This 9-inch tablet singlehandedly changed my mind about gaming on Android

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• The RedMagic Astra gaming tablet is available on Amazon starting at $700.
• The tablet offers unmatched performance for an Android tablet.
• When the fan is in use on the Astra, the battery does drain a bit faster, and the price is up there for a tablet.

$699 at Amazon

As far as gaming is concerned, I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve done it all: consoles, PCs, handhelds, phones, and now, tablets. For the most part, I’ve found Android devices to offer less than stellar results. Tablets are often too slow or their displays aren’t up to the task, and phones are simply too small. That’s a shame, because tablets and phones are the most portable. 

Also: Why I recommend this Lenovo tablet over competing models that cost twice the price

Recently, however, I was sent the RedMagic Astra Gaming Tablet, and I do believe it’s changed my opinion on gaming with Android. What about this tablet has flipped the switch?

My experience

With every Android device, the onboarding is fairly simple, so I was able to get to the gaming fairly quickly. Even before that, my first impression was that this tablet seemed faster than any Android tablet I’ve ever used. On top of that, the display was gorgeous. The animations are as buttery smooth as I’ve ever seen on an Android tablet. By a long shot.

Also: I use this budget Android tablet more than my iPad Pro – and why you probably would, too

After I played around with various actions to keep testing the animations and app opening speeds (which were blazing fast), I decided to dive into what this tablet was built for: gaming. I downloaded “Diablo: Immortal” because I’ve experienced that on lesser tablets and witnessed, first hand, what underpowered hardware can do to the game. 

The first thing that struck me was how fast the game installed, and then how fast the data download was. I’ve installed this game on several Android devices, and the data download was always slow.

Within two minutes, I was playing the game and, it was impressive. The RedMagic Astra plays every bit as well as a console system. The graphics are smooth, the sound is surprisingly good, and the overall experience is phenomenal. 

And that was without flipping the performance tuning switch. The Astra has a small red switch you can toggle to enable a special mode. When I switched it on, a new UI opened (called Energy Cube) with the “Diablo: Immortal’ launcher ready to go. I’d already played the game for a while outside of this special mode, so I decided to see if there was any improvement to gameplay with it on.

Energy Cube features behavioral learning as well as an auto fan option (to keep the tablet cooler during longer sessions), as well as on-demand recording. You can also tune the performance to meet your needs (or the needs of a particular game).

Once I launched Diablo: Immortal from the Energy Cube, there was a slight improvement in performance. Remember, however, that the game already played incredibly well outside of Energy Cube, so even a slight bump in performance was impressive.

Also: Why I prefer this Lenovo tablet over the iPad for multimedia consumption

The big thing I noticed, from playing the game within Energy Cube, is that the device didn’t get nearly as warm (because of the fan activation). At the same time, the battery did drain a bit faster. 

The tablet’s fan is a 20,000 RPM active cooling fan, which is combined with a 13-layer IEX cooling system. Needless to say, this tablet does not get hot, so I wonder if the hardware is a bit overkill, here. Even with a faster power drain, however, it still holds its own. The 8,200 mAh battery supplies hours of gameplay on a full charge.

What about everyday use?

This tablet absolutely excels at gaming (far beyond any tablet I’ve tested). But outside of that use case, I was just as pleasantly surprised. 

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Frist off, the Astra is on the smaller side (nine inches), which is great for gaming. I’ve tried to game with a larger tablet, only to find my fingers and wrists grew tired after a longer session. For everyday use, the nine-inch screen is a bit small, but not too small to render it a burden for web browsing, email, and the usual tasks I do on a tablet. In fact, after a while, I got used to the smaller display and found I preferred it to the larger tablets I have. 

ZDNET’s buying advice

I have no trouble saying that this is the most satisfying Android tablet experience I’ve had to date. The RedMagic Astra Gaming tablet is offered in three different configurations, starting at $700. That extra 4GB of RAM and 256 GB of added storage are well worth the price bump, and part of what contributed to my tablet’s fantastic performance. It’s not the cheapest tablet on the market, but its performance justifies the cost. 

If you’re looking for an Android tablet for gaming, this is definitely the one to beat (and I don’t see any Android tablet beating it any time soon). As well, if you want a high-end tablet for everyday usage (and you don’t mind the smaller screen), this is still a fabulous option.

The specs

• CPU – Snapdragon 8 Elite.
• Display – 9.06-inch 2.4K OLED.
• Cooling – 13-layer ICE-X cooling system.
• RAM/Storage – Up to 24GB RAM and 1TB of storage (a version that is only available on the RedMagic site)
• Battery – 8,200 mAh large battery with fast charging support.