8.0 / 10
SCORE RedMagic Astra Tablet $549 at RedMagic Pros Sturdy, compact design good for travel
Excellent 165Hz OLED display
High-end Qualcomm chip delivers top performance
Lots of gaming-specific features Cons No microSD slot for expansion
No software update guarantees
No included accessories
Mediocre gaming battery life
Earlier this year, I tested Lenovo's 8-inch Legion Tab Gen 3 gaming tablet to see how it held up as a small gaming tablet against the iPad Mini. Spoiler alert: It did quite well. But shortly after testing that tablet, gaming phone-maker RedMagic reached out to ask if I wanted to test its new gaming tablet, the 9-inch Astra.
After a few weeks of testing, I can safely say that while Lenovo's little tablet is still excellent, the Astra beats it in a couple of key areas. The most important of them is performance: It's just flat-out faster than the Legion Tab. On the other hand, the Lenovo is a better option as a small, general-purpose Android tablet that's also great for gaming (and it's regularly less expensive than the Astra, too). However, if gaming features and performance, as well as a standout design, are what you care most about, the RedMagic Astra is worth paying a premium for.
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