RedMagic has already established itself as a powerhouse in the gaming smartphone scene, but in recent years the company has started to expand its lineup. The focus, however, remains firmly on what the brand does best – gaming. Today, RedMagic’s catalog includes laptops, monitors, keyboards, mice, and one perhaps understated piece of hardware that’s found its way to our review desk – the RedMagic Astra gaming tablet.
Positioned halfway between the brand’s proven gaming phones and its still-maturing laptop efforts, the Astra immediately caught our attention. We were curious to see what kind of experience it could deliver – and whether this device could truly stand on its own, or if it’s simply a blown-up RedMagic phone repackaged in a larger form factor.
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DESIGN
RedMagic smartphones have always had that instantly recognizable look. One glance at the back, and you’d know it was either a RedMagic device or, at the very least, something unapologetically built for gamers. While some of the later flagships arguably went a bit overboard (the RedMagic 11 Pro, for instance, features a literal liquid cooling system visible through the rear panel), the Astra shows that RedMagic still knows how to restrain its gaming DNA without erasing it completely.
The tablet retains that familiar RedMagic flair with a small transparent window running across the back, revealing a glimpse of internal components and some tasteful, techy accents. On our review unit, the combination of black, rose-gold lettering, and dark metallic details creates an undeniably striking visual element. It’s complemented by a functional design highlight – a segment housing both the rear camera and a cooling fan with RGB lighting – which serves as the final flourish, turning the Astra into one of the most distinct-looking tablets out there.
Looks great and feels premium without going overboard on the gaming elements
Outside of that, minimalism rules the day. Apart from the branding at the center, the back is refreshingly clean – a rare balance of gaming personality and subtle elegance that few manufacturers manage to pull off.
Unlike the boxy, angular design of recent RedMagic phones, the Astra opts for smooth, rounded edges, and honestly, it makes me wish their smartphones would go back to this look. As someone who personally uses fairly large phones and 14-inch tablets, the Astra’s 9-inch form factor feels like a surprisingly perfect middle ground.
It’s thin, it’s light and it feels great to hold in your hands
The combination of solid aluminum construction, sleek minimalism, and just 7mm of thickness makes the Astra incredibly comfortable to hold. At 370 grams, it’s light enough not to tire your hands during long sessions, yet large enough to browse, work, or game without ever feeling cramped. It strikes that rare sweet spot – compact, but not compromised.
The aluminum frame has a matte finish, which gives it a premium feel but also makes fingerprints more noticeable on the black model. For that reason, even if you usually prefer darker devices, I’d suggest considering the white variant or investing in RedMagic’s magnetic folio case, sold separately, which doubles as a stand – a small but worthwhile addition that complements the Astra’s design perfectly.
The small window is really the standout design feature
When it comes to physical controls, the layout on the Astra is classic RedMagic with a few thoughtful tweaks. Along the top edge you’ll find the brand’s signature Game Space switch and the volume rocker, while on the right-hand side sits the power button, which doubles as a super-responsive fingerprint sensor. The USB-C port for charging is positioned on the opposite side, slightly offset to make it less intrusive during gameplay.
Both lateral edges feature a centrally placed speaker, forming a dual stereo setup. The sound itself is crisp and adequately loud, but it does lack some low-end punch. Still, the bigger issue lies in their placement. In portrait orientation, the speakers sit at the top and bottom, which means one of them is almost always covered by your leg or hand if the tablet rests in your lap. Rotate to landscape mode, and depending on the game, your palms may partially or fully block the grilles, forcing you to constantly adjust your grip or resort to Bluetooth headphones, since there’s no 3.5mm jack.
Certain accessories, such as third-party clip-on controllers, can also interfere with the speakers, further complicating things. I appreciate the aesthetic symmetry and the effort to center them for a balanced look, but in practice, this design choice sacrifices practicality for style – a rare misstep in an otherwise well-thought-out device.
Speakers are serviceable, but I wish they were positioned a bit better
I wouldn’t even be talking about controllers if it weren’t for one feature that’s noticeably absent – shoulder triggers. I feel the form factor here is more than compact enough to accommodate them, which makes their omission all the more surprising. Coming from RedMagic’s gaming phones, where the built-in triggers were one of the standout features and genuinely elevated the experience in games like Call of Duty Mobile, their absence on the Astra feels like a step backward. You’re once again left to rely on on-screen controls, which, while serviceable, simply can’t match the tactile precision and comfort that made those physical triggers such a defining part of RedMagic’s gaming DNA.
PERFORMANCE
Screen
The overall impression of the device improves even more the moment you power on the display. What you’re greeted with is an absolutely stunning 9.06-inch LTPO OLED panel at 2400×1504 resolution and a 165Hz refresh rate. Add to that 10-bit color depth, HDR10 support, and a peak brightness of 1,600 nits, and you get a screen that delivers an exceptionally vivid and high-contrast image, one that stays perfectly visible even outdoors under direct sunlight.
