OPPO’s “Reno” smartphone series had been well-known for their sleek and stylish design which allow them to stand out from the sea of smartphones in the market.
Having impressed by last year’s OPPO Reno4 Pro (Review), I was thrilled when OPPO Singapore launches the next-gen’s OPPO Reno5 Pro 5G in the local market earlier this month, aching to check out what the new model have in store for us.
After spending two weeks with the new Reno5 Pro, I have to admit OPPO had done a superb job this time round in pushing the device closer towards the higher-end segment rather than settling as a mid-ranger.
The Reno5 Pro comes with all the much-needed upgrades over its predecessor, drafting in a more powerful chipset along with 5G connectivity to ensure the device remain futureproof, while retaining all the best-in-class features like the 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 flash charging.
This makes the device a highly viable alternative over some of the pricier models including the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE or Realme X50 Pro (Review), with its attractive launch price of just S$899.
So if you’re in the market for a sub-S$1,000 smartphone, do check out our OPPO Reno5 Pro review to learn more about this exciting device!
Gorgeous Design, Immersive Display
At first glance, its obvious enough that the Reno5 Pro has been treated to some redesign on its rear panel. More specifically, OPPO had swapped the elongated camera housing we saw on the Reno4 Pro with a rectangular-shape camera island for its quad-camera system.
Despite that, the Reno5 Pro continues to bring back those protruding lenses to spice things up a little. What’s impressive is that its rear camera bump is almost non-existence as well.
Along the sides of its rear panel, it sports a gorgeous dual-curved design which also partially helps to improve the overall ergonomic of the device. Indeed, the device offers excellent grip and feels luxurious on hand.
Moving on, the device’s 7.6mm ultra-slim chassis means that it is actually thinner than the Reno4 Pro, and is definitely the sleekest within the price range. At 173 grams, the OPPO Reno5 Pro is pretty light too and that’s also one of the reasons why its ideal for single-handed use.
For the review unit I received, it dons a Starry Black colorway which is slightly glossy in nature. However, there’s also a more flashy Galactic Silver variant which has the unique “Reno Glow” design furnished upon a frosted glass finish.
Flipping to the front, we’ll be greeted by a curved Super AMOLED display that measures 6.55-inches diagonally. Topped with FHD+ screen resolution and HDR10+ support, its front display offers an immersive viewing experience with vibrant colors and accurate color reproductions.
Like I mentioned before in earlier reviews, OLED panels come with benefits that LCD panels can’t possibly replicate. Its ability to “switch off” individual pixels allows it to produce deep blacks which is crucial in building up greater contrasts onscreen. Other than that, it also brings along several nice-to-have features such as Always-on display as well as an under screen fingerprint scanner.
To sweeten the deal, the front panel also supports 90Hz refresh rate which not only makes your home screen navigation more fluid, but also delivers a smoother gameplay and video playback.
Most importantly, it also has sufficient peak brightness to ensure the screen remain visible even when you’re out for an outdoor shoot during a sunny afternoon.
More Powerful Than Ever
Under the hood, the OPPO Reno5 Pro is powered by a 5G-ready Dimensity 1000+ chipset designed by Taiwanese chip maker MediaTek which had surpassed Qualcomm to become the world’s largest smartphone chip maker in Q3 2020 according to Counterpoint Research.
In fact, the OPPO Reno5 Pro is the first smartphone in the local market to feature the Dimensity 1000+ chipset. Although this chip isn’t exactly a household name here, but it actually powers some of the best-selling smartphones in the overseas market including the Realme X7 Pro and Redmi K30 Ultra. As such, there’s absolutely no qualms about its reliability given the positive track records it has attained so far.
In terms of performance, you might be surprised that the 7nm Dimensity 1000+ chipset sits just slightly below the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 as well as Samsung’s flagship Exynos 990 chip. It is therefore a considerable upgrade over the Snapdragon 720G on last year’s Reno4 Pro (4G).
On a day-to-day usage, the Dimensity 1000+ is more than capable in delivering a smooth and consistent experience for both productivity and entertainment, so much so that the chip is likely to be an overkill for average user.
However, the additional bandwidth certainly comes handy for power users who multi-taskings on their device, and is also especially important for the phone’s camera since some of the camera modes rely heavily on real time AI processing such as the AI Highlight video mode.
As for gaming, the Dimensity 1000+ is exceptional too. Even when I chunk up the graphic settings in PUBG mobile to the highest level, there isn’t any noticeable stutter throughout the gameplay.
However, it do gets slightly warm after around two to three games with high graphical setting which is one of the caveat for having an ultra-slim design. Nonetheless, the Reno5 Pro do have a VC cooling system to ensure the phone’s temperature doesn’t affects your gaming experience too much.
