Oppo Reno 5 Pro 5G Review
Powerful Reno 4 pro with 5g speed!
Introduction
2021, at least as far as smartphones are concerned, has gotten off to a great start. The Mi 10i (Review), a powered-packed 5G smartphone, was recently released by Xiaomi at a very aggressive price. Hot on its heels, with its all-new Reno 5 Pro 5G, we have Oppo. It's time to see how the flagship SoC of MediaTek compares to the comparable products of Qualcomm, and whether or not you should consider buying the Oppo Reno 5 Pro 5G over rivals such as the Mi 10T Pro 5G, OnePlus 8 or the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE.
The successor to the 2020 Oppo Reno 4 Pro (Review), the Reno 5 Pro 5G retains the same DNA architecture and overarching feature set, with only a more powerful 5G-capable SoC, a slightly larger battery, and some new camera tricks this time around. This phone also happens to be the first to feature the much-hyped Dimensity 1000+ SoC from MediaTek in India. Oppo provides all these enhancements at Rs. 35,990.0, at around the same price as its predecessor.
Design and Display
I immediately found a lot of parallels between it and its sequel, having checked the Oneplus 8 pro and Reno 4 pro myself. The Oppo Reno 5 Pro 5G is also very slim and compact for instance, measuring 7.6 mm thick and weighing only 173 g. This gives it an excellent in-hand feel, and even for long periods at a time, it is easy to keep and use. In my view, the Astral Blue edition I've got looks superb. The glossy frame gives good grip and when light reaches it, the textured glass back has a distinctive shine, along with being resilient to fingerprints. Oppo also provides a color alternative for Starry Black.
There is a 'Built for Reno' inscription on the flattened top, while on the bottom is the dual-SIM tray, USB Type-C port, and a single speaker. On opposite sides of the frame, the volume and power buttons are mounted and are easy to access. On the Oppo Reno 5 Pro 5G, there is no 3.5mm headphone port, something that the Reno 4 Pro had.
The Oppo Reno 5 Pro 5G has a 6.5-inch "borderless-sense" AMOLED monitor with curved edges, similar to its predecessor. It has a full-HD+ resolution, a maximum brightness of 1,100 nits, a 180 Hz contact sampling rate and a refresh rate of 90 Hz. The monitor has several low blue light emission certifications and is also capable of HDR10+. For the back panel (Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for the black version), Oppo used Panda's scratch-resistant glass and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 cover glass above the display.
Overall, I really like the Oppo Reno 5 Pro 5G's style, mainly because of its slimness and low weight.
The box contains a 65W charger, USB Type-C cable, SIM eject tool, case, and USB Type-C headset.
Specifications and Software
The MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ SoC, which was revealed back in May last year and has only now reached India, is one of the major improvements in the Oppo Reno 5 Pro 5G. This is literally the first Dimension SoC to debut in India on a smartphone. It competes with the Snapdragon 865 series from Qualcomm and is designed with four ARM Cortex-A77 and four ARM Cortex-A55 cores on a 7nm method. It has an integrated 5G modem and supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 wireless networking.
Oppo is selling the Reno 5 Pro 5G with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage in a single configuration. A 4,350mAh battery (which is larger than the one in the Reno 4 Pro) and the same 65W Super VOOC are also available on the handset.
The Reno 5 Pro is based on Android 11 and ColorOS 11.1. It's more or less close to what we've seen before on previous Oppo smartphones in shape and function. The new version features strong customization from Oppo, and current Oppo users should still be familiar with it. The look of the always-on monitor watch faces can be tweaked and you can also pick from three different intensities for dark mode. You can also use Google Lens to convert the text into screenshots easily. There is a slightly tweaking Game Space menu that you can call up while playing games.
You get plenty of preinstalled applications from both Oppo and third-party developers, which can be largely uninstalled.
This version of ColorOS also has a feature called FlexDrop, which allows you to minimize some of the apps to either interactive floating windows or smaller, view-only panels. Only one app can be minimized at a time in this way.
