OPPO is a famous brand with several most demanding smartphones but among those OPPO Reno series stand the best for mid-price range. Reno phones have started getting interest from all android smartphones’ user. Although, OPPO Reno series does not come in flagship models, OPPO Reno8 Pro 5G is not less than any flagship phone. The Oppo Reno8 Pro was introduced in China and India initially but interestingly OPPO has launched its Reno Series worldwide and is available in the UK. So, if you are based in the UK and want to enjoy a premium experience without spending a hefty amount, we have your back. But before making any purchase it is important to check the reviews. In this article, I have shared my experience of using OPPO Reno8 Pro 5G handset. You will find all the specs and features in detail and get to know about the efficiency of this smartphone. Now without any further delay, let us begin.

A Quick Review

Oppo’s Reno 8 Pro is heavily advertised for its camera technology, but I do not find that to be its only strongest suit. The main camera and the front-facing camera are both excellent, but the phone’s other features are what really set it apart and make it a pleasure to use.

The battery life is sufficient, the charging time is short, and the overall performance is excellent. This, along with its gorgeous design, high-end flat display, and powerful speakers, makes it a very desirable mobile device.

Competition for the Reno 8 Pro is fierce at its current price point, especially from devices like the Google Pixel 6A. However, it does have its benefits, especially if you are a self-portrait enthusiast.

OPPO Reno8 Pro 5G: Specifications & Features

If you intend to purchase the OPPO Reno8 Pro 5G, this review will help you decide what features you are going to enjoy while using this 5G phone.

Design and Build Quality

The days of purchasing a mid-range phone and being forced to put up with a plastic body and a subpar design are over. The Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G is a daring smartphone that lives up to its flagship billing with a sturdy build and high-end components. It features a 7.34 mm (about 0.29 in) thickness and only 183 grammes of weight, which makes it the thinnest and lightest phone of the mid-price range android phones.

Gorilla Glass 5 covers the front and back, the display is flat, the frame is squared off, and the camera bump is wrapped into the rest of the phone with a neat chamfer, making the phone look like a cross between the iPhone 13 and the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. While the chamfered aluminium frame edges do make it slightly more manageable in one hand, the overall height makes me feel uneasy about using it solo. Design-wise, we saw some similarities between the OnePlus 10T and the OnePlus 10R. Compared to the plastic back of the OnePlus 10R, the Reno 8 Pro is a more attractive and premium-feeling smartphone.

In addition to its high-quality design, the Reno 8 Pro’s haptics are among the best in the industry. I have turned up the haptic intensity all the way in the settings (Sound and vibration settings > Haptics and tones), and the phone now provides precise feedback without any rattling. There are no problems with the phone’s power and volume controls, which are located on both sides and press down with a satisfying click. A USB Type-C port and speaker grills are located at the base. A second speaker is housed in the earpiece housing. Keep in mind that the phone does not have a headphone jack and that Oppo does not include USB-C headphones with the purchase of the phone.

The Oppo Reno 8 Pro is a premium smartphone that is built to compete with other, more expensive flagships. The all-glass back design makes it look sleek and feels expensive in the hand. It may take some getting used to if you have small hands, like mine, but other than that, I have no complaints about the design or build quality of this phone.

Display Screen and Speaker

The Reno 8 Pro features an AMOLED display, which is my favourite feature, measuring 6.9 inches in size and, as I have already mentioned, is completely flat with Gorilla Glass edges and extremely narrow side bezels. The AMOLED screen on the Reno 8 Pro is bright enough to be viewed outdoors in broad daylight. A ‘Bright HDR mode’ is also included, which automatically boosts the brightness when HDR content is detected.

Technically, the Reno 8 Pro 5G has a display featuring Full High-Definition Plus (HD+) resolution with a refresh rate of 120Hz, allowing for fluid animations and UI transitions. This is not an LTPO display, so you will have to choose between a 60Hz refresh rate to save power or a 120Hz refresh rate to get the full benefits of the display. Although it drains battery quickly, I still recommend using a 120Hz refresh rate.

