years (bar the latest generation Xbox and PlayStation consoles) that has been successfully emulated on this one piece of hardware is incredible.

A Stunning Device That Keeps Simplicity At Its Core

The Redmagic 8 Pro is an absolutely stunning device that has whisked away the top spot from my beloved 7 Pro.

The team at Nubia have listened and has really excelled in their proficiency of mobile gaming technology!

This device is simple, uncomplicated, exponentially powerful and feature-packed through Redmagic OS 6.0 enough to facilitate fantastic performance across daily usage (calls, browsing, texting and social media), and was genuinely amazing when benchmarked and put through its paces in gaming modes. Just know that emulation gets better, AND you can tweak the settings from vanilla to get far more impressive results!

It's not difficult to recommend this phone to anyone, however, some may struggle to agree that £579 isn't a steal for such a powerful mobile gaming device. Sure you could buy a small car or a PlayStation 5 games console for £580: but the ability to run Gamecube, Wii, PS1, PS2, PS3, PSP, and PS Vita, all from your pocket at stable framerates with more than ample 15-20hr 6000mAh battery life, is frankly god tier in todays' market of £1000 phones that still could not offer all of that at the moment.

Comparably for the sub £600 price, you could opt for an iPhone 11, a Samsung Galaxy S20 FE, or a TCL 20 Pro 5G: but you will not get anywhere near the raw performance and emulation ability of the Redmagic 8 Pro.

This is the cream of the crop within its weight class and even perhaps outside of it.

Focussing on emulation: the Samsung S23 Ultra weighs in at £1399 and while it does very well in Geekbench's single-core scores with an impressive 1866, the multi-core score only achieves a 4944. A phone costing approximately more than twice that of the 8 Pro does not manage to outperform it. This is because they essentially they have the same Snap Dragon 8 gen 2 raging at their hearts, and you pay for the "Samsung" name.

It really is a no-brainer to go for the Redmagic 8 Pro. It's a far more savvy purchase!

Verdict

What We Liked ...
  • £579 is a damned decent price for a gaming phone
  • Absolute powerhouse for gaming
  • Shoulder buttons are fantastic as ever
  • Sub 1 hour charging time
What We Didn't Like ...
  • The Silicon case is questionable
  • No expandable memory
9.6
out of 10

Overall

For emulation, the Nubia Redmagic 8 Pro simply cannot be beaten. It held solid frame rates on everything thrown at it and performed above my every expectation. As a mobile device it is incredibly well-rounded and packs a heck of a lot of power in such a stylish form factor.
I can't imagine going out with my friends and pulling this thing out... RGB is kinda cool though
Honestly my friends are blown away by the emulation. They keep asking to borrow it while I’m out, for them to play MK Double Dash on Dolphin or Simpsons/Tekken 3 on Aether 😂
 
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Reactions: dudeguy2022
So I'll admit I kinda skimmed this because I was looking for a specific talking point so forgive me if I missed it

But how is the mobile network connectivity(also I s'pose I would also need to know network used+general location)

My biggest complaint with my RM devices is I tend to have a lot less of connection consistency with the devices due to their lack of certain bands in their antennas and was wondering if you have noticed a difference, if any.
 
Anybody know if there are any reputable Android phones w/ the Snapdragon 888 that contain expandable microSD card storage?
 
So I'll admit I kinda skimmed this because I was looking for a specific talking point so forgive me if I missed it

But how is the mobile network connectivity(also I s'pose I would also need to know network used+general location)

My biggest complaint with my RM devices is I tend to have a lot less of connection consistency with the devices due to their lack of certain bands in their antennas and was wondering if you have noticed a difference, if any.
I use O2 in the midlands (UK) and everything works as you would expect. Though where I live the 4G/5G is an issue regardless of handset because: O2.
 
Aesthetically it looks nice but for the price you may aswel buy a steam deck or something with more power and get a cheap ass phone 🤣

See if 3 mobile does 5g in your area. We have 5g home broadband with 3 here in the west midlands
 
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Reactions: KiiWii
I've just checked it out on the Nubia website, even including the screen protector, protective case and all that cool shit...it still costs 735 euros, a fair bit less than my Samsung Galaxy Note 10 lite (Which was already two years old when I bought it)! How the fuck is that possible??
 
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Reactions: KiiWii
It's still RedMagic. Which means constant heating issue, restarts because of their awful battery firmware never being properly in sync, and eventually the bootloop of death because their solder jobs are garbage.

ZTE has and always will be, utter trash.
 
I'm pretty tempted in getting the White version. I'm not sure if the extra ram is worth it. I've had my Black Shark 3 since release and 12gb have been more than enough.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Cris1997XX
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