Introduction and specifications:
The gaming smartphone segment is turning into very aggressive, with OEMs speeding to introduce their cutting-edge hardware and software tweaks, enhancing gaming overall performance. Nubia's crimson Magic series were specially profitable answers because of their enormously decrease charge and powerful hardware. No longer to mention their quirky active cooling system, that's normally associated only with pcs and laptops. Ever because crimson Magic three, the lively cooling fan has stuck round and stays one of the centerpiece features. And for a good reason. We found that it does help with sustained performance, that is crucial in the course of long gaming classes.
And another time, nubia says it has improved the gadget's ordinary airflow by way of 35% on top of the greater thermal-conductive passive cooling components. In the end, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 can generate quite a bit of warmth.
Speaking of the SoC, this is the main improve over the red Magic 6s. Similarly, we have extra reminiscence alternatives to choose from, starting from 8GB/128GB. However, we see the equal 165Hz, 6.Eight-inch AMOLED display used, in conjunction with probably the equal stereo audio system and digital camera setup.
ZTE nubia purple Magic 7 specifications at a look:
- Body: one hundred seventy.6x78.3x9.5mm, 215g; Glass the front, glass returned, aluminum body; strain touchy zones (500Hz touch-sensing), built-in cooling fan, Aviation aluminum middle body.
- Display: 6.Eighty" AMOLED, 1B colorations, 165Hz, seven hundred nits (typ), 1080x2400px resolution, 20:nine thing ratio, 387ppi.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM8450 Snapdragon eight Gen 1 (4 nm): Octa-middle (1x3.00 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3x2.50 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4x1.Eighty GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 730.
- Reminiscence: 128GB 8GB RAM, 128GB 12GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 256GB 16GB RAM, 256GB 18GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM; u.S.Three.1.
- OS/software program: Android 12, Redmagic five.Zero.
- Rear digital camera: huge (foremost): 64 MP, f/1.8, 26mm, 1/1.Ninety seven", zero.7µm, PDAF; extremely wide angle: eight MP, f/2.0, one hundred twenty˚, 13mm, 1/4.0", 1.12µm; Macro: 2 MP, f/2.4.
- Front camera: 8 MP, f/2.0, (wide), 1/four.0", 1.12µm.
- Video seize: Rear digital camera: 8K@30fps, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps; front digicam: 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 4500mAh; fast charging 120W, one hundred% in 17 min (marketed) - China, speedy charging 65W - global, power shipping 3.0.
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); NFC; 3.5mm jack.
An exciting trade-off to discover within the subsequent couple of pages will be the decrease in ordinary battery capability from five,050 mAh down to 4,500 mAh and the growth in charging velocity. As compared to the purple Magic 6s, that is. The brand new model can now do 65W with the aid of default for the worldwide market, at the same time as the chinese language option receives the one-of-a-kind 120W. The 6s from remaining yr capped at 30W, so it is satisfactory to peer the premium function of the pro version trickle all the way down to the vanilla variation.
Of course, one of the primary focuses of this review will be the new Redmagic 5.Zero software based totally on Android 12 and the gaming-specific functions it offers similarly to the pressure-sensitive shoulder triggers. They got an improve too, however greater on that later.
Unboxing the ZTE nubia pink Magic 7:
The handset is available in a groovy-searching container that includes the standard consumer manuals and a energy transport-compliant charger, which in go back means that the furnished cable is USB-C to USB-C.
There may be additionally a silicone case thrown in there, which perfectly blends with the general layout and, of course, would not obstruct the airflow of the cooling system.
Design and ergonomics:
Ever since the pink Magic 5G, nubia hasn't modified the overall design language a great deal. In fact, ultimate yr's crimson Magic 6s colours carried over to this year's crimson Magic 7 with exclusive names. The Eclipse Black and obvious options are just like the Obsidian and Supernova paint jobs. The brand new alternative is Pulsar, but we do not have that in our office proper now. Happily, we haven't held the obvious/Supernova before and arguably, this is the great version. It strikes a selected geeky word inside a number of us within the office.
And the pleasant element is that the obvious returned is definitely transparent. That does not suggest the whole thing you see via it's far the real deal. You can't probably see the CPU because it's blanketed. Still, its placement is honestly marked, and as a bonus, the cooling fan features a groovy RGB LED, which you can manage thru the software program. Nubia would not say what form of glass is used for the returned, however the the front one is marketed as Gorilla Glass five.
