Nubia Red Magic Gaming Smartphone to Be Globally Available via IndieGoGo

Nubia Red Magic smartphone was launched last week as the first gaming smartphone by ZTE. Now, the handset has been made available through the crowdfunding site IndieGoGo. Early backers can get the smartphone for $399 (roughly Rs. 26,700), and the smartphone will start shipping in May.

The company has stated that it will ship the Red Magic smartphone to India, Europe, the UK, and a host of other countries. However, interested buyers in the US and Canada will have to wait for the smartphone. The handset is currently listed on IndieGoGo for a month-long campaign to raise $50,000 (roughly Rs. 33,41,800). It already has raised over $30,000 (roughly Rs. 20,05,500) from more than 100 backers, reaching 61 percent of its goal with a month left for the fundraising campaign.

The IndieGoGo campaign has several offers on the Nubia Red Magic smartphone. As per the first deal, you can buy the smartphone for $399 including shipping. This handset is equipped with Red Magic OS (China-specific OS) but it will not have Google Mobile Services (GMS). Buyers will also get a dBrand Black Camo Skin included in the shipment. This deal will expire on Saturday (April 27). If you pay for this deal, the company promises to ship the Red Magic next month.

Nubia has another deal that is also priced at $399 including shipping charges. However, this handset will come with Vanilla Android 8.1 Oreo and not the custom OS. Also, buyers will get the dBrand Black Camo Skin. Notably, the estimated date of delivery is July 2018.

There is a third deal on the Nubia Red Magic, priced at the same amount. Buyers will get the smartphone early but with a test version of stock Android 8.1 Oreo. It does not have the dBrand skin. You will have to join the company's development team, and the expected delivery date is in May 2018. Notably, all the deals have only one variant - 8GB RAM, 128GB inbuilt storage - of the Nubia Red Magic.

While the smartphone will not ship to North America, the company has unveiled a voucher exclusively for North American customers. Buying the voucher worth $9 ensure a $50 discount when the goes on sale in the continent.

The Nubia Red Magic was scheduled to go on sale on April 25, and it was priced at CNY 2,499 (roughly Rs. 26,000) for the 6GB RAM, 64GB storage variant, and CNY 2,999 (roughly Rs. 31,000) for the 8GB RAM, 128GB storage variant.

To recall, the key features of the Nubia Red Magic include its air-cooling technology, gaming mode that optimises performance and disables notifications to prevent interruptions, a 16.8 million colour RGB LED panel at the back, and an aviation-grade aluminium alloy build with a diamond-cut surface and 'vector aesthetics'.

In terms of specifications, the Nubia Red Magic is a dual-SIM (Nano) smartphone that runs Nubia Red Magic OS that's based on Android 8.1 Oreo. It sports a 6-inch full-HD+ (1080x2160 pixels) LTPS TFT display and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC. It comes in 6GB and 8GB RAM variants. The Nubia Red Magic features a 24-megapixel rear camera and an 8-megapixel camera. It bears either 64GB or 128GB of inbuilt storage, not expandable via microSD card.

The connectivity options in the Nubia Red Magic include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac (dual-band, 2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth v5.0, GPS/ A-GPS, USB Type-C, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Sensors on board include an accelerometer, ambient light sensor, gyroscope, magnetometer, and proximity sensor. The handset is fuelled by a 3800mAh non-removable battery with NeoPower 3.0 and Nubia fast charging capabilities. It also comes with a TAS2555 amplifier for improved audio performance and DTS Audio support.