nubia Red Magic 8S Pro review

6.9-inch OLED running at 120Hz

The Red Magic 8S Pro features the same display as its predecessor. It has an unorthodox 1116 x 2480px resolution and has almost all of the bells and whistles. We say almost because there are no official HDR certifications, but the 120Hz refresh rate is at hand. In theory, the display should support HDR10 content at the very least, and we found it to be true in the YouTube app, but no support HDR10+ or Dolby Vision content on Netflix and Amazon Prime, though.

The advertised 1,300 nits of peak brightness may very well be possible when displaying HDR content, but we weren't able to see the panel peak above 785 nits with 75% APL, while a manual slider adjustment got us up to 529 nits. Although this isn't industry-leading, the display offers a comfortable outdoor viewing experience even on a bright sunny day. It's also a huge improvement over the previous generations, which didn't offer a brightness boost.

In terms of color accuracy, the display isn't amazing right out of the box. The whites and grays are too blue-ish, but opting for the Soft color preset fixes them to some extent and even lowers the average dE2000 to just 2.2. That's a solid improvement.

High refresh rate handling

The device offers four modes in total - 60Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz and Auto. The first three serve as a cap to the refresh rate, while the latter leaves the system to decide the appropriate refresh rate given the current scenario. The adjustment is pretty straightforward, though. The system will always go for the maximum refresh rate, be it system or third-party apps and system menus. Leaving the phone alone for a couple of seconds will reduce the refresh rate to 60Hz to preserve power. Running full-screen videos does the same as you don't really need 120Hz to watch a 24, 30 or 60fps video.

When it comes to gaming, the phone detects games automatically and boosts the refresh rate to 120Hz. However, there are a few nuances that we will cover in the performance section of the review. But the key takeaway is that only a few games can saturate the full 120Hz refresh rate.

Battery life

Since the Red Magic 8 Pro and 8S Pro share the same hardware - almost identical chipsets, the same display and battery pack - it's no surprise we got similar, if not identical, battery results. The differences are mostly due to statistical error.

Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating denotes how long the battery charge will last you if you use the device for an hour of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. More details can be found here.

Either way, the battery endurance is excellent. Phones with a big OLED and flagship-grade SoC rarely reach over 110 hours of overall endurance score, let alone 130 hours. The big 6,000 mAh battery definitely helps, though.

Charging speed

We are once again surprised by how fast the 6,000 mAh battery charges with the provided 65W charger. A full charge took only 35 minutes, while a 15-minute cycle replenished 56% of the battery. The Red Magic 8S Pro seems to charge a couple of minutes faster than its predecessor, although statistical error could explain the difference. It's negligible, after all.

The battery menu hides a couple of interesting features, including Turbo Charging and, more importantly, "Charge separation". This one is pretty neat. It redirects the power from the charger directly to the hardware and bypasses the battery. This saves the battery in the long run if you often play games when charging. It reduces the heat on the battery and mitigates overcharging.

Battery features

Speakers

The Red Magic 8S Pro is equipped with two five-magnet stereo speakers. One at the bottom and one at the top that doubles as an earpiece. Sound comes out of the earpiece grille and the opening on the top side of the frame. DTS:X Ultra sound tuning is also at hand, just like on the Red Magic 8 Pro.

We got almost identical loudness of -24.3 LUFS, which is enough for a "Very Good" score. We are pretty sure nubia used the same speakers, as these sound identical. The highs and mids are a bit screechy at maximum volume, but turning the volume down a notch makes everything sound better and more balanced. The bass is pronounced and clear vocals.

Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.