If the game is As your smartphone of choice, the Nubia Redmagic 10 Pro is for you. This massive mobile gaming beast combines impressive performance with a vast, high-quality display and enough stamina to keep you gaming for days. It even has a built-in fan to keep it cool, programmable buttons, and highly customizable gaming software. If you buy direct from Nubia, prices start at a relatively affordable $649 (£579) for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage model.
There's always a problem with aggressively priced phones. Assuming you don't mind the big, angular design, but it doesn't quite fit in your pocket, you might be put off by the slightly laggy software, inconsistent camera performance, or lack of wireless charging. But keep in mind that hardware like the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset here is usually only available on more expensive phones.
I tested the transparent RedMagic 10 Pro, which Nubia calls Moonlight, and it has a striking industrial design with thick metal-framed glass that lets you see some of the internals and see them come to life while gaming. RGB lighting. There are vents on both sides of the frame with visible fans designed to keep the processor cool. This is useful for longer gaming sessions, but it does make some noise and you can sometimes feel the hot air being expelled.
Nubia includes customizable capacitive touch shoulder triggers on the top edge when you hold the Redmagic 10 Pro in landscape orientation, as well as a shiny textured red switch that launches the Game Center software by default. The rectangular shape and rounded power button remind me of Sony's old Xperia design, but this is a larger phone and difficult to get out of a jeans pocket. I'm talking 6.5 inches tall and 3 inches wide.
Photography: Simon Hill
The Redmagic 10 Pro is so slick and super slippery that it has slipped off tables, chairs, and my lap multiple times over the past few weeks. Surprisingly, the Gorilla Glass surface remains intact so far, but I worry about its long-term survival. Probably best to use a clear box within a box. Water resistance is limited due to the fan vents, and it won't survive a immersion.
It's worth noting that the entry-level Nubia Redmagic 10 Pro is only available in opaque black or white (Shadow or Lightspeed), and you'll have to pay more for the transparent model ($799), although the specs do bump up to 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage. If you crave a sci-fi gamer aesthetic, you can opt for the transparent model.
Photography: Simon Hill
It's a massive beast, but the Redmagic 10 Pro's size gives gamers two important advantages. First, it has a full, almost bezel-less 6.85-inch AMOLED screen, which is lovely. It has a slightly odd resolution of 2,688 x 1,216 pixels, a refresh rate of 144 Hz, and a peak brightness of 2,000 nits. It's perfect for playing games, watching movies, or browsing the web. There's a responsive fingerprint sensor at the bottom and a front-facing camera below the screen at the top.