What's your take on compact tablets?

I raise this question because I've observed that opinions on these gadgets are quite polarized.

Perhaps due to their size, which bridges the gap between traditional tablets and smartphones, some users find them too diminutive—neither optimal for streaming on iQiyi nor efficient for productivity tasks. Conversely, others value their portability and convenience, even using them as a secondary display alongside their phones.

Consequently, compact tablets in the market are clearly segmented into two categories:

One is the balanced segment, spearheaded by the iPad mini, which emphasizes note-taking, drawing, and light entertainment. The other is the esports-centric segment, which prioritizes gaming performance, aiming to deliver a portable gaming console experience.

Nubia epitomizes the latter category.

(Image Source: Leitech)

Recently, Nubia unveiled its latest flagship compact tablet—the RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro. Not only does it boast the industry's sole 185Hz high-refresh-rate screen among its peers, but it's also equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen5 processor and liquid cooling, claiming to be this year's most formidable "gaming tablet."

Leitech (ID: leitech) got its hands on this device prior to the Dragon Boat Festival. After extensive use over half a month, I find Nubia's product design philosophy quite intriguing. Today, I'll share my experiences and insights.

The moment you pick up the Nubia tablet, it's evident that it's not designed for corporate boardrooms.

The silver-white flat back features a solitary logo, maintaining a minimalist aesthetic. However, the transparent decorative strip running across the top immediately reveals its identity, showcasing liquid cooling pipes and esports-inspired elements, along with the Snapdragon logo and various mechanical textures.

(Image Source: Leitech)

This is quintessential Nubia.

It doesn't attempt to masquerade as a productivity tablet nor does it try to blend in. With its lighting effects, its message is clear: tonight's not about crafting proposals—it's about climbing the gaming ranks.

The mid-frame is crafted from metal with a matte finish. While the matte texture is fine, it's subtly prone to fingerprints, giving it a slightly oily feel after prolonged use.

The slightly curved right-angled mid-frame boasts decent edge transitions, making it comfortable to hold horizontally without noticeable discomfort.

(Image Source: Leitech)

The tablet features dual speakers on both sides, uniformly positioned on the upper half to prevent obstruction by hands during normal use. The sound quality is decent, noticeably superior to that of smartphones.

Upon closer inspection of the mid-frame, you'll notice that Nubia has finally incorporated two USB-C ports.

There are some drawbacks, such as the off-center ports, which look slightly awkward, and some rough edges and transitions. However, these issues don't impede usability, but at this price point, one might expect more polished craftsmanship.

When you turn to the front and power on the 9.06-inch OLED screen, you might initially think the display looks identical to its predecessor.

(Image Source: Leitech)

Fortunately, the 9.06-inch OLED screen with a 185Hz refresh rate packs a punch on paper. OLED screens are relatively scarce in compact tablets, and Nubia's decision to push the refresh rate even higher fully embraces the "esports" aesthetic.

However, the actual viewing experience doesn't quite live up to the specs.

The screen does possess that OLED charm, with deeper blacks and better contrast, making videos and games initially enjoyable. But upon closer inspection, the display appears slightly grayish, and color accuracy is just average—nothing particularly crisp, accurate, or premium.

Additionally, compared to Huawei and OPPO's offerings, the 4.9mm bezels are merely average—not unattractive, but not awe-inspiring either.

Of course, I understand that gaming tablets must consider grip, accidental touches, and display area, so ultra-narrow bezels aren't the top priority. Thanks to Nubia's thoughtful design, I rarely encountered accidental touches during testing, and there were no screen notches obstructing the gaming view.

For gamers, that's a significant plus.

(Image Source: Leitech)

Moreover, the RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro weighs 363g, which isn't light for a compact tablet but is typical for gaming-oriented devices. After all, it requires cooling, a robust structure, and performance headroom, so achieving the thinness of a productivity-focused tablet isn't feasible.

Personally, after playing for half an hour, my hands did feel a bit fatigued—a built-in anti-addiction mechanism, if you will.

That's enough about the design; let's delve into performance.

Let's review the specs: It's powered by the fifth-generation Snapdragon 8 Elite, featuring a 2*Oryon L + 6*Oryon M design and built on TSMC's third-generation 3nm process. This SoC is among the most powerful currently available, paired with LPDDR5X memory and UFS4.1 storage, making it a top-tier specification.

A quick AnTuTu benchmark run at room temperature yielded over 4.4 million points, firmly placing it in the elite tier.

In actual gameplay, its performance is impressive. Games like League of Legends: Wild Rift pose no challenge, running at maximum settings and 165Hz, averaging 166.3 fps over three matches.

(Image Source: Leitech)

Playing MOBA games on a 9.06-inch screen offers a natural advantage, with a more comfortable map view and more spacious skill execution compared to smartphones. While the weight can make prolonged holding tiring, the visual advantage creates a more comfortable operating environment.

CrossFire was an interesting test case, as it can run at 185Hz, showcasing the value of Nubia's screen.

Over half an hour of testing, it maintained an average of 176.7 fps, with a 1% low of 160 fps. FPS games are sensitive to frame rates, touch response, and field of view, and the high refresh rate provides a noticeable smoothness. Aiming, turning, and tracking feel responsive, and the larger screen offers more observational space.

(Image Source: Leitech)

However, playing FPS games highlights the weight and grip issues, so I recommend using an external controller for a significantly better experience.

Genshin Impact and Wuthering Waves are true tests of a device's capabilities.

