I’ve had the opportunity to review a couple of RedMagic phones so far, and each iteration proves to be faster than before. If you haven’t heard of RedMagic before, their primary target is mobile gaming, a segment they serve pretty well.
Estimated reading time: 13 minutes
Our RedMagic 6S Pro review looks at the latest gaming smartphone from the company, which offers up ultimate mobile gaming performance with a few improvements over their last smartphone. Read on for our full review and see why it earned an Editor’s Choice award of 2021 here at Techaeris!
Table of contents
Specifications
The RedMagic 6S Pro gaming smartphone we reviewed has the following features and specifications:
| Model | NX669-S-3 |
| Display | • 6.8-inch FHD+ (2400 x 1080) AMOLED, 20:9 aspect ratio, up to 165Hz refresh rate, up to 720Hz touch sampling rate • 700 nits max brightness • SGS Certification low blue light for eye comfort • 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass • 100% DCI-P3 Color Gamut • 1,000,000:1 (typical) contrast ratio |
| CPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ 5G, up to 2.95GHz |
| GPU | Adreno 660 |
| Memory | 12/16GB LPDDR5 |
| Storage | 128/256GB UFS3.1 |
| Cooling System | • Turbo Fan with LED lighting • Area of Air-duct: 4000mm² • Air heat transfer: increased by up to 500% • CPU Max Cooling: 16℃ • Type: Centrifugal fan • Number of fan blades: 59 • Thickness of fan blades: 0.1mm • Tested life: 30,000 hours • Speed: 20,000 RPM • Material: Aircraft-grade aluminum alloy • Weight: 1g • Vapor Chamber • High Thermal Conductivity Copper Foil • Thermal gel • Cooling Graphite Thermal Pad • Aviation Grade Aluminum Heat Sink • Cooling surface area: 21.6m² of thermal surface area |
| Rear Camera | • Sensors: S5KGW3+HI846+OV02A10 • Resolution: 64MP+8MP+2MP • Wide Angle: 78.3°+120°+78° • Pixel Size: 0.8μm+1.12μm+1.75μm • Aperture: F1.79+F2.2+F2.4 • Slow Motion: 1080P at 240fps, 720P at 480fps • Time-Lapse: Yes • Video: 8K resolution at 30fps, 4K at 60fps/30fps, 1080P at 60fps/30fps, 720P at 30fps |
| Front Camera | • Megapixels: 8MP • Pixel Size: 1.12μm • Aperture: 2.0 • Video: 1080P/720P at 30fps |
| Audio | Dual stereo speakers with dtsX Ultra |
| Connectivity | • SIM: dual SIMSA+NSA: compatible with both standalone and non-standalone modes • 5G: NR n41/n78//n77/n38 • 2G+3G+4G: GSM 2/3/5/8, WCDMA B1/2/4/5/8/19, CDMA/EVDO BC0/BC1, TD-LTE B34/B38/39/40/41, FDD-LTE B1/B2/B3/B4/B5/B7/B8/B20/B12/B17/B18/B19/B26 • Wi-Fi: WiFi 6E 2×2 MIMO • Bluetooth: Bluetooth 5.1 • Positioning: GPS, GLONASS • NFC: Yes • HDMI：Yes |
| Sensors | On-screen Fingerprint, G-sensor, Electronic Compass, Gyroscope, Proximity, Ambient Light Sensor, Sensor hub |
| Ports | USB 3.0 Type-C, DP, Dual nano-SIM slot, 3.5mm Audio Jack |
| Battery | 5050mAh |
| Quick Charging | • 30W quick charging, up to 66W quick charging with optional charger • Charge 0-100% in 65 minutes with the 30W charger |
| Special Functions | • Shoulder Trigger Buttons: 450Hz touch sampling rate, dual pressure touch buttons • Touchpad button on the back • RGB light with fully customizable light effects |
| Operating System | RedMagic OS 4.0 based on Android 11.0 |
| Material | Metal middle frame + glass back cover |
| Colour | Color: Cyborg 12+128 / Ghost 16+256 |
| Dimensions | 169.86 x 77.19 x 9.8mm (6.68 x 3.03 x 0.39″) |
| Weight | 220g (0.78oz) |
What’s in the box
- RedMagic 6S Pro gaming smartphone
- USB-C cable
- Power adapter
- Clear smartphone case
- SIM tray ejector
- Quick Start Guide
- Warranty information
Design
No doubt about it, the first thing you’ll notice about the RedMagic 6S Pro is the translucent back on the Ghost edition. While it looks similar to the RedMagic 6, the translucent back on half the device really adds to the sleek gaming phone look. When looking at the back, the left hand side is translucent, with gold wording for various components. The 20,000 RPM fan is visible as well, and when it is running, a blue, green, yellow, and red LED lights up, adding a bit of colour. The black strip remains down the center with the RedMagic wordmark in the middle, the RedMagic icon in red (with toggleable LED) near the bottom, and the triple rear-facing camera stacked at the top.
