RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro (REDMAGIC Astra 2) Review: 9-Inch Steam Powerhouse

I. Foreword: An entire Steam library packed into a 9-inch body

Before getting the RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro, I didn't have much expectation for it—just a normal iteration, brighter screen, higher frame rate, more aggressive cooling, that's about it.

After actually using it, I changed my view—this upgrade isn't just squeezing toothpaste, there's real substance this time.

Steam Direct Connect already existed on the RedMagic Gaming Tablet 3 Pro, but back then it was more like "just barely usable." This time, the RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro relies on three trump cards—liquid cooling, 185Hz, and the fifth-generation Snapdragon 8 Elite—to take the Steam Direct Connect experience from "usable" to "genuinely good to use."

The first card is liquid cooling. RedMagic has, for the first time, built a liquid cooling solution normally reserved for servers and desktops into a 6.9mm-thick body, paired with Liquid Metal 3.0 and an oversized VC vapor chamber, boosting chip cooling efficiency by up to 28% and lowering core temperature by up to 8℃.

The liquid cooling module also has 11 RGB light beads embedded in it, which look pretty atmospheric when lit up in low light.

The second card is the screen. The 9.06-inch OLED screen uses the industry's first X10 luminescent material, with local peak brightness of 1600nit and dynamic contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1.

Combined with the tablet's first-ever 185Hz ultra-high refresh rate, the new Synaptics S3930 touch chip, and 2000Hz instantaneous touch sampling, the improvement in touch responsiveness is something you can feel just by holding it in your hand—FPS players will probably notice it first.

The third card is performance. The fifth-generation Snapdragon 8 Elite paired with RedMagic's self-developed Red Core R4 gaming chip scores 4.57 million on AnTuTu, a rare dual-chip combination among small tablets, and also the foundation that allows Steam Direct Connect to sustain long AAA sessions.

The RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro itself supports connecting to a gamepad, keyboard and mouse, and screen casting—attach a gamepad and it works like a handheld console, or cast it to a TV for big-screen play, which is also quite convenient. With Steam Direct Connect added on top, game content expands from mobile games to PC games, adding even more playability.

The 8300mAh battery paired with dual USB-C 80W fast charging is enough to play for half a day; the landscape-grip-friendly dual USB-C design plus the industry-exclusive flat back panel also make the experience of playing while charging quite comfortable.

RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro Product Specifications Table:

RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro Spec Sheet

II. Appearance Gallery: Liquid Cooling Light Effects + Flat Back Panel, a Hard Win for Looks-Focused Buyers

The first glance at the lit-up screen—the visual impression of the 9.06-inch OLED screen is still quite good, with all four bezels achieving an extreme narrow-and-even 4.9mm, reaching a screen-to-body ratio of 90.1%; from the front it looks almost all screen, giving a strong sense of visual immersion.

The screen resolution is 2400×1504, using the industry's first X10 luminescent material, supporting 1,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, with local peak brightness of 1600nit and global peak brightness of 1100nit.

In the upper-left corner you can see the 185Hz refresh rate marking, which is currently the highest refresh rate among tablets; the screen ratio is 16:10, and whether playing games in landscape or browsing content in portrait, the top and bottom black bars are controlled fairly well, giving high screen area utilization efficiency.

The unit we have is the Deuterium Point Transparent Silver Wing color, with a two-tone design on the back—the upper half is one whole horizontal transparent decorative section where you can see the REDMAGIC logo, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 logo, plus the liquid cooling tubing and light effects; the lower half has a silver-white matte texture with the RedMagic logo printed in the middle.

The transparent window at the top of the back is the most recognizable part of this tablet—through the glass you can see the internal liquid cooling tubing, with blue light effects flickering along the tubing; while running, you can see the trace of the coolant flowing.

Next to the cooling area is printed the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 logo and the words "COOLING SYSTEM," and below that is a blue light strip—once lit, the whole cooling module looks like the liquid cooling in a "sea-view房 (ocean-view apartment) PC," full of tech vibes; in low-light environments, the blue-cyan light effects glowing through the cooling area create a strong visual impact.

The rear 13-megapixel camera is completely flush, with no protrusion at all, blending together with the cooling window; the feel of the fully flat back panel is indeed good—laid flat on a desk it won't tilt or wobble, making multi-finger operation in rhythm games and FPS games more stable.

On the left is the power button (with integrated fingerprint recognition), next to which is a speaker opening, one of the 1227 stereo dual speakers.

On the right is a full-function USB 3.2 Gen2 port with 10Gbps high-speed transfer—connecting external monitors, docks, and SSDs all relies on this port; next to it is another set of speaker openings, forming the 1227 stereo dual speakers together with the left side.

On top are the volume buttons and the red esports key—toggling the esports key lets you jump straight into Game Space, switching to esports mode with one tap; there's also a microphone opening nearby.

