What is the best Gaming Phone of 2020, early 2021?

This year as well as last year, there are still only Chinese smartphone manufacturers that are interested in the Gaming Phone race, but they have another rookie, which is the Lenovo Legion .

#first. Gaming Phone 2020

1. In 2020, ZTE launched two Gaming Phones, the Nubia Red Magic 5G and 5S.
2. Xiaomi launched 3 Black Shark 3, 3 Pro and 3S.
3. ASUS ROG Phone will be available in two versions, the Global Edition and the Strix version.
4. This year Lenovo also pitched with the Legion Phone and Legion Phone Duel

So, the machines being compared will be:

1. ZTE Nubia Red Magic 5S
2. Xiaomi Black Shark 3S
3. ASUS ROG Phone Global ver
4. Lenovo Legion Phone Duel

And now, please join me to find out what is the best gaming phone!

#2. Hardware

All 4 of these machines I have evaluated, but I will summarize a few parameters as follows:

All 4 screens use OLED panels, size 6.6 to 6.7 inches, Full HD + resolution, Full view design, in which:

1. The refresh rate of Xiaomi Black Shark 3S is 120Hz, the rest is 144Hz
2. The ZTE Nubia Red Magic 5S's touch sampling frequency is 320Hz, the Legion Duel's 240Hz, and the other two are 270Hz.
3. ROG Phone 3 screen supports 3D touch, 10bit color gamut.

Camera:

1. ZTE Nubia Red Magic 5S has 64MP rear camera, 8MP super wide angle camera, 2MP macro camera, 8MP front camera
2. Black Shark 3S has 64MP rear camera, 13MP super wide angle camera, 5MP depth meter, 20MP front camera
3. ROG Phone 3 has a 64MP rear camera, a 13MP super wide-angle camera, a 5MP macro camera, and a 24MP front camera
4. Legion Phone Duel has 64MP rear camera, 16MP super wide angle camera, 20MP front camera

In addition, the 4 machines have an in-screen fingerprint sensor, 2 Sim, 5G support, Red Magic 5S and Black Shark 3S still retain the 3.5mm port, and the other 2 are lost.

# 3. Design

Nubia Red Magic 5S design changes a lot compared to its predecessor: from a metal back to a glass back.

The machine has a radiator fan under the back, which makes its back still not flat. The bezel is made of metal, the heatsink for the fans on both sides, the trigger buttons L and R on the right side, the RGB lights in the middle and 2 sides.

What is the best Gaming Phone of 2020, early 2021? Picture 1

Xiaomi Black Shark 3S retains the X-shaped back layout, the camera cluster is quite unique, using a balance of both metal and glass materials, RGB LED in the Logo and 2 trigger keys on the right side.

What is the best Gaming Phone of 2020, early 2021? Picture 3

ROG Phone 3 still follows the same design as the two previous models, that is: the diagonal radiator cluster on the right side of the back, smaller size than the ROG Phone 2, with USB Type C port on the side of the machine, the trigger key ultrasound on the right side.

Legion Phone Duel has a Full glass back, with a rather odd design: the rear camera cluster is located near the center of the back with the recessed front camera module located on the right side with the trigger keys.

Legion logo integrates RGB LED in the middle of the back. It also has a type C port on the side just like the ROG Phone.

The basic colors of all 4 machines are Black and Silver Gray, giving a gaming look, along with some other quite flashy colors such as orange, blue, blue, red, .

# 4. Configuration

Red Magic 5S has Snapdragon 865 chip, the lowest capacity is 8GB RAM - 128GB ROM and the highest version is 16GB RAM - 256GB RAM, 4500mAh battery, support 55W fast charging technology.

Black Shark 3S has Snapdragon 865 chip, the lowest capacity is 12GB RAM - 128GB ROM and the highest is 12GB RAM - 256GB ROM, 4750mAh battery, 65W fast charging, 18W fast wireless charging.

ROG Phone 3 runs on Snapdragon 865+ chip, the lowest capacity option is 8GB RAM - 128GB ROM and the highest is 16GB RAM - 512GB ROM, 30W fast charging, 10W backward compatible wireless charging.

Legion Duel runs Snapdragon 865+, the lowest capacity option is 12GB RAM - 256GB ROM and the highest is 16GB RAM - 512GB ROM, 90W fast charging for both charging ports at the same time.

# 5. Software

All are equipped with Android 10 on sale, and will certainly be supported to upgrade to Android 11

1. Red Magic 5S has a RedMagicOS customizable Rom
2. Black Shark 3S has a custom Rom from MIUI
3. ROG Phone runs custom Rom from ZenUI
4. Legion Duel has customizable Rom from ZUI

# 6. Evaluate

Without too much discussion, it's still the ASUS ROG Phone that wins. They are still really serious with the intention of dominating the Gaming Phone market.

What is the best Gaming Phone of 2020, early 2021? Picture 5

ASUS ROG Phone features upgrades and technologies that other brands have neglected: sound, display quality, operability, gaming accessories, and more.

While Nubia and Xiaomi have not yet reached the level: what they renew is mainly towards large frequency displays, increased performance and general upgrades for parts considered gaming.

As for rookie Lenovo Legion: what they want to bring here is a unique and unique design, paving the way for not only gaming but also some of the purposes surrounding it such as streaming.

Stream games on smartphones may be quite popular in China, but the international market and even Vietnam we are still quite unfamiliar with those things.

What is the best Gaming Phone of 2020, early 2021? Picture 7

In terms of gaming support: ZTE Nubia Red Magic and ASUS ROG Phone are the two brands that have the most accessories for their machines, and of course they won't come with it.

Black Shark and Legion, the number of accessories is quite limited. If only talking about machines, the technology that supports gaming is no longer too different, since every machine has a gaming mode in software, the trigger keys L and R, vibration feedback, good grip, quick response,…

But of course, that level of perfection in all aspects is still the ROG Phone!

This year's Vivo iQOO 3 5G is not included in this article, as this year iQOO seems more inclined to compete with dumping flagships with Chinese carriers other than gaming.

The evidence is that after many generations of devices, this brand that is considered to be a gaming phone by Vivo still has nothing more than configuration and low price.

They even follow a slim design and have holes for the selfie camera in the screen. With a gaming phone, this design can be considered minimal, as it will affect the screen's visibility and the ability to dissipate heat.

How about you? If you have a choice, which of the 4 above machines will you choose to play the game? Please leave your comments below the comments!

Marvin Fry

Update 09 January 2021