The phone’s left edge sees the return of the red dedicated game mode button, a fan grille, and the volume rocker. The right edge has the shoulder buttons, another fan grille, and the power button. The top edge retains the 3.5mm audio jack, while the bottom is where you’ll find the USB Type-C charging port, dual-SIM card slot, and a speaker grille.
Of course, the front of the device is where you’ll find the display screen with relatively thin side bezels and slightly thicker top and bottom bezels. Another speaker grille with the front-facing camera offset to the right is along the top.
With the RedMagic 6R, the company took a step back with design (in my opinion). The camera bump made it awkward to hold while gaming if not using shoulder buttons, and there was no dedicated game mode button. Thankfully, the RedMagic 6S Pro reverts to the company’s tried and true design. The camera is back in the middle, and the dedicated game mode button makes its return. At the end of the day, I feel like the 6R is more suited for non-gamers who want a phone with top-of-the-line specs at a more affordable price point.
Display
The RedMagic 6S Pro has a 6.8″ FHD (2400×1080) AMOLED screen with a maximum refresh rate of 165Hz and up to 720Hz touch sampling rate. It also features a maximum brightness of 700 nits and 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage. These specs sound great on paper for gamers, and the display does deliver. Colours are rich and full, the display is visible in practically every lighting condition, and the adjustable refresh rate ensures smooth performance. As for refresh rate, users can toggle between 60, 90, 120, and 165Hz.
While it is a larger screen and only at a 1080p resolution, text and images are still crisp and clear. As with most phones, you can adjust the font size, enable dark mode, and choose between normal, vivid, natural, P3, or sRGB colour gamuts, and even colour temperature to suit your preferences.
Software
Initially, there were some minor issues with the software as shipped. However, once the second final production version hit our review unit, RedMagic had resolved those issues. I mention that as a reminder that you should always make sure that your software is up to date to minimize or fix any issues you have.
That out of the way, the 6S Pro gaming phone runs RedMagic OS 4.0 based on Android 11.0. When setting up the device, it defaults to the older 3-button navigation system, but it is easy enough to switch to the new gesture navigations. The interface is also skinned with custom icons and default widgets for toggling the game fane, reporting daily game time, and even one for measuring your heart rate through the fingerprint scanner. One cool feature about the OS is that it does require you to enter your password every 72 hours for additional security if you have the fingerprint login enabled.
The default browser is NextWord Browser which has some features which most users aren’t that familiar with. I think you’re better off ditching it and using Edge, Chrome, or another browser of your choice. Other default apps include the Google suite, Calendar, Clock, Weather, File Manager, Contacts, NotePad, Calculator, and Voice Recorder. Most of these can easily be replaced with the official Google or other apps if you desire.
The one app you will likely use is the Game Space Center. When the dedicated game button is toggled on, the Game Space Center launches. Not only does this give you easy access to installed games, but it lets you customize network settings, anti-mistouch, notifications, and even add plugins to assist with your games. When enabled and in a game, swiping twice from the upper corners will cause an overlay to slide in. This overlay gives you access to performance modes and stats, toggles for the fan, recording, refresh rate, brightness adjustments, and many other toggles to provide distraction-free gaming.
As far as Android updates go, the 6S Pro was updated to the August 2021 security update when this review was published. We’ve reached out to the company to see if we can get more information on their update timelines.
Performance
If you’re marketing a phone as a gaming device, you need top-of-the-line specifications. The RedMagic 6S Pro certainly delivers with its Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ 5G processor, 12 or 6GB of LPDDR5RAM, and 128 or 256GB of storage space. Our review unit came with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and it handled anything I threw at it with ease.
Games like Call of Duty: Mobile and Diablo: Immortal ran smooth and without issues. The 6S Pro is also great for Xbox Game Pass games, both touch- and controller-based games. With a bit of configuration, the shoulder and back touch buttons are useful, depending on the game you are playing. Of course, typical tasks like web browsing and other apps ran smoothly, and I didn’t encounter any lag whatsoever.
