I am not a dedicated gamer by any means but when a product comes out with the hardware that this one presents I can’t ignore it. So with that said let me introduce you to the RedMagic Nova Gaming Tablet.
This a tablet that has been designed with one thing in mind giving gamers the best possible gaming experience and as such some interesting design choices have been made in the process. So lets have a quick tour of the device to see what it brings to the table
First up is the display size as this is one of the most important things for a tablet. Here we find that we have a 10.9′ display with a 2.8K resolution (2880 x 1800) and a 16:10 aspect ratio. which makes it more widescreen than the likes of the recently reviewed OnePlus Pad 2 which is 7:5. You can see the difference in the image below, the Nova is on top.
This means that when you are in a game that has been set up correctly for a widescreen format you will be able to reap the full benefits without a ‘letterboxing’ effect. it also has the added benefit of not restricting the viewable area for video as well.
Moving away from the display we have the various ports and buttons located around the edges to look at so lets start on the right hand side.
This is where we will find two fo the 4 side-firing speakers that sit on either side of the USB Type C 3.2 port that is capable of video output and also up to 80W fast charging when using the included 80W power brick or an appropriate similar brick (like a high wattage GAN charger for instance)
Flanking the USB port is where we can see a pair of two side-firing speakers capable of very reasonable sound output.
If we continue around the edges we find on the top of the tablet is where the volume is located on the far left and on the right is a location for the Stylus accessories which I sadly don’t have for review. I can only presume that this will allow for magnetic attachment and charging via induction much like the OnePlus Pad 2 and the iPad’s do.
There are also two pinhole mics up here which I am presuming will be for video conferencing to try and give some gravitas to the sound of any video calls you are making. These are in addition to the 3rd pinhole moc next to the USB Type C port from earlier.
As we continue around to the left-hand side of the device we have a power and sleep/wake button present alongside the other two speakers. This button is also pulling double duty as a fingerprint scanner and for the most part, seems to work reasonably well. It could do with being a little bit more prominent as I find if a bit tricky to locate from time to time. Once you find it though it recognises my finger reliably enough. The tablet can also use face unlock as an alternative to fingerprint if you wish to have this.
The last stop on the edges is the base.
Here find some Pogo pin connectors and cutouts for guides for the Nova Magnetic Keyboard attachment. Again I don’t have the keyboard but I expect it is very similar to the connection method being used on the like of the OnePlus Pad 2. Not sure if it will also work disconnected as the OnePlus one does but given the price of it I would suggest potentially not. There is no mention of any backlight on the keyboard information page.
REDMAGIC Nova Magnetic Keyboard
REDMAGIC Nova Stylus
Around the back of the Nova is where things get a bit more interesting. As is the Case for the redmagic phones this comes with some flash in the form of RGB. The RGB is a lot more subtle as it has only been implemented on the cooling van instead of embedded into the logo or writing. What we do have though is a faux transparent p[anel which mocks up some circuitry and the cooling systems.
Nestled in the upper left-handmost corner is the 50MP camera and next to his in what could be mistaken for another camera is the RGB-accented Turbo cooling fan.
I like the fact that some effort has been made to make the back of the tablet interesting but it would have been so much cooler if it were actually the real motherboard that was visible under this window. I guess that this is not that practical a solution especially having watched a few tear-down videos of the device.
In terms of weight, the Nova tablet weighs 530 grams and is 7.3mm at its thinnest point.
Under the sleek body we have got a a lot going on as this tablet is running the Snapdragon 8th Gen 3 Leading Version which has been boosted to 3.Ghz on the big cores. Now with this power you would expect a cooling system to match. Well you are correct as the Nova has a 9-layer cooling system that is also aided by the 17173.4mm High-Speed Turbine Centrifugal Fan which has a Fan Speed of up to 20,000 RPM.
In addition to this powerhouse of a processor we have got 16GB of LDDR5X of RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage, this is the highest-end version as there is a specced version that halves the Storage and reduces the RAM to 12GB. Keeping this all going is a mammoth 10100mAh daul cell Battery which can charge at up to 80W.
This battery has a neat trick up its sleeve though. If you were playing a game on the tablet with it set up on a stand for example and you just want it to be powered up but are not worried about charging it then =you can set it to do just that. This is called Charge Separation and can be set up within the settings menu. This is a great option for those who wish to take advantage of the display out option and set this up as a mini gaming station with a monitor, mouse and keyboard for example.
That about wraps up my hands on and unboxing of the RedMagic Nova Gaming Tablet. I will be using this over the next few weeks to see how well it works and how it fits in with my usage scenarios.
If you are interested in getting hold of one of these tablets then please do check out the RedMagic site here for current pricing and availability. they also have the aforementioned Keyboard and Stylus available there as well.
Prices for the tablet start at £439 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage version and increase to £559 for the one I have on review here.
Check back in a few weeks for a full review