The camera island has been barely altered and is now larger but lies nearly flat with minimal protrusion. It would not motive the tool to wobble. Furthermore, there is an extra grille right above the chipset, probably contributing to the progressed airflow nubia is speaking about.
As we pass around the aspects, we come across more grilles. The intake vent is placed proper subsequent to the cooling fan at the right aspect, whilst the only at the left (and the only at the back) are used for exhaust. Besides, the extent rocker is placed at the left-hand side, and the power button is at the right. Their placement is pretty reasonable and is simple to attain with your thumb.
The SIM card tray is at the bottom, at the side of the bottom-going through speaker and the USB-C connector. Extensively, the SIM card tray can maintain best up to 2 SIM playing cards, no alternative for memory enlargement through microSD. The three.5mm audio jack finds its region on the pinnacle facet of the body.
On the left facet right above the volume rocker, we've got the fast transfer to recreation area, while the strain-sensitive triggers for gaming are at the proper side.
The entire body has fairly flat facets (except the corners), and it is product of anodized aluminum. Nubia mentions some thing about aviation-grade aluminum used for the middle frame, but that probable refers back to the frame in the telephone itself, no longer the outdoors frame.
Transferring onto the front, we see no modifications in any respect. Now not that this is a bad thing, no. The top and bottom bezels are a tad thicker by way of layout. You want that extra headroom to accommodate your thumbs while retaining the smartphone horizontally and gambling video games. Minimizes unintentional touches and leaves a piece more room for a powerful speaker at the top that also doubles as an earpiece. There aren't any cutouts that obstruct the viewing revel in, and all sensors, inclusive of the selfie camera, are accommodated at the top bezel.
However similar to its predecessors, the pink Magic 7 is an unwieldy smartphone. Measuring 9.5mm in thickness and going up to 170mm in height, the handset is not intended for one-handed use. Now not to mention it weighs 215 grams. The concern is to have a huge, unobstructed gaming enjoy, and we consider nubia nailed it. Sure, the rounded back helps with the grip, and we have been amazed by way of the no longer-so-slippery nature of the chassis. The hard-to-spot smudges at the again are an advantage as well. Nevertheless, coping with on a every day foundation with one hand might be no easy task.
Unobstructed and speedy 165Hz AMOLED display:
On paper, it seems that the red Magic 7 makes use of the same panel as the purple Magic 6S and sixty five seasoned. We meet the same 6.8-inch AMOLED panel with 1080 x 2400ps decision and going up to 165Hz refresh rate. One of the fastest inside the enterprise and the 720Hz contact sampling charge the usage of numerous hands. The outcomes from our checking out also recommend that the crimson Magic 7 is recycling the antique panel. Now not that there may be some thing incorrect with that.
We were given as much as 527 nits of maximum brightness in manual mode, that is a piece a long way from the marketed 700 nits however more importantly, we're disappointed to look the automated boost in brightness absent again. For numerous generations now, the pink Magic collection has been missing the a good deal-needed brightness increase in auto mode, and as a result, the display falls brief of presenting flagship-grade max brightness.
It is a mixed bag on the subject of color accuracy, even though, as we see a good sized improvement during the last technology, yet not one of the presets offered an notable coloration duplicate. They have been all a piece off, with the whites and grays' maximum outstanding trouble. They'll constantly appear slightly blue-ish no matter what. Thankfully, there's a colour temperature wheel so you can alter it to your liking.
As earlier than, HDR isn't always supported on a few apps, inclusive of Netflix, as an example. The software program reports HDR10 compliance, and we found it to work on YouTube, however we could not even down load Netflix. Perhaps the smartphone's current launch is the purpose why Netflix nonetheless hasn't delivered the purple Magic 7 to the listing of supported devices.
HRR manipulate:
The way nubia manages all the ones hertzes is also a blended bag. Setting the display's refresh charge to 165Hz would ensure that every one system menus and most gadget apps run smoothly at 165Hz. However, maximum of the third-birthday celebration apps we tried were locked at either 60 or 90Hz. Instagram and Chrome, for instance, failed to go past 60Hz. The best news is that the device recognizes YouTube as a video participant and tones all the way down to 60Hz, however the default Gallery is going for walks at 90Hz even if playing a full-display video.
Battery life:
Coming from the purple Magic 6 and 6s collection, the vanilla pink Magic 7 downgrades the battery from five,050 mAh right down to 4,500 mAh. A massive decrease which can very much cause reduced persistence. And the effects display for it. The overall patience rating of 89 hours and we determined that 3G talk time and video playback runtimes are basically to blame right here. At least the web surfing rating hasn't long gone down all that a lot, which wasn't so terrific, initially.