Furthermore, OPPO’s ColorOS 11 also comes along with a suite of gaming-centric tools and customizations which you can take advantage to bolster your gaming experience.
One of my favorite is the “Immersive Mode” which can be activated within the “Game Assistant” while you’re inside a game. When activated, it helps to block out calls and messaging notifications, as well as disabling all navigational buttons, gesture controls and hardware buttons to prevent accidental touch or activation that’s likely to cost you the game.
Coupled with a hefty 12GB RAM in the memory department, there’s hardly a chance to run into memory bottleneck since it can easily handles dozens of running apps in the background.
Great Photography Companion
On the camera front, the OPPO Reno5 Pro comes with a versatile quad-camera system at the back lead by a 64 megapixels (f/1.7 aperture) primary shooter along with three other auxiliary cameras including an 8 megapixels (f/2.2 aperture) ultra-wide lens, as well as a pair of 2 megapixels macro and monochrome lenses.
Under the default shooting mode, it makes use of the usual 4-in-1 pixel binning technique to produce 16 megapixels images that look sharp and vibrant thanks to its wide dynamic range. Most importantly, color reproduction is excellent and this makes the images appear true-to-life.
The adoption of a higher resolution 64MP snapper over last year’s 48MP shooter on the Reno4 Pro also translates to greater details and lower noise level which are evidenced in some instances. However, the improvements ain’t really drastic if you compare to last year’s Reno4 Pro – so you probably won’t pick up any differences with your naked eyes.
In low-light environment, the Reno5 Pro’s Night Mode works like a charm. It makes use of optimal exposure to provide just enough brightness to ensure the scene looks natural and not washed out. Level of details are generally great, and only occasionally struggle on brightly-lit sign boards with small wordings.
For the ultra-wide shots, the image quality is pretty consistent with those taken by the main camera and that’s certainly a good sign. Furthermore, Night Mode is also available for ultra-wide shots as well.
Coming to its zooming capabilities, the OPPO Reno5 Pro is able to support up to 20x digital zoom via the usual cropping technique. Under a well-lit environment, I would say that the device did a splendid job in terms of zooming.
As evidenced in the photo samples, it controls the noise level really well even at the maximum zoom factor. Images doesn’t appear grainy and words remain pretty clear. This is of course another benefit of using a high resolution main camera.
So, to test out how well the macro camera performs, I also tried to take a really close-up image of a giant ant. Although it may takes quite a bit of effort to focus on the subject, but I would say that the level of details it bring is quite acceptable and its surely a usable lens.
Last but not the least, the OPPO Reno5 Pro also has a 32 megapixels camera upfront for selfies. Interestingly, the front-facing camera is available in several different modes including the default mode, portrait mode, as well as night mode. Overall, selfies snapped with the front-facing camera is certainly Insta-worthy with natural color profile and plenty of details.
Blazing Fast Charging Speed
As with any other OPPO smartphones, the Reno5 Pro provides a pretty decent battery life too. Its 4,350mAh battery can usually last through the day with 20% to 30% battery remaining under moderate usage.
However, the main focus here isn’t on the battery life but rather its incredible 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 flash charging technology that’s capable of delivering a full charge under 35 minutes. Likewise, a mere 15 minutes charge is more than enough to bring the battery from 0 to 50% which is really impressive.
This is no doubt one of the key selling points of the Reno5 Pro which simply put other flagship phones to shame. In fact, its 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 flash charging is trice faster than the 21W fast-charging support on the Sony Xperia 1 II which cost nearly twice the price of Reno5 Pro.
As for wireless charging, the Reno5 Pro will be giving this feature a miss this time round again. Thought its a nice-to-have feature, but its definitely not a deal-breaker in deciding your next smartphone, since most will be happy to stick with the wired charging to take advantage of its blazing fast charging speed.
Verdict
At S$899, the Reno5 Pro is surely one of the best options for those looking for flagship experience at a more palatable price point. The OPPO Reno5 Pro has exactly everything you need, from its elegant design to its highly capable chipset, promising quad-camera system, blazing-fast charging support as well as futureproofing 5G connectivity.
Its really commendable how OPPO managed to squeeze in all these goodies into an ultra-slim chassis that somehow gets slimmer with each iteration. From the new Reno5 series, we can actually see that OPPO is beginning to rebrand the series more towards the higher-end market, which is actually where it started from if you can still remember the Reno 10X Zoom that was launched nearly two-years back. Therefore, the upcoming Reno series smartphones will only get more exciting with more powerful specs and intriguing features.
For those who’re interested in the OPPO Reno5 Pro, the device is available for just S$899 at both Shoppe and Lazada.
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