Looks and brains, but what about value?

Oppo’s Reno sequence has been round for a couple of years now and, with a couple of exceptions, it’s caught to the mid-range phase. The telephones have usually prioritized a slick design over partaking in a specs struggle, however we thought final 12 months’s Reno 7 Professional made too many cutbacks to justify the design and excessive value. Does its successor enhance issues? Discover out in Android Authority‘s Oppo Reno 8 Professional evaluate.

• Oppo Reno 8 Professional (8GB/256GB): Rs. 45,999 (~$576)
• Oppo Reno 8 Professional (12GB/256GB): Rs. 52,999 (~$663)

The Oppo Reno sequence is the Chinese language model’s signature mid-range household of smartphones, with the Reno 8 Professional being the newest machine within the sequence to hit international markets. The sequence is usually identified for marrying strong specs with a premium design, and the Reno 8 Professional isn’t any completely different. One large design-related change in comparison with the Reno 7 Professional telephone is that the rear RGB notification gentle across the digital camera system is gone.

In any other case, it is best to count on a Mediatek Dimensity 8100-Max chipset, an FHD+ 120Hz OLED display screen, and a 4,500mAh battery with 80W wired charging capabilities. The Reno 8 Professional additionally packs a triple rear digital camera system, consisting of a 50MP major digital camera, 8MP ultrawide lens, and 2MP macro digital camera. Oppo can be providing an IP54 ranking, so whereas it received’t survive a protracted dunk in water, ought to no less than stand up to some rain or a splash. It’s an enchancment over the Reno 7 Professional which had no IP ranking in any respect, however there are telephones in its value tier that push to IP67.

It’s value noting that the Reno 8 Professional in international markets differs considerably from the Chinese language mannequin launched earlier this 12 months, packing the Mediatek chip as a substitute of a Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 SoC seen within the Chinese language variant. In actual fact, the worldwide mannequin appears similar to the Reno 8 Professional Plus that topped the sequence in China.

The Reno 8 Professional is that can be purchased in India proper now and Oppo has confirmed future launches for Europe, the Center East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia. Pricing isn’t accessible for these areas simply but, although. It is available in both Glazed Inexperienced (pictured right here) or Glazed Black colorways.

Straight out of the field, it should be mentioned that the Reno 8 Professional’s design is well the most effective issues about it. It brings to thoughts the extra premium Oppo Discover X5 Professional when trying on the again, that includes a rear cowl and digital camera bump made out of a single molded piece of glass. Toss in a flat display screen, comparatively light-weight physique, and a flat metallic body, and also you’ve bought one of many higher mid-range telephones of 2022 from a design perspective. It additionally has Gorilla Glass 5 on the back and front, so the telephone ought to be adequately protected against drops and knocks.

Flip the telephone on, and also you’ll be greeted by a reasonably good 120Hz FHD+ OLED display screen, getting vivid sufficient for outside utilization. The telephone is ready to a vivid coloration profile out of the field, however I didn’t discover it oversaturated, and you may set it to the “pure” coloration profile as a substitute. There’s additionally a coloration temperature slider in case you discover the show too chilly or heat on your tastes. Curiously, Oppo’s settings menu solely notes 120Hz or 60Hz refresh charge choices. There’s no point out of an adaptive refresh charge, however the 120Hz possibility is certainly adaptive (dropping to 90Hz or 60Hz).

The Reno 8 Professional is powered by the Mediatek Dimensity 8100-Max chipset. Geekbench reveals that the telephone has single-core CPU scores in the identical vary because the Snapdragon 870, whereas multi-core scores are in the identical ballpark as some Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 telephones. In the meantime, GPU benchmarks present that the telephone is forward of the Snapdragon 870-toting Poco F4 and simply behind the Snapdragon 888 sequence, however a good distance off Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 telephones. The telephone nonetheless delivers very spectacular stability underneath stress, and it solely ever bought heat as a substitute of sizzling. In different phrases, the Reno 8 Professional can duke it out with higher mid-range units and older flagships simply advantageous.

Actual-world efficiency is nothing to scoff at, both. Swiping by means of menus, switching between apps, and normal scrolling had been all dealt with very easily. Video games like Name of Responsibility Cellular, Genshin Affect, and Apex Legends all ran at a fluid tempo. The telephone is even in a position to deal with demanding GameCube and PS2 video games by way of emulation if that’s one thing you’re into.