Charging speed:
This 12 months's global variation comes with a right 65W charger, and as earlier than, it's compliant with the USB strength delivery fashionable. And perhaps because of the smaller battery, the red Magic 7 charges faster than its predecessors despite the fact that all of them guide as much as 65W charging. Inside the first 30 minutes, the charger replenished ninety nine% of the battery, but it took greater 8 mins to reach the absolutely charged fame.
As earlier than, nubia makes use of pink Magic 7's cooling fan to reduce the warmth while charging the handset and potentially improve charging overall performance. However, we failed to note any distinction in either course when switching at the fan. We simplest observed a moderate lower in floor temperatures however no longer to a substantial degree.
Speaker:
As always, pink Magic 7's speakers are incredible. The same old setup is at hand - a bottom-firing speaker and one on the pinnacle of the display doubling as an earpiece. The balance is right and the maximum loudness has been rated "terrific". At -22.7 LUFS, that is one of the loudest smartphones we've held.
And the sound first-rate is pretty excellent too as long as you do not blast the speakers. Preserving them inside slight volumes will ensure there is no distortion within the highs and you will nonetheless get deep lows for that fuller sound.
Redmagic five.0 on pinnacle of Android 12:
The Redmagic five.Zero software program is not very distinct from the older Redmagic four.Zero iteration. The aesthetics are very familiar in case you've used purple Magic's UI before. But coming from vanilla Android, you will ought to get used to the exclusive short toggles within the notification coloration and the completely revamped iconography within the widespread Settings menu.
Regrettably, the awkward translations have not been constant, or a number of the new capabilities haven't been translated nicely, making the software experience experience "beta".
That turned into the horrific, so now allow's get to the good, starting with the Android 12-intrinsic capabilities. The so-referred to as privacy Dashboard has been blanketed in nubia's maximum current software program, however to our surprise, it failed to display up inside the Settings' search. Anyway, the privacy Dashboard works like virtual wellbeing, but it's about permissions and facts approximately how frequently apps are getting access to your user statistics. One of the standout functions is the capacity to present an approximate area to a few apps in preference to your genuine location.
For a closer have a look at Android 12, we advocate analyzing our full Android 12 evaluation.
We're satisfied to file that nubia has introduced a short shortcut to App data in the context menu whilst preserving down on an app on the house display screen. This selection wasn't available before and become pretty stressful.
Redmagic UI allows you to cut back apps into small, interactive home windows. Of path, now not all apps guide the feature and you have to open the notification colour and faucet on the free Window toggle at the same time as an app is within the foreground. You can not resize the app's window - you could best circulate it around the display. It makes for easy multi-tasking, but you always need to open the notification shade to enter that mode every time. And you cannot put a couple of app right into a small window.
ZTE's telephones have usually had unique attention to their continually-on display capability. The pink Magic 6 does not fall in the back of in this regard as well as it has tons of customizable clock patterns and presets on the way to pick out from. You can even set looping, cool-looking GIFs and motion pictures. Naturally, this would consume more power.
Recreation area and other gaming capabilities:
The brand new game area has been hugely stepped forward at the side of the in-sport overlay. The latter can now show CPU and GPU frequency and you can now reveal your actual-time FPS as well. The higher integration with some messaging apps, including Discord, is much liked. There is short access to the ones supported (WhatsApp, facebook and Telegram are at the listing) and opens up a small window, which you can move around, open in complete-display screen or resize.
The sidebar now appears more subtle and you could scroll the short toggles. They had been pretty restrained remaining time we used recreation area.
A few additional game space capabilities and settings may be found in the game area center by means of tapping on the icon in the higher-right corner. A quick summary of how tons and which games you've got performed recently is to be had, manipulate community settings, personalize barrage messages (pretty neat function to read your texts even as in-game).
A new set of features that look like supported in nearly all video games can be found within the strength Base menu at the bottom of the sport area's home screen. A big choice of plugins. One among them provides a customized crosshair in shooters or even zooms in at the crosshair. A accessible countdown for your enemy's cooldowns on sure spells and capabilities is also to be had. We will surely see a number of those features providing you with some competitive benefit.
An underneath-the-hood gaming-associated function is the so-referred to as smart recreation that intelligently controls the smartphone's temperature with the aid of ramping up the cooling fan whilst needed and additionally analyzes the sport's abilties to match an ok refresh price. It doesn't say that it's doing a proper variable refresh rate. It just chooses among the usual 60, 90, 120 and 165Hz steps that the display gives.
