Quick Summary
Redmagic's superpowered gaming tablet will soon be available outside China.
It'll cost £439 in the UK, $549 in the US, so could be a serious competitor with the Nintendo Switch 2 when it comes to quality gaming handhelds.
A little while ago, we brought you news of a dedicated Android gaming tablet launched in China that runs on the super-powered Snapdragon 8 Elite CPU and up to 24GB of RAM.
Well now it's been announced for other regions too, including the UK and US, and the best news is that it's priced around the same as a Nintendo Switch 2.
This is important as, while some bemoan the quality of the LCD screen on Nintendo's latest console, the Redmagic Astra Gaming Tablet sports a 165Hz 9.06-inch OLED display with a 16:10 aspect ratio and 2400 x 1504 resolution.
And, considering its power and how mature the Android emulation scene is right now, that means you could get yourself a portable console that's more flexible than the Switch 2, has a bigger, better screen and is still capable of playing 100s of Switch games. And PS2. And PS3. And.... well, you get the picture.
Priced at £439 in the UK, $549 in the States, the Redmagic Astra Gaming Tablet also features a 13-layer ICE-X cooling system for heat management, and an 8,200mAh battery that promises around five to six hours of intensive gameplay or 33 hours of movie playback.
Redmagic Astra Gaming Tablet: the rest of the specs
It is DTS:X Ultra certified for playback through its stereo speakers, and there are even dual motors built into the tablet itself for haptic vibration feedback.
Wi-Fi 6 is on board, as well as Bluetooth 5.4, and it includes a 13-megapixel rear camera and 9-megapixel front cam for video calling.
The tablet weighs 370g, so a lot less than a Steam Deck, for example. Although you have to take into account that to truly turn the Astra into a gaming handheld you'll need a decent attachable controller, such as the GameSir G8 Plus.
It's worth also remembering that as well as console emulation up to Switch and PS3, an Android tablet of this calibre will also work extremely well with cloud services, such as Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia GeForce Now. And I doubt there'll be a single Android game that won't run on this hugely powerful device.
In short, while the Switch 2 is a wonderful console with a world of exclusive titles on the horizon, you could get access to many 1,000s of games – AAA or otherwise – for roughly the same amount.
The Redmagic Astra Gaming Tablet should be available to buy soon, you can hit the "notify me" button on the dedicated website to be informed when sales are open.
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