Thanks to recent processor advancements and manufacturer optimizations, most smartphones can handle Genshin Impact well, and the RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro is no exception. After frame interpolation, it averaged 102.1 fps, maintaining stable performance despite not sustaining 120 fps throughout.

(Image Source: Leitech)

After half an hour, the back temperature peaked at 38°C, so users can comfortably play Genshin Impact without concern.

Next, I tested Wuthering Waves, a game that hasn't been fully conquered by smartphones yet, using a college motorbike race course and auto-patrol mode. Over half an hour, it maintained an average of 57.3 fps, with only minor drops during heavy NPC spawns, generally meeting the game's performance demands.

(Image Source: Leitech)

As for temperature, while hotspots ran high, the grip areas remained comfortable at around 34°C.

(Image Source: Leitech)

In my opinion, the RedMagic 5 Pro's performance is consistently stable, avoiding the issue of starting strong and then quickly declining. This is particularly crucial for avid mobile gamers, especially in demanding games like Wuthering Waves, where it maintains a comfortable experience.

The liquid cooling system seems to distribute heat evenly across the device, preventing any single spot from becoming uncomfortably hot. While playing high-load games, the device warms up but doesn't feel overly hot, and the cooling effect is more noticeable than I anticipated.

The previously well-received PC emulator is also included, identical to the one on the RedMagic 11S Pro+. It allows direct login to Steam accounts and downloading of legitimate games, making the experience much more convenient.

A quick test showed that indie games like Blasphemous 2 and Zoeti run between 45-60 fps.

(Image Source: Leitech)

More demanding mid-tier AAA games also performed well. I downloaded Need for Speed: Most Wanted (non-Steam version, offline mode) and Palworld. The former ran smoothly at medium settings, averaging around 45 fps, while the latter, using the Steam version, maintained 40 fps at low settings.

(Image Source: Leitech)

Note that games requiring jumps to other platforms or featuring anti-cheat plugins generally won't run.

As for large-scale AAA games like Cyberpunk 2077, it reluctantly runs at 540P low settings, averaging 40 fps, but the power consumption is too high, and cooling struggles to keep up, so I don't recommend it.

One notable feature is the abundance of gaming aids.

For example, the "Magic Ji" voice assistant can help you trash-talk teammates in-game. There's also a quick stopwatch for tracking hero ultimate cooldowns, drawing aids for card games, crosshair assistance for FPS games, and an AI trigger for intelligent reloads—offering comprehensive support.

I primarily tested the one-touch combo feature, which records your operations and reproduces them with a single button press. It's handy for executing combos in MOBA games or completing daily tasks in open-world games.

(Image Source: Leitech)

While Nubia warns of potential detection by official anti-cheat systems, it saves players from repetitive tasks.

It's clear that while regular tablets treat games as apps, Nubia treats them as its core focus, a difference that avid gamers will appreciate.

Beyond gaming, how does the RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro fare as a general tablet?

The 9.06-inch OLED screen is actually quite nice for streaming videos, reading comics, or watching anime. It's larger than a smartphone but lighter than a big tablet, making it comfortable to hold on the couch or in bed without the strain of a 12-inch device.

While the screen's color accuracy is average, it's acceptable for entertainment purposes and generally enjoyable.

(Image Source: Leitech)

However, its productivity capabilities are lacking. It does feature fingerprint recognition, which is commendable for convenient unlocking, but it lacks a keyboard attachment, stylus support, or a mature desktop mode, limiting its usefulness for productivity tasks.

You can open documents, view PDFs, or reply to messages, but that's about it.

It doesn't even have a PC version of WPS, so expecting it to handle writing, spreadsheets, photo editing, or video editing is asking too much.

(Image Source: Leitech)

Moreover, the small screen isn't ideal for prolonged productivity use. Many people envision themselves as mobile productivity gurus before buying a tablet, only to end up using it primarily for games and videos. The RedMagic 5 Pro is refreshingly honest—it doesn't pretend to be a workplace elite tool.

In terms of battery life, it meets my expectations.

For normal use like streaming videos, browsing the web, and replying to messages, the 8300mAh battery lasts all day. Even with high refresh rate, performance mode, and heavy gaming enabled, it can still last 6-7 hours of continuous use.

The key point is that fast charging can replenish the battery quickly. Moreover, the battery logic of tablets is different from that of smartphones. Tablets don't necessarily need to last from morning till night like smartphones, but they should be able to quickly recharge in a short time. Coupled with the bypass charging feature, there's no need to worry about battery life.

For avid gamers, charging while playing and quickly replenishing the battery in a short time is more practical than simply having a large battery.

Following Leitech's convention (customary practice), let's summarize the pros and cons of the RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro:

Pros:

1. Good performance release, stable performance in heavy-duty games;

2. 9.06-inch OLED + 185Hz, distinctive high-refresh-rate gaming experience;

3. Unique product design with high recognition

Boasting an unparalleled smooth user experience and commendable peripheral configurations, the RedMagic Gaming Tablet 5 Pro remains an excellent choice, even if your activities are limited to binge-watching dramas, attending online classes, and occasionally indulging in small games.

However, if you are an avid gamer who spends hours immersed in gaming every day, dislikes the constrained screen space of smartphones, finds large tablets unwieldy, and places a premium on frame rate stability, gaming enhancements, and heat dissipation capabilities, then this product undoubtedly deserves to be your top pick.

In today's tech landscape, where there's a prevailing trend to make tablets 'a jack of all trades,' products like those from RedMagic stand out as particularly intriguing options.