When you’ve exhausted the telephone’s battery, you’ll be glad to know that it packs 80W wired charging by way of an included charger. We noticed a full cost in round 40 minutes, which isn’t absolutely the quickest round however remains to be very speedy. Better of all, Oppo claims that the Reno 8 Professional’s battery degrades to simply over 80% capability after 1,600 charging cycles or roughly 4 years. If this seems to be correct then it’s a reasonably spectacular achievement. We’ve seen many telephones hit comparable reductions in round half the variety of charging cycles. Oppo’s telephone additionally helps customary quick charging by way of third-party chargers, simply in case you don’t have the proprietary 80W brick available.

The Reno 8 Professional delivers fairly strong endurance within the first place, too. I managed to get nearly seven hours of screen-on time over two days. This era of utilization consisted of watching YouTube movies, utilizing the digital camera app on and off one morning, about 20 to half-hour of gaming, and looking Reddit. Heavier utilization bought me over 5 hours of screen-on time. That’s nonetheless a good degree of endurance, and extra typical utilization means you’ll solely need to cost each different day.

It should even be mentioned that Coloration OS has steadily develop into one of many higher third-party Android skins in the marketplace. The pores and skin has loads of helpful options and nice scope for personalization (e.g. altering icon shapes, system colours, icon identify sizes). There’s additionally the power to cover banner notification particulars when another person is taking a look at your telephone or cover the content material of alerts by default when it’s unable to see your face (e.g. at midnight). Mercifully, I by no means noticed adverts on the machine, which is an unlimited enchancment over what we noticed on the Reno 7 Professional, although this may increasingly fluctuate by area. The software program isn’t good, owing to a couple perplexing selections and a few gimmicky options, however extra on the downsides in a bit.

One different facet I actually appreciated was the telephone’s in-display fingerprint sensor. I nonetheless can’t look forward to Qualcomm’s 3D Sonic Max tech to come back to extra telephones, however that is about pretty much as good because it will get for a standard optical in-display fingerprint sensor proper now as I discovered it to be extraordinarily fast and really correct.

Coloration OS is nice by way of aesthetics and customizability, however the default system conduct might use some tweaks. For one, the app drawer is disabled out of the field. It’s the sort of iPhone-wannabe transfer you’d count on to see on a Chinese language smartphone again in 2015 relatively than 2022.

The Reno 8 Professional’s software program additionally has some pre-installed bloatware. This consists of Fb, InDriver, LinkedIn, ShareIt, Snapchat, and Viu. You even have some Oppo apps too, reminiscent of Clone Cellphone, O Loosen up, and Soloop (a video editor). Like the dearth of adverts, the amount of bloat could fluctuate relying in your area, however no less than on our unit most (however not all) of those apps might be uninstalled.

Oppo’s software program has a couple of attention-grabbing albeit gimmicky options on faucet too. There are TouchWiz-style hands-free gestures for pausing video playback or scrolling by means of a web page. Each of those options had been extraordinarily unreliable at first, and I solely actually bought the scrolling gesture working with any form of regularity. Sadly, scrolling is proscribed to YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Fb — why not the online browser?

Oppo confirmed to Android Authority that the telephone would solely obtain the usual two OS updates and three years of safety updates. That is fairly disappointing when units just like the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G, Google Pixel 6a, and even the Nothing Cellphone 1 obtain three or extra OS upgrades and 4 or extra years of safety patches.

The Reno 8 Professional additionally provides a pair of audio system, delivering greater than sufficient quantity for music and podcasts. Nonetheless, they’re fairly imbalanced as a noticeable quantity of quantity is generated from the bottom-firing audio system.

If there’s any space the place it is best to really feel the Reno 8 Professional’s mid-range trappings, it’s within the digital camera discipline. However the excellent news is that the first digital camera usually delivers in most situations. The darkish areas in daytime scenes will be fairly grainy on the odd event, however I discovered that pictures had been normally sharp, with vivid colours, and dependable focusing. The nice major digital camera efficiency prolonged to low-light situations too, nonetheless providing loads of element, a vivid picture, and decreased ranges of noise.

The dangerous information? Properly, the secondary rear cameras fall method beneath expectations. That 8MP ultrawide digital camera is your run-of-the-mill finances shooter. Anticipate a significant enhance in noise in addition to utterly completely different colours in comparison with the primary digital camera. Whereas the first digital camera delivers saturated colours, the ultrawide shooter goes for drab hues. It doesn’t assist that pictures taken with the ultrawide can typically look horribly oversharpened even in preferrred situations. Take a look at the 2 rocky seaside pictures beneath to see the main variations between the 2 cameras. In the meantime, the 2MP macro lens is a token shooter that delivers gentle, low-detail outcomes even in good lighting.

