a powerhouse Android gaming tablet

In the smartphone world, RedMagic is synonymous with top-tier mobile gaming. It’s responsible for one of this year’s best gaming phones, the RedMagic 9S Pro, and now it’s expanding into the tablet arena with the RedMagic Nova. However, it faces some stiff competition, with Apple, Samsung, Honor, and more all releasing new tablets in recent months.

While it might look like any other tablet from the outside, dig a little deeper, and it’s clear why RedMagic isn’t shying away from taking on the big names. It’s a performance beast, utilizing one of the best Android processors to offer a gaming experience that few can match at the $500 price point while still offering most of the multitasking and video streaming features you want from an iPad equivalent. Still, the question remains: how does the Nova directly compare to the picks on our list of the best gaming tablets? Let’s find out.

Price and availability

The RedMagic Nova gaming tablet is now available from the official RedMagic site. You can choose from either the 256GB+12GB or 512GB+16GB configurations, starting at $499 and $649, respectively. Whichever you go for, you should have more than enough space to store a collection of your favorite mobile games. In terms of colorways, it’s available in just Midnight, which is somewhere between grey and black.

Specs

Here are the RedMagic Nova’s specs:

Features and software

The RedMagic Nova runs on the brand’s own RedMagicOS Android 14 skin, which is a perfectly fine bit of software. It’s not as simplified and useable as Apple’s iPad iOS, but it’s also not as clunky as some of the other Android skins out there. Its theming is very gamer-centric, but you can customize that in the settings if you want it to feel less like you’re using a 14-year-old boy’s tablet.

In terms of bloatware apps, there aren’t loads, but you still have to do a bit of maintenance once you’ve set up the tablet (and whatever you do, don’t agree to download all the knock-off mobile games when you first load it up). It’s not anywhere as egregious as some of the examples of bloatware I’ve come across on phones like the Xiaomi 14T and Nubia Flip 5G, though, so I can hardly complain.

Moving on to gaming-specific software, there’s RedMagic’s Game Space, which I’m already used to having spent a bit of time with the RedMagic 9S Pro. With a game open, all you have to do is pull the Game Space overlay out from the left of the display, and you’re good to go. From here, you can record gameplay, turn off notifications, or boot up aim assist, all without taking yourself away from the action. There are plenty of other Game Space features, but the list is too long for this article.

Game Space is a great tool, but I still think there could be a few improvements. For a start, I’d rather know about my frame rates than GPU or CPU performance, and the software puts those details front and center. It’s also a bit complex, and I can see gamers who aren’t too bothered about the details just avoiding it altogether rather than risk the confusion of figuring out what all the different buttons and settings do. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing to have so much freedom to configure, but it might not be user-friendly enough for some.

Design and audio

Purely in terms of design, there’s not much that helps the Nova stand out when looking at its display. It’s by no means ugly, but it’s relatively plain and serves as a reminder that brands like RedMagic and Asus are leaving behind those sorts of edgy designs you might associate with gaming tablets and phones. There are no splashes of red across the bezels, stick-on flames, or instances of the word ‘gamer’ in graffiti anywhere on the front of the thing. I like the simplicity, but it might be a bit tame for some.

You can find a slightly interesting design feature on the rear, though. The tablet has a transparent section along the top of the back cover that looks like a window into the tablet’s inner workings and cooling system. I say looks like because there’s some trickery afoot, and you’re not truly looking at what you think you are. Still, it’s nice to see a brand try new things with the fairly rigid limitations of tablet design, even if you rarely see it.

While I’m keen on the Nova’s understated design, I wish RedMagic had added the same Game Space button to the pad that you can find on the 9S Pro cell phone. There’s something about flicking that switch and going into the Game Space overlay that gets you in the zone, but it’s not the same here. I’d also quite like a 3.5mm jack, as I still own a pair of reliable wired headphones for gaming, but I’ve had to use my lower-quality Bluetooth earbuds while testing.

On the subject of audio, the Nova has a pretty decent set of speakers, and they’re loud enough that you don’t have to connect to a Bluetooth speaker if you’re looking to listen to music or stream a film. The sound quality isn’t amazing, with some noticeable muddiness in the low-end compared to my 2021 iPad Mini, but considering the price point, you can’t have everything, and I’d rather find the audio a little flat than the visuals.

Display

The RedMagic Nova might have one of the best LCDs I’ve seen on a tablet, even if it’s still a bit disappointing that it’s not OLED. I’ve got a Nintendo Switch OLED, a Steam Deck OLED, and my day-to-day phone is an Honor Magic6 Pro, with, you guessed it, an OLED display. All of these devices have made me a bit of a screen snob, but the Nova still impresses; there’s just a little less depth of color than you might get from a tablet with an OLED.

The Nova’s 144Hz refresh rates aren’t just higher than anything we’ve seen from Apple’s iPad series but also beat out my Steam Deck, Switch, and Honor phone. This means that while the on-screen colors might not be quite as vivid as these OLED devices, the in-game action is as smooth as smooth gets, and I only had to play half an hour of Zenless Zone Zero to see this for myself. The jump from 120Hz to 144Hz isn’t massively noticeable, but if you put the two side by side, you can see that the higher refresh rate is a bit nicer on the eye.

