OPPO Reno ▷ Analysis: price, features and opinion

It’s strange to see how, despite being one of the brands that sells the most phones in the world, OPPO has managed to remain quiet in the background in the vast majority of western markets for many years, while others of its neighbors such as Xiaomi or Huawei landed in these regions with great fanfare. Now that has changed.

Last year, conglomerate member company BBK Electronics took the first big step in its plan to conquer the West with an innovative phone like few others. the OPPO Find X. This proposal, perhaps too ambitious, was the basis for the development of a new family of phones, this time with a special focus on Europe: OPPO reindeer.

OPPO reindeer

It is the prototype of this series of terminals that is going through our test bench today to espectáculo that now yes, OPPO has a worthy candidate among its ranks are stealing ground from the models that dominate the premium mid-range.

Table of contents:

OPPO Reno: technical sheet for characteristics and specifications

The best of OPPO Reno

design and construction

I would be lying if I said the OPPO Reno isn’t one of the most beautiful phones out there that passed through my hands this year. The design of this device is cared for down to the smallest detail, from the subtle green accents that we find in the power button and on the back of the phone, down to the thin strip that runs along the aluminum sides, giving it a unique texture a camera that does not protrude a millimeter from the glass backand that it is protected from possible damage thanks to a small google chrome protrusion somewhat reminiscent of the “mirrors”. self-portraits to count them historical mobile phones like the Sony Ericsson K700.

The camera does not move a millimeter away from the glass back.

The construction is just as good because The Reno feels like a very solid phone, and is pleasant to use thanks to the slight curvature of its glass axis that makes it easier to grip. And speaking of the West, one cannot omit that beautiful emerald colorthat moves away from the flashy gradient colors of other phones from Asia, opting for a more sober and elegant look, although it does not forget play and the reflections depending on how the light hits the back. In short, OPPO cánido be proud of this design and screen printing Designed by OPPO that runs along the vertical stripe located behind his back is more than justified.

The brand’s work is also commendable when it comes to this Refers to the use of the front. The screen of the phone with 6.4-inch AMOLED diagonal and Full HD + resolution – which no longer offers a correct result – is surrounded by small bezels, and its chin is even one of the thinnest we’ve seen in 2019 have, without being surpassed only by models like the OnePlus 7 Pro. To achieve this, the brand has opted for two different design exercises that are worth highlighting: the first consists of the In-display fingerprint readerand the second, the jewel in the reindeer’s crown and the details that best define it, an automated mechanism responsible for making the front camera appear and disappearin a way that we have not seen in any other model before:

As for the fingerprint reader, it must be said that it is Its performance is not outstanding, not by success rate or unlock speed, but it’s also not a negative point of the phone. The result is comparable to what we could find last year with the OnePlus 6T, a model that shares the curious aesthetic details of that OPPO Reno.

And from the angular mechanism above, OPPO’s ingenuity is surprising when it comes to solving small design challenges based on this structure. For example, the LED flash for the rear camera is hidden in this tab so it’s only aparente when needed, avoiding damage to the plastic cover that covers the flash. On the front, meanwhile, not only the front camera with 16 mega-pixel resolution is aparente, but also the front speaker for calls, which, thanks to two small openings located just above it, is able to propagate the sound even with the tab hidden from the screen.

OPPO’s ingenuity is surprising when it comes to solving small design challenges based on mechanical structure.

The system in question perro be said to be so the time it takes to complete the entire movement is less than a second – about 0.95 seconds –, so still slightly below models like the OnePlus 7 Pro – 0.8 seconds – in terms of speed. It’s also a slightly taller mechanism – not by much – than that used by its sister company, although the difference isn’t significant.

Finally on the design part, this has to be mentioned We have not found any IP certification that guarantees water or dust resistancealthough a detail cánido be seen in the scene that the groundwork is being laid for their latest mobile event: the 3.5mm headphone jack.

performance and independence

Rough, The Snapdragon 710 powering this OPPO Reno is not a slightly more powerful Snapdragon 670and since the latter has already been proven to be one of the best platforms developed by Qualcomm in 2018, It was expected that the 710 would not disappoint. And so it is.

The performance of the latest OPPO model is excellent, much closer to longer-range phones than to under-$500 phones. The few issues we see are closely related to the phone’s programa itself, rather than the feature store responsible for bringing it to life. Of course, the 6 gigas de memoria, which is becoming the estándar in this segment, also helps.

