Tech reviews

Reno 4 Pro | Oppo Reno 4 Pro Review


Oppo Reno 4 Pro Review


Oppo Reno 4 Pro Review&nbsp

Key Highlights

  • Pros: Gorgeous display, slim design a plus, 65W charging works as advertised, 3.5mm headphone jack, decent battery life
  • Cons: Snapdragon 720G is now – surprisingly – old, the camera could be better, OS still needs polish

Product Name:Oppo Reno4 Pro

Brand Name:Oppo

Price:34,999/-

The mid-range smartphone market in India is currently flooded with a plethora of options and is not the same as it was a year ago. The segment witnessed a barrage of new models and variants with an increase in new chipsets from Qualcomm like the Snapdragon 730G, the Snapdragon 765G, and from MediaTek Helio G90 – the chipsets have helped bring a new form of mid-rangers on the market which boast of biggest batteries, bigger and better displays, faster chipsets, and decent enough performance which means this has become one of the most profitable sections of the smartphone market.

Oppo has made several decent phones in the past, but the Reno series stands out particularly. The Reno series was introduced last year and arrived with super-premium construction of glass and metal, a shark-fin pop-up camera, and an excellent display. Probably the only “Tuishui” (drawback in Chinese) with the Oppo Reno was the UI – but we discussed in our Find X2 Pro review – ColorOS has matured beautifully. So when we started using the Reno 4 Pro, we were excited. Is the Reno 4 Pro the best all-round Reno model from Oppo? Read our review to find out.

Oppo Reno 4 Pro Review: Looks, build, design, and display

The smartphone industry has currently got a lot of models from several manufacturers who use plastic backs but say it looks like glass. Sometimes it does not work, and the plastic panel does look like – well – plastic. So does the Oppo Reno 4 Pro.

Oppo has interestingly used a plastic panel and a plastic frame as well. The setup sounds uncertain of a robust build – but the Oppo Reno 4 Pro did not feel like that. At 161 grams, the Reno 4 Pro is a lightweight with an all-plastic build, and the lightness in weight shows during daily usage.

The rear panel gets a matte finish which also looks like frosted glass – except it does not simply scratch because a 2 rupee coin rubbed against the back panel. The texture is decent enough, but the panel does feel cheap at times. The cheap feel was countered by the fact that the Reno 4 Pro features a great build and nothing on the frame we could spot out for issues. 

The rear camera module also gets plastic surrounds and a fingerprint magnet of a lens. The camera module is a quad-sensor array which gets asymmetric layout. We loved the module which looked sleek until we spotted “Innovative Quadcam” mentioned on the module. No Oppo!

One the right side of the frame, there is the power button which is also the Google Assistant button. The green accent on the button brings a cool subtle look and also – the button can summon the Assistant as well. 

The volume buttons and the power button get a decent amount of tactile feedback and feel strong. Also, Oppo provided a 3.5mm headphone audio jack when all manufacturers are slowly moving away from that feature. The lower part of the frame houses the headphone jack, a USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer, and a 3-slat grille.

The Reno 4 Pro features a 6.5-inch AMOLED display with Full HD resolution and leans more towards the saturated side of things – based on our daily usage. Colour accuracy on the Reno 4 Pro is decently well done with the display getting one of the highest brightness levels at around 790 nits in the Indian smartphone market. 

The display also gets a 90Hz refresh rate and can be activated manually or in the adaptive mode. The display is protected by the Gorilla Glass 5. The fingerprint scanner is also pretty accurate and the Gorilla Glass 5.

Overall, the Reno 4 Pro gets a decent enough build quality.

Oppo Reno 4 Pro Review: Software and performance

The Reno 4 Pro operates on the ColorOS which we detailed in our review of the Find X2 Pro. However, Oppo went for an older chipset most probably to cut costs. The 720G is not a bad choice – but paying over Rs 34,000 on a plastic smartphone which gets an older chipset is something we still are yet to get on board with.