Performance and Battery life
ColorOS always felt snappy on the Oppo Reno 5 Pro 5G. Apps loaded quickly and multitasking are well managed. Compared to the phones I used powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865, the MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ is a bit slower, but this is only noticeable when comparing benchmark scores. For example, the Reno 5 Pro 5G returned 4,22,192 points in AnTuTu and 31fps in the GFXBench Car Chase test suite, compared to 5,75,669 points and 46fps equivalent scores in OnePlus 8.
In the real world, the Reno 5 Pro 5G is capable of handling demanding apps and games with relative ease. Call of Duty: Mobile and Asphalt 9: Legends were very good at the highest graphics settings. The Reno 5 Pro 5G was not getting hot.
The battery life is very impressive for such a slim handset. In our HD video loop test, the 4,350mAh battery of the Reno 5 Pro 5G lasted 16 hours and 34 minutes, which is very good given the high SoC. I was comfortably able to average around a day and a half on one charge with regular use. When using the bundled 65W charger, the battery charges extremely quickly too. In just half an hour, I was able to get roughly a 98 percent fee.
Camera: just right!
The Oppo Reno 5 Pro 5G features a main 64-megapixel camera that has a higher resolution than the Reno 4 Pro's 48-megapixel sensor. The rest of the specifications, however, are the same: there is an 8-megapixel ultra-wide angle camera, a 2-megapixel macro camera, and a monochrome 2-megapixel camera. There is a 32-megapixel front camera for selfies.
A new 'AI Highlight Video' mode is the signature camera feature of the Reno 5 Pro 5G, which either brightens footage in low light or applies an HDR effect in the day, depending on the amount of light around the subject. This works for recordings of selfies, too. For videos, there's even a picture-in-picture mode. The majority of the attributes are the same.
It is worth allowing AI Highlight Video because it brightens up dark scenes (although with extra noise) and helps with white balance when shooting subjects directly against sunlight. In shooting selfie videos, I found this especially helpful. Bear in mind that at 1080p and not 4K, it just functions. Speaking of 4K, in terms of efficiency, video shot in daylight is decent, but you don't get stabilisation, as Ultra Steady mode is still limited to 1080p. With 1080p stabilisation, videos taken in low light get a little grainy, so it's better to stick to 4K even though it means that the footage looks a little shaky.
The Oppo Reno 5 Pro 5G captures strong details and colours in landscape shots when it comes to still photos. The ultra-wide camera captures less detail than expected, but it's not too bad. It looked sharp and well-defined in close-ups. Pictures tend to have a warmer color tone with AI Scene Enhancement allowed, which can look better or worse depending on your preference. Portrait mode works well, and you can even apply filters along with changing the amount of blur. The macro camera is not amazing, but if you need to use it, it's there.
Final Verdict
As nice as the Oppo Reno 4 Pro was, it was very hard to recommend its underpowered SoC and high price. Fortunately, with the new Reno 5 Pro 5G, Oppo discussed the performance aspect. The latest 5G SoC flagship of MediaTek may not be able to outclass Qualcomm's top-end chip (and we're not even talking about the Snapdragon 888 arriving on phones this year), but it's enough to offer smooth performance in heavy games, and it's quite power-efficient. Taking into account that it costs almost the same as the Reno 4 Pro at Rs. 35,990, the current Reno 5 Pro 5G is better than its predecessor.
For the price, the Oppo Reno 5 Pro 5G is a decent bundle overall. It has a premium build, a bright monitor, long battery life, very fast charging, and cameras that are reasonably competent. However, particularly in low light, video quality could be improved, and I would like to see stabilisation at 4K. Getting stereo speakers would not have hurt either.
There's always the Mi 10T Pro 5G , Samsung Galaxy S20 FE and the OnePlus 8 if you're looking for a more powerful SoC, but these phones are all more costly.