On the bottom is the Type-C port, USB 2.0 spec, dedicated to charging—plugging in the charging cable here doesn't get in the way when playing games in landscape mode; both ports support 80W fast charging and bypass charging, powering the motherboard directly while playing and charging at the same time to reduce heat.

Inside the packaging of the RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro comes a bundled 100W fast-charging kit; the charger supports the PPS protocol, paired with a red C-to-C data cable.

III. Real-World Performance Test: Snapdragon 8 Gen5 + Liquid Cooling, No Frame Drops Throughout Games

Packing a flagship chip into the small 9.06-inch body, the RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro is equipped with the fifth-generation Snapdragon 8 Elite. This chip uses TSMC's third-generation 3nm process, consisting of two 4.6GHz super cores and six 3.62GHz performance cores, paired with the self-developed Red Core R4 gaming chip and CUBE Qingtian Gaming Engine 3.0, making it very strong for gaming.

On the cooling side, RedMagic has moved liquid cooling technology into a small 6.9mm-thick board, forming a composite cooling architecture together with Liquid Metal 3.0 and an oversized VC vapor chamber, boosting chip cooling efficiency by up to 28% and lowering core temperature by up to 8℃.

Based on this configuration, we selected four of the most representative mainstream games for real-world testing.

1. Honor of Kings

In the game, we turned on Destroyer Mode, with frame rate and graphics quality both set to Extreme, unleashing full performance.

In a 5v5 match of Honor of Kings, you can see the frame rate stays stable at 145fps throughout, with almost no fluctuation.

The 9.06-inch screen has a natural advantage for MOBA games—the map is more comfortable to view, and there's more room for releasing skills than on a phone, so multi-finger operations can be executed more freely.

Average power consumption during gameplay was 9.35W, with per-frame energy consumption of 64.21mW.

2. Genshin Impact

In Genshin Impact, we turned on Destroyer Mode and ran around Sumeru City for ten minutes at the highest graphics quality, testing frame rate performance.

During the ten-minute run, the frame rate stayed basically stable at 61fps, running at full frame rate; thanks to the liquid cooling boost, heat buildup during the ten-minute run was well controlled, with no throttling or frame drops.

Average power consumption during gameplay was 10.01W, with per-frame energy consumption of 164.16mW.

3. Crossfire: Gunfight King

In Crossfire: Gunfight King, we turned on Destroyer Mode, set graphics quality to Ultra High, and selected the 185fps frame rate mode—it can actually reach 185Hz, which really brings out the value of this RedMagic screen.

Playing the Zombie Mode - Lost City map in 185Hz mode, the average frame rate held around 177fps, overall performing well.

FPS games are very sensitive to frame rate, touch, and field of view; the smoothness brought by 185Hz high refresh rate is something you can perceive—when aiming down sights, turning, or swiping to aim, the screen's touch responsiveness is quite good, and the larger screen also gives more room for observation.

Paired with the S3930 touch chip's 2000Hz instantaneous touch sampling, touch response is indeed fast.

Average power consumption during gameplay was 7.97W, with per-frame energy consumption of 44.94mW.

4. Delta Force

Delta Force was set to 165Hz mode at HD graphics quality, with Destroyer Mode turned on.

Measured frame rate during gameplay stayed stable at 167fps, and the higher frame rate performance significantly improved image fluidity.

Average power consumption during gameplay was 15.57W, with per-frame energy consumption of 92.89mW.

Under Destroyer Mode, after 20 minutes of Delta Force at high-quality 165fps mode, testing with an infrared thermal imaging camera showed the screen's highest temperature at 44.7℃ and the back's highest temperature at 42.1℃.

Heat on the front was mainly concentrated in the middle of the screen; heat sources on the back were also fairly concentrated, but the temperature in the hand-holding area was relatively lower, so actual holding didn't feel hot.

The combination of liquid cooling + Liquid Metal 3.0 + oversized VC vapor chamber indeed spread out the heat, with overall thermal control performing well.

IV. PC Emulator + Full-Scenario External Connection: Steam Direct Connect, One Device Multiple Forms

RedMagic's self-developed translation engine solves the compatibility issue of X86 instructions on ARM architecture, equivalent to having a built-in PC gaming environment on the tablet, letting players get started without any hassle.

1. Steam Direct Connect Mode

After entering Game Space, find the PC emulator entry, scan the code to log into your Steam account, and the content in your game library syncs over; currently there are already close to a hundred adapted games, downloadable and playable immediately, with saves shared with the PC side—play halfway through on your phone, then go home, open your computer, and continue seamlessly.

2. PC Game Real-World Testing

We selected four PC games of different sizes and types for real-world testing, all games running at default settings, 1280x720 resolution, to see the RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro's real-world performance in Steam Direct Connect mode.

