OPPO Reno7 Pro 5G Review: Cool Looking Phone With Good Photo Taking Skills
March 27, 2022Performance: MediaTek Dimensity 1200-MAX 5G, 12GB RAM
Main Display: 6.5-inch FHD+ (2400×1080)
Weight: 180g
Storage: 256GB
Battery: 4,500 mAh
Features: 4K /1080p EIS
Rear Camera: 50 MP Ultra wide, 8MP Ultra- Wide, 2MP Macro
Front Camera: 32 MP, 1080 Video recording EIS
Rating: 9/10
Price:RM2,989.00
OPPO is known for creating some of the most desirable phones on the market. The company is perpetually conjuring up “painstaking ways” to improve smartphone designs to help it “one up” the competition. Our review unit, the Reno7 Pro is an example of this because it has a unique rear shell meant to mimic the effect of shooting stars.
The shell consists of a backplate that’s fused with a thin metal frame. The presentation alone deserves admiration, it invokes a sense of quality not often seen for phones priced south of RM3,000. Solid build quality and a good selection of materials results in a phone that’s nice to hold and a pleasure to ogle.
The Looks
The shooting star effect is created with LDI (Laser Direct Imaging) processing. This is what embeds the shell with “streaks” that run across the entire frame. They are actually shallow grooves that race across the length of the phone. This and the color composition allow the phone to shimmer when oscillated in direct sunlight.
If this “Startrails Blue” color isn’t to your liking, then you could opt for the “Starlight Black”. It’s a more subdued color tone that gives off a flaky effect. It too is based on a cosmic theme called “stardust” effect. The phone’s metal frame is colored to match the hue of either Startrails Blue or Starlight Black – depending on which one you choose.
The bottom of the frame is chiseled with tiny holes to allow the microphone and speaker to do their jobs. But the pièce de resistance has to be the protruding camera array. Its outline is lined with an optical fiber fitment that lights up to inform you of an incoming call, charging status, new notifications and other events.
Best Features
It’s called the “Orbit Breathing Light” and it too is tied into the same recurring cosmic theme. The concept is far removed from what we are used to seeing both from OPPO and the competition. Each of these elements is purposefully thought out, culminating in a very unique phone that should appeal to astronomers in us all.
Most phone makers ask themselves what the consumer can do without, but OPPO does the exact opposite. It’s trying to figure out what the customer would actually want. The Reno7 Pro exemplifies this notion. The company could have finished its work with the industrialized look of the rear shell and called it a day. Instead, it went far beyond that.
The phone is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 1200-MAX, instead of the usual Snapdragon variety. It’s supposed to offer a good blend of performance and battery life. It’s fast, at pretty much anything you do, whether that be bouncing through various apps, playing games or recording videos. It’s a powerhouse at handling most tasks.
This is also due in part to the 12GB RAM, which provides a substantially high ceiling limit. An extra 7GB of temporary RAM can be allocated by using some of the available space of the 256GB internal storage. It’s a clever way of compensating for memory limitations especially when using RAM hungry apps.
Its 6.5-inch, FHD+, 90Hz screen stretches across the phone’s entire width and is only surrounded by very thin bezels. It’s far better than what you’d get on the standard Reno7, which by now seems to be a little long in the tooth, but I digress. The Pro’s 20:9 aspect ratio AMOLED screen is good for media consumption and reading articles.
However, at this price range, most of its competitors offer 120Hz refresh rates, which puts the Pro’s paltry 90Hz at a major disadvantage. Yes, a lower refresh rate equates to lesser power consumption. But for RM2,999, it would be a tough pill to swallow. I have an inkling that OPPO was working within a tight budget and decided to pour a significant amount of it into the cameras.
The Cameras
The Reno7 Pro is being marketed as a “Portrait Expert ” placing greater emphasis on its photo taking abilities than any other aspect of the phone. Its rear camera array houses two large lenses. The main one is a 50MP wide sensor, but the second is a 8MP ultrawide sensor. The former is an IMX766 unit from Sony.
It’s a capable sensor on its own, but when coupled with the AI algorithm, the superiority is extended even further. It detects scenes and faces easily, then it goes to work and makes minute adjustments here and there to optimize said scenes. It does this to boost ill-lit areas as well as prevent overexposure when broad daylight.
