Brand: OPPO
Product: Reno5
Key specs: 90Hz FHD+ AMOLED display, Snapdragon 720G SoC, 4,310mAh battery with 50W fast charging speed.
Price: Sh 41,999
Rating: 3.5/5
In my first impressions, I highlighted how lightweight, the OPPO Reno5 device feels. The feeling remained the same throughout my usage of the Reno5. Despite the slim profile body, the Reno5 does not feel cheap, in fact, the smartphone looks and performs like a premium smartphone.
The volume rockers are placed on the left side of the phone just below the Dual SIM nano tray. with the power button sitting on the right side alone which took me a while to get used to.
At the bottom, you get the speaker grill, Type C charging port, a microphone, and a headphone jack.
The Reno5 is available in fantasy silver with its shimmery PICASUS coating which sparkles in a multitude of colors or starry black, a cosmic black.
Personally, I’d go for the starry black variant as the fantasy silver was a bit too shouting in my opinion but if you’d love to stand out in a crowd, the latter will definitely do the job.
My Favorite Features on the OPPO Reno5
My favorite feature is the AMOLED display that comes with the phone, the 6.4-inch screen with 90Hz was smooth and such an enjoyable experience. Colors and animations are sharp and with the DRM L1 certification, I rarely watch videos on a phone but enjoyed finishing up on my favorite shows in HD on Netflix.
The Reno5 50W wired fast charging also blew my mind. The phone can charge from 0pc to up to 80pc in just half an hour and a full charge in just 48 minutes. That is amazing!
The Reno5 has a fast and accurate optical in-display fingerprint sensor and face unlock for biometrics.
Getting a 65W fast charging brick in the box is also something to mention!
Our phones buzz so many times a day, it’s easy to take the tech behind these vibrations for granted. The OPPO Reno5’s haptics impressed me, they are some of the most premium-feeling haptics I’ve used. Whether it’s when receiving a phone call, when unlocking the phone with the fingerprint reader or while typing on the onscreen keyboard, I was impressed.
Performance
The Reno5 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 720G chipset. Paired with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage variant I had, the performance was strong. I put the phone through hours of onscreen time on social media and run heavy games and didn’t face any stutters or lag while using it. The phone will handle regular activities easily.
ColorOS 11.1 brings Game Space to the OPPO Reno5 that lets you tweak certain settings to boost your gaming experience. While gaming, you can monitor GPU, CPU usage, FPS, switch between different game modes like Competition, Balanced and Low power mode, and even have a new Immersive mode that lets you block navigation gestures, quick settings, reject calls and block notifications.
Battery
In terms of battery, the Reno5 supports OPPO’s SuperVOOC charging. I can’t get over the phone getting juiced up to 50pc in less than 15 mins. The phone also has a fairly decent 4,310mAh battery that will get you through a full day of use with ease.
Camera
Most of the time I don’t look at the megapixel count on a smartphone before buying one, but if that impresses you then you are in for a treat as the Reno5 offers a 64-megapixel quad camera setup. You get three more cameras for wide-angle, macro, and depth.
The Reno5 comes with a new feature called the AI Mixed Portrait, I messed around with it, it’s basically a double exposure video effect, If you liked the #SilhoutteChallenge you’ll like this one. The feature lets you blend yourself and a background video together to create artistic videos.
The 44-megapixel selfie shooter is also quite impressive, I always find the trademark OPPO beautification option annoying but despite that, the phone captures decent selfies that will not need any editing to look good.
The Reno5 OPPO comes equipped with innovative imaging features such as AI Highlight Video that fuses the power Ultra Night Video and LiveHDR, Monochrome Video, Soloop Smart Video Editor, Night Flare Portrait, Ultra-clear 108MP Image, AI Scene Enhancement, AI Mixed Portrait, and Slo-Mo.
Stay tuned for the Full OPPO Reno5 Camera Test
Other nice features on the OPPO Reno5 include smart-always on display, smart spying prevention, smart rotation, smart air control that lets you control the phone using gestures such as scrolling up and down on Instagram, Facebook, or answering phone calls by just swiping your hand.
Verdict
The OPPO Reno5 will set you back Sh41,999. All around the phone is a beast, the chipset is a little dated and has been around in a lot of smartphones but still gets the job done. The design, display, and the Superfast charging stand out with the only compromise being the plastic build, for the price, however, this is a good deal. Furthermore, this means you get a matte fingerprint-resistant finish!
Preorders are currently ongoing until the 1st of March. The OPPO Reno will go on sale on March 2nd. When you pre-order you get free OPPO’s W11 wireless earbuds, a branded Bluetooth speaker, a branded backpack, and a six-month screen protection cover.
You can pre-order the Reno5 at any OPPO retail store countrywide and in online retail stores including Jumia, Kilimall, and Masoko.
