OPPO Reno 8 Z 5G Review: Great Option For The Fashionistas
August 27, 2022Performance: Snapdragon 695 5G, 8GB RAM
Main Display: 6.4-inch FHD+ AMOLED (2400×1080)
Weight: 181g
Storage: 256 GB
Battery: 4,500 mAh
Features: 4K /1080p
Rear Camera: 64 MP Main, 2MP Depth, 2MP Mono
Front Camera: 16 MP, 1080 Video recording
Colour: Dawnlight Gold
Rating:8/10
Price: RM1,799
OPPO has the most interesting-looking mid-range phones of any manufacturer. Whilst most of the competition focuses their efforts on the flagship line-up, The Chinese smartphone maker chooses to give equal attention to every device that it makes. Case in point, the Reno 8 Z 5G. It improves upon the design of the Reno 7 Z 5G by adding a little more flare and pizazz where needed.
Like its predecessor, the phone is wafer thin, measuring just 7.66mm. The metal frame forms a slight curve as it meets the back panel. Said case is also fused with 0.5mm anti-glare glass, which provides the phone with a premium appearance and feeling in the hand. Instead of a convoluted camera base, OPPO opted for a “spliced” cover.
This means that the camera array sits flush against the base with the lenses protruding ever-slightly from it. OPPO added a personal touch to this design by filling the outline of said lenses with a cool lighting effect. It’s called dual orbit lights and it’s essentially singular light patterns that turn on for when the phone is being charged, incoming calls or to remind you of unread notifications.
What’s It Like?
On Startup, the lights pulse on and off with a baby blue hue. When the phone is left to charge, the lights stay on, this time with a light blue color. When you receive an incoming call, the orbit lights flash in baby blue. For unread notifications, they pulse in baby blue. However, when you start a game, it offers steady flashes in a different hue called electric blue.
Each light is made up of a ring-shaped prism light plate, a high reflection light guide film and a shading film. It’s constructed this way to form a uniform circle that’s visible from every angle. OPPO says that it has a durability lifespan of 50,000+ hours.
That said, the lighting effect isn’t the only eye-catching characteristic of the Reno 8 Z 5G. Its shimmering rear panel is a sight to behold, especially the Dawnlight Gold color scheme. The glow effect is achieved through glass etching with a double-layer texture and a single-coating process.
Depending on how light hits it, the case gives off a dazzling combination of purple, cyan, gold and pink colors. Looking at it from different angles, or oscillating the case from side to side, allows you to see the rear case turn into a number of said colors. It’s a truly mesmerizing experience, which is usually reserved for far more premium phones.
Dawnlight Gold is a great color scheme for people who are able to appreciate the effect and how well it’s able to match their wardrobe. However, if you want something with a more subdued tone, you’ll be happy to know that OPPO also makes the Reno 8 Z 5G in Starlight Black. It still has a shimmering effect, but it’s far more toned down, hence grown up.
At the front, there’s a 6.4-inch, punch hole, AMOLED display that produces vivid colors that are good for whatever content you are watching or admiring. It has a 93% DCI-P3 color gamut, which should be enough for most people. Despite the slightly thick chin bezel, the phone offers a 90.8% screen-to-body ratio.
Like most OPPO devices, the hole that accommodates the selfie camera is placed to the far left, which is ideal for most scenarios. Since it’s in the corner, you barely notice that it’s there, even while watching movies. And despite the placement, it doesn’t hamper your selfie-taking abilities either. It all depends on how you hold your phone.
The Performance
The display only supports the regular 60Hz refresh rate, which isn’t ideal but the optimization of ColorOS, compensates for said deficit. See, like Apple, OPPO does an excellent job at fine-tuning its software to jive with whatever hardware it has to work with. This includes the fairly mediocre Snapdragon 695 5G chipset.
On paper, it’s nothing more than “middle-of the-road” hardware. But due to OPPO’s software optimization, the Reno 8 Z 5G runs smoothly and without hiccups. It doesn’t matter if you are switching between apps, watching a YouTube video or playing a game. The phone can keep up with these activities without letting on that it’s not running powerful hardware.
