This is the RedMagic 6R - R stands for RACING - a decently priced gaming phone, that is
less flamboyant and more unpretentious while showcasing specs that only named flagships
can brag in the country club of top tier prices.
This 6.7 inch AMOLED 144HZ, Snapdragon 888, liquid-cooled smartphone with dedicated shoulder
triggers and 5G connectivity sits comfortably in any pocket at a price twice as low as some
of its biggest rivals.
Let's be clear - I’m an iPhone user and I’ve always been part of the sheep herd,
so as soon as I got delivery of this RedMagic device, my bias kicked in and I was ready
to write it off for the most obvious of downsides, like the bottom-firing speaker and the camera
for example, but at some point during my testing, I felt weird...because it has started to grow
on me.
Let me explain...
As I break down this smartphone I will be pointing out its downsides or compromises
to be more precise and in the end, I’ll tell you what annoys me most and what I wish
the company hasn’t settled with.
So, the display of this smartphone is one of its biggest selling points.
This 6.67 inch, 144Hz adaptive refresh rate display is a joy to stare at and absorb during
Netflixing and gaming and despite being only full HD in resolution, 4k content is definitely
not something that most people would miss.
The 10-bit Color Depth and 100% DCI-P3 panel, combined with the smoothes that the high-refresh-rate
panel provides will help anyone immerse into the content at hand.
This display being adaptive means that it will lock to the optimal rate in accordance
with the game that is being played and 360Hz touch-sampling rate will guarantee ultra-fast
touch and precise response, especially in competitive titles.
What I would ask more here is brightness.
770 nits are plenty bright indoors, but outside is not enough.
In the shade it’s manageable, but in bright daylight, it’s something to seek.
This is my first device with an under-display fingerprint sensor, I think…I may be wrong…am
I?!?
Anyway, it is easy to work with and this being a gaming phone with REDMAGIC OS 4.0 based
on Android 11.0 means that I can change the unlock animations and by the way do all sorts
of gaming UI tweaks to all the cool futuristic options available.
Unlocking it at night blinds me shortly, but at least I feel cool about it.
The performance of the 6R is nothing to complain about...I mean R stands for Racing after all.
Featuring the latest Snapdragon 888 and my device at hand having the baseline 8GB LPDDR5
and 128GB UFS3.1 storage there’s plenty of output to play even the most demanding
of titles on the PlayStore (should you have the patience to go through all the additional
download screens and boring tutorials).
Similar specs are to be seen on pretty much all the popular flagship phones out there
but in many cases not at that cost.
This device is less expensive than the OnePlus 9.
All this power means nothing when the cooling is not enough to support it during longer
gaming segments and the Graphite + VC Liquid Cooling + Thermal Conductive Gel + Copper
Foil + Metal Mid-frame marketing lingo seems to be doing a decent job.
After few hours here and there going through popular titles, I felt little heat on the
back but nothing that can bring discomfort or lead to stutters of the game.
Silky smooth performance on the highest of specs in most cases.
Rocking the Snapdragon 888 means that 5G is here as well…although, I still can’t test
it given my location.
The built of this phone is fantastic.
The front and back glass are sandwiched tastefully and nice to hold.
In fact, this device is very manageable without the provided case, despite the large display
and footprint.
It comes in two colours, silver and this black and the gaming hints are very subtle, making
it great even for the non-gamers out there.
No RGB mumbo jumbo and just the right amount of branding for a gaming device.
The darker colour attracts fingerprints but it’s not as bad as some other devices I’ve
seen and it’s very easy to wipe off on a cotton shirt shoulder.
I am not particularly a fan of the volume buttons being on the right side right next
to the power button, but there’s a reason for that.
When playing games, having access to the volume control on the same side where you have the
shoulder triggers is definitely well thought out.
While mentioning the shoulder triggers, this is yet another feature that is not common
on standard devices.
The 400Hz sampling rate, capacitive touch shoulder triggers that can be mapped to pretty
much any game are very helpful, especially in competitive titles, pretty much eliminating
the need for using a controller…although I’m still not that good at smudging the
screen when moving around.
The Game Space interface is what makes this phone special.
This is the gaming hub or the command and control centre, where you can launch titles
and bring up all sorts of settings during any gameplay, like switching the refresh rate,
adding on-screen aiming assistant, make recordings and measure and change the performance of
the device, like enabling Super Performance, which brings out the most out of the internals
of the device and makes me want to put a special band on my forehead to really dive in the
game that I’m playing.
This device starts at 499 euros and I believe 499 dollars in the US and for that, you get
the usual package, with 30Watts fast charge brick, condom style useless case and a dongle
to plug in a 3.5mm headphones should you decide to do that…oh, and it also has a pre-applied
screen protector.
And the topic of the dongle brings me to the shortcomings or downsides of this phone.
There are 4 things that you CANNOT expect from this device.
First is wireless charging, which at this price can be easily expected, second, the
brightness of the screen which I mentioned at first, third is the single bottom-firing
speaker and last is the so-called 64MP Ultra HD AI Quad camera combo.
Give me a sec: (take a deep breath) Equipped with a 64MP
main camera, an 8MP ultra-wide, 5MP macro and 2 MP depth of field one, this phone has
too many cameras to deliver something exceptional.
I’ve always said, that such narrowly focused devices should focus on the MVP, which is
the gaming aspect of this phone and add just one SINGLE sensor, maximum 2, that can deliver
something decent, without wanting to be something that it’s not.
Don’t get me wrong, it does the job just fine….but not more that fine and it has
so much more potential given the Snapdragon 888.
SHOW SOME PHOTOS (20 seconds) Nevertheless, the camera is not the most disappointing
thing about this device to me.
The most irritating thing is the single bottom-firing speaker and not because it is single, but
because as soon as I grab the phone to play and use the shoulder triggers, I immediately
block it…and by block it, I mean where-did-the-sound-go-mate block it.
Rotating the phone does allow for some sound flow, but then my shoulder triggers are upside
down…how did that happen?
And also, let me play you the default ringtone of this dedicated cool gaming phone -
Let me try another one…
And another one…
Does that sound like a badass gaming ringtone?
All jokes aside, this is a good all-around device for its price, and I love it when it
rhymes.
I wish it had decent speakers and better cameras, but that may be something to expect in the
future from the company…should they decide to send me another phone after this video.
If you have any questions, list them in the comment section below or ping me on Twitter,
As always, it’s been an absolute pleasure, This is E,
Over and out