RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro Review: 185Hz OLED, RGB Liquid Cooling

Starting from the previous two years, the popularity of small-size performance tablets has gradually increased, and we have also seen more manufacturers entering this niche track. Perhaps because the overall pie is not too large, while some manufacturers are still repeatedly going back and forth between creating new folders and deleting folders, RedMagic, as a manufacturer that has been deeply engaged in gaming and esports for many years, has given the latest answer for small-size performance tablets — the REDMAGIC Gaming Tablet 5 PRO (REDMAGIC Astra 2).

RedMagic has always taken an aggressive route in product definition, and this REDMAGIC Gaming Tablet 5 PRO (REDMAGIC Astra 2) is no exception. In the field of small-size performance tablets, it can be said to have pushed component-stacking to the extreme. Compared to the previous generation product, the REDMAGIC Gaming Tablet 5 PRO (REDMAGIC Astra 2) has introduced the liquid cooling technology equipped on RedMagic phones, and has further raised the OLED screen refresh rate to 185Hz, making it currently the only one of its kind among small-size performance tablets.

In terms of appearance design, the REDMAGIC Gaming Tablet 5 PRO (REDMAGIC Astra 2) continues the RedMagic family color tradition, offering two options: Deuterium Fission Transparent Silver Wing and Deuterium Fission Transparent Night. The one we received is the Transparent Silver Wing version, which has a stronger visual contrast with the black part used in the transparent window decoration. Compared to the previous generation, it has added liquid cooling lighting effect components, which we will discuss in detail later. The middle frame of the body still adopts the familiar integrated metal design, paired with a 3D micro-arc border, making the grip feel rounder. The back panel is also RedMagic's signature flat design, with no protrusions at all. The whole machine has a thickness of 6.9mm and a weight of 363g, which has been reduced somewhat compared to the previous generation, but honestly speaking, among similar products, its weight is indeed more noticeably perceptible.

In terms of the screen, the REDMAGIC Gaming Tablet 5 PRO (REDMAGIC Astra 2) adopts a 9.06-inch OLED screen, with the size remaining consistent with the previous generation, a resolution of 2400 × 1504 pixels, a PPI of 313, and relying on a 4.9mm four-equal-side design to achieve a 90.1% screen-to-body ratio. Different from the previous generation, it is the first to use X10 light-emitting material, with a local peak brightness of 1600nit, a global peak brightness of 1100nit, and a response delay of less than 1ms. At this level, OLED indeed has a physical-level advantage compared to LCD.

The most exaggerated aspect of this screen is still the refresh rate. The refresh rate of the REDMAGIC Gaming Tablet 5 PRO (REDMAGIC Astra 2) has been directly raised to 185Hz, which is currently the highest refresh rate among all tablet products. The official side has also given a list of cooperating and adapted game manufacturers, which can be said to be a presence that "fights for the future." The other specifications of the screen have also not been neglected, equipped with Star Shield Eye Protection Technology 2.0, and passed SGS low blue light no-flicker eye protection certification, with screen blue light reduced by 68%.

As the first tablet equipped with active liquid cooling, the cooling part of the REDMAGIC Gaming Tablet 5 PRO (REDMAGIC Astra 2) deserves to be discussed separately, after all, this is also one of RedMagic's quite notable design highlights. Through the transparent window, users can directly see the working state of the liquid cooling module, inside which 11 customized RGB light beads have also been stuffed. Through customized light-guiding material, the official side states that the uniformity of the liquid cooling lighting effect has improved by 200% compared to the previous generation.

Netizens familiar with RedMagic will certainly not be unfamiliar with this liquid cooling system. The core driving unit is a liquid cooling micro-pump built based on a MEMS micro-nano packaging architecture, paired with a piezoelectric ceramic micro-pump and micro-nano capillary structure, allowing the coolant to circulate within the system to actively achieve the cooling effect. The coolant itself uses the same fluorinated liquid as AI servers, with a liquid range from -65°C to 125°C, which not only ensures it does not solidify in low-temperature winter environments, but also has excellent insulation and heat conduction efficiency, avoiding the possibility of short circuits. Not only that, this cooling system of the REDMAGIC Gaming Tablet 5 PRO (REDMAGIC Astra 2) also adopts Liquid Metal 3.0 as well as an oversized VC vapor chamber. The official side states that under this combination, the chip cooling efficiency is improved by up to 28%, and the core temperature is reduced by up to 8°C.

The REDMAGIC Gaming Tablet 5 PRO (REDMAGIC Astra 2) unsurprisingly is equipped with the fifth-generation Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. Everyone is also very familiar with this chip, so I will not repeat the parameters again. It is also additionally equipped with a Red Core R4 self-developed esports chip, and has jointly built independent high-speed video memory together with Qualcomm. Through subsequent OTA updates, it will support 2K+144Hz super-resolution super-frame concurrency for multiple games.

