Oppo Reno 4 Pro review: The Reno you cannot say NO to

Oppo is one of the most recognisable smartphone brands in India that have grown to fame with a wide range of mid-range and budget smartphones. The Reno series is towards the upper tier and makes heads turn. But there's always been something amiss in the previous Reno phones and it looks like the Chinese smartphone maker has understood the pulse of the Indian consumers before delivering the Reno 4 Pro.

Oppo launched the Reno 4 Pro at Rs 34,990, making it not too affordable nor too steep. It falls in the range where majority people are comfortable spending just enough for a great phone that is a bang for the buck. Now, the question one might ask is whether the Reno 4 Pro is worth upgrading. Well, it depends on the smartphone you're currently using, but it works for anyone who have been using a sub-Rs 30,000 smartphone.

Design & Display

This is where your money's worth is fully felt. At first glance, Oppo Reno 4 Pro is nothing short of a premium phone. It looks too good to be called a mid-ranger. What's surprising is that the phone feels just as good in the hand. It's sleek, it's compact, the tall display makes it easy to use in a single hand and the weight distribution is just right so all those binge-watching before bed won't tire you off to sleep.

If the looks matter to you the most, Oppo Reno 4 Pro is a worthy choice in its price range.

The finishing of the Reno 4 Pro is so good that the plastic back with a frosted finish feels and looks like premium glass. The frame is also made of polycarbonate, which is why the weight of the phone is so light.

The 6.5-inch display doesn't feel too big and the curved edge AMOLED panel gives that ultra-premium look you would usually get with high-end flagships. The attention to detail in the Reno 4 Pro is unlike any phone in the sub-Rs 35,000 category. The unique lens arrangement in a mirror-finish module against the frosty backdrop deserves praise.

The Full HD+ display with a tiny selfie camera notch is as good as it gets. It's bright with natural colours and the Vivid Screen Colour Mode is ideal. The display settings offers DC Dimming, but there's no support for HDR 10/10+. But the goodness of 90Hz refresh rate and 180Hz touch sampling makes a lot of difference in day-to-day user experience as well as in games. With the wide use of OLED and AMOLED displays, OEMs must start making dark mode default and light theme optional. Nevertheless, turning on the dark mode is just a few taps away and feels great on the Reno 4 Pro.

Camera

Oppo Reno 4 Pro doesn't necessarily shine in the camera department, but it doesn't disappoint either. The primary lens for normal photos and close-up shots and the telephoto lens for portraits work flawlessly in daylight. The wide-angle produces different colours than the primary lens, making us shift to the main lens more often than not. The portraits in good lighting comes out great - the edge detection is accurate in most cases. The colours are natural and there are ample details, even when you zoom in to the photo after capturing it.

Low light photos aren't too great, but the night mode naturally amplifies the colours to make them appear clearer in low-light setting. Zooming to shoot low-light areas is not recommended, neither is use of wide-angle. But the primary lens with night mode is pretty average.

Selfies turn out to be quite decent as well. Oppo has expertise in this area and it reflects in the Reno 4 Pro. Crisp and detailed results will make you instantly share your selfies on social media. Low light challenges are the same with front camera as well. But it's still an improvement over the Reno 3 Pro.

Check out samples below that show comparison between different modes:

Performance and UI

The choice of Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G processor as the powerhouse for Reno 4 Pro seems underwhelming. But that's the corner Oppo has chose to cut to keep its price on the affordable tangent. But don't let that fool you. If you think, the 720G paired with 8 gigs worth of RAM cannot handle some heavy tasks, you're mistaken.

PUBG Mobile with high graphics ran smoothly and so did Asphalt 9. The 90Hz display also made the overall gaming experience so much better. Even multi-tasking and running multiple (tens) apps in the background did not take a hit. But that buttery smooth user experience was not reflected while scrolling through social media feeds of Facebook and Twitter. All the integrated apps worked extremely well.

There were some interesting features such as the beautifully illuminating edge lighting, always-on-display (AOD) and more. That brings us the UI. We have been critical of the ColorOS in the past, but the latest v7.2 based on Android 10 is refined and doesn't look cluttered. The level of customisation offered in the ColorOS 7.2 is pretty impressive, giving users the freedom to have their choice.

Battery

Oppo Reno 4 Pro has a marathon battery, even by today's standards. The 4,000mAh battery is a generous offering, which easily lasted a whole day with mixed usage - calls, social media browsing, IM messaging, emails, video streaming and a bit of gaming. But that's not even the best part. The 65W SuperVOOC fast charging feature in a smartphone under 35K is solid worth. It can charge the phone to full from nil in just 40 minutes.

Verdict

There are several interesting features that make the Reno 4 Pro worthy. For starters, the excellent design paired with a brilliant display and battery with its SuperVOOC glory makes a strong case for the Reno 4 Pro. But the challenge is tough. When pitted against the OnePlus 7T, which falls in the similar price range, buyers might be confused. This is where the brand loyalty comes into play.

One one hand, there's the goodness of OxygenOS, better cameras and Snapdragon 855+ sweetness, but the Oppo Reno 4 Pro is better looking, has a crisp display, and a better battery configuration.