OPPO Reno 8 Pro 5G Review: Slick Looks Backed Up by Flagship-Like Power
November 16, 2022Performance: Dimensity 8100-Max 5G, 8GB / 12GB
Main Display: 6.7-inch FHD AMOLED (2412×1080)
Weight: 183g
Storage: 256 GB
Battery: 4,500 mAh
Features: 4K /1080p / 720p
Rear Camera: 50 MP Main, 8MP Ultrawide, 2MP Marco
Front Camera: 32 MP (Sony IMX709), 1080 Video recording
Colour: Glazed Green
Price: RM3,499
The Reno 8 Pro 5G is a great-looking phone that features a thin and elegant unibody design, which feels refined and precise. It looks like it was painstakingly crafted to perfection due to how seamlessly the contours advance to form the body. The camera bump seems to flow progressively from every side until it fuses with the main body.
OPPO says that to create this exquisite look, it had to adopt an 800℃ hot forging process. This is perfectly believable because of the fluidic nature of how the phone seems to have been sculpted. But that isn’t all, to achieve the mirror-like finish the company used 8 different polishing processes.
The end result is a phone that looks very special and, to a certain extent, unique. I might go so far as to say that it’s one of the best-looking phones that money can buy. Ironically, the Reno 8 Pro 5G is priced substantially cheaper than the top-tier flagship phones, yet seems to overshadow most of them in terms of looks and appeal.
What’s It Like?
OPPO has placed the power button at the midline of the right-side frame and the volume rocker on the left. This allows just about anyone to access and toggle said buttons without having to do the usual “shuffle”. You can have the phone in either Glazed Green or Glazed black. Though both look good, the former seems to be better at highlighting the company’s craftsmanship.
At 7.34mm thick, the Reno 8 Pro 5G is fairly thin to carry in hand or tucked away in a pocket. However, the polished surfaces aren’t great to grip, so exercise caution if you choose to use this phone without a case. It weighs 183g, which feels just about right and not burdensome to carry. These physical attributes make it easy to live with on a daily basis.
On the front is a pin-sharp, 6.7-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. Due to how cleanly the frame wraps around the screen, OPPO gets to highlight the extremely thin bezels, which feel minuscule in comparison to its competition. It offers a 93.4% screen-to-body ratio, which allows for a more immersive viewing experience.
It produces rich blacks and vivid colors, which comes as no surprise for an AMOLED display. This coupled with the 120Hz refresh rate makes everything from the UI to the content you’re consuming feel more enjoyable to engage with. It’s large enough to be suitable for gaming as it is for productivity work.
The Performance
Everything you do feels buttery-smooth, from the swiftness of apps launching to the seamless transition between tasks or other apps. This is due in no small part to the MediaTek Dimensity 8100 Max chipset. Built on a 5nm process, it’s extremely efficient at chomping through tasks. OPPO claims It offers 12% faster CPU and 29% faster GPU performance.
Though the gains may not seem to amount to much, when you consider that the Reno7 Pro was already a blisteringly quick phone, the numbers start to make sense. The new phone benefits from LPDDR5 memory and UFS3.1 storage, which helps with overall responsiveness. You can have it with either 8 or 12GB RAM.
For most tasks, 8GB is more than sufficient. However, the 12GB option allows for a little more breathing room. The latter would be better for heavier workloads, which includes high-definition videography as well as playing graphically intensive mobile games.
In terms of real-world performance, it’s up there with its top-tier Snapdragon counterparts. Whether it’s opening multiple browser tabs, switching between various apps or shooting 4K videos, the Reno 8 Pro handles all of it without any problems. In fact, for the entire duration of our review period, I didn’t notice any performance issues or software inadequacies.
Besides raw computing power, the Reno 8 Pro is good because of two main factors: clever AI performance optimization and an efficient cooling system. The former works behind the scenes to make sure that resources are allocated for the task at hand, which improves overall responsiveness and usability.
Mind, this isn’t unique to the Reno8 Pro. Most of OPPO’s phones incorporate something like this to not only compensate for less-than-stellar hardware but to maintain an acceptable level of user satisfaction. Admittedly, ColorOS isn’t just a reskinned version of Android, it’s a revamped OS meant to make a smartphone simple to use and easy to live with.
