The gaming pad from 2040 just arrived the future now ..

JerryRigEverthing

REDMAGIC sent over two of the tablets - one to teardown and one to giveaway. Just make sure you're subscribed and leave a comment and Ill select one random winner from the comments before July 9th 2025.   What is your favorite mobile game?!

Transcript

00:00If the Nintendo Switch 2 and an iPad Pro had a baby, it would be this. The Red Magic Astra

00:06gaming tablet. A gaming pad with specs from the future, but a price point from the past.

00:11Currently half the price of a flagship smartphone, $549 bucks.

00:19I got a soft spot for transparent technology, even if it's just pretending. I'll get into the

00:24liquid metal dual sandwiched internal vapor chambers here in a second, but first let's

00:29see what's happening on the outside. With a 2.4K OLED screen, it already has more pixels per inch

00:34than an M4 iPad Pro, which is great since all Red Magic devices are built for gaming. Plus,

00:41not to rub dirt in the wound or anything, but the bezels are more than 2 millimeters thinner

00:45on Red Magic's tablet. I would turn the iPad Pro on, but it's sleeping. It'll also come as no surprise

00:53that this Astra gaming tablet comes with Red Magic's signature internal shark fin cooling fan. However,

00:58this time around, aside from the RGBs in the fan and the logo, the motherboard is apparently

01:04sandwiched between two copper vapor chambers and has an internal slab of solid state liquid metal

01:10acting as the thermal compound. I guess we got to see it to believe it. One nice thing however is just

01:15like their smartphones, there is no camera bump, which makes our Mohs scale of hardness test rather

01:20calming instead of alarming. That is until we reach a level 7. Normally we see scratches at a level 6,

01:27with deeper grooves at a level 7, but this time around my level 7 pick took a chunk out of the

01:33glass, and a hairline fracture cracked the screen from wall to wall. This is not ideal, but also it's

01:40not the first time this has happened. Red Magic hasn't said what brand or type of glass is on the Astra,

01:45but just to be safe, if I were buying this tablet myself, I'd slap a screen protector on there pretty

01:51quick, just in case. But that's also what I normally do anyway. This is the star frost silver color Astra

01:58tablet. It also comes in black, both of which are anodized aluminum. The red textured slider button is

02:06customizable, but by default it launches into a dedicated game mode. The volume rocker comes next,

02:12also made from metal, but cannot be removed from the device. The top skinny side has one of the two

02:17stereo loudspeakers, as well as the fingerprint scanning power button. The other long side is

02:23blank, and the bottom of the Astra gaming tablet has the second stereo loudspeaker and the USB-C port,

02:32which is slightly off center from the center of the tablet and the center of the frame. Let me know if

02:37that sends you over the edge down in the comments. Also, back to the front real quick. I forgot about

02:42the front facing 9 megapixel camera that can film in 1080p. It's tucked into one of the long bezels,

02:48protected by glass. Speaking of glass, there is another slab of glass on the back. I'm imagining that

02:53aside from just the aesthetics, this is also a functional part of the cooling system.

03:00But we'll find out more here in a second. The 2000 RPM shark fin turbo fan and the 13 megapixel rear

03:07camera both have the same texture around the circles. And while it sounds and looks like it's

03:12getting scratched, it's actually the other way around. The texture of the glass is sanding down

03:16the metal on my razor blade since glass is a harder material than metal. Speaking of which,

03:22I bet you look in the mirror every morning and you wonder how in the world can someone make glass

03:27so perfectly flat in the first place. Well let me tell you. It starts with the same material you'd find

03:34in a tin can. Tin is melted down into a liquid, where as a liquid it can sit perfectly level and

03:41flat, blemish free, and liquid glass is then floated on top of the molten tin. And since tin is more dense

03:50than glass, the two don't mix, just like oil and water. The glass cools and hardens on top of the liquid

03:56tin and solidifies to be perfectly flat and perfectly clear. So the next time you pop open a tin can,

04:02give the material a little thank you for helping making the glass on your smartphone. Where was I?

04:07Ah yeah, the reason glass can cool and harden on top of the molten tin is because glass starts

04:13solidifying at about 1400 degrees celsius, while tin stays liquid at any temperature above 230.

04:20Whoever figured this stuff out is a genius. The 9 inch 2.4K OLED has a 165Hz refresh rate

04:27and a 2000Hz touch sampling rate, which is ideal for super fast response times while gaming.

04:33But tablet knows you've touched the screen before you know you've touched the screen.

04:37But let's be honest, we didn't all gather together here today to talk about tin cans or the melting

04:42point of glass. We're here to check the durability of Red Magic's new gaming tablet, which means it's

04:47time for the bin test. Now I've already compromised the glass on the exterior with my scratch test,

04:53and after the first flex you can see the cracked glass continue to fracture out in multiple directions.

