The past generation’s OPPO Reno series smartphones were all about design and cameras: You fork out a sum that’s halve the price of a flagship phone and you get yourself one of the best-looking smartphone in the market with a reliable camera system that turns every shot into a flattering scene.
No doubt, this strategy had worked well over the past couple of years but may no longer works it’s charm in the face of increasing competition from other major smartphone brands which have been actively churning out new devices with impressive hardware and features.
That’s precisely why OPPO has decided to step things up by fueling the new Reno8 Pro 5G with a class-leading chipset along with an even faster charging speed to keep itself clear from competitors.
Design & Handling
OPPO Reno series smartphones had gone through significant design change over the past two years and the new Reno8 Pro 5G’s design is once again a huge departure from the January-announced Reno7 Pro (Review).
The most notable change is perhaps the adoption of a larger-than-usual camera housing which actually grows on me after some time. Just like the Find X5 Pro (Review), the camera module blends smoothly and elegantly onto the back plate with subtle flowing curves which we don’t usually see among smartphones.
The phone however retains the same flat frame design that gives the phone a boxy form factor which kind of reminds me of Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro (Review). Besides looking good aesthetically, these flat edges also offer better grip than those with curve edges so I doesn’t have the impression that the phone may slip though my fingers especially when using the phone single-handedly.
However, the thing with flat frame design is that it somehow makes the phone looks thicker which isn’t actually the case since the phone measures just 7.3mm in terms of thickness. In fact, the Reno8 Pro 5G is among the slimmest smartphone in the market and is even slimmer than it’s predecessor.
Other than that, the phone also scores highly in terms of build quality as it adopts a premium aluminum frame along with a Glass-equipped back panel that offers a luxurious hand-feel like what we would expect from a premium smartphone.
The review unit I received comes in a Glazed Black colorway which sports a glossy, mirror-like finish which looks really attractive and stunning even though it attracts fingerprints more easily than those with Matte finish.
Display
Over on the front side, the OPPO Reno8 Pro 5G greets us with a slightly larger 6.7” display as opposed to the 6.55” screen on the Reno7 Pro. The extra screen estate certainly makes it easier for multi-tasking as well as other productivity-related tasks.
The display itself is a high-end affair. It’s based on an AMOLED panel which looks way more vibrant and punchy than traditional LCD panels. It offers a sharp-looking FHD+ screen resolution topped with a fast 120Hz refresh rate that makes scrolling and animation felt smoother on the display. That’s certainly a nice upgrade over the 90Hz refresh rate on the preceding model.
To sweeten up the deal, it also supports various advanced features such as 10-bit color depth, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, as well as HDR10+ to ensure accurate color reproduction for a more realistic and immersive viewing experience when streaming your favorite movies on Netflix and Disney+.
Most importantly, outdoor visibility is fantastic thanks to it’s impressive peak brightness that goes all the way up to 950 nits (when auto brightness is turned on) to keep the screen legible even when using the phone directly under the sun.
Just like any other premium smartphones, the front display is also covered by an additional layer of Gorilla Glass 5 to protect the screen against accidental drops or scratches. For biometric authentication, there’s also a responsive in-display fingerprint scanner that works remarkably well.
Performance
The OPPO Reno8 Pro 5G is powered by an octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 8100-Max chipset which is quite a big step up (in terms of both CPU and GPU performance) from the Dimensity 1200-Max chipset that was used on the Reno7 Pro.
In day-to-day usage, the Dimensity 8100-Max chipset never disappoints me with blazing fast performance which makes multi-tasking felt like a breeze on the device. Speaking of multi-tasking, OPPO’s ColorOS 12 comes with a host of intuitive features such as floating windows and FlexDrop which make it easier for users to work across multiple apps.
Likewise, mobile gamers would be glad to hear that phone didn’t falter when playing graphics intensive game titles such as Asphalt 9 Legend and PUBG Mobile at higher game settings. That’s how impressive the new Dimensity 8100-Max chipset actually is.
To keep it’s thermals in check, the Reno8 Pro 5G features an advanced cooling system comprising of five different types of cooling materials to improve heat dissipation during long gaming sessions. This is important as it ensures that the processor is able to work at optimal performance in order to output a consistent frame rate.
Coming to the memory side of things, the Reno8 Pro 5G is offered in a single configuration featuring 12GB RAM and 256GB onboard storage which is definitely more than sufficient for majority of the users.
Cameras
For photography, the OPPO Reno8 Pro 5G features a versatile triple-cam setup comprising of a 50 megapixels (f/1.8 aperture) main camera with a relatively large 1/1.56” sensor size, 8 megapixels (f/2.2 aperture) ultra-wide camera, as well as a 2 megapixels (f/2.4 aperture) macro camera.
For those who might not know, the main camera is in fact the same Sony IMX 766 imaging sensor that was found in the company’s flagship Find X5 Pro (Review). As such, it’s not surprising that the Reno8 Pro 5G is able to click equally impressive photos with aplenty details and excellent dynamic range.
Likewise, color reproduction is fantastic in both well-lit and low-light environment, allowing photos to appear true-to-life rather than some over saturated mess. That’s partly thanks to the adoption of a high-quality 7p lens in front of the imaging sensor which not only improves color accuracy, but also plays a significant role in reducing chromatic aberration.
When shooting in extreme low-light environment, the Reno8 Pro 5G is able to rely on a highly capable night mode feature which helps to improve overall exposure and allow photos to look brighter and sharper than those taken with the default shooting mode. As usual, this feature kicks in automatically whenever the camera detects a low-light scene. However, you can disable it easily if you prefer to shoot without having night mode on.
Moving on to it’s ultra-wide camera, this is another usable camera that’s able to click decent-looking photos with healthy amount of details and dynamic range even though it’s a step below the main camera. It offers an impressive 112-degrees Field-of-View which is comparatively wider than most other devices in the market.
To help with faraway shots, the phone depends on digital zooming of up to 20x via it’s main camera. Yes, there’s no telephoto camera here, but that isn’t exactly an issue considering that the 2x/ 3x digital zoom is able to yield almost identical result as a 2x/ 3x telephoto camera.
Besides shooting distant subjects, this feature is also great for taking close-up photos of plants and insects since it performs much better than a dedicated macro camera in terms of color saturation and details.
Battery & Charging
Under the hood, the Reno8 Pro 5G is fitted with the same 4,500mAh battery as the Reno7 Pro. Hence, there isn’t much changes when it comes to battery life. Most of the time, I was able to squeeze out around one and a half days’ worth of usage when using the phone moderately, and slightly more than a day with heavier usage.
The main highlight here actually lies in it’s charging speed which has received a nice bump from 65W to 80W that’s capable of delivering a full charge in around 40 minutes. Otherwise, a mere 15 minutes is also good enough to take it’s battery life above the 50% mark.
Verdict
The OPPO Reno8 Pro 5G bears the traits of a premium smartphone despite being priced at a much more accessible price point compared to other flagship models in the market which easily go above the $1,500 mark. Therefore, this is definitely a phone to consider for those who doesn’t want to spend excessively on a smartphone but still keen on getting a flagship-like experience with great photography potential.
Pricing & Availability
The OPPO Reno8 Pro 5G will be available for purchase in the local market starting September 10th at a retail price of $1,099 for the 12GB+256GB trim. It’ll also be available for pre-order from now till September 9th via OPPO concept stores as well as OPPO’s Amazon, Lazada, Qoo10, Shopee, TikTok flagship stores and partner consumer electronic stores.
