RedMagic Astra 2 review

Android 16 with RedMagic UI

The RedMagic Astra 2 launches with Redmagic OS 11.5 based on Android 16.

While RedMagic has made a five-year update cycle commitment for its recent devices, unfortunately, it remains a bit ambiguous whether that means you can expect 5 major OS upgrades or not.

From a visual standpoint, the Redmagic OS 11.5 doesn't differ too much from the previous iterations. It looks the same as the older versions, and there aren't any new AI features either.

Home screen • Notification shade • Recent apps

The tablet UI is your typical affair with the dock and the recently opened apps.

Multi-tasking is sweet on the big screen with most apps having support for split-screen. There are also a couple of apps, such as YouTube, which support Mini, a.k.a. pop-up windows. But those are not as many as on other tablets, which is unfortunate.

Multi-tasking

You can still use Google's Gemini and also use RedMagic's virtual assistant Mora. Mora can be configured through the Game Space, but it can be visible on the homescreen (above the wallpaper, behind the icons), or even as a small figurine that you can move across the screen. While it's definitely not for everyone, let's say it's sort of fun to talk to the bot and get info from an animated avatar.

Mora

Under the RedMagic AI+ sub-menu, you will find standard AI-powered tools like live translation, image generation, etc.

Redmagic AI

Game Space and other gaming features

The Game Space is an in-game overlay and a set of tools designed to enhance the gaming experience and has been a staple of the RedMagic gaming devices since their inception.

Naturally, there's an in-game overlay that lets you track certain stats, including in-game fps, as well as CPU and GPU frequency and quick access to features. There are some quick access shortcuts for supported messenger apps as well, for more convenient window-based chatting while in the game.

Finally, you can configure the RGB backlight on the back. You can choose the color and the pattern, the brightness, the notification type, among other things.

RGB lights

In-game Game Space overlay

The more powerful settings are in their own sub-menu within the overlay. You can adjust CPU and GPU performance profiles, screen sensitivity, and sampling rate, and you can enable a particular visual profile for the display to make certain game elements more easily visible.

Plugins are a relatively new addition to the RedMagic Game Space.

Plugins

Gravity X is the system nubia uses to map external devices like a controller, keyboard and mouse to on-screen controls. This is something that the RedMagic Astra 2 lets you easily do out of the box, which could give you an unfair competitive advantage when gaming. You can also use the system here to turn the tablet into a controller when playing games on an external screen.

Gravity X

The tablet itself offers several convenient ways to connect to peripherals. First off, there is USB alt mode. Using a supported dongle, you can easily get an HDMI or DP output from the Red Magic Astra 2 and USB inputs back into the phone. This is a great way to connect it directly to a monitor or TV.

If that seems too cumbersome for you and you would rather just use a PC to play your mobile games, then there is Smartcast Studio - a Windows app that lets you screencast over Wi-Fi or a USB cable connected directly to the PC. It works at a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. The whole pairing process with the desktop app is seamless and extremely easy. You can set up different mapping profiles for all the games you play, and the keyboard/mouse input is pretty solid.

The streaming feature works in all phone menus and apps, not just games, so that it may have its uses beyond just gaming. The gestures and keyboard typing feel native. You can even use the phone itself as a trackpad for touch input or opt to have it entirely autonomously functional, so you can cast one app to a TV or monitor while using your phone for something entirely different. The whole system is extremely flexible and works surprisingly well. Props to nubia for that.

On the Chinese version of the tablet, Game Space is supposed to offer Steam Direct Connection to play your Steam games directly, but here, there is no trace of the feature. Instead, you could use a third-party app such as GameHub, or use the Steam Link streaming app to stream games from your own PC.

Steam Emulation in third-party app GameHub works well

Performance and benchmarks

The RedMagic Astra 2 uses one of the most powerful Android chips on the market - the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 platform. It is bested only by the higher-clocked Leading version of same chip, which we recently saw in action inside the most recent RedMagic 11S Pro.

The Astra 2 tablet has regular version of the Elite Gen 5 - model number SM8850-AC - and it is the same one inside most phones and tablets that use the Elite Gen 5 model.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is based on a 3nm manufacturing process and features 2x4.6 GHz Oryon V3 Phoenix L and 6x3.62 GHz Oryon V3 Phoenix M cores.

Adreno 840 is your GPU inside the Astra 2.

The main chipset is aided by the dedicated RedCore R4 gaming chip, which tackles things like framerate stability and gaming graphics upscaling.

The available memory configurations are 12GB/256GB and 16GB/512GB (ours). All options run on UFS 4.1 PRO storage chips.

The Astra 2 does not offer a cellular option.

And now, let's run some benchmarks.

Quite expectedly, the RedMagic Astra 2 is a chart-topper. It offers a massive performance improvement over the first Astra.

Looking at these numbers, it's safe to say that the Astra 2 is one of the most powerful tablets out there.

Thermal throttling test

The Astra 2 cooling solution is unique - there is a massive VC chamber, a piece of liquid metal, as well as a liquid cooling system on top of everything. Together, those three should offer some pretty good sustained performance, but unfortunately, this wasn't the case.

During our stress test, the Astra 2 lost 50% of its CPU performance and 46% of its GPU speed on the stress tests we ran, a bit of disappointing results, we might say, for such a large device, especially with the upgraded cooling in mind.

CPU test • GPU test

We decided to put the CPU Throttle test and the 3D Mark app into the Game Space to see if it gives these apps an edge when it matters.

This allowed them to return better stability scores, especially for GPU - 72%. But as it turned out, the tablet just capped the maximum performance, and instead of 7000+ points, we got a peak of 5000+, which is lower than even the RedMagic Astra.

GameSpace GPU throttling test

As it turns out, this approach by Game Space heavily optimizes everything that goes through it for maximum sustained performance. We spent hours trying out several different games, and we are quite happy with the frame rate stability.

Overall, we still think that there is nothing out there that comes close to the RedMagic Astra 2's for gaming. It's not just the high-tier silicon inside but also the general feel, the portable form factor, and the display quality and responsiveness. The Game Space environment also seems to make a real difference in stability.