RedMagic Astra 2 Review: The best Android gaming handheld

The RedMagic Astra 2 (also known in China as the Gaming Tablet 5) is the next iteration of RedMagic’s successful 9” tablet from 2025, the Astra (or Gaming Tablet 3).

The Astra 2 is a new entry in the still-rare breed of compact, 9” tablets designed for gaming. Actually, there are two product lines I can think of: the RedMagic Astra, and the Lenovo Legion Tab.

To be honest, this 9” form-factor makes too much sense for gaming, so it’s almost surprising why more manufacturers haven’t jumped on the wagon – it’s compact, it’s light, and it still offers a screen noticeably bigger than most gaming handhelds out there.

The Astra is one of my favorite gaming devices, and so I was super-excited to put the new model, with its cutting-edge Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and liquid cooling, to the test.

Here are my Astra 2 findings.

RedMagic Astra 2 Design and Display

Perfect size and screen for handheld gaming

So, the RedMagic Astra 2 largely inherits the exterior design of the original Astra. It has the same size and nearly the same weight (although it's a few grams lighter).

The major difference in appearance is right behind the glass panel on the back, where you can now marvel at the new liquid cooling system. Yep, this is the first tablet in history to come with a liquid cooling solution, following the tech’s debut on the RedMagic 11 Pro.

We’ll talk about the effects of the cooling in the performance section, but for now, can we just acknowledge how cool this is? The folks at RedMagic have given the cooling system a truly unique look that's made even cooler by integrating some lighting into it. It's not full-on RGB, but you can choose from a selection of blue and green shades.

The main advantage of the Astra 2, though, continues to be its manageable size and weight, which makes it super convenient to hold and play games on. This is the glory of the 9” form-factor - it’s a great balance between screen size and portability.

This is something almost no other tablet around can give you. Most modern tablets come with gigantic 12-14” displays and they are out to replace your laptop. Not the Astra 2 - it's here with a very different mission - to help you take your video games wherever you are, in a way that is much more engaging than on a phone’s smaller screen.

Some users weren't fans of the USB port placement on the original Astra, which was on its right hand side (when held in landscape), but off-center. This time, the main USB port is even more off-center, which, at least to me, is a non-issue. However, RedMagic has obviously listened to the feedback, which has caused the company to add a second Type C port for charging, in the center of the bottom edge. This way, users can conveniently use the tablet for gaming, with or without an attached controller, and have it connected to a charger without that interfering with how they hold and use the tablet in any way.

This second port also supports the full 75W charging. This is yet another proof that RedMagic listens to feedback and truly understands the needs of gamers.

The 9.06-inch 16x10 OLED display is simply perfect for gaming. | Images by PhoneArena

Speaking of the screen, the Astra 2 comes with a beautiful, 9.06” 185Hz OLED panel, just like it's predecessor.

This time, though, the screen’s refresh rate can go up to 185 Hz, up form the Astra 1’s 165 Hz. When it comes to refresh rates, the more, the merrier, but the reality is 165 Hz was already plenty, so the difference is really hard to notice.

The screen is, of course, brilliant in every way. It's both portable and spacious at the same time.

The aspect ratio is a laptop-like 16:10, which is perfect for gaming, movies, browsing and reading. It's definitely better suited to these things than a phone's super-tall 2:1.

Display Measurements:

The Astra 2 has a fingerprint scanner built into its power button. It works very well.

RedMagic Astra 2 Performance & Benchmarks

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 delivers yet another significant leap in performance.

Probably the biggest upgrade the RedMagic Astra 2 brings over last year’s Astra is the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, which is another considerable step up in performance. And performance for gaming, as we all know, is king.

The Astra 2 is equipped with the standard version of the 8 Elite Gen 5, not the slightly overclocked Leading Version as on the RedMagic 11S Pro. This is fine, of course, as the standard version packs more than enough punch for pretty much every use case.

Check out the extensive performance benchmarks below, and you’ll get a pretty good idea of the kind of power you can expect, especially in the graphics department.

Another key feature of the RedMagic Astra 2 is the new active liquid cooling system, which replaces the first Astra’s fan cooling.

I ran a number of tests with the liquid cooling on and off, and I can’t say for sure how much of a real effect it has on temperatures. Demanding scenarios, like 3D Mark’s stress tests, tend to push the hardware to its limits, but I saw the tablet achieve more or less the same performance scores and the same temperature ranges.

