Oppo has been making waves in smartphone design for a while now.
Just recently it unveiled what it called a rollable smartphone – one that didn’t bend, but would roll open from phone mode into tablet mode. And that was pretty cool.
Then came the Find N, Oppo’s first actual foldable smartphone. And earlier in the year, the Find X and Find X Pro that really put the emphasis on cameras and its partnership with Hasselblad.
While those phones were highly lauded outside of the Middle East, Oppo never really saw fit to bring them here – although the X5 and X5 Pro are listed as “coming soon” on the Oppo website.
Instead, Oppo has always relied on its Reno range to carry its flagship status here in the region – hoping that having a design-heavy aesthetic and wallet-pleasing price tag will prove to be a winning combination.
Is that still true of the Oppo Reno7? Let’s find out.
Oppo Reno7 Pro 5G: it’s a looker
Oppo likes using its Reno series to try out new designs, and this one is no different. Both the Reno 7 and the Reno 7 Pro look pretty awesome.
It has new flat edges around that rectangular frame, a new camera module, and at just 7.5mm is Oppo’s thinnest ever phone from the Reno series. That camera bump is also rather interesting, coming with a killer feature Oppo calls Orbit Breathing Light.
In English, that means the Reno has a ring LED around the cameras, that light up when the phone is charging or when you receive a notification.
Elsewhere the back has been given a shimmering effect, along with micro-etchings that make up the pattern. According to Oppo, that took four different coats to create the effect – and it was certainly worth that effort.
Oppo Reno7 Pro 5G: barely-there bezel
The Reno7 hasn’t been given much of an upgrade over the previous model in the screen department. You get a 6.5-inch AMOLED that goes up to 90Hz, along with some clever HDR technology that should give you killer contrast on supported apps – such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.
You get the same 2400 x 1080 resolution, which is plenty sharp in regular use. And it’s rather bright too – easy to use under bright sunlight. You also get Grolla Glass 5 to help it stays sturdy, and this being rather design focused – barely-there bezels.
Oh, and this marks the first time a Reno7 phone packs stereo sound. There’s a tiny grille at the top of the screen that acts as a secondary speaker.
Oppo Reno7 Pro 5G: super selfies
The Reno7 sees its biggest upgrades in the camera department, and that goes double on the front. The new selfie snapper makes use of a 32 megapixel sensor, that was developed with help from the camera boffs from Sony. As such, it might just be one of the best front-facing cameras available on smartphone today – which is fantastic news for those looking to put themselves on the ‘gram, or if you spend a lot of time doing video calls.
On the back you get a 50 megapixel lens, an 8 megapixel wide-angle as well as a 2MP macro module. You don’t get optical image stabilization which is a bit of a bummer, but the upgraded AI-assistant features do a great job of making your snaps look as best as they can.
Oppo Reno7 Pro 5G: plenty of battery
Under the hood you get the same processor from MediaTek as the previous iteration, but with some overall tuning that eeks out every last bit of power. There’s also up to 12GB of Ram in the Pro model, to keep multitasking or playing heavy-duty apps quick and speedy. In short, you won’t really notice any performance issues unless you are really thrashing your phone with games and multimedia applications.
As per Android, this one runs Oppo’s own flavor ColorOS 12. It’s a modern user interface with a lot less clutter, 3D emojis and floating windows that scale easily across the screen. Now this is based on Android 11, so you’ll have to wait for an update before you get things like a privacy dashboard and recording indicators.
Oppo has made some big gains in the battery department over recent years, and the Reno7 benefits from every one of them. For starters, the battery is plenty big – with enough juice to keep you going well beyond a day of use. Then you also get Oppo’s super-fast charging, thanks to the 65-watt charger right in the box. That means it will go from zero to charged in just 31 minutes.
There is one downside to all this clever battery technology, however – the phone forgoes the ability to wirelessly charge.
Oppo Reno7 Pro 5G: don’t take it swimming
The Oppo Reno 7 does a lot of things right – but going underwater isn’t one of them. This isn’t IP68 verified for dust and water resistance, so for your own protection – and that of your phone – it’s probably worth investing in a case.
Oppo Reno7 Pro 5G: any good?
The entire point of the Reno7 and the Pro model is to give you great value for money. And it certainly does that, with a decadent new design language, and specifications that will more than hold-up against anything the Google Play Store can throw at it. The battery life is spectacular, and the selfie camera just might be the best on planet tech.