2.1 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

One of the AAA titles with relatively good optimization, it runs normally on the RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro with virtual button controls.

Measured frame rate was around 20fps; scenes like running around maps and doing quests were basically smooth, but action scenes had some stutter, with some compromise in visuals—suitable for players who want to experience the story on a tablet, but for long play sessions you'll still need a PC.

2.2 Watch Dogs

This game's performance exceeded expectations—most scenes ran smoothly, with measured frame rate stable around 50-60fps; city exploration and car chases had no issues.

In complex scenes the frame rate would drop to 40-50fps, but overall playability was good—open-world games running on the 9.06-inch screen actually felt pretty good.

2.3 Battle Block Theater

This 2D side-scrolling indie game performed extremely well on the RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro, with a stable full 60fps frame rate and responsive controls that felt very natural; power consumption was only around 3W, and temperature was also very low.

This type of game is very suitable for long play sessions—you can pull it out anytime, anywhere and play a few rounds; the experience was even more comfortable than on a PC.

2.4 A Short Hike (拣爱)

A lightweight, story-driven work that ran without any pressure, also stably at 60fps, with power consumption of only around 3W.

Paired with the tablet's screen size and dual speakers, experiencing this kind of story-driven game actually felt more immersive than on a PC—suitable for curling up in bed before sleep and playing slowly.

To sum up the PC emulator solution: it lets the RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro cross the threshold from "can't play" to "can play"; indie games and mid-sized titles with better optimization run very smoothly, with low power consumption and low temperature, no pressure even for long play sessions.

AAA titles can be experienced but don't set expectations too high—suitable for players who want a taste of it on a tablet; treat it as a supplement to your Steam library on the go—when you're out and want to continue your own saves, it can indeed handle it.

3. Full-Scenario External Connection

The RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro supports external gamepads, keyboard and mouse, and TV casting among other methods, letting one device switch between four forms: handheld console, gaming laptop, console, and desktop.

We actually connected a keyboard and mouse and tried it out, opening Watch Dogs and playing for a while—the controls were quite smooth, similar to on a PC; the 9.06-inch screen, though smaller than a monitor, offers considerably more field of view than a phone, and is more than enough for casual play.

If you have a portable keyboard and mouse, you can experience PC-style game controls even when out and about.

4. RedMagic Screen Cast Assistant

For screen casting, the RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro supports 4K/144Hz output through the USB 3.2 Gen2 port, supporting both wired and wireless casting, and also comes with an audio separation function.

This function is quite practical for streaming, screen recording, or playing games on a big screen.

V. Featured Functions: Liquid Cooling Light Effects + AI Agent, Dual USB-C Ports Each Doing Their Own Job

The RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro doesn't just stack performance—quite a bit of thought also went into some detail features.

1. RGB Liquid Cooling Light Effects

What's particularly special this time is that RedMagic combined RGB light effects with the liquid cooling module—11 custom RGB light beads were added inside the cooling area, with custom light-guiding material used to improve the uniformity of the light effect.

In terms of actual visual impression, it's not simply a glowing logo stuck on the back, but rather turning the cooling system into a visualized design—in low-light environments, the blue-cyan RGB light effects glow through the cooling area, easily creating the atmosphere of "desktop gear"; the lighting display and color can both be customized, with 8 adjustable brightness levels, giving a real sense of "gear" whether held in hand or placed on a desk.

2. RedMagic Ji Mora AI

The system has a built-in RedMagic Ji Mora AI agent, and this AI is quite practical in gaming scenarios.

Tactical Coach: during gameplay, Mora can transform into an AI tactical coach, giving suggestions based on real-time battle conditions; you can even discuss match strategy together with it, making your thinking clearer.

Magic Ji Auto-Reply: based on a large language model, Mora can reply to messages in-match on your behalf. Reply styles include "Cute and Sweet," "Funny and Sly," and "Standard System," with model support for Magic Cube large model and DeepSeek-R1, and you can also set it to auto or manual reply.

After turning on enhanced conversation understanding, it can recognize chat text and reply by voice on your behalf—when encountering malicious remarks, having it help you clap back a few lines is pretty fun.

In addition, Mora also supports a combat power review function—after each match ends, it automatically generates a summary of the experience to help you review and improve.

3. Super Workbench

Besides gaming, the RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro also has quite a few productivity features.

AI Circle Search: circling content on the screen lets it be recognized instantly—circle a new character's skills in-game and info pops up instantly, circle info while browsing social media and it's right there, circle something while studying/translating and the explanation is all there.

AI Eraser: for unwanted elements in screenshots or photos, smudge over them or use smart selection, then one tap to erase—the results are processed pretty cleanly. For example, if you want to remove a certain character in a game screenshot, select it and erase directly, and the background fills back in automatically with good results.

AI Voice Assistant/Translation: for everyday use, the voice assistant and on-the-go translation functions are also useful, covering most everyday scenarios.