However, the Nova’s display isn’t perfect. Its bezels are a little chunkier than I’d like. They’re not imposing, but I’ve seen similarly priced tablets with more screen retail estate, and that’s a pretty important factor when it’s a gaming-specific device like this. I want as much screen as possible, especially if I play something with tiny in-game text. Still, this isn’t a problem exclusive to this tablet, and the bezels are just as big on Apple’s newly announced iPad Mini.

It’s also worth pointing out that with a peak brightness of 550 nits, you might struggle using the Nova in direct sunlight, though I haven’t been able to put this to the test as I’m in the UK and it’s autumn, so it’s constantly gloomy. Oh well, all the more reason to spend more time gaming indoors. Poor me.

Performance

Given that the RedMagic Nova is a gaming-specific tablet, you’d hope this thing packs enough horsepower to make mobile gaming a delight. Good news; it does. That’s not much of a surprise considering it’s packing the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Leading Version chipset, a juiced-up version of the processor powering 2024’s best gaming phones, including the RedMagic 9S Pro.

When it’s time to test tablets and phones, I often use games like Honkai Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero to see whether I can push a device to its limits, as both are pretty performance-intensive, especially if you dial up to 60fps gameplay. The Nova takes these games in its stride, even in busy sequences with multiple characters on-screen. I doubt there’s a mobile game out there it can’t handle, and while I’ve not tried it myself, I’m sure it’s more than likely a monster when it comes to emulation, too.

Not only is the Nova a performance beast, but it also uses some pretty sophisticated cooling tech to ensure things never get too hot to handle. I’m not going to delve into the complicated details too much here, but the combination of a powerful internal fan and innovative cooling tube means your hands never get toasty while gaming. Better still, that fan never gets as loud as my Steam Deck OLED, which occasionally sounds like it’s readying for takeoff rather than trying to keep up with the demands of Baldur’s Gate 3.

Battery

The RedMagic Nova’s 10,100mAh battery is a mixed bag, as while you can tinker with the settings to make gaming all day without charging a possibility, it drains battery quicker in standby mode than any other Android tablet I’ve used. It’s 2024, and I’m not used to turning things off once I’ve finished with them for the day, so I’d often pick up the Nova the following morning with less battery than I anticipated. Still, I’d rather that than lose upwards of 30% battery in an hour while gaming, which isn’t a problem with the Nova.

In terms of charging time, the RedMagic tablet juices from flat back up to 100% in just under an hour, provided you’re using the charger from the box. You can’t argue with those speeds, and it’s much quicker than many Android tablet and iPad equivalents, even Apple’s 2024 flagship iPad Pro. If, like me, you always forget to put your device on charge until just as you’re getting ready to leave the house, a 25% boost from 15 minutes of charging is more than optimal.

RedMagic Nova cameras

The RedMagic Nova’s cameras are okay, and that’s about as excited as I can get about them. The 20MP selfie camera is solid enough for video calling, but if you’re a big selfie-taker, I’d recommend using your phone instead. Selfies I’ve taken lack a little definition, and while you could spend time editing them, that isn’t really what this is for.

On the back, the Nova has a 50MP lens, but don’t let that megapixel count fool you into thinking this is the same sort of camera quality you’d get on an Android flagship phone. Again, it’s not an awful camera, and you can capture some decent photos if the lighting is ideal, but it’s still not up to the standard as something you’d get on a mid-range or flagship smartphone.

Should you buy the RedMagic Nova gaming tablet?

If you’re looking for a tablet for the express purpose of gaming, I’d recommend the RedMagic Nova above all else. On just the gaming experience alone, you’d think this thing is much more expensive than its $500 price tag, beating out more expensive tablets and smartphones in the performance department. Add to that the lack of concerns around thermals, and there’s little better for a bit of Honkai Star Rail, PUBG Mobile, or Diablo Immortal. Pick your poison; the Nova can handle it.

However, if you’re looking for a tablet that doubles as a creativity station or selfie machine, there are better options. The same goes for anyone looking for a tablet just for a bit of streaming. In that regard, it’s a bit like buying a supercar that you’re only ever going to use for picking up groceries. Just grab a cheap second-hand iPad and be done with it.

Alternatives

If we haven’t sold you on the RedMagic Nova, check out our suggestions for alternatives below.

iPad Air M2

Apple is the tablet market leader for a reason, and while the Nova might be the best for gaming, the latest iPad Air takes the cake in almost every other department. Its iPadOS software is more user-friendly, and its Apple Pencil compatibility makes it a better option for anyone who wants to balance gaming with some creativity. The caveat is that it’s a bit more expensive, but there’s still plenty of value for money. If you want the full lowdown, check out our iPad Air review.

OnePlus Pad 2

If you’re looking for more of an all-rounder tablet, the OnePlus Pad 2 is another fantastic option. Your choice is here simple: if you want something for gaming, go for the Nova, but if you like to get creative, go for the OnePlus Pad 2. Both are almost exactly the same price and have similar LCD screens and Snapdragon chipsets, so it might ultimately come down to brand allegiances.