Swap to the entrance and Oppo is touting a 32MP selfie digital camera utilizing the IMX709 RGBW sensor and in addition packing autofocus as a welcome further. Luckily, the selfie digital camera provides some detailed pictures with vast dynamic vary and little in the way in which of noise throughout the day. In actual fact, the selfie digital camera is able to some strong pictures in combined lighting, too, solely actually falling aside in near-darkness as a result of aggressive noise discount.

Oppo additionally made a giant deal of the truth that its new mid-ranger is supplied with its in-house MarisiliconX imaging chip. The corporate says the chip is accountable for lowering noise and bettering dynamic vary when capturing low-light 4K video or 4K HDR content material. Video high quality is fairly good in our expertise, providing vivid colours, easy body charges when capturing at 60fps, and satisfyingly vast dynamic vary. The telephone tops out at 4K/30fps, although, which is a giant step behind one of the best finances digital camera telephones. Likewise, the included Extremely Regular mode does job of lowering judder however understandably tops out at 1080p/60fps.

The Reno 8 Professional doesn’t have essentially the most spectacular number of digital camera modes, however what’s right here is sweet. Customary fare like an evening mode, portrait mode, professional digital camera, and panorama are joined by a couple of extras. This consists of time-lapse performance, slow-mo, a professional video mode, tremendous regular video, video bokeh, and dual-view video.

The Oppo Reno 8 Professional continues the BBK model’s custom of providing standout designs at a mid-range value. Nevertheless it’s greater than only a feast for the eyes, packing loads of energy, respectable battery life, quick charging, and a succesful major digital camera.

Sadly, the telephone has a couple of drawbacks that actually shouldn’t be anticipated in case you’re paying Rs 45,999 (~$575/£480) on a smartphone. Certain, you may excuse wi-fi charging at this value, even when a handful of mid-tier units have it. However IP67-68 water resistance has quietly develop into a fixture on this value phase whereas some cheaper mid-rangers additionally pack the choice as of late. Splash resistance simply doesn’t lower it anymore once you’re paying over $500 for a telephone.

Likewise, the low-effort secondary cameras and a middling replace pledge are additionally main disappointments for the cash you’re paying. These downsides are additionally galling in gentle of the truth that the Reno 8 Professional is definitely dearer than its already-expensive predecessor. Sadly for Oppo, the competitors can be stronger than ever.

Maybe essentially the most extensively accessible different to the Oppo Reno 8 Professional is the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G (£399). Samsung’s mid-ranger brings an IP67 ranking, a extra spectacular replace pledge, and a sharper ultrawide digital camera. You do, nonetheless, miss out on sooner wired charging speeds, whereas the Exynos 1280 is a strong chipset however nonetheless a way off the Dimensity 8100-Max.

The Poco F4 (£379) is one other telephone value taking a look at in case you’re on the hunt for alternate options. It has a less expensive price ticket than Oppo’s telephone, whereas the Snapdragon 870 nonetheless delivers a fantastic degree of efficiency. The 2 telephones even have loads in frequent, reminiscent of comparable battery sizes, speedy wired charging, splash resistance, and 120Hz FHD+ OLED screens. Equally, the Poco X4 GT (€379), launched because the Redmi K50i in India, is one other Reno 8 Professional different it is best to take into account if you would like loads of energy for the worth, plus a sooner refresh charge show and a bigger battery. Nonetheless, you’ll need to make do with an LCD display screen, a much less premium design, and a much less aggressive major digital camera.

Don’t miss: The perfect telephone offers

Don’t thoughts making an attempt a model new producer? Then the Nothing Cellphone 1 (£399) is perhaps up your alley. Nothing’s first telephone nails the Reno 8 Professional’s major power of delivering nice design within the mid-range area. It additionally packs a couple of benefits over the Reno 8 Professional reminiscent of wi-fi charging, an extended replace dedication, and a less expensive price ticket. In saying so, Oppo’s telephone provides sooner wired charging, extra software program options, and improved efficiency.

Lastly, the Google Pixel 6a (£399) is one other machine value contemplating as a substitute. The telephone packs a reasonably beefy Tensor chipset, a dual-camera setup powered by Google’s acclaimed software program, an extended replace dedication, IP67 ranking, and Pixel-exclusive software program options. Sadly, the Pixel 6a lacks quick wired charging and a excessive refresh charge show — for that you simply’ll have to pay a little bit further for the Google Pixel 6 (£599).