The OPPO Reno5 is a compelling device that has been selling in the Kenya market for the last couple of weeks.
The phone was released in late 2020, but made its way here in Feb.
It brings to the table what OPPO has always promised for the Reno line: awesome cameras for the price, a big battery that charges super-fast, and a lean software experience following years of tuning ColorOS.
The Reno5’s specs are impressive for a Ksh 42K phone. Even better are the cameras, which have been given a boost in terms of processing compared to the already impressive Reno4 from 2020.
Without further ado, here are the device’s camera specifications:
Main: Quad system
64 MP main sensor (wide)
8 MP (ultrawide)
2 MP macro sensor
2 MP depth sensor
Selfie
44 MP punched in the display at the top left side
Before we can start assessing the snappers and their images, here is how the camera differs from the Reno4 (effectively making it one of its key upgrades). The Reno4’s main cam is a 48 MP sensor, but all other lenses are the same. The front cam in the Reno4 is a 32 MP one, unlike Reno5’s 44 MP shooter.
With that in mind, here is how the software experience of the camera looks like:
See, you can swipe through the camera modes effortlessly, which is, fortunately, what other manufacturers have been doing.
Besides the basic shooting modes (portrait, night), there are many others in the ‘more’ section on the right, including text scanning and dual-video mode (that allows the use of both the rear and front cameras).
Digging deeper, you can access camera settings on the gear button at the top-right section. There, you can choose to apply watermarks on your photo (you probably shouldn’t), deactivate the shutter sound), allow launching the camera using a double press of either of the volume buttons, or change video quality (the S720G is capable of shooting 4K videos).
Generally speaking, there are a ton of settings to play around with, which should keep you busy as you marvel over your Reno5 optic capabilities.
With that in mind, how do the pictures really look like?
Well, in one short word, excellent (for the price).
Daylight snaps are well represented in terms of colour, with the right contrast and overall presentation. HDR performance is above par, but this has been the case even from the Reno3 days.
Day shots
Evening shots (Night mode ON)
Evening shot
Portrait mode shot
Selfies (softens the face a little to much even when the scene optimizer is turned off)
You cannot go wrong with what the Reno5 offers in terms of camera performance. However, we feel that it is high time the phone maker brought in OIS to one or two of its sensors, bearing in mind that competitors have done that already (the Galaxy A52 and A72 have OIS in their main and telephoto (A72) lenses).
