OPPO is set to unveil the Reno 8 series smartphone devices in Kenya later this month that includes the OPPO Reno 8 5G Pro, a premium flagship smartphone and the OPPO Reno 8 5G, a powerful featured-packed 5G smartphone that will succeed the OPPO Reno 7 5G.
Ahead of the launch, we will be unboxing the OPPO Reno 8 5G device, full review coming soon. Our unit is shimmer, Black they come in two variants: shimmer black and shimmer gold colours. Some of the major highlights of the phone include a unibody design, a flagship-grade camera and superfast charging, a superior 5G performance capabilities among others that we’ll share soon.
What’s In the box?
The phone is packed in a black and Turquoise green box with the name of the phone on the sides. On the rear, we have a few quick features of the phone including colour and storage capacity among others. The box contains the OPPO Reno 8 5G handset, a U-SBC charging Cable, an 80W Super VOOC charger, Safety and quick guide booklets, a clear protective case and a sim-ejector tool.
OPPO Reno 8 5G first experience and feel
Design
The OPPO Reno 8 5G has s 6.43-inch AMOLED display that produces an FHD+ resolution. It also features a 90Hz refresh rate and a 20;9 aspect ratio. The device is unbelievably ultra slim and stylish and very lightweight. It weighs around 179 grams with a thickness of about 7.67mm making it one of the lightest mid-range smartphones on the market.
The eye-friendly display makes it easier to streamline, watch premium content or immerse yourself in gaming. the screen also supports adaptive brightness that works perfectly outdoors.
The front panel comes with Gorilla glass protection with an in-screen fingerprint scanner and a punch-hole selfie camera at the top right corner. It comes with an almost invisible screen protector that adopts its unibody design.
In order to enhance both the visual and physical user experience on the Reno8 series, Oppo decided to pioneer an ergonomic design that provides a truly instinctive handheld and visual sensation. When viewed at different angles, the rear panel shows different shades of black. The gold unit also gives different shades of gold so you won’t miss out on anything depending on what you choose.
It’s also resistant to smudges and fingerprint marks to keep it elegant at all times just like its premium counterpart the OPPO Find X5 5G. Reno designers decided to take the camera module and the area between the camera module and the back cover as the focus for this ergonomic design, ultimately leading to the chic, streamlined unibody design of the Reno8 5G.
We have a volume button on the left panel, and a fingerprint sensor also acts as the power button on the right panel. Most brands have adopted this on most mid-range and premium smartphones.
Oppo didn’t include any features on the top side of the device, perhaps to give it a more chic look. The bottom side features a speaker grille, a USB-C port, a microphone and a unique set-up on the sim tray stashed next to the USB-C port and speaker grille.
Oppo didn’t include a 3.5mm audio jack, looks like they’ve completely moved away from having many antennae openings on their latest phones. They also didn’t add a second speaker for stereo output but the signal volume quality is quite good.
Performance and battery life
The Reno 8 5G comes with a 4500 mAh battery that supports 80W SUPERVOOC charging and it’s quite super fast. I wasn’t very keen to check how long it took to charge to full capacity but it was already full on the 34th minute using the OPPO Reno 8 5G charger. OPPO says it takes 11 minutes to charge the unit from zero to 50 per cent which translates to about 23 minutes to full charge.
OPPO Reno 8 5G battery houses a 5-layer charging protection spanning the entire charging cycle from the adapter to cable to battery comprehensive protection for charging. OPPO says its proprietary battery health engine ensures 1600 charging cycles of peak battery performance which translates to about 4 years.
The Reno 8 5G device features a 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 1300 chipset that brings unmatched performance to the unit. From the first to the last, it gives you an elevated smoothness of lightning-fast fingerprint unlock. The chip’s performance matches Snapdragon 778G and Snapdragon 870.
The chip brings a combination of cutting-edge super-conductive graphite and middle frame and a large vapor chamber that keeps your device cool and smooth even when the action heats up.
The device ships with 8GB of RAM and 256 GB ROM. There’s no MicroSD slot as well
The OPPO Reno 5G is powered by ColorOS 12.1 which is based on android 12 that brings more customization options for users.ColorOS also allows for the inclusion of PC connect.
The phone also comes with an AI booster that adjusts automatically to keep the phone running.
OPPO has also included features such as a privacy dashboard, permission manager, and camera/location/ microphone access toggle. We also have another cool feature dubbed Air gestures that lets you answer/mute calls, scroll up and down, and play and pause videos on Facebook and YouTube.
Camera
The OPPO Reno 8 5G hosts a triple camera set up at the back that includes a 50 mega-megapixel Sony IMX766 main camera, an Ultra-wide lens and a 2- Megapixel macro camera. It also features a 32MP front camera.
The Sony IMX766 sensor effortlessly powers nighttime photography to new possibilities by improving the image quality with 60 % light capture and 35% noise reduction that works to improve image quality. . Oppo says the photos you take on the night comes through with clarity and colour. here are some night shots with tried with our unit.
The dual Sony flagship sensors and ultra night video algorithm help you to see the details of the shadows creating clear and true-to-life night videos.
It also supports an ALL-Pixel Omni-Directional PDAF for fast stable and accurate photography no matter the lighting.
In our next article, we will look at the camera and 5G capabilities of the Reno 8 5G smartphone and see if it’s worth your spending.