We used Perfdog to conduct actual measurements on two mainstream competitive mobile games, "Delta Force" and "League of Legends: Wild Rift."

Delta Force — Full Battlefield Mode
In "Delta Force" under Full Battlefield mode, the image quality setting was HD +165 frames, with all picture configurations left at default options. From the start of the match to finally achieving victory, across the entire 23-minute complete match, the average frame rate recorded by Perfdog was 162 FPS, with the 1% Low frame rate at 47.4 FPS. Although the data does not look impressive, users who have played this mode know that if you die without being rescued and choose to redeploy, the frame rate during this period will directly drop to around 30, so this frame rate variance figure is not of reference value. Setting this part aside, throughout the entire game process from the start, the frame rate remained within the 164-166 range, without large fluctuations, and the temperature performance of the part held in the hand was very good.

League of Legends: Wild Rift Frame Rate Record
In "League of Legends: Wild Rift" under the Canyon 5v5 regular mode, both picture quality and resolution were set to high, with the 165 high frame rate mode enabled. Across a complete match of 23 minutes, the average frame rate recorded by Perfdog was 166.8 FPS, the 1% Low frame rate was 159.4 FPS, and the frame rate variance was 1.1. There were no interfering items appearing in this game, and the entire frame rate could be seen to be almost a straight line, with almost no fluctuation visible. In actual gameplay, whether in team fights or wildly casting skills, there was no occurrence of frame drops, and most importantly, the temperature of the part held in the hand barely changed noticeably.

Besides the data, the REDMAGIC Gaming Tablet 5 PRO (REDMAGIC Astra 2) also performs excellently in subjective gaming experience. It is exclusively equipped with the Synaptics S3930 touch chip, with a multi-finger native touch sampling rate of 300Hz and an instantaneous reporting rate of up to 2000Hz, having a clear advantage compared to the Novatek touch IC used in LCD screens. Combined with the ultra-high refresh rate and 1ms response delay, the experience is extremely responsive in scenarios with extremely high touch demands such as FPS and rhythm games.

Under the premise of improved chip performance, the REDMAGIC Gaming Tablet 5 PRO (REDMAGIC Astra 2) has built in a PC emulator using RedMagic Lab's self-developed translation engine, and is the first to launch Steam Direct Connect mode. Through the built-in PC emulator + Steam Direct Connect mode, we actually tested the domestic 3A masterpiece "Black Myth: Wukong." The entire process was quite simple — toggle the esports key to enter the gaming space, click on the PC emulator, scan the code to log into the Steam account, and "Black Myth: Wukong" in the game library directly displays "download and play." Throughout the entire process there were no complicated translation configurations or manual parameter adjustment steps, and the official side even has suitable cloud startup configurations available for users to choose from, which is quite friendly for beginners.

Currently, games translated on the PC platform all require a relatively long waiting time to enter. After entering the game, the frame rate across the entire scene fluctuated around 20, and in scenes with dense vegetation and lighting changes, this performance is already worthy of recognition. Perhaps because it is still under testing, even when selecting Awakening Mode for performance release, the SoC power is still locked at 6W. Under an aggressive thermal control strategy, this fifth-generation Snapdragon 8 Elite actually exceeds 10W of power with ease, which means that for this game, stabilizing at 30 frames should not be a problem.

The REDMAGIC Gaming Tablet 5 PRO (REDMAGIC Astra 2) is equipped with RedMagicOS 11.5, with the built-in RedMagic Girl Mora intelligent agent, providing gaming AI capabilities based on the Deepseek large model such as combat power review, tactical coaching, and Magic Girl voice-over substitution; it supports communication fusion technology to share the phone's 5G signal, and the other peripheral configurations are all top-tier specifications: dual C-ports supporting bypass charging, an 8300mAh battery guaranteeing battery life, a 1227 stereo dual speaker, dual X-axis linear motors, and a power-button fingerprint sensor — whatever you can think of, it has it.

Overall, the REDMAGIC Gaming Tablet 5 PRO (REDMAGIC Astra 2) is a product with an "extremely clear target user." It did not make the mediocre choice of "balancing everything" found in small tablets, but instead maxed out the dimensions that gaming players care about most — performance, cooling, screen, touch, and cross-platform — all at once, and then wrote this aggressive orientation directly on its face using the family-style design of transparent liquid cooling + RGB lighting effects. For hardcore gaming users, FPS players, streamers, and cross-platform players who hope for "one device to cover handheld / console / PC," it is an option with very high recognizability in the current small tablet market.