This is true of photos and videos. You can tell that a lot is happening in the background as the contrast, brightness and shadows are constantly being tweaked as you move the phone about. That said, the tech isn’t perfect. In our tests and with the sun facing the camera directly, the AI couldn’t compensate well, which resulted in flaring around the subject.
Mind, this is only applicable to scenes where the sun is striking you directly. For everything less, the cameras act as advertised. The advent of AI technology has made it extremely easy to take excellent pictures. OPPO’s algorithm makes the necessary adjustments to ensure a subject pops while ensuring there’s enough vibrance, detail and depth to the background.
This AI algorithm is also able to upsize the overall sensor resolution from 50MP to 108MP when processing a shot. I can’t vouch for said accuracy, but the photos that are captured are quite sharp, but not DLSR sharp. It’s a very good substitute for a point-and-shoot.
In this sense, the Reno7 Pro does live up to expectations. Portrait Mode does a good job of separating the subject from everything else. Though not perfect, the edges around the subject ‘s hair, face and clothes are carved out, smoothly. The same is true of the front 32MP camera. It accomplishes similar portrait results with decent accuracy.
Its RGBW sensor is said to be able to allow 60% more light in than its predecessor while offering a reduction of 35% in overall noise than a standard RGGB. Though we aren’t able to verify this, I can safely say that the photos I took never looked undersaturated or grainy. This phone is able to do enough to make photos look vibrant without the use of aggressive filter overlays.
It’s able to make camera adjustments based on a subject’s skin tone. In the old days, it was either a hit or miss, but thanks to AI smarts, it’s a non-issue. The Reno7 Pro does a great job at marking you out, and then ensures that you’re “spruced” up as much as possible. Said results are as good as the competition, if not, edges them out slightly.
You have the option of adding bokeh flairs or filters, the most notable of which happens to be the black/white one. It keeps the subject in color while fading everything in the background to black and white. This isn’t a gimmick; the feature does work very well. Though I can only think of a handful of reasons why you would want to achieve such results.
When it comes to taking videos, what stood out the most was the OPPO Reno7 Pro’s lack of camera shake. Footage that I captured looked decent and devoid of distortions or warping. The front camera is able to zoom out a little when it detects more than one person in the frame. This is convenient, especially when taking group pictures.
Once you’ve chosen your subject to focus on, the phone’s camera locks on to this and tracks it throughout the frame, ensuring that it’s kept in focus. Sometimes it takes a while to react, but the delay amounts to a second or two at most.
At the same time, the AI is constantly tuning the color of the layout to deliver a punchier overall video with the subject displayed with good clarity and vibrance. This is most noticeable in low lighting conditions. The software is able to do its job to produce decent looking pictures while working with appalling ambient lighting, which is a testament to OPPO’s post processing technology.
This tech works as well on videos as it does with pictures. Little to no effort is required on your part to produce noteworthy shots that you can plaster across your social media accounts. In this sense it really is a Portrait Expert.
Through the use of Dual-Mode, you can use the phone’s rear and front cameras at the same time. It’s a feature that might prove useful for interview sessions, but for most of us, it’s more of a novelty than a noteworthy function.
OPPO has given this phone 65W fast charging tech, which is enough to charge its 4,500mAh battery from 0 to 100% in just 31 minutes. However, the phone is packaged with a 33W fast charger, which will not help realize the Reno7 Pro’s true charging potential.
Besides the power brick, you also get a transparent silicone casing, which will help protect the phone while you wait for the case that you’ve already ordered. This is one of several areas where OPPO deserves praise. Everything is included in the box from the power brick, casing to the already applied screen protector. All you have to do is whip out the phone and start using it.
Should I Buy It?
If you are looking for a cool looking phone that will be the center of attention, then the Reno7 Pro is the phone for you. If you want to take really good photos and videos, this is also the phone for you. The powerful Sony camera sensors work in tandem with OPPO’s AI software to produce great results with minimal effort from you.
However, the 90Hz screen refresh rate might be a major drawback to some users. Phones of half the price ship with similar refresh rates, which might not sit well with certain consumers. That said, the OPPO Reno7 Pro is a great phone for just about anyone who loves to take selfies and mesmerize onlookers with the unique color scheme.
