OPPO Reno5 Pro 5G (Review): Elegant design, flagship performance

There are dozens of mobile handset makers in the market place releasing plenty of devices each year and curiously, most of them harp on their camera capabilities. However, Oppo stands out from the rest of the crowd. The company has built a reputation for good quality handsets that are infused with the latest technology, high-end features, and elegant design. Its Reno devices, especially, have found high acceptance among users. We have reviewed numerous devices from the Reno series and therefore, it is imperative to highlight some of the industry-first innovations—first video bokeh effect on a pop-up camera, the first 44MP dual punch hole front camera and first 10x Hybrid zoom with 60x digital zoom.

Reno5 Pro 5G is the first 5G-ready smartphone from the Reno series, priced at Rs 35,990. It comes in a 8+128GB configuration in two colours—Astral Blue and Starry Black. Out of the box, the Reno5 Pro 5G comes across as a trendy and attractive device. It’s a nice fit in one’s hands too. The thing that pleased me the most is its ultra-slim body equivalent to the thickness of a pen, with a 7.6mm thickness and a weight of only 173g. The unique anti-glare glass process (Reno Glow) on the glass back cover delivers a glittery visual effect with a matte finish. Basically the glass around the back of the camera, as well as the bottom edge of the phone, will glow in a dark environment.

The phone is equipped with a 6.5-inch 3D curved Super AMOLED FHD (2,400 x 1,080) display, it has a 90Hz refresh rate and upto 180Hz touch sampling rate. For the not-so-geeky lot, the refresh rate refers to the overall smoothness during navigation in a phone, while the touch sampling rate is the number of times a screen can sense a user touch input in a second.

Under the hood, we are looking at a powerful MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ processor that is literally a powerhouse for 5G connectivity, multimedia, videography, and imaging capabilities. It also enhances the video quality and supports AINR and HDR that enable low noise and high dynamic range for extreme low-light photography and videos. The chipset comes with a 7nm process, that offers great performance and extremely low power consumption. Naturally, for this kind of powerful performance you need an equally powerful battery back-up so that the juice on the phone does not drain out. Towards this, the Reno5 Pro 5G boasts a massive 4350mAh battery and 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 Flash Charge that can charge upto 100% in as little as 30 minutes and provide upto four hours of video playback with just five minutes of charge.

The ColorOS 11.1 maintains the familiar stock Android 11 features while also providing the rich user interface customisation, greater efficiency and smoothness. Basically, Reno5 Pro 5G users can design their Always-on Display, colour scheme, and dark-mode to personalise their phone. Innovative features such as Flexdrop and Three-finger Translate with Google Lens are all designed to increase productivity.

As for the all-important camera system, we are looking at a 64MP rear quadcam matrix and a 32MP front camera. Oppo has gone heavy into Artificial Intelligence technology and software to improve its pictures and videos. For instance, there is the Full Dimension Fusion (FDF) Portrait Video System, designed for superior portrait video effects. The two engines on the system, the Quality Enhancement Engine and the Portrait Perception Engine help capture clear videos in any lighting condition while defining fine-grained criteria for portrait effects.

Powered by the FDF Portrait Video System, Reno5 Pro 5G takes portrait video quality to the next level with its AI Highlight Video feature on both front and rear cameras. This feature automatically detects the ambient light in a scene and improves the video quality by applying Oppo’s Ultra Night Video and Live HDR algorithms. In dark environments, Ultra Night Video Algorithms brighten the scene, while detection of backlit scenes engages Live HDR Algorithms to reduce overexposed areas.

Reno5 Pro 5G also introduces the Dual-View Video which can be used in both the front and rear cameras simultaneously, providing two perspectives within the same frame in videos. The 960fps Smart Slow-Motion feature on the phone helps showcase the smallest detail of even the briefest moments while keeping the focus automatically locked on the moving object.

My takeaway: Reno5 Pro 5G is packed with some impressive specs and is a nice balance of performance and design. It can be a hot pick for its ultra-sleek body, good camera performance, high-end processing power, and long-lasting battery life.