The screen is excellent to work with, as it is vivid and clear and can be adjusted to your liking. Thanks to various forms of AI (Artificial Intelligence), you can adjust these parameters to sharpen images or enhance colours. However, due to the battery drain, I disabled this technology for the most part. Some users may benefit from this, though, because it does make a difference.

It works well with modern streaming content because it supports high dynamic range. I put it through its pace with some 4K HDR videos on YouTube and found that it did a fantastic job with the brightest highlights. The colours jump out, and the overall effect is crisp and clean. The sleek bezels and flat screen make this effect stand out even more.

The stereo placement of the speakers is another impressive feature, as the result is an expansive sound. I was surprised by the loudness and fullness of the sound produced by these tiny phone speakers, though they still cannot compare to a proper Bluetooth speaker. One thing to be wary of is the speaker next to the USB-C port, as it can easily be covered up by a hand.

The optical fingerprint sensor is embedded into the display near the display’s bottom edge, and I have found it to be both quick and reliable for unlocking my phone and verifying my identity when making purchases. Subtly built into the phone’s top bezel is an earpiece, and up near the screen’s peak is a cutout for the front-facing camera.

The screen’s contrast and colour accuracy are excellent. While I have seen sharper smartphone screens, I find this one to be perfectly adequate for my needs, including watching movies and playing games. Great visuals and a smooth touch experience thanks to a sampling rate of 360 hertz (Hz) make this a treat for gamers as well. Playing graphically intensive games like the latest Apex Legends Mobile on high settings is no problem at all. In general, the screen is one of the best features of this device.

Performance and Software

Oppo Reno 8 Pro’s performance is managed by a MediaTek Dimensity 8100-Max chipset, 12GB of LPDDR5 memory, and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. Even though the Dimensity 8100-Max is not the most potent chipset available, the Reno 8 Pro still delivers a solid showing. Everyday tasks are no problem for this phone. You will not even feel a hiccup while going about your day, scrolling through social media apps, web pages, and more; the animations are that smooth.

When the Reno 8 Pro is loaded to its limits, however, performance drops significantly. For example, a 15-minute CPU stress test caused it to become hot to the touch, and performance was reduced to about 80% of its maximum. While playing Battlegrounds Mobile India, I experienced a drop-in frame rate to 80FPS, which is disappointing but understandable given that you are not going to always make the Reno 8 Pro fire on all cylinders (the Indian version of PUBG Mobile). Since 90 frames per second are still being produced, this is not necessarily a deal breaker. If you play for a long time, however, you should expect occasional frame drops as the device heats up. It is not just Apex Legends Mobile; I have experienced the same thing when playing other games at the maximum 60 FPS.

For those interested in quantitative measures, here are some data points. Even in 3DMark’s Wildlife Extreme stress test, the Reno 8 Pro maintained 94% stability. This is especially impressive given that many smartphones cannot even complete this test.

The ColorOS software also contributes greatly to the Reno 8 Pro’s lightning-fast performance in everyday tasks. ColorOS v12.1 (build no: CPH2357 11 A.09) is preinstalled on the device and is based on Android 12. It provides extensive personalization options. While I usually avoid Android skins that add a lot of extra UI elements, ColorOS is an exception because it includes some useful tools that are not present in the base operating system. The large display can be put to better use by opening multiple applications in separate windows, which is a breeze with ColorOS.

Let me warn you that this phone comes with a plethora of factory-installed software. There are more than ten apps that I have ruled out for my mobile device. But fortunately, most of them are easily removable or otherwise out of sight. Not that this is unique to Oppo phones, but I would like to see bloatware-free gadgets soon.

Cameras – Main Camera, Ultrawide Camera, Macro Camera, & Selfie Camera

I have made note of the large camera bump on the back of the Oppo Reno 8 Pro, which raises expectations for the camera, but I dug a little deeper to see if they were warranted.

Oppo is surprisingly putting a lot of effort into the front-facing camera. This trend has been spurred on by the fact that many users of mid-range smartphones are younger, more social consumers who make extensive use of the front camera.

This phone was co-created by Sony and features a Sony IMX709 sensor in the camera’s cutout. It is autofocussed, 32-megapixel resolution, and RGBW colour mode make it exceptional even among high-end smartphones. This is the same front-facing camera as the high-end Find X5 Pro model.