A decent helping of RAM (8GB) plays a part in this smoothness. There seems to always be enough room to launch another app or open another browser tab. There doesn’t seem to be a ceiling limit, which can be attributed to OPPO’s RAM expansion feature. It “borrows” space from the internal storage to use for RAM allocation. It can do this for up to 5GB.
That said, the Reno 8 Z 5G isn’t suitable for playing graphically demanding gaming titles. It’s meant to play arcade-style ones like Subway Surfer or anything similar to it. This is essentially a budget phone, but it’s one that can punch above its weight. Most of its competition has trouble with maintaining the same responsiveness, app stability and multitasking ability.
This goes to show how essential optimization is for overall user satisfaction. OPPO has its “software bots” running around in the background keeping errant apps in check, allocating enough of the hardware to play games or complete a certain task and make sure that the battery isn’t overcharged or abused.
The Cameras
It’s a recurring theme with almost all OPPO phones. The company’s effective AI does a great job at making mediocre hardware seem powerful. This is true of the Reno 8 Z 5G’s camera as well. On paper, the 64MP main, 2MP Mono and 2MP depth cameras don’t amount to much. But in reality, when used in combination with AI enhancement software, the results are spectacular.
They work hand and glove to produce vivid pictures with decent sharpness and depth. The system is able to accurately capture details without overcompensating with the contrast and exposure. This is especially true when trying to capture the bokeh flare effect. OPPO’s AI tech can precisely map out the subject and blur everything else.
OPPO says that the algorithm has been trained on more than 100 scenes to successfully enhance portrait recognition and to an extent, cutout abilities. For selfies, the results are the same. The 16MP front camera, which leans on AI tech, is able to capture decent shots of subjects with the help of some “magic touch ups” in post processing.
AI portrait retouching helps to retouch skin tone and makeup without seeming too artificial. But it’s hit or miss. On some occasions, the phone was able to touch up my selfies well, and for others, it over compensates and makes a hash of things. My advice is to take selfies in well-lit areas, preferably during the day.
However, these results are only attainable in good lighting conditions. Taking pictures at night or in a room with poor ambient lighting will result in overexposed and noisy pictures. In such situations, the AI simply isn’t able to compensate well enough to pull off decent results. This is true of both front and rear cameras. Bad lighting is their downfall.
I’d also advise against using the zoom feature for any scene. The pictures that you get look blurry and devoid of detail. It’s understandable considering that the Reno 8 Z 5G has a single 64MP camera to do anything and everything with. It’s a lot to ask of a relatively unsophisticated camera.
This is why videography isn’t very good either. The lack of proper stabilization to compensate for camera shake, makes most videos seem a little too unstable. But you can achieve decent results if you are steady with your movements and shoot in broad daylight. For everything else, you’ll get less than stellar results.
Surprisingly, the Reno 8 Z 5G comes with only a 4,500mAh battery, which allows it to offer slightly over a day’s worth of battery life before needing a recharge. Sacrifices had to be made somewhere for OPPO to achieve the phone’s wafer-thin profile. Its saving grace is that the phone supports 33W VOOC fast charging technology.
It is able to charge the phone to 100% from nearly empty, in slightly over an hour. This is an impressive feat especially considering that by plugging it in for about 5 to 10 minutes, you can get about 15 – 25% battery charge back.
Should You Buy This?
If you are looking for a cool-looking phone that offers decent performance for a relatively affordable price, then the Reno 8 Z 5G is the phone for you. It takes decent pictures in good lighting conditions and rarely shows any lag or app crashes, plus ColorOS 12.1 offers great convenience and customization options.
However, it isn’t suited to people who need a versatile camera phone that can compensate for poor lighting or zoom in accurately for far away subjects. Battery life isn’t spectacular either, which makes it a tough sell for people who are constantly on the move. If these aren’t dealbreakers, get the Reno 8 Z 5G, preferably in Dawnlight Gold.
