This phone matches the Realme GT Neo 3 and OnePlus 10R in many ways, but does it have the same shortcomings as the rest of the competitors? I used the Reno 8 Pro for several weeks and here I am going to tell you everything you should know before buying this phone.
Price of Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G
Contents
The Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G comes in a single variant in India in which we get 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The phone is priced at Rs 45,999. It comes in two finishes including Glazed Green and Glazed Black. I had the Glazed Green unit. The Realme GT Neo 3 and OnePlus 10R 5G come at a lower starting price and offer similar specifications. But the Reno 8 Pro 5G having a single variant means that it is only pitted against premium smartphones.
Design of Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G
The design of Oppo Reno 8 Pro grabs attention at first glance. It looks quite attractive compared to other smartphones in this price segment. At 7.34mm, it is not too thin but it cannot be called thick either. The phone weighs 183 grams which is surprisingly light, as its frame is made of aluminum alloy which not only looks good but also feels premium. There is a glossy glass panel at the back which has Gorilla Glass 5 protection and it does not easily let fingerprints appear on it.
Its cameras make its design stand out the most. The lens cutouts fit perfectly with the camera module. In fact, the camera module is an extension of its rear glass panel. There is a slight slope below the module under which my first finger could fit, and handling the phone with one hand felt quite easy.
The display of the phone is flat but there is a slight curve on the edges which merges with the sharp corners of the frame. I have not seen such thin bezels at this price point. The display has very thin bezels on the top and bottom, but the left and right sides have even thinner bezels, which are barely 1.48mm. Due to this, the phone looks very modern and sharp.
This time Oppo has taken a mature step instead of including the fancy design of the Reno series like the shark fin selfie camera and has included IP54 rating for dust and water resistance in the phone. The only smartphone in this segment is the Motorola Edge 30 Pro which comes with an almost similar IP52 rating.
Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G Specifications and Software
The Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G features the MediaTek Dimensity 8100-Max SoC, along with a MariSilicon X NPU which the company says is primarily used to assist with video recording. The MariSilicon X NPU is not new, it was first announced with the launch of the Oppo Find X5 Pro, a premium smartphone, but was not launched in India.
The Reno 8 Pro 5G doesn’t offer expandable storage, but the phone does have space for two Nano-SIM cards with dual 5G support. The phone supports dual standby and also supports stand-alone and non-stand-alone 5G bands. Other connectivity options include Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, and NFC. In the box, you get a USB Type-C to Type-A cable, an 80W charger, and a transparent TPU case.
Talking about the software, the company has reserved certain parts of ColorOS for its own smartphones. The customization feature of the phone is that you can choose which color to pick from the selected wallpaper. Also, its unique font and Oppo’s O-Haptics (vibration system) are something that I did not see in the OnePlus 10R 5G Endurance Edition or even the Realme GT Neo 3 (150W).
The O-Haptics system of Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G uses an X axis linear motor which is very accurate for feedback. It also works well when used for the 3D ringtone feature of the phone. The 3D ringtone feature is also an exclusive feature of Oppo. Oppo has also provided a floating window feature that allows you to open multiple apps in small floating windows for sharing. The Reno 8 Pro 5G runs on ColorOS 12.1 which is based on Android 12. The company promises two years of Android OS updates and four years of security updates which is a good thing.
One thing I did not like was the daily notifications from its theme app. It kept asking me to download a new wallpaper or buy a new Oppo smartphone. Even smartphones priced above Rs 40,000 had many pre-installed third party apps like Dailyhunt, Josh, Moj and PhonePe etc. But the good thing was that many of these could be removed. Apart from this, there were many apps of Oppo like Soloop Cut, O Relax, DocVault etc. Although these were useful, they could also be removed if needed.
Performance of Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G
In terms of benchmarks, the phone performed as expected. On AnTuTu, the phone scored 901 points and 3,532 points in single and multi-core tests respectively. The software performance of the phone is also good. It gets Dimensity 8100-Max SoC with LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. The phone is very fast in multitasking and launching multiple apps. Its 120Hz refresh rate display makes the software experience smoother. Going with a flexible AMOLED display proved beneficial for the company, which made it possible to make the bezels extremely thin.
Its 6.7-inch FullHD Plus display is quite bright. The colors are vibrant and the viewing angles are amazing. Compared to the Realme GT Neo 3 (150W) and OnePlus 10R Endurance Edition, its display is much better. It comes with HDR10+ certification and makes watching content on apps like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video a pleasure. Its stereo speakers are quite loud and sound very clear even when the volume is increased to full. Their output is quite balanced.
I did not like the fingerprint scanner in its display. For some reason it was not able to read my fingerprint. Then I found that if a little more pressure is applied on it, it easily recognizes it.