Its autonomy is also good, although it may seem different when you see that the Reno has a battery with a capacity of less than 4,000 miliamperio-hora, although some of its competitors already exceed this number. However, the efficiency of Qualcomm’s 10-nanometer processor is added to aggressive ColorOS power saving systems Autonomy that cánido be easily exceeded on the day of use, with around 6 or 7 hours of screen on.

VOOC technology enables us charging the batteries ready in just over an hour.

If you need to go through the charger, VOOC technology enables us charging the batteries ready in just over an hourOf course, only use chargers that are coincidente with this technology – OnePlus fast charging accessories will also work as both systems share the technology -.

photography

I will be honest: I had didn’t expect the OPPO Reno cameras to be that good. With a photo system that doesn’t deviate too much from the trend most manufacturers followed in 2019 – a 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 sensor, backed by one dedicated to capturing depth information – the Chinese giant is coming achieve this very talented camera departmentand not at all consistent with a phone under €500.

It’s true that the photo quality doesn’t reach the level of the Pixel 3a XL that we tested a few weeks ago. but OPPO has made a name for itself in this regard depending on its decision not to follow in the footsteps of other Asian manufacturers in terms of image processing – see extreme beautification or exaggerated smoothing effects that lead to phenomena such as the well-known “watercolor effect” – although it is possible to genera more attractive or meaningful images. Instead of this, The company strives to offer more realistic results that lack aparente detail as it is not available. And I perro only recommend this decision. However, we will address all the details about the OPPO Reno cameras in their respective section because not everything about them is good.

The worst of OPPO Reno

programa

Comes from trying one of the cousins Older than this OPPO Reno, the OnePlus 7 Pro assume the use of OxygenOS Using ColorOS is something less than ordeal.

Everything works fast enough, the programa is based on Android 9 and the security patch is relatively recent – March 2019 at the time of publishing this review -. But I’m afraid that’s where the goodness ends.

As soon as we start up the device and turn it on for the first time, we end up in ColorOS’ default launcher, which brings all the icons to the home screen instead of falling back to the default aplicación drawer without even setting it. Wisely concrete– although it will be possible to remove it from the depósito Android option. And it’s right on the main screen where the first obvious problem arises: duplicate applications.

For some reason, OPPO considers that you need at least three different browsers while using the mobile: Yandex, Trabaja and Google chrome. It is also assumed that whoever buys the phone is a Fb usuario and therefore comes with the application already installed. If Gmail isn’t enough as an correo electrónico manager, Aqua Correo is there too.

The surprises don’t end here. Instead of having developed its own keyboard or relying on Gboard, ColorOS not only puts TouchPal in its library lovely – Note the irony – Themes available for download. Also included Strange “safe keyboard”. It pops up automatically when you entrar sensitive information like a password – and good luck trying to find the option to disable it in the confusing system settings menu.

This is far from what I want to see once I ship my new phone.

And the list goes on: many of the text strings aren’t properly translated into Spanish, the “always on display” mode doesn’t espectáculo ads, all the existing “tweak” tools are included, meant for larger ones. INRI They’re turned on by default – so if notifications aren’t coming from some aplicaciones, it’s not hard to figure out that it’s due to ColorOS’ intensive memory and power saving system – including a “Fone Management” aplicación that works self diagnosis often for Find out if there are “threats”. –This is what OPPO calls to save 1.38GB, 390MB cache or without logging into OPPO Cloud among others –.

When it comes to design, OPPO surprises with its ingenuity in implementing fácil solutions to complex problems. The programa tries to solve problems that don’t exist.

I’m sure there are an endless number of utilities and features for this forks Android is welcome in those regions where OPPO has been among the benchmark companies for many years. In the west, on the other hand, where even Huawei and Samsung, the two most important companies in the industry, have reached the point where they need to refine their programa as much as possible, I’m afraid that . ColorOS will have trouble reaching the public. At least in this sixth edition.

Such are the cameras of the OPPO Reno

I was hoping OPPO hasn’t chosen to experiment too much with the hardware powering Reno’s photography division. That’s what the Reno 10X and its amazing 10x zoom is all about. In its place, the brand introduces the same 48-megapixel Sony sensor that we’ve already seen in models like the OnePlus 7 and 7 Pro itself, or some of the latest Xiaomi and Redmi models. Next to it is a second camera with a resolution of 5 megapixels and a focal length of 2.4, which is responsible for capturing depth information when taking pictures with portrait format activated.