This option is still referred to as contact Choreographer, going through nubia's press release, and it says it has been advanced even further. The display's refresh charge is adjusted dynamically and in real-time, but we're nonetheless no longer satisfied that it can make incremental steps by 1 or 10Hz. It likely simply chooses the most appropriate refresh rate from the prevailing HRR steps. All in all, nubia claims that the brand new touch Choreographer ought to enhance body balance via up to 50%.
But through far, the high-quality gaming function would be the shoulder triggers. Even extra responsive than before (the distinction is as an alternative negligible, even though), they provide a really satisfactory revel in for racing and primary-character shooter video games. It is so much better to have some physical keys for positive controls all through gaming. The software helps you to map certain controls to the triggers and alter the pressure sensitivity to keep away from mistouches.
Synthetic benchmarks:
The crimson Magic 7 has the respect of being one of the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 1-powered smartphones to enter our office. The chipset's CPU is based totally on ARM's new Cortex-X2, Cortex-A710 and Cortex-A510 cores. Respectively, these core clusters are 1x Kryo high @three.Zero GHz, 3x Kryo Gold @2.Five GHz and 4x Kryo Silver @1.Eight GHz. The Adreno 730 GPU clocked at 818 MHz takes care of the graphically-intensive duties. The entire chip is primarily based on Samsung's 4nm 4LPE production method promising further strength financial savings from last 12 months's Snapdragon 888 collection.
An advanced inner X65 modem is also on board helping download/add speeds of 10 Gbit/s/3 Gbit/s over 5G.
The pink Magic 7 materials the SoC with various memory options ranging from 8GB/128GB up to 16GB/512GB. The garage is, of route, u.S.3.1 with no option for expandability through a microSD card.
We ran the same old benchmark exams to look how tons the red Magic 7 has progressed over its predecessors in phrases of raw performance as well as compare it against the competition from Samsung. Alas, we do not have facts for MediaTek's Dimensity 9000 on the time of writing this review.
Within the pure CPU benchmark, Geekbench, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 takes a tremendous lead over this year's Exynos 2200 chip and last year's Snapdragon 888+ in the Asus ROG smartphone 5s pro. In both, unmarried and multi-core checks, the SD 8 Gen 1 overtakes the relaxation by means of approximately five-6%.
However, in the blended AnTuTu nine take a look at, the chipset takes a greater assured lead with a nine% difference over the Exynos 2220.
The GPU-in depth exams advise of even greater performance soar beating the Xclipse GPU in the Exynos 2200 through 36% in some instances.
It is glaring that the crimson Magic 7 utilizes the Snapdragon eight Gen 1 to the fullest, beating the opposition fairly clean in GPU-bound workloads while posting a modest lead over the Exynos 2200 in strictly CPU-bound assessments.
Sustained performance:
Packing a effective chipset beneath the hood is not enough. You need a operating cooling strategy to hold stable and sustained performance during lengthy gaming classes. Well, this is meant to be crimson Magic's specialty as it capabilities a completely unique cooling fan. This 12 months's iteration boasts a 35% improvement in air extent, likely thanks to the additional exhaust vent at the returned.
The cooling fan itself caps at 20,000 RPM, and a metallic cover reduces the sound emissions. On this model, the fan blades are transparent, and an RGB LED ring sits underneath them, growing a groovy and flashy effect.
To assist with the cooling fan, nubia has used composite graphene and "area-grade substances" for better warmth dissipation. There's also an aircraft-grade aluminum used for the center body, a VC warmness sink attached to it, which in turn is glued to the chip using high thermal conductivity gel. There is also a copper coil someplace interior.
To position the new chip and cooling device to the test, we ran an hour-lengthy CPU strain take a look at because this is the main contributor to the heat inside the SoC. We first did the take a look at with out the cooling fan, let the handset cool off and then rerun it with the cooling fan set to maximum.
We have been pleased to see that even with out the cooling fan on, the passive cooling solution does a quite exact task of retaining excessive clock speeds. The overall performance curve is rather clean and not using a massive dips. The handset throttled right down to 87% of its most performance but simplest for some quick moments. If we attempt to bet, the telephone may be able to preserve a pretty easy overall performance after an hour of gameplay. It truly is a high-quality improvement over last yr's crimson Magic 6s seasoned, which changed into quite precise at sustained performance as properly.