The gaming performance of the phone is quite good. Whether using the camera app or gaming, its graphite-based cooling system did not let the phone heat up. Call of Duty: Mobile ran smoothly even at the highest graphics settings. Asphalt: 9 Legends also ran very smoothly but surprisingly it did not have 60fps mode enabled. The phone has a 360Hz touch sampling rate which helps a lot in fast-paced games but there is also scope for improvement.
The battery of the phone has not been upgraded. Like the Oppo Reno 7 Pro 5G, it has a 4,500mAh battery and 80W fast charging is also provided. With the help of this charger, the phone gets charged from 0 to 52 percent in 15 minutes and gets fully charged in 34 minutes. In our HD video loop test, the phone lasted 18 hours and 25 minutes. In normal usage, the phone runs comfortably for one and a half days, which is a very good thing for a slim device. Wireless charging is not available here, which is easily available in other smartphones in this segment or below it.
Cameras of Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G
The Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G gets a triple rear camera setup. It has a 50-megapixel primary camera with a Sony IMX766 sensor but there is no OIS support. The second camera is an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens and the third is a 2-megapixel macro camera. There is a 32-megapixel front camera for selfies and comes with autofocus. Oppo’s camera interface will feel familiar to OnePlus and Realme users. The interface is very simple but advanced options for some modes can be accessed by tapping the ellipsis button.
Daylight shots taken with the main camera were sharp and clear, with good colour reproduction. Results with the ultrawide-angle camera were pretty average, with limited dynamic range, meaning there was less detail in shadow areas. The macro camera seemed to have been added just to fill up the specs sheet, as taking photos with it wasn’t very easy, and focus was fixed. The AI scene enhancement really makes a difference on this phone. It helped in getting good dynamic range while taking still photos, especially in daylight.
Selfies were sharp and detail and dynamic range were quite good. Selfie portrait shots were also good but the phone was not able to expose the background very well. Images looked good in low light, provided there was a light source nearby. I was expecting better from the 32-megapixel selfie camera with autofocus.
When photos were taken in low light using the primary camera in auto mode, the details were good. The lack of OIS was felt here as the camera was not able to capture the details of the grains on any surface properly. The texture of black spots was visible in the dark areas. Here the phone was taking one to two seconds more while capturing the photo and in night mode this time was going up to 3 seconds.
The camera was quite capable of capturing details in night mode as it captured details that I was not able to see with my eyes. The noise reduction algorithm is too aggressive, and due to the long exposure and lack of OIS, the photos are not as good as they could be. Photos taken under a lot of street lights were sharp but the texture was a bit flat here too.
The primary camera of Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G uses hardware level DOL HDR video recording, which is supported by Oppo’s MariSilicon X NPU. This system is claimed to provide better dynamic range. However, in my experience, 1080p 30fps video was average and there was a lack of details. 1080p 60fps video seemed quite shaky, there was a great lack of stabilization. Video at 4K 30fps was good. There were enough details in it and the dynamic range was also good.
After turning on the AI Highlight feature, the video started running at unstable frame rates and details also got reduced. Despite shooting in daylight, the textures remained soft and noise was also visible in dark areas. 4K videos were recorded in the best quality when shot in regular mode in low light. I found it better to keep AI Highlight off, as it was only spoiling the video quality.
Our verdict
The Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G clearly feels like a premium smartphone. It is light, fashionable and even at a price of Rs 45,999, you will find it premium. It is difficult to find any other smartphone with such design and build quality at this price point. Unfortunately, your expectations start to fall in the camera department. The camera is not the best, as this phone has been priced.
The Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G comes across as a solid option here with better hardware and camera performance, along with a good macro camera at a low price. It misses out a bit on design but offers tremendous value for money at a starting price of Rs 37,999.
The Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G phone has come a long way from its predecessor, so it now stands shoulder to shoulder with OnePlus and Motorola. There is also the OnePlus 9RT 5G which offers good camera performance, is powered by the Snapdragon 888 SoC, has a 120Hz OLED panel and comes at Rs 42,999. Then there is the Motorola Edge 30 Pro which has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC, quality rear camera, 60MP selfie camera, IP52 rating and a near stock Android software experience.
The OnePlus 10R Endurance Edition and Realme GT Neo 3 (150W) also come in the same price range but you can check them out if fast charging is your first priority. Lastly, there is the Redmi K50i 5G which is priced at Rs 25,999. It is powered by the same processor, 144Hz display, 5,080mAh battery, but the phone is built with an inclination towards gaming.
Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G will appeal to those who are fans of Oppo, want a very attractive design, want IP rating and also want fast charging. The phone ends up being a bit expensive and is not the best value for money.
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