4. Dual Type-C Ports

The dual Type-C port design is indeed practical—both ports support 80W fast charging and bypass charging; when playing games in landscape mode, you can choose to plug the charger into whichever position doesn't get in the way, powering the motherboard directly while charging and playing at the same time to further reduce heat.

It also supports reverse charging—when your phone is out of battery, you can use the tablet as an emergency power bank.

5. Other Details

Multiple Unlock Methods: the physical button fingerprint unlock responds quickly; facial recognition unlocks as soon as the screen lights up, and it can recognize quickly even in low-light environments.

Wet-Hand Touch: when fingers sweat during gaming or the screen gets slightly damp, wet-hand touch technology gives more assurance to operation stability—FPS players should care about this quite a bit.

Eye Protection: Star Shield Eye Protection Technology 2.0 combined with the AI Dynamic Light Algorithm reduces blue light by 68% and visual fatigue by 22%, and has passed SGS low-blue-light, flicker-free eye protection certification—so your eyes won't get too tired during long gaming sessions.

VI. Battery Life & Charging: 8300mAh Large Battery, Fully Charged in 67 Minutes

The RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro packs an 8300mAh large battery into its 6.9mm body, while both USB-C ports support 80W fast charging, with a bundled 100W fast charger.

For a small-sized gaming tablet, this battery capacity is already first-tier.

1. Battery Life Test

We used the Battery Doggy tool from Kuaike Technology for comprehensive testing; the test by default checks all items including high-voltage CPU, multi-threaded CPU, AI recognition, image browsing, video playback, and web browsing, simulating real user usage scenarios and restoring actual load; at the same time, the testing tool automatically set screen brightness to 50%, turned off auto-brightness, and set volume to 30%, to ensure the precision and reference value of the test data.

The measured results showed that the RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro went from 100% battery to 20% in 6 hours and 53 minutes, which converts to a full-charge battery life of about 8 hours and 36 minutes—for a gaming tablet equipped with the flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, a 185Hz high refresh screen, and liquid cooling, this battery life performance is quite good.

It's worth mentioning that the RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro's liquid cooling also helps with battery life—the combination of liquid cooling + Liquid Metal 3.0 + oversized VC vapor chamber lets the chip maintain higher energy efficiency even under high-load scenarios, without power consumption spiking due to thermal throttling, indirectly extending gaming time.

2. Charging Test

We conducted a screen-off charging test on the RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro: in 10 minutes battery went from 1% to 14%, in half an hour to 47%, in 1 hour to 91%, and it took about 67 minutes total to fully charge.

The RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro's liquid cooling also plays a role during charging—heat is more controllable when playing and charging at the same time, so charging power doesn't drop due to overheating.

VII. Summary: Bringing the Steam Tablet Experience to This Level—RedMagic Is the First

Having finished experiencing the RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro, I have to admit something—I didn't have high expectations for Steam Direct Connect before, feeling that playing PC games on a 9-inch tablet would be somewhat of a compromise, but after actually using it, it turned out to be far more usable than I imagined.

Steam Direct Connect is the most worth-mentioning thing about this tablet—Watch Dogs at 50-plus fps, indie games at full frame rate, power consumption of only 3W; plugging in a gamepad and lying in bed playing for two hours is essentially no different from a PC.

Last week I took it out at the office and connected a gamepad to play Watch Dogs for a bit, and a coworker walking by asked, "This tablet can even play this?"

The Witcher 3 can hit around 20fps—it's less "playable" and more "watchable for the visuals," but this is already the best Steam experience among 9-inch tablets.

Liquid cooling really helped a lot this time—after 20 minutes of Delta Force, the back was at 42.1℃; packing liquid cooling, liquid metal, and a VC vapor chamber into a 6.9mm body, running Genshin Impact for half an hour only felt warm, not hot enough to want to throw it away.

185Hz plus the 2000Hz touch chip—the touch responsiveness while playing FPS games is a difference you can genuinely feel after playing; it doesn't show up on the spec sheet, but you understand it once it's in your hand.

The Snapdragon 8 dual-chip combo scoring 4.57 million on AnTuTu—performance isn't something you need to worry about with this device.

8300mAh paired with 80W fast charging—charge it a bit before heading out and it can last most of the day; certified by five major esports events, plus partnerships with the Qingjiu and KZ clubs, showing that the professional scene recognizes this tablet.

There are shortcomings too—Steam Direct Connect's game compatibility is still being refined, and some games requiring precise keyboard-and-mouse control have an average pure-touchscreen experience; for serious play you still need to connect peripherals.

I've now gotten into the habit of stuffing it in my backpack when I go out—finally able to continue the saves in my Steam library.

If you have quite a few games in your Steam library and don't want to add another separate handheld console, this tablet is currently the most convenient choice!