The Nubia Red Magic 3S is for the flamboyant gamer, never mind the camera

Smartphones are running out of differentiators. The current line of premium smartphones is piggybacking on the assumption that their most innovative — and impractical — design language speaks to everyone alike. A metallic chassis sandwiched between glass panels on both sides has become too common to be called innovative. This is why every once in a while, when a phone tries to break this stereotype, it catches my attention. The recently launched gaming phone from Nubia, the Red Magic 3S, has spent more than a few days in my hands as an entertainment device, also fiddling with coins and keys in my pocket and capturing the sun and the seas in a new country. Here’s what it can do.

Design 4.5/5

The Red Magic 3S is a performance upgrade of its predecessor. So it gets the same 6.65-inch HDR AMOLED display with a tall 19:5:9 aspect ratio in a similar design. The phone is almost as long as my face so I find my eyes running up and down on the screen far too often, unless I hold it at a distance. But turn it horizontally and the ultra-wide screen is near-perfect for gaming and streaming videos. The phone weighs about 215 gm, making it heavier than the iPhone 11 (194 gm), the OnePlus 7T (206 gm) but lighter than its gaming rival ASUS ROG Phone II (240 gm). It’s an important consideration if you spend many hours in bed holding the phone above your face. The phone gets an even top and bottom notch (border), which does not interfere with full-screen videos and gaming. Readmore