OPPO will be launching the latest 8 series lineup this evening and the series comprises of the portrait expert OPPO Reno 8 5G and the OPPO Reno 8 4G. From design to the battery to the camera, OPPO understood what to deliver for the mid-range market and it’s a worthy contender. The phone is power packed with powerful features that make it a worthy competitor in the midrange market.
OPPO Kenya PR manager says, “OPPO Reno8 series is our most ambitious smartphone model yet. Offering ultra-fast, ultra-powerful connectivity and high-end technology that works. It incorporates world-class updates into a usable device that upgrades the consumer’s daily digital efficiencies”
In this article, we are going to do a detailed review of the OPPO Reno 8 5G device and see if it meets the eye. We’ve been using it for a few days now, good enough for a satisfactory review to guide you as you plan your next purchase. Check out our unboxing feature article here
OPPO Reno 8 5G Unboxing
In the box, we have :
- OPPO Reno 5G handset
- Protective case
- USB-C charging cable
- 80W Super Vooc charger
- A clear protective case
- Safety guide
- Quick guide
OPPO Reno 8 5G quick features
Camera
“Portrait expert”
● 50 MP + 8 MP + 2 MP Triple Rear Camera
● 4K @ 30 fps UHD Video Recording
● 32 MP Front Camera
● Ultra night video
● Dual Sony Flagship Sensors and AI-enhanced imaging features
● New Generation RGBW Sensor- With 60% more light and a 35%4 reduction in noise, the new
Sony IMX709 sensor changes everything.
Battery, Processor & Design
● 80W SUPERVOOC TM Flash Charge
● Battery HealthEngine/5-Layer Charging Protection
● 4500 mAh Battery
● Reverse Charging
● Streamlined Unibody Design/Ultra Slim Body
Smart Life / Gaming
● MediaTek Dimensity 1300
● Games, apps, and streaming are all powered by an incredibly efficient chip. Mobile entertainment
is smooth every time, day or night. And with 5G you’ll do it all at the speed of now.
● 40%↑CPU Performance12
● 80%↑AI Performance12
● 6nm Process
● 106%↑Graphic Rendering12
● 20%↑Power Efficiency12
● 3GHz Ultra Core
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.
It sports an eye-friendly display that 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. At the back, it has a polycarbonate back and frames.
One of its major attractions is its unibody design and the colour-changing rear shell. 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. The rear panel shows different shades of black when viewed at different angles. 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, it 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 with the nano speaker.
The OPPO Reno 5G device adopts a Widevine L1 certification for viewing content on Netflix and prime video. It comes with a pre-installed Netflix app.
Something interesting about this device is its brightness capabilities. Even when viewing the display in bright sunlight, you are able to still see clearly thanks to its support for peak brightness and the adaptive brightness feature.
Users can also navigate settings to access the dark/light mode options, and change display settings for automatic brightness, eye comfort mode, adaptive sleep mode or an always-on display. You also have the option to select a screen refresh rate of 60Hz or 90Hz.
There is also a 01 Ultra Vision Engine that produces optimal colours while watching videos on the phone.
Camera
The OPPO Reno 8 5G hosts a triple camera set up on the rear panel 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 featuring an IMX709 lens from sony. It features an OPPO customer-made RGBW filter, a 1/2.74 sensor size, an 0.8m pixel and an f/2.4 aperture.
The main camera modes available on the OPPO Reno 8 5G include; Portrait, PRO, Extra HD, Slo-Motion, Panorama, Macro, Dual View video, sticker, Text scanner and Soloop Templates.
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. The night shots are very clear. The ultra-night shots came out almost similar to daylight shots. However, the macro option captured average shots.
Battery and performance
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 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.
Network capabilities
The OPPO Reno 8 5G supports the fifth-generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks that offers data speeds up to 100 times faster than 4g which guarantees a faster browsing experience. depending on your location, you can switch your network preference from 5G to 4G, 3G or 2G. However, you need to set it up manually.
In 2021, Safaricom launched the first 5G network in Kenya making it the second African country to roll out a 5G network to its customers and the uptake has been quite good. Thanks to phone manufacturers who are continually making 5G phones to let us experience the super speeds.
Techmoran verdict
OPPO this time worked around the device to offer both good camera performance and the phone’s general performance. The single-speaker sound option might not sit well with users who are slowly adapting to the lack of a headphone jack in the midrange market. However, the sound is good enough, you won’t notice it’s on a nano speaker.
The unibody design was such a deal-maker with the Reno 8 5G and it would have looked better with much thinner bezels on the bottom side. There’s also no Micro SD card slot on the phone though the 256GB memory is quite big. enough to give you longtime service.
The Reno 8 5G is the only phone in its price range with a front-facing camera with a 32-megapixel lens. the phone also boasts features like the Color OS 12 which brings tons of customization options for users.
OPPO also included privacy features on the Reno 8 5G device including the privacy dashboard, permission manager, camera/microphone access toggle, parental controls and more.