High refresh rate gaming:
We used Android 12's integrated refresh fee counter alongside recreation area's integrated FPS counter to determine which video games in reality run at extra than 60fps. Regrettably, for the most part, games ran at 120Hz, however the real FPS counter showed 60fps. We tried pretty a bit AAA titles such as Garena loose hearth, Genshin effect, cell Legends, arena of Valor, Asphalt 9, real Racing 3 or even PUBG mobile. They have been all locked up to 60fps, whilst Garena loose hearth and PUBG required a few extra tweaking of their respective settings menus to go from 30 to 60fps.
There were some games that applied the HRR display to some degree. Name of responsibility cell were given up to 90fps, Air pressure 1945 got all of the 165Hz in addition to Sky force: Reloaded and actual Racing three.
Regrettably, we're nonetheless far faraway from proper HRR gaming on Android phones, but the efforts are major. Nevertheless, be organized for most people of video games now not so that you can saturate that rapid 165Hz display.
Trendy triple-camera combination with 64MP predominant camera:
For but some other year, nubia hasn't changed a aspect to its digital camera setup, so we can best wish for a better ISP coming with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 since the handset does not provoke with its digital camera overall performance in the first place.
However, we did observe a small alternate inside the main digital camera. The crimson Magic 6 used a 64MP, 1/1.72", 0.Eightµm sensor paired with f/1.Eight aperture, however this year, the sensor length is extensively smaller at 1/1.Ninety seven" and the pixel size has reduced to zero.7µm. So here's another reason to pray for a higher ISP.
For the ultrawide snaps, we've got a common 8MP sensor with 1.12µm pixels and is 1/4.Zero" in size. The aperture is f/2.Zero. And the macro camera is 2MP with fixed attention.
The the front uses the equal sensor because the ultrawide digicam however has a trendy huge lens with f/2.Zero aperture. A bit underwhelming given that every one competition use a chunk larger selfie cameras.
Digicam menus:
The digicam menu is business as standard. Camera modes switch with a simple swipe left and proper in a carousel formation. The extra settings menu is positioned within the upper-proper corner of the viewfinder, and the devoted seasoned mode offers quite a piece of settings to tinker with.
Matters we located thrilling. While capturing macro, you get a small magnifier, which you may pass across the viewfinder, but more importantly - it has recognition peaking. It lets in you to hit the right focusing distance rather than guessing. We determined this feature to be particularly useful seeing that there may be no autofocus support. We needed greater OEMs doing non-AF macro cameras to do that.
We best desire that the macro camera receives a toggle of its personal. Interestingly, the pro mode works not most effective with the primary digicam however also with the ultrawide and macro.
Daytime samples
Primary digital camera:
The principle digicam's processing is nearly similar to last 12 months's pink Magic 6 and 6s collection. It is sort of exceptional, but we were watching for greater in a way. The new red Magic also tends to go for a darker publicity, even though the dynamic range is huge enough to remedy masses of detail in the shadows. The better evaluation in all snap shots makes the colour appearance a tad juicier than real lifestyles. Some may just like the look, a few may not, it's for you to determine.
Low-mild samples
Primary camera:
We low-key expected at the least a little improvement in the low-mild situation over the past generation, however all we see is a slightly darker exposure, which balances out the clipped highlights from earlier than. Colours are punchier, even though the general softness and the dearth of quality element plague the nighttime samples. At least there may be no longer too much noise.
Photos:
At the same time as we favored remaining yr's pix, this yr, the red Magic 7 cannot get a "nice" score even. Regardless of exact light, the challenge seems gentle, with faded pores and skin, and the faux bokeh effect is hard round the rims.
Selfies:
The 8MP sensor is as an alternative proscribing, so as a result, snap shots are as a substitute smooth and absence detail. The colours are a bit washed out, and there is hardly any exceptional element to spot. As earlier than, we observed that most of our selfie samples grew to become out quite blurry. Speakme of blur, there's a committed Portrait selfie mode, however this one did not paintings on our unit.
Video recording:
Much like each flagship phone inside the last couple of years, the red Magic 7 supports up to 8K video recording or even 4K HDR movies too. EIS is also supported on as much as 2160p@30fps films. Permit's begin with the 4320p video first.
This 12 months's pink Magic 7 is going for a slightly warmer shade temperature and provides a touch bit extra coloration to its motion pictures. A step in the right course from closing yr. In phrases of sharpness, however, it appears all of the equal, and in case you have an 8K television to enjoy the content, the 4320p video mode may come in available. We noticed a few clipped highlights in the distance, however to be fair, the situations were a chunk intricate, so basic, the handset did a respectable process of balancing the highlights and shadows.
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