However, the SD 720G works pretty well, and we were able to conduct our daily usage without any hiccups in performance. Oppo has tweaked the ColorOS, and now the Reno 4 Pro with the custom UI brings in customization options which is a good refresh from the cartoon-filled excuse that the earlier version of the Color OS used to be.

Daily performance is smooth, and the Reno 4 Pro will be able to push through PUBG Mobile with lowered graphic options – something we were okay with but did not like. No, we are not going to repeat the same with a different phone. If you are looking for a phone solely based on performance – the Reno 4 Pro is not the one for you.

Oppo Reno 4 Pro Review: Camera

The Reno 4 Pro gets a quad-camera module at the rear panel headed by a 48-megapixel sensor. Other than that, there is an 8-megapixel ultra-wide angle sensor, a 2-megapixel macro sensor, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. You will notice there is no telephoto lens. Again, at the price the Reno 4 Pro is selling – a telephoto lens would have been more helpful.

Oppo has tweaked the camera which shoots vibrant and dynamic images which looks good on your Instagram page. The exposure value in the auto mode was always set a little higher than required. The camera also suffered from a copious amount of AI processing, meaning the cameras faced three major issues which almost every other phone will show a glimpse of – digital processing, noise reduction, and over-sharpening. 

Normal Mode

5x Zoom

Ultrawide angle mode

With Night Mode

Without Night Mode

Macro 

HDR implementation is on the downside. Although, the images taken during daytime does not hint at erratic HDR – enter a low-light area, and you will see bright and dark areas on the image. 

The wide-angle camera sensor features similar issues – slightly washed out images with lower resolution. The difference in colour profiles are not massive – but you can understand the slight difference in colour between images clicked during daylight and indoors as well.

There is a Night mode as well – thanks to the Google Pixel. At the first go, low light images look decent, but the real game is when you zoom into it – and the image pixels go haywire. Standard mode brings way too much noise and the Night Mode stuffs in a lot of light into the image – not always the right way to go. Nevertheless – the images clicked in well lit night images are still Instagram worthy so relax.

Oppo Reno 4 Pro Review: Battery

The Reno 4 Pro features a 4000mAh battery with a 65W charger in the box. There is no wireless charging, and we are okay with that. Time and again, we have stressed the fact that the technology for wired charging has always superseded wireless charging – and the penetration of wired charging into different consumer segments is the highest. 

We were able to push out a full day of normal usage which included calls, messages, WhatsApp, Facebook and basic social media, internet browsing, and a couple of sessions of PUBG Mobile on medium graphics. Gaming takes a toll on the battery.

Charging is just “ludicrous” with the 65W power brick. The phone can be charged from less than 10 per cent to around 65 per cent in under 15 minutes and a full 100 per cent in just 30 minutes. But we were already awed by the Find X2 Pro, and the Reno 4 Pro is probably one of the very few mid-rangers which features 65W charging support. 

Oppo Reno 4 Pro Review: Price and verdict

The Reno 4 Pro is available for Rs 34,999 in the Indian market which looks pricey. However, Oppo has always priced most of the models in its Reno series in the Rs 30-35,000 price range. The Reno 4 Pro gives you a well-built device experience – even with the plastic.

The Reno 4 Pro has had several hits and misses or we can say like “more misses” than hits. Here we are justifying the price tag but when we look at what the Reno 4 Pro needs – it is slightly tricky to recommend the Reno 4 Pro. There is the OnePlus Nord, the Vivo X50 which have well-built hardware. The Reno 4 Pro also does not get a telephoto lens, the camera tuning needs polish, and the plastic – even though it does not undermine the design – is slightly too much to be paying Rs 34,999 for.

However, the Reno 4 Pro has its positives – the super-fast 65W charging, decent battery life owing to the SD 720G, and an excellent display. If you are looking to get a normal phone for your normal daily usage – then get the Reno 3 Pro. The Reno 3 Pro is a fantastic device with a 64-megapixel quad camera, 30W fast charging, and comes powered by the MediaTek Helio P95 chipset (Review). 



READ SOURCE

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.