Oppo Reno 5 Pro 5G Review

Oppo has launched its next Reno phone, the Reno5 Pro 5G in India. The Reno5 Pro is a mid-range phone and the first in India to be powered by MediaTek Dimensity 1000+.

The handset includes an HDR compliant AMOLED display, lays emphasis on videography features, has Android 11-based software, and promising 65W SuperVOOC charging.

Unboxing

The Reno5 Pro 5G ships with conventional accessories and Type-C wired earphones. Here’s all you’ll find in the retail box:

• Handset with pre-applied screen protector

• Good quality TPU case

• 65 SuperVooc Charging adapter

• Charging cable (A to C)

• Type-C Earphones

• SIM ejector tool and documentation

Build and Design

Slim and light flagships are becoming increasingly difficult to come by, and it’s good to see that Oppo isn’t compromising on these core tenets even when adding a sizeable battery with 65W fast charging support.

The Reno 5 Pro looks marvelous. We have the Astral Blue variant with a subtle, shimmery texture on the rear glass, an appealing rectangular camera module design, a solid aluminum side frame, and a beautiful curved AMOLED display. There’s also a flat ribbon-like strip running at the top that adds to the aesthetics.

On the front, the display has a punch-hole notch close to the top left corner. the handset comes with a pre-installed plastic screen protector and a transparent case that can even out the slight camera hump. Oppo doesn’t specify the scratch resistance employed for the touch glass.

All buttons and ports are easily accessible and so is the optical in-display fingerprint reader close to the bottom. On the downside, there is no ingress protection rating or expandable storage.

Overall, the Reno5 Pro 5G strikes as a premium phone with a design that works.

Display

Oppo uses a good quality 6.5-inch AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate and 180Hz touch sampling rate.

One omission we noticed is AR support. The phone doesn’t support AR core and Google’s 3D Objects that let you place animals and other objects in physical space (good stuff to keep kids engaged).

This is a 5G ready phone. We didn’t face any issues with call quality or connectivity on the Reno5 Pro 5G. In-display fingerprint reader and face unlock are both fast and reliable.

Benchmark Scores:

• Geekbench single-core: 709

• Geekbench Multicore: 3008

• 3D Mark Wildlife – 2224

• Androbench Random Read – 153.76MB/s

• Androbench Random Write – 169MB/s

We are finally happy with the ColorOS 11 software that’s based on Android 11. There was a time when software used to be a consistent peeve point on Oppo phones but the interface has ultimately evolved into something we liked using.

The interface doesn’t feel overly intrusive, has a good design, and retains several useful elements from stock Android including Gboard and Google Feed. Random Oppo apps don’t hog notification shade and there are several nifty customization options that are also well organized.

Camera performance

Oppo primarily highlights the video capture capabilities of the Reno5 Pro. The system heavily relies on software algorithms to inspect a scene and to then tune camera settings and image processing accordingly. We were intrigued to test how well the mid-range MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ that’s rated for 4.5TOPS of AI task would handle the load.

Let’s start with the specs. There are four cameras on the rear and a 64MP sensor takes the lead. It’s accompanied by a basic 8MP wide-angle camera, a 2MP mono camera, and a 2MP macro camera.

In proper daylight, the camera can expectedly gather a good amount of detail. The software tries to keep colors as close to neutral and we didn’t see any hint of oversaturation in the winter flowers we shot. In fact, at times bright orange and bright pinks felt a tad undersaturated.

There is a slight warm cast in images. Skin tones are natural and the Reno5 Pro is smart enough to not blow subtle shadows.

With light sources in the frame, metering sometimes went haywire but we could usually fix this in the second attempts. So, no worries.

Indoors and under artificial lighting, the camera performance is at par with what we usually see on phones in this price range. The Reno5 Pro does a good job with sharpening and noise reduction but don’t expect the performance to compare to tier 1 flagships.

There is a lot going on with Videos. From a consumer point of view and keeping the complex terminologies aside, you can shoot Ultra-steady videos, AI Highlight videos that can understand dark scenes and shoot HDR footage, and also shoot portrait videos with blurred backdrops.

• AI Highlight video does a great job understanding a scene and adjusting the brightness of highlights and shadows. Colors tend to get a little oversaturated, though. The videos we shot had good clarity and looked appealing.

• Users can use Ultra Steady for enhanced software stabilization but this can not be clubbed with AI Highlights mode. This again works well for shooting moving subjects.

• Portrait videos work for a single subject and that too when it’s not in motion. When the subject is moving, the backdrop blur doesn’t hold consistently. We didn’t find this mode very handy.

The Soloop editor proved to be a useful tool. It can be used to quickly add effects and themes to clicked videos, and the end result is impressive. This should make Reno5 Pro a lot of fun for amateur content creators, especially young consumers who actively post video content on social media.

Battery and Audio

The 4350mAh battery on the Reno5 Pro can last for a little more than a day with moderate to heavy usage. The good thing is that 65W SuperVOOC fast charging is blazing fast and holds true to the 30 minutes charging claim.

This is an amazing convenience. Even if you forgot to charge your phone, just plug it in while you dress up and you will probably have enough charge to last for the day!

As for audio, the mono loudspeaker at the bottom is fairly loud and clear. We didn’t face any issues with wireless connectivity.

Verdict, Pros, and Cons

Oppo Reno5 Pro surpassed our expectations. It looks stunning, delivers reliable performance, has impressive software, an AMOLED display, and amazing fast charging convenience. There is room for improvement when it comes to camera performance, especially in low and indoor lighting, but the overall camera experience is decent for the price.

At INR 35,990, the Oppo Reno5 Pro is not aggressively priced, but it’s definitely not overpriced. Oppo has paid due attention to nuances that matter and the end result is a premium mid-range phone that we enjoyed using and can appreciate.

Pros

• Excellent design

• Reliable performance

• Appealing software

• Decent camera performance for the price

Cons

• HDR content colors appear a bit off

• AR Core not supported

• No audio jack