On the front, hidden in the wedge-shaped mechanism – I avoid the shark fin resemblance. It is very aparente – there is a camera from it 16 megapixel resolution and 2.0 focal length.

It is also required to stop the camera application. Like the vast majority, its interfaz and the way the options and modes are organized are inspired by the iPhone camera program, and even the yellow accent color inherited from Apple programa. That’s not bad, because eventually it is transmitted Aplicación with a clean look and easy to usewith the three main methods – vídeo, photo and portrait – in a carousel that we cánido move by swiping left or right, and the rest isolated in a menu just above the gallery shortcut.

the HDR, which cánido be turned off, forced, or run automatically. Also included is the option that OPPO calls “Chroma Enhancement”, basically in charge of maximum saturation of the colors, and the possibility of activating filters in real time. OPPO also doesn’t forget to equip its camera programa with one AI-based scene recognition systemwhich does its job well and is able to recognize most situations and automatically adjust the camera settings accordingly.

The OPPO Reno camera not only satisfies, but also interests considering the segment to which it belongs.

the most important a problem we found in the Reno camera It’s all about your programa again. While the shutter speed is as fast as you’d expect from a phone like this, Sometimes the camera application won’t stop taking photos no matter how many times the shutter button is pressed, and a restart of the aplicación is required to sintetiza capturing images normally. Unfortunately, this happens more often than we would like.

Day mode, portrait and night mode

During the day – and when the aplicación allows it – OPPO Reno’s camera not only hits, but also takes an interest in the segment to which it belongs. The results are very good in terms of contrast and level of detailall the more so when HDR comes into play, and among the small drawbacks that cánido be removed from the photos, we notice a certain imprecision in the interpretation of the colors, due to the processing’s tendency to oversaturate the primary tones – blue and red in especial .

Portrait mode shots lack the same level of detail. And that’s a shame because the edge detection is accurate and the blur effect is quite natural. In addition, there are few cases where the application forces us to change the position of the device because it cannot genera the effect.

At night there are no major disadvantages either. 48 megapixels and an aperture of f/1.7 help to capture more light and details, and again processing is responsible for creating attractive shots, and noise is not the main character. And for those situations in which the light has – almost – completely failed, there is a “Night mode” included, which easily does its job without the height of systems like Google plus’s Night Sight or Huawei’s Night Landscape.

Front camera

Regarding the front camera, it must be said that the results are correct, We see the processing reducing the skin too much although “Beauty” mode is disabled and “Natural” option is selected. I fear that this inconvenience is more due to the quality of the images than to the processing programa used by OPPO.

vídeo recording

The vídeo department is perhaps the weakest of the entire OPPO Reno camera series. Not bad, the clips captured suffer from being a bit darker than they should be and the stabilization system causes the odd aberration in the most complex parts of the image.

OPPO Reno, opinion and final thoughts from Andro4all

How little do we appreciate the good times the mobile phone industry is going through. Until not so long ago it seemed that for less than €500 you couldn’t have a phone with one of the best cameras on the market like the Pixel 3a cánido, with the most powerful processor on the mobile platform like the Xiaomi Mi 9 , or with a design full of innovation and care to the smallest detail that makes even more expensive phones stand out, as is the case with this OPPO Reno.

but This is not the only feature that stands out from this new OPPO model. Few phones of this price perro offer an autonomy at the level of the Reno and the photographic experience is worth that of a phone a few hundred euros higher. All this together with a technical part future proofLed by the powerful Snapdragon 710 and combined with 6GB of RAM and 256GB of storage in the base version.

This is exactly why the programa is more important this time: If the OPPO Reno phone wasn’t so good in all other aspects, living with ColorOS wouldn’t be such an obvious problem. And I am sure that those who escoge to buy anyway,. You will not regret itbut I also think that this terminal could go much further if there was a suitable operating system.

Price and when to buy the OPPO Reno

Although it was presented together with two other models – the OPPO Reno 10x and Reno 5G – the terminal that is the protagonist of this analysis was the first to land in stores. From today the phone cánido already be bought in regular stores such as Amazon, Media Markt, Fnac and other stores that OPPO collaborates with in Spain. The price is 499 euros for the version with 6 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storageand if you want an additional 2 GB of RAM, you have to pay around 70 euros plus.

OPPO reindeer

OPPO Reno on the brand’s official website

This device has been thoroughly tested Independently thanks to a move of the brand. The article contains purchase backlinks for which Andro4all may receive a commission. take part to the market channel Andro4all to find out about the best deals before anyone else.