Perhaps the liquid cooling has a more visible effect under some specific conditions, I just haven’t found them.

However, to me, this doesn’t feel like a huge deal, because the Astra 2’s passive cooling is pretty much top-notch. Performance stability is superb, even when temperatures get hot. And believe me, this tablet can get HOT!

But even then, framerates remain very stable, with no obvious jumps up and down. In other words, thermal throttling is not an issue with this device, which is immensely helpful when doing serious gaming.

And if you’d like to control the operational temperatures under load for the Astra 2 (can help improve battery longevity), you can just get a decent external cooler and use that to absorb a good deal of the generated heat.

Performance modes

RedMagic’s Energy Cube gaming overlay allows you to choose between one of four performance modes. Most of the time, the default Balanced mode will be great enough.

Sometimes, you may want to switch to Rise or even Diablo for maximum power. This would mostly be useful with PC emulation or other extremely demanding activities. Do note that using an external cooler, especially with Diablo mode, is highly recommended.

There’s also Eco mode, which reduces performance, but I never use that. It could help you reduce power consumption and heat during gaming, as long as the game continues to have a decent framerate after switching to Eco.

Storage speed

The RedMagic Astra 2 comes with either 256GB or 512GB built-in storage (there is no microSD card support here).

The light Android 16 skin gets the job done perfectly. | Images by PhoneArena

The Astra 2 comes with Android 16 out of the box, along with RedMagic’s light skin on top.

I really like RedMagic’s software. It makes minimal changes to Android OS, and at the same time incorporates a ton of useful gaming functionality.

True, the software isn't overly customizable, but the decisions RedMagic has made have been spot on, as far as I'm concerned. Icons are well-sized, spaced and good looking; the menus are reasonably arranged - everything is where you'd expect it to be.

Game Space and Energy Cube

Energy Cube and Game Space enable a whole bunch of useful functionality for gamers. | Images by PhoneArena

As mentioned already, Energy Cube is the in-game overlay that lets you control performance profiles or tweak a whole bunch of stuff. For example, Touch Accuracy allows you to disable a bunch of screen gestures to let you efficiently navigate competitive games without fear of accidentally going to the homescreen or doing a Back gesture.

You can also enable charging separation (bypass charging) from here, or toggle the lights and cooling on/off, or change the refresh rate, etc. There’s really a lot you can do from Energy Cube, but some features can only be used with certain popular games out there, like PubG or Genshin Impact.

Meanwhile, Game Space allows you to run the tablet in “console mode” – you just need to connect it to an external screen via cable, which is rather cool. Plus, it provides you with access to many other goodies like the Mora minigame, extra settings for performance, touch sensitivity, anti mistouch/disturbance and more.

Game Space is a really great feature for optimizing your gaming experience to the max, and it’s obviously been made by people who really get what hardcore gamers need.

RedMagic Astra 2 Camera

It has a camera, and it has a front-facing camera on the long side. ‘Nuff said.

This is a gaming tablet, so it’s probably the last place you’d go to if you’re looking for a top-notch camera. Still, I think the quality it delivers is fair – you can judge for yourself in the gallery below.

Here's an overview of the Astra 2 specs, compared to its predecessor:

Images by PhoneArena

The RedMagic Astra 2 is a fantastic tablet for gaming and anything else that may benefit from a more compact form factor.

In a world crowded with gigantic tablets, the Astra 2’s portability is a breath of fresh air.

The saddest part in this story is that RedMagic has had to increase prices considerably to have the Astra 2 make sense from a business perspective. The Astra 1 used to start at around $500 - $550 for the 256 GB model, and went to $650 - $700 for the 512 GB model.

In the US, the RedMagic Astra 2 brings that up to $750 for 256 GB and $850 for 512 GB, which is a considerable increase.

In Europe, the Astra 2 costs €700 for 256 GB and €800 for 512 GB.

Well, I guess we all have to thank Big Tech’s obsession with AI for that. Hopefully things will normalize soon and we’ll once again have reasonable access to hardware products.

The price aside, I’d once again reaffirm my stance that the RedMagic Astra 2 is the tablet to get right now, if you’re looking for an awesome gaming handheld that can double as a capable Android tablet. It can do it all: native Android gaming, PC emulation, console emulation…

Don’t get it for the liquid cooling – do get it for the insane performance, spectacular display, design and quality-of-life gaming features.