Redmagic Astra Review: Compact Tablet Challenges the iPad Mini

The Redmagic Astra gaming tablet enters the market with a tempting promise: to deliver the performance of a high-end Android smartphone in an ultra-compact 9-inch form factor. After several weeks of use, does this Chinese tablet really stand out against established competition?

As a long-time user of the iPad mini and a previous owner of a Google Nexus tablet (yes, remember those?), I particularly appreciate this intermediate size that comfortably fits alongside a slightly more compact smartphone. The concept is straightforward: to have a larger, more comfortable screen for watching movies, taking notes, or gaming without draining the battery of your primary phone.

Technical Details: Premium Features in a Compact Form

The Redmagic Astra immediately impresses with its robust specifications. Its Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, coupled with up to 24 GB of LPDDR5T RAM and 1 TB of UFS 4.1 Pro storage, puts this tablet on par with the market’s most powerful smartphones. This configuration significantly surpasses the iPad mini 7 and its 8 GB of RAM.

The 9.06-inch OLED display is arguably the most impressive specification of the tablet. With its 2.4K resolution (2400 x 1504 pixels), a refresh rate of up to 165 Hz, and a maximum brightness of 1600 nits, it technically surpasses the LCD display of the iPad mini. Full coverage of the DCI-P3 color space ensures true and vibrant colors, particularly beneficial for HDR content.

The tested example was provided by Redmagic.

A Sleek Yet Imperfect Design

Build and Ergonomics

The Redmagic Astra relies on an aluminum chassis that provides excellent rigidity despite its 6.9 mm thickness. Weighing 370 grams, it is slightly heavier than the iPad mini (293 g) but still comfortable for extended use. The glass covering, protected by Gorilla Glass, offers a pleasant grip, though it can occasionally feel a bit slippery.

The arrangement of ports and buttons reveals some interesting choices. The power button with an integrated fingerprint sensor is located on the left side in landscape mode, which may require some getting used to depending on orientation. Fortunately, facial recognition works reliably and compensates for this ergonomic quirk.

Redmagic has opted for a simple and elegant design, avoiding the usual gaming excesses of the brand. The 45 mm borders are reasonable for a tablet of this size, and the lack of a camera bump allows for a perfectly flat positioning on a desk. The subtle RGB lighting on the back can be customized or turned off.

The build quality is truly confidence-inspiring: no creaking during twist tests, precise assembly, and meticulous finishing. The IP54 certification offers basic protection against water splashes and dust, a nice additional feature.

Display and Image Quality

The OLED display is undoubtedly the highlight of this tablet. The colors are bright, the blacks are deep, and the viewing angles are excellent.

So, how does it perform in practice? The Redmagic Astra delivers very good color performance, especially in “Normal Colors” mode with an average DeltaE of 1.78 (excellence threshold < 2). This value indicates that the displayed colors are nearly imperceptible to the naked eye compared to the reference. The maximum DeltaE of 2.88 remains within very acceptable limits.

With a maximum brightness of 639 nits, the display offers adequate readability outdoors, though it is not exceptional. This brightness is sufficient for everyday use but might show its limits under intense direct sunlight.

In terms of color coverage, the results reveal an sRGB/BT.709 coverage of 140%, which is excellent and guarantees vivid, saturated colors. The DCI-P3 coverage of 94% is particularly notable for a gaming tablet. The BT.2020 coverage of 63% remains average for the current market.

The HDR10+ and Dolby Vision certifications, although not listed in the official specs, are indeed present and top-notch. The Redmagic Astra benefits from the Widevine L1 certification, ensuring HD and 4K content playback on all streaming platforms (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, etc.).

Performance: Power at the Service of Gaming

Processor and Cooling

The Snapdragon 8 Elite unleashes its full power in this compact tablet. Benchmarks confirm the exceptional performance, placing it among the most powerful smartphones of the year.

This is quite rare in the tablet market, except for the iPad Pro and iPad Air. The AnTuTu score of 2.542 million points is truly impressive as well.

The 13-layer ICE-X cooling system, complemented by an active fan, keeps temperatures under control. During prolonged stress tests, the external temperature never exceeded 36°C, demonstrating the effectiveness of the thermal system.