04:59But the aluminum frame of the Astra gaming tablet is surprisingly still solidly intact,

05:05even with that compromised cracked glass. This new Astra tablet bends even less than the Red Magic Nova

05:11from last year, which is a nice improvement. Good work Red Magic. However, since we can't get inside the

05:17tablet with brute force, it's time we try a more tactical method. With the glass cracked, I don't

05:22imagine the display can be salvaged, but you know, sometimes a hero must sacrifice for the greater

05:27good of the team. The goal here is to find the dual sandwich vapor chamber that enveloped the

05:32Snapdragon 8 Elite processor and its potassium alloy solid state liquid metal 2.0 heat transfer material,

05:39and of course see how and what can be repaired in the long term.

05:45With the tablet cracked open, I'll remove three green Phillips head screws,

05:49and unclip the display ribbon just like little Legos. And instantly the top half of the vapor chamber

05:56sandwich is visible, still attached to the screen. Most smartphones only have one copper vapor chamber,

06:03but the Astra is also using thermal paste, copper, and graphite to help the heat escape out through the

06:08thin display. With the top half of the vapor chamber sandwich identified, let's let the mission continue.

06:14There are an additional 6 screws holding in the turbofan. This comes out with the rear 13 megapixel

06:20camera that can film in 4K, but this camera does not have OIS. The fan is interesting since there are

06:26no external vents on the tablet. The fan is just circulating air from inside the tablet and flowing

06:32it over the top of the motherboard. I assume some additional ambient air can enter in from the speaker

06:37vents, but for the most part everything is just circulating. The Red Magic Astra does have an IP54 water

06:43resistance rating, which makes it splash resistant from any direction. And apparently the math checks

06:48out to where the fan doesn't need a dedicated inlet and outlet vent like it does on Red Magic's gaming

06:54phones. There are an additional 28 screws holding in the rest of the components. And during the

06:59unscrewing I realized that the Astra has a whole built in plastic substructure with ridges, which most

07:06likely is what kept the tablet intact during my bin test. On either side of that jerry rig proof substructure

07:12are the dual vibrators. There are two, just like inside of an Xbox or PlayStation controller.

07:19Even each side of the Nintendo Switch 2 has its own vibrators in the Joy-Cons. Having directional

07:24feedback is essential for winning games. The stereo loudspeakers have some waterproofing mesh over the

07:29speaker openings, but there are no internal balls that I can find. The single USB-C port is incredibly

07:35modular, thumbs up for that. It also has a red rubber ring to help with that IP54 water resistance rating.

07:42I'll unplug each side of the dual cell 8000 milliamp hour battery and unclip the front facing 9 megapixel

07:47selfie camera along with the power button. Then the motherboard can come away from the body.

07:52The whole strategy Red Magic is using here with their 13 layer Ice-X cooling system is getting rid of

07:58the air between any of the components that might generate heat. Air is an insulator, so the quicker

08:03Red Magic is able to wick the heat away from the processors through the thermal paste and out the copper

08:08foil right into the vapor chambers where it can be spread out and dissipated, the better.

08:15This is the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, which is the same processor that OnePlus is using on their

08:21Pad 3, which is $200 more expensive. And a sneaky little cooling trick we find is that the battery

08:27also has some copper foil underneath it snaking its way up to the vapor chamber, tucked into the glass on

08:32the back side of the tablet. This will help cool the battery during charging. The battery itself is

08:38very securely glued to the frame and since I don't feel like exploding today, I'll just leave it where

08:43it's at. However, we still need to find the back side of that vapor chamber sandwich as well as the

08:48solid state liquid metal. With quite a bit of heat and a little persuasion from the inside of the camera

08:53hole, I can get the rear slab of glass off in mostly one piece. The inner decal can peel away from the

09:02tablet with the second copper vapor chamber still attached. The two vapor chambers are identical,

09:08and it turns out Red Magic's vapor chamber sandwich is actually a real thing. The solid state liquid metal

09:132.0 is actually buried in a glob of thermal paste on the inside, placed right in the middle of the

09:18motherboard. Red Magic says that this guy has the thermal conductivity of 200 watts per meter kelvin,

09:24and is made from an indium and potassium based alloy. For reference, normal thermal paste has a

09:29watts per meter kelvin of about 30, and air has a thermal conductivity of about 0.02, which is why Red

09:37Magic keeps it circulating as much as possible inside the tablet with that turbo fan, so it can actually

09:42do something useful. Overall, I'm a fan of the fan. On paper, the extra cooling method should indeed

09:48correlate with better performance, which means more wins, and also it's just a really cool

09:53conversation starter. I imagine most gamers buying the Red Magic Astra are the gamers who want to game

09:58while pretending to do their homework, or the gamers who want to do their homework while pretending to

10:03game. I'll leave a link down in the description with the current pricing. And I do have an extra brand

10:08new still in one piece Red Magic Astra to give away. Just let me know your favorite game down in the

10:13comments and why, and I'll pick a winner next week. Thanks a ton for watching, and I'll see you around.

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