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The Nubia Red Magic 3 redefines gaming smartphones with the inclusion of a fan for active cooling

The Nubia Red Magic 3 sports an impressive spec sheet. (Source: XDA Developers)
The Nubia Red Magic 3 sports an impressive spec sheet. (Source: XDA Developers)
Nubia has officially announced the Red Magic 3 gaming smartphone in China. The Red Magic 3 offers a very impressive spec sheet and is also one of the first phones to feature a controllable fan for active cooling of the SoC. Other highlights include a 90 Hz AMOLED screen, programmable trigger buttons on the body, and an IP55 rating for dust and water resistance.

It is not often that we get to see smartphones featuring fans for active cooling but Nubia's latest flagship seeks to defy convention with the Red Magic 3. Nubia showed off a prototype gaming smartphone at MWC 2018 that featured a total of four fans, but the Red Magic 3 is the actual production version to implement an active cooling system. The Red Magic 3 boasts a very impressive spec sheet that other gaming-focused smartphones will surely aspire to.

The design of the phone is unabashedly gamer-esque with an IP55 rating for dust and water resistance. There are stereo speakers in the front and an RGB light strip at the back. The back also houses the fingerprint sensor that can be assigned gaming functions in addition to the touch-sensitive triggers on the right side of the device. The small fan unit on top of the Snapdragon 855 SoC is loud enough when turned on, but Nubia says that it consumes less than 1% power when run continuously for an hour. The fan's speed can be adjusted up to a maximum of 14,000 rpm.

The 6.65-inch AMOLED screen sports an FHD+ resolution with a 90 Hz refresh rate, DC Dimming, and HDR. The Red Magic 3 also offers a dedicated hardware button for quickly accessing game functions such as fan and temperature monitoring, screen recording, etc. via Game Space 2.0. Nubia also showed off a dock that offers power, Ethernet, and USB Type-C connectivity. RAM and storage options top out at 12 GB and 256 GB respectively. Powering all these hardware is a 5,000 mAh battery that supports 30 W fast charging, 27 W power delivery via USB, and QuickCharge 4.0.

Imaging capabilities are taken care by the single 48 MP IMX586 primary sensor with an f/1.7 aperture, 80 degree lens, and a 1.6 micron pixel size alongside a 16 MP f/2.0 front-facing camera for selfies. Software is mostly stock Android 9 Pie with a few Nubia goodies thrown in.

The Nubia Red Magic 3 will be available in Black, Red, Camouflage, and Blue-Red gradient colors. Pricing information for the Chinese market is as follows:

  • 6 GB RAM/64 GB storage Black — ¥2,899 (US$430)
  • 6 GB RAM/128 GB storage Black — ¥3,199 (US$475)
  • 8 GB RAM/128 GB storage Red — ¥3,499 (US$520)
  • 12 GB RAM/256 GB storage Camouflage and Blue-Red gradient — ¥4,299 (US$640)

The device is expected to go on sale from May 3 in China. Global availability is still unknown at this point.

(Source: XDA Developers)
(Source: XDA Developers)
(Source: XDA Developers)
(Source: XDA Developers)
(Source: XDA Developers)
(Source: XDA Developers)
(Source: XDA Developers)
(Source: XDA Developers)
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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2019 04 > The Nubia Red Magic 3 redefines gaming smartphones with the inclusion of a fan for active cooling
Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 2019-04-29 (Update: 2019-04-29)