The active fan, though it may seem superfluous on a tablet, effectively contributes to thermal management. It operates quietly during normal use and is only audible during intensive charging phases. This technical solution helps maintain performance even during prolonged use. I must admit, it’s better than expected.

However, we conducted a one-hour CPU stress test to see how it behaves beyond a few minutes of extreme load.

Our test shows that the CPU maintained high performance (384 GIPS maximum) for a relatively short time. At the beginning of the test, the device is “cold” and can maintain 100% performance. But after a few minutes, heat builds up in the chassis, and the cooling systems reach their limits. The tablet will therefore reduce core clock frequencies to find a thermal balance around 52% of maximum performance (231 GIPS on average).

The observed throttling on the RedMagic Astra is actually totally normal and even desirable: after a few minutes of extreme stress testing, the CPU reduces its performance from 100% to 52% to avoid overheating, which is exactly what it should do to protect the components.

It’s not serious because a one-hour stress test does not reflect any real use – even the most intensive games never continuously strain the CPU at 100%, and the system quickly finds a stable balance rather than continuing to drop, even increasing performance afterwards, demonstrating good thermal management. In everyday use (gaming, applications, browsing), you will never encounter this level of throttling because these activities use the CPU intermittently with natural rest phases.

Despite this, one might imagine a better curve with so much effort put into cooling. Here, Redmagic seems to have prioritized heating, which might be the best thing.

Gaming Performance and Emulation

Games fully benefit from this impressive power. Genshin Impact runs perfectly smoothly at maximum quality, as do Call of Duty Mobile and PUBG Mobile.

But where this tablet really becomes exciting is in its ability to go beyond typical Android games. With such performance, one can venture into advanced emulation: retro consoles obviously run without a hitch, but even more recent systems like the Nintendo Switch via Yuzu yield very convincing results.

The most impressive remains PC emulation with Winlator, which allows running old Windows games directly on Android. I successfully tested several titles by slightly lowering the settings (HD definition). It’s quite feasible under decent conditions.

The 8200 mAh battery allows for really extended gaming sessions: expect about 5.5 hours on demanding games at maximum quality, which is more than enough for most users. The 66W fast charge (35W in Europe) enables a full recharge in 71 minutes, according to the manufacturer.

So, why 35W in Europe? It’s not due to any specific European regulation on charging power. Personally, I measured 49W at the peak of wired charging. Thus, it’s a strange point that deserves clarification from Redmagic.

Software: Between Richness and Complexity

Redmagic OS 10.5

Redmagic OS 10.5, based on Android 15, arrives with quite a few customizations and gaming optimizations that are quite interesting. The interface is decent, more subdued than previous versions, with fewer aggressive visual elements than before. However, some choices remain somewhat puzzling, especially the proliferation of preinstalled apps.

The interface includes many practical gaming features: dedicated gaming mode, performance optimization by game, specialized audio settings. The Game Space (accessible via the slider on the side) centralizes the game library and offers advanced settings for each title, which is quite well thought out.

Preinstalled Apps

The level of “bloatware” remains unfortunately quite high. The tablet comes with about fifteen third-party apps, including games, utilities, and even a dating app for over 50s (really!). Fortunately, most can be uninstalled or disabled quite easily.

Shortcuts to downloadable games also clutter the interface. It’s a bit too aggressive and detracts from the user experience, especially on a product sold at this price. But alas, it has unfortunately become quite common in the Chinese Android ecosystem.

Gaming Features

The physical Magic Key button is nice. Configurable via a slider switch, it allows for quick launching of the Game Space or other defined apps.

The options remain somewhat limited (camera, flashlight, voice recorder) but prove practical for everyday use.

Gaming optimizations include intelligent management of CPU/GPU, network prioritization, and notification suppression during gaming. These features, although now classic, remain effective for an optimal gaming experience without interruptions.

Updates and Support

Redmagic promises 5 years of software updates in Europe, including Android updates and security patches. This is a revolution at Redmagic, as we’re not used to having so much. The manufacturer seems serious about software support, which is reassuring compared to some competitors.

Price and Availability: Aggressive Positioning

The Redmagic Astra adopts a particularly aggressive pricing strategy. The 12 GB + 256 GB version starts at $499, while the maximum configuration of 24 GB + 1 TB peaks at €849. These prices place the tablet in direct competition with the iPad mini, sold at €609 for the 64 GB version.