In Zurich overnight OPPO have a launched their new flagship line, the Reno, into Europe. Unlike a couple of weeks ago where we had to try and translate the Chinese launch this one gives us some details that will be relevant to us as the phone slowly makes it’s way here to the Telstra 5G network.
The flagship announced was the Reno 10x Zoom and also the Reno 5G. OPPO have done us all a favour and shortened the name of the Reno 5G rather than tacking a 5G onto an already long name. The Reno 5G is essentially a Reno 10x Zoom with 5G connectivity. This is relevant for us Aussies because this is suspected to be the 5G phone that Telstra have said will be one of the first three to launch onto their 5G network in the first half of this year.
The basics of the OPPO Reno 5G
For those new to the Reno party it is a flagship in nearly every way. It is powered by a Snapdragon 855 processor with an option for either 6GB or 8GB of RAM along with either 128GB or 256GB of onboard storage. Of course there is a Qualcomm X50 5G modem onboard.
Everyone’s main concern over 5G, the battery life, has been addressed with a 4065mAh battery and anew fast charging algorithm. The new algorithm is part of VOOC charging 3.0 which charges at a massive 10V.5A or 50W – five minutes of charging gives up to two hours of talk time!
The display on the Reno 5G is a 6.6 inch 1080P display with a 93.1 screen to body ratio thanks to the tiny bezels – chin bezel is just 3.5mm and side bezels 1.63mm. The 19.5:9 ratio display is a 2nd gen OLED display protected by Gorilla Glass 6.
There is once again an in-display fingerprint sensor with this generation being nearly 30% faster than the last.
The all-important camera
The rear camera system sports 10x lossless optical hybrid zoom capabilities. It sports a 48MP f/1.7 lens with LDAF, an 8MP super-wide-angled (120 degrees) lens and the 13MP periscope telephoto lens. This all creates a focal length from 16 to 160mm. The periscope lens and the 48MP lens both have Prism OIS to help create a stable super zoom picture.
OPPO have also introduced their new night made called Ultra Night Mode 2.0 which uses the main camera combined with the LDAF and an AI compensation algorithm (AI Ultra-clear Engine) to reduce the processing time to 2-3 seconds. It uses up to 17 images to create the final Ultra Night Mode image.
All eyes were once again on the front facing camera with the side-swinging, angled fin being rated (and tested) for over 200,000 opening events. Inside the fin is the 16MP front facing camera with flash, earpiece, rear flash and more. Flipping out only 11 degrees in 0.8 seconds OPPO say that the sliding is elegant with a great design sense. For those worried about dropping the phone while the fin is out the Reno has an “intelligent drop protection” that will close the lens if it feels the phone being dropped.
ColorOS 6
We have not been fans of ColorOS in the past but with each iteration OPPO have improved it and ColorOS 6 brings a lot of new features to the ball game and hopefully improving on the few areas that it still lacked. We will hold our judgement of course until after we have tested it. It is based on Android 9.0 so that’s a good start.
Other features include an NFC chip, Bluetooth 5.0, USB-C, dual frequency GPS, Hi-Res Dolby audio speakers, HDR support, their new Game Boost 2.0 (which includes touch boost and frame boost acceleration), thermal gel, graphite sheet and copper tube liquid cooling for keeping the phone cool while gaming and an ability to monitor 4G and Wi-Fi congestion in real time to control better network connection and speeds.
The Reno 5G will only be available in Jet Black and Ocean Green (OPPO, if you are reading this, I’d love an Ocean Green please), unlike the other colours that launched into China a few weeks ago.
As for availability OPPO said that the plain old Reno (mid-range) will be available for 499Euro on May 10 in Europe, the 10x Zoom will be available in early June for 799Euro, and the Reno 5G for 899Euro in mid-May. It is interesting that the 5G is available before the 10x Zoom version considering they are effectively the same phone.
At this stage it is unclear which of these variants will make their way to Australia but we are fairly certain that the Reno 5G will. Pricing looks set to be flagship pricing for the 5G and the 10x Zoom and mid-range for the standard poor cousin Reno.
What about us?
We expect that if OPPO have a Reno 5G ready to be launched to consumers in just a few weeks time then that should mean that Telstra and Australia are not far behind. We expect it to launch here certainly by the end of June but would not be surprised if it was a lot earlier.
5G devices will soon make their way to Telstra’s network and Optus after that. For those wanting to jump onto the 5G bandwagon early there will be three phones early on (LG, Samsung and OPPO) and it looks like OPPO are winning the race with LG and Samsung having connectivity issues with their respective 5G variants in Korea, pushing back global launches. We hope to have our hands on one in the not-to-distant future and will bring all the hands-on realities to you when we do.
Anyone considering a OPPO Reno 5G for their first 5G phone?
If you so desire you can watch the full launch on OPPO’s YouTube page or if pressed for time there is a shortened launch video of just under 20 minutes:
That is awful pricing! 🙁 Not happy at all.