The tests showed that it outperformed similarly priced competitors in every respect. Oppo’s portrait mode is also respectable, with reasonably solid subject isolation and an appropriately restrained blur.

If you have been keeping up with this year’s mid-range smartphones, you will be familiar with the main camera’s supporting cast: an 8MP ultrawide and a 2MP macro. The Realme GT Neo 3, Vivo V25 Pro, and other gaming smartphones share this configuration. While the 2MP macro has too low a resolution to be of any use, the 8MP ultrawide has its place in certain situations but falls short of the main sensor’s quality in others.

Main Camera 

Oppo’s MariSilicon X hardware, which differentiates the Pro’s camera from that of the regular Reno 8, is another feature that sets this device apart. Improvements in low-light photography, videography, and portraiture are all possible thanks to the extra processing power made possible by the inclusion of MariSilicon hardware. Improved low-light photography and videography is the most obvious change in the real world. Even though the colours are a little too bright for my taste, I find that the samples are satisfactory. Lighting was subpar in all the Reno 8 Pro samples because most of them were taken during cloudy days. Photos and videos shot with the phone accurately reflect the weather without being overprocessed, which is a major plus. The main sensor produces high-detail images. You can take pictures of, say, a moving object because the exposure is correct, and the shutter speed of the camera is fast.

Images taken with the primary sensors in low light were not as good as those taken during the day. Some decent photos were taken in low light with the Reno 8 Pro, but this was not always the case. You can see a dramatic increase in noise in the low-light images. When I captured the picture with the Oppo Enco X2 earbuds, I noticed how much softer the image becomes when there is not enough light. The images did not improve when the night mode was activated on the phone.

Ultrawide camera 

Unlike other smartphone’s ultrawide cameras, this camera does not fail in giving images that are filled with perfect light. In bright conditions, the 112-degree field of view from the secondary 8MP, f/2.2 ultra-wide camera produces stunning images. When shooting at night or in low light, details are lost, and noise is introduced to the images.

Macro Camera 

In conclusion, the 2MP macro camera located on the back of the device delivers as promised when used to take close-up shots. Even though I usually take pictures with a telephoto lens instead of a smartphone’s macro sensor, the Reno 8 Pro’s macro mode has allowed me to get some nice shots.

Selfie Camera

On the front of the Oppo Reno 8 Pro is a 32MP Sony IMX709 sensor, making it ideal for taking high-resolution selfies. I noticed that the selfie camera had a tough time getting the exposure right in some tricky shots with a lot of light in the background.

Battery Life 

To my knowledge, the Reno 8 Pro’s battery life is excellent, especially considering the phone’s massive dimensions and the size of its front display. The 4,500 mAh battery in the phone easily lasted me all day without needing to be recharged once. The days where I put the Reno 8 Pro through its paces by taking many photos, running benchmarks, and playing games resulted in a respectable 5 hours of screen on time before it finally gave up. In fact, the Reno 8 Pro can produce around 8 hours of screen time on days with less demand. The Reno 8 Pro is a reliable smartphone that can keep up with even the busiest of schedules and hours spent staring at a screen.

The Reno 8 Pro includes an 80W charger and is compatible with Oppo’s SuperVOOC charging technology. It is impressive that the phone can be charged to half its capacity in just 11 minutes. Overall, the Reno 8 Pro’s battery life is exceptionally reliable, and it only takes less than 40 minutes to charge the device to full capacity using the included charger. Oppo’s Battery Health Engine is also included, with the company claiming that the battery will retain 80% of its original capacity up to the 1600 charging cycle mark (compared to the supposedly standard 800 charging cycles). There is no way to confirm this claim.

Unfortunately, you will not be able to enjoy the convenience of simply placing your Reno 8 Pro on a charging pad to power up.

Wrapping Up 

The Oppo Reno 8 Pro has a lot of great features, like a high-quality build, a great screen, lightning-fast charging, and a great front-facing camera. It is a good buy if its features and design are what you are looking for. Visit the OPPOStore to get amazing discounts on your favourite OPPO phone.