[Red Magic 8 pro] crodgers79:
OK, got my shiny new Red Magic 8S Pro four days ago. Here's what I've since learned:

1. Changing launchers - just isn't going to happen. Current firmware bug (as of September 2023, I assume) forces phone to constantly reload stock launcher no matter what third-party launcher you install. My solution, give up, just use the stock launcher (for now, anyway) it's not that bad once you configure it the way you want.

2. Android Auto - this phone's pretty picky about the USB cable used to connect it to the car. While my previous Samsung Galaxy Ultra S22 worked fine with the USB cable, the Red Magic 8S Pro has a pop-up that shows options for connecting when you plug it in, which include Android Auto, but the ONLY option that's available is "USB charging." Note that Android Auto still loads both on the phone and car but I had trouble trying to get my Amazon Alexa Auto device to work since the Alexa app requires signal from the USB cable connection in order to launch when you connect the phone to the car. It took me awhile to figure out that the reason why the Alexa device was failing to work properly was just because the cable didn't trigger Android Auto which in-turn didn't trigger Alexa to auto-start before the device could initialize. Solution: buy a certified Android Auto USB cable (check Amazon reviews for compatibility).

3. Early Samsung Galaxy Watches - the early Tizen based models (Galaxy Watch Classic B976, Galaxy Watch Gear Sport) initially fail to connect using Galaxy Wear Android app. Can connect via Bluetooth settings but Galaxy Wear app will fail at "Finishing Pairing.." I've got pretty extensive experience at this, and no published work-around that I tried worked. I finally got the old Gear Sport to work but the Galaxy Watch Classic took many more tries of resetting the device, reloading the Galaxy Wear app, clearing it's cache, rebooting the phone, checking to make sure that all the Samsung apps had full permissions (don't forget to check the hidden Samsung Device Connectivity app) . Finally got them working but it was A LOT of work.

4. Flip case - I like using a flip-case (with cover) to protect my phones. I found a nice one on Amazon but it ships from China so it's still not arrived. I did pick a case that has a square cut-out on the cover to allow the phone to display incoming information like notices and phone calls while you have the cover closed. Since this is a made-in-China cheap case I'm not sure that feature will work with this phone but I'm hopeful that it will.

5. Screen protector - I looked high and lo for a screen protector (film type NOT glass) and all I could find were glass screen protectors. I usually use Skinomi or ArmorSuit protectors but neither company had a film protector for this device. I was reading through some Reddit thread and found a guy who said that Red Magic phones all ship with a film screen protector installed, so I gave up my search for one. Much to my delight the Red Magic 8S Pro did in-fact come with a film screen protector pre-installed. Nice!

That's it for now, I hope that some of these insights will be of use to the community of Red Magic 8S Pro users!

Chris R.

crodgers79