This. Screen. Is. Amazing.
Honestly, it’s a genuine delight to see a display this good on a tablet this compact. The moment I unboxed it, I spent a good twenty minutes just switching wallpapers – each one somehow looked better than the last. Needless to say, gaming on this screen is an absolute joy.
The 2000 Hz touch sampling rate elevates the experience even further as games react to every micro-movement of your fingers with surgical precision. Honestly, I’m not even sure how much higher touch sampling can realistically go and it feels like anything beyond this point would bring either unnoticeable or negligible benefits that mostly serve as marketing bragging rights.
Colors that pop out of the screen
All of that combined with the high refresh rate makes everything feels buttery-smooth and incredibly responsive, creating what’s close to a near-perfect visual experience – one that rivals, and often surpasses, much more established competition. Well done, RedMagic.
Power & Thermals
Under the hood, things get even better than the design might suggest. The Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset means the Astra delivers some of the very best performance available on any Android device today. In practice, no matter what you throw at it – games, demanding apps, multitasking, you can expect instant response times, maxed-out graphics settings, and silky-smooth 165 Hz gameplay without a hint of slowdown.
Active cooling makes Astra able to perform for long sessions with no issues.
The USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port adds even more versatility, supporting 4K video output. That turns the Astra into a viable portable workstation. Plug it into a monitor, connect a keyboard and mouse, and you have a near-desktop experience that you can simply pick up and take with you.
Thermals are equally impressive. The tablet uses a multi-layer cooling system combined with RedMagic’s signature active fan, keeping temperatures consistently low even during long gaming sessions. Where my iPhone would already be throwing up a “too hot” warning after extended rounds of Call of Duty Mobile or Genshin Impact, the Astra kept going comfortably for three or four “You’ve been playing for an hour” prompts without ever getting noticeably warm to the touch.
Cameras
The Astra features a 13 MP wide camera on the back and a 9 MP wide camera on the front. When it comes to quality, there isn’t much mystery here – these are cameras on a tablet primarily designed for gaming. Because the Astra is smaller and more comfortable to carry than most tablets, both cameras will do just fine for quick shots in good lighting.
As with some previous generations of RedMagic phones, image quality noticeably drops in low-light conditions. The Astra is definitely not the device you’ll reach for when you need to snap a nighttime photo.
The cameras are serviceable rather than impressive
The rear camera records 4K video at 30 FPS, and paired with EIS, the footage is reasonably stable and surprisingly decent. The front camera, on the other hand, shoots 1080p at 30 FPS without EIS, which often results in slightly janky footage. Safe to say, you won’t be filming high-quality TikToks with the Astra.
All in all, the cameras are serviceable but nothing to write home about – exactly what you’d expect from a gaming-first tablet.
Battery
The Astra packs an impressively large 8,200 mAh battery for its size. In regular, mixed use, a combination of gaming, browsing, and video streaming, I only had to charge it once over the course of an entire week, which is honestly an excellent result. Of course, your mileage may vary depending on how heavily you use it, but one thing’s certain: battery anxiety won’t be an issue here.
Leave the Astra alone for days and it’ll still be ready to go when you pick it up again
What genuinely surprised me was its standby efficiency. Like any device, the Astra slowly drains when left idle, but here that drain is so minimal it’s barely worth mentioning. You can leave it untouched for a week, come back, and find the battery down by barely ten percent, ready to pick up right where you left off.
Software
A big part of that endurance likely comes down to RedMagic OS, running on top of Android 15. The software layer has very little bloatware, and what’s there can easily be removed – something I recommend doing right after first boot. While RedMagic OS isn’t yet fully optimized for tablets, the issues are minor and barely noticeable in day-to-day use. It just shows there’s still some fine-tuning to be done before it reaches the same level of polish as the company’s smartphone lineup.
Game Space still does the job, but it’s starting to show its age
The familiar Game Space hub is still here, activated via the dedicated switch, and while it remains a solid gaming center, it’s starting to show its age. The interface hasn’t meaningfully evolved or received a visual overhaul across several generations of RedMagic devices, making it feel a little dated – functional, but no longer fresh.
CONCLUSION
The RedMagic Astra is one of those rare devices that knows exactly what it wants to be, and absolutely nails it. It’s not trying to replace your laptop, compete with premium productivity tablets, or pretend it’s something it’s not. Instead, it focuses on delivering a phenomenal gaming and media experience in a compact form factor, and in that mission, it succeeds brilliantly.
A stunning display, flagship-level performance, excellent thermals, and week-long endurance make the Astra an easy device to fall in love with. Yes, the speakers could be better positioned, the software still needs polishing, and the missing shoulder triggers feel like a missed opportunity – but none of these drawbacks overshadow how fun and effortless the Astra is to use.
