The Oppo Reno 8 series is expected to be launched later today and it consists of Reno 8 5G and Reno 8 4G. The Oppo Reno 8 series is the successor to Oppo Reno 7 which was launched earlier this year.
We took the phone out for a spin, and these are our thoughts.
Design
The Oppo Reno 8 5G measures 6.32 x 2.89 x 0.30 inches and weighs about 179 grams, which I found to be generally comfortable in the hand. It comes with a polycarbonate back which has a matte finish giving the phone a premium look which ensures that there are no fingerprint smudges and also makes it easier to hold.
The Reno 8 features a 6.4-inch screen with a bezel at the bottom giving the phone a screen-to-body ratio of approximately 83.9 per cent. It has a high definition 1080 X 2400 resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio which translates to 411 pixels per inch density. This coupled with a 90 Hertz refresh rate gives a crisp display that you will definitely enjoy. However, the refresh rate is not dynamic which means that it does not adjust depending on usage, but the 90 Hz does not consume too much battery.
It has a Gorilla Glass 5 display cover which means that the screen is not likely to break at the slightest fall. It has a screen protector out of the box, which will at least protect the device from scratches. However, if you have butter fingers consider getting an aftermarket screen protector.
The selfie camera is located at the top left side of the screen with the left edge featuring the volume up and down rocker. The right edge has a power button. The bottom of the phone holds a sim tray that can house two nano-SIM cards, a microSD card expansion slot, a mono speaker, Type C charging port and a microphone. The phone does not come with an earphone jack.
Performance
The Oppo Reno 8 runs on the Android 12 operating system straight out of the box and a ColorOS 12.1 interface. It also comes with some preinstalled apps like Phoenix, Snapchat, Soloop Cut among others. However, these can be disabled or uninstalled with ease.
Under the hood, the Oppo Reno 8 rocks a MediaTek Dimensity 1300. The chipset is built on a 6 nm process node technology and has a maximum CPU frequency of 3 GHz. For gaming, it uses the Mali-G77 MC9 GPU which is adequate for games which are not very graphic intensive.
It has 128GB of internal storage and 8 GB of RAM and Android’s latest memory fusion (virtual memory extension) that enables the phone to increase RAM by an extra 5GB by taking space from the storage. Given these specs, I did not experience any lag while using the phone be it while streaming, switching between apps or even gaming.
Camera
The Oppo Reno 8 has been touted as a Portrait Expert and this is evident in the pictures taken with the phone. A combination of three cameras at the back, 50MP wide+ 8MP ultrawide+2MP Macro lens, and the 32MP selfie camera with HDR to create some visually appealing photographs. However, I found that the cameras struggled a bit in some low light conditions.
With shooting modes such as Film, Video, AI Cam, Portrait and Night, smartphone photography enthusiasts are spoilt for choice. What’s more, both sets of cameras can shoot videos in 1080 pixels up to 30 frames per second.
There are additional frame ratio settings, that is 16:9, 4:3 and 1:1 for that extra creativity boost when it comes to composition. This also facilitates easier upload to social media platforms with a bias for certain image compositions.
Check out the photos.
Battery
The Oppo Reno 8 series features a 4500 mAh non-removable battery supported by an 80Watt flash charging power brick. This means that it can fully charge the device in just under 30 minutes which can be convenient on a busy day.
A user gets a full day’s heavy use from a fully charged battery, so everything from listening to music, to reading and browsing as well as gaming is possible.
Conclusion
You should definitely buy this phone if you are looking for a device with excellent cameras and good battery life. The Oppo Reno 8 5G is retailing at Ksh. 59,999 while the 4G version is retailing at Ksh. 42,999.
You can pre-order the phone from October 26 to October 31, 2022 and stand a chance to win a gift.
More photos.