Despite how hard I pushed the phone, the Reno8 Pro stayed relatively cool throughout my time with it. From time to time, especially during intensive computational tasks, it gets a little warm, but that’s as far as it will go. This is probably due to the efficient cooling system. OPPO says that it comprises 5 types of cooling materials which includes graphite.
The cooling surface area is about 32,928mm2, which is supposed to be larger than its predecessor. As such, the phone can handle just about anything you throw at it without becoming uncomfortably hot in the process.
The Cameras
This is a phone built for photography. It uses a great combination of hardware and software work to capture great shots. On the rear, there’s the main 50MP, Sony IMX766 sensor that’s the star of the show. There’s also an 8MP ultra-wide and a 2MP macro sensor.
It’s extremely easy to capture good pictures. Just point the camera at the subject and make sure it’s focused, then press the shutter button. The AI software works with the camera sensor to achieve the best possible outcome for any shot. This results in a sharp, well-exposed foreground and background.
Post-processing work tries to beautify each picture the best way it can. Sometimes the results are spot on but for others, the contrast levels seem to be artificially inflated. This is to ensure that the background pops as much as possible. Though I prefer a natural, realistic tone, I understand the appeal especially if you want to quickly share a shot on Instagram.
The processing prowess is due to the MariSilicon X NPU. It is responsible for a lot of the magic that goes on behind the scenes to help spruce up each picture. Think of it as your little AI camera assistant that does most of the technical adjustments, so that you don’t have to worry about them.
It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to capture static shots or subjects that are in motion, The Sony sensor does an admirable job of tracking and keeping everything in focus. Though it isn’t perfect, it gets things right most of the time.
The ultra-wide is able to capture decent shots, but the quality isn’t as good as the 50MP main sensor. It might be useful when you have a wider depth of field but for the best quality pictures, the Sony sensor is your best bet.
This is also true for shots captured at night or in poor lighting conditions. The hardware and software combination are able to use what little light is available and create some pretty decent pictures. What it lacks in megapixels, the IMX766 sensor makes up for it by producing decently exposed pictures with the right amount of brightness and saturation.
Upfront is the 32MP selfie camera. It’s a decent sensor too. Working with the onboard AI, it’s able to capture decent selfies in both good and relatively poor ambient lighting. You can add filters and several other beautification options to “improve” your selfies. But as a fan of realism, I prefer to turn them all off and let the phone “do its thing”.
You don’t need to know anything about photography to capture amazing pictures. All you have to do is point and shoot. And it’s a similar story when it comes to recording videos. You can record decent videos but you’ll need to have a steady hand to get useful action shots.
That said, the Reno 8 Pro is better suited to photography rather than videography. Work within the phone’s limitations and you should be very happy with what it produces. It’s amazing that it costs just RM3,499 but is able to behave just like a flagship would under normal circumstances.
Battery Life
The phone has a 4,500mAh battery, which isn’t very big but thanks to the power optimization software, is more than adequate for at least a day’s worth of service life. The AI wizardry controls the charging current and voltage to maintain battery health and lengthen the lifespan.
What’s impressive here is that said battery supports 80W SUPERVOOC charging, which OPPO claims will juice it up in no time at all. If left to charge at 15%, you can expect to return in 14 minutes to find the level to be at 50%. You’ll get about 75% if you leave it connected for 25 minutes instead.
But the best part about this is that OPPO includes this 80W charging brick in the phone box. That means you get to experience the full potential of this Reno8 Pro without needing to fork out extra money for a new, powerful charger.
Should You Buy This?
If you’re looking for a powerful phone that’s easy to live with. Then this is what you want. The Reno8 Pro is great for CPU-intensive workloads as it is for selfie shots. Through the use of AI technology, it’s able to adapt to the needs and wants of the easier instead of it being the other way around.
My advice is to opt for the 12GB RAM version instead of the standard 8GB one. Though the latter may feel more than adequate for the majority of users, having a higher memory ceiling will pay off several months down the road.
That said, the Reno8 Pro isn’t perfect for taking excellent photos of distant subjects or capturing crisp 4k video. Though it accomplishes both these tasks fairly well, the results aren’t as good as those of top-tier phones like the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. They have the edge when it comes to versatility in low lighting conditions and when adapting to varying degrees of it.
Get the Reno8 Pro if you want the flagship experience at a slightly less eye-watering price. Though RM3,499 is still quite a lot of money, when you consider what it has to offer, you eventually arrive at the same conclusion we did: you’re really getting your money’s worth here.