On the cooling side of things, the fan does help. When in gaming mode with the fan spinning, the phone will still get warm, but not overly and definitely not hot to the touch. I did try it with the fan off, and it gets hot depending on what game you are playing, so it is something that you’ll want to enable while gaming. The good news is you can set it up to turn on when you launch a game and turn it off when you’re done. In addition, you can enable the fan while charging for faster charging. One thing I will note, however, is that if you are in a quiet room and you can faintly hear the fan.
Sound Quality
The speaker placement on the 6R left something to be desired, as when you had the phone in landscape mode, your hands covered the speakers. With the 6S Pro, the speaker on the bottom, or right side when in landscape mode, is back towards the top. Coupled with the front-facing speaker on the top or left-side in landscape mode, it offers pretty loud and clear audio. There isn’t much bass here as with most phones, but the audio is more than adequate for gaming or watching videos.
Camera
On paper, the cameras on the RedMagic 6S Pro sound pretty decent. The rear-facing camera is a 64MP+8MP+2MP triple camera. The front-facing is an 8MP shooter. The cameras on the 6S Pro are decent enough for what most gamers would use it for in default mode. Pictures are pretty clear when viewed on the device and not bad when viewed on a computer. While I didn’t print any, they should be suitable for smaller prints as well. Photos in brighter light turn out better, but night mode isn’t too shabby. The camera also has plenty of features, including Star Trail, Starr Sky, Electronic Aperture, LightDraw, Slow Motion, MultiExposure, Time-Lapse, Clone, Freeze Frame, Pano, Macro, Portrait, Pro (manual) mode and more.
Camera sample photo gallery
Reception/Call Quality
The RedMagic 6S Pro offers up Wi-Fi 6 and 5G connectivity. I have a Wi-Fi 6 compatible modem in my house, and the phone is connected to it and operated just fine. With 5G, that is a bit of a different story, but that is due to the coverage in my area. Connectivity and speeds were fine when I was near a 5G tower. The phone fell back to 4G LTE connections with no issues when I wasn’t.
Battery Life
The RedMagic 6S Pro has a large 5050mAh battery. Under normal usage with the 60 or 90Hz refresh rate, it should easily last a couple of days. When you add in a few hours of gaming at higher refresh rates, it does chew up the battery a bit more. As far as battery drain while gaming, when the refresh rate was set to 120Hz, the battery depleted at a rate of about 15%/hr. The higher 165Hz refresh rate climbed slightly to about 20%/hr. Still, with a couple of hours of gaming a day and a higher refresh rate enabled all the time, I was able to get through the day with battery life to spare.
When you need to recharge the phone, you can get a full charge in just over an hour with the included 30W charger. If you pick up the optional 66W charger, you can cut that down in half. The company has also built in a Charge Separation feature that allows you to use your device directly from the power source while plugged in, which helps keep the phone cool and extends the battery’s lifespan.
Accessories
The RedMagic 6S Pro comes with a pre-installed screen protector and a clear phone case. The case itself isn’t much, but it does fit nicely and offers additional protection. The inside is lightly textured, presumably to provide some extra drop protection. The edges of the case are slightly frosted for added grip, and the cutouts are perfectly positioned (as one would hope with an OEM case). Finally, the corners of the case jut out slightly, which adds extra corner protection and helps with gripping the phone while being used in landscape mode.
While we were unable to test them out, there are also several other accessories for the device. These include an Ice Dock to keep your phone even cooler while gaming, a Pro Handle gaming grip, the 66W Power Adapter, an E-Sports Handle, a Pro Handle Protective Case, and a Type-C to Type-C cable with a right angle end.
Price/Value
Starting from US$599 for the 12GB/128GB Cyborg version, the RedMagic 6S Pro is a fantastic deal, given the specs and performance. Even $729 for the 16GB/256GB Ghost edition offers excellent value for the price. Even if you’re not a gamer, this is a solid-performing device well worth the price. And hey, with Black Friday around the corner, who knows, you might even be able to save yourself a few more dollars.
Photo Gallery
Wrap-up
The RedMagic 6S Pro gaming smartphone is an easy choice for an Editor’s Choice award here at Techaeris. It’s a solid-performing device with flagship specs, a smooth display, decent battery life, and fast charging. Great for everything from mobile games to Xbox Game Pass, if you game on the go, you should check this device out. Even if you’re not a gamer, the RedMagic 6S Pro offers excellent value.
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