Oppo Reno 4 Pro Review

Oppo Reno 4 Pro Review

Oppo Reno 4 Pro Review: Oppo couldn't have picked a worse time to start the Reno 4 Pro in India, right on the heels of this OnePlus Nord.  

If that wasn't bad enough, its price of Rs. 34,990 for its sole 8GB RAM configuration is not sitting well with a lot of people, especially since it employs an SoC we are used to seeing phones under Rs. 20,000.

But when you look beyond the processor and pricing for an instant, you'll discover there's a lot to enjoy about the Reno 4 Pro.  

It was able to make a fantastic first impression on me a few weeks ago, and now I've spent a decent quantity of time with it, I'm ready to decide whether good looks can make up for the"lack" of power, even if this comes at a high price.

Oppo Reno 4 Pro design and screen: Its Best Characteristics 

The premium design of this Reno 4 Pro makes it stand out in the competition and is easily among its best characteristics.  

This is the only phone which comes to mind, in this price range, which offers a curved screen -- a characteristic that's typically found in much more expensive models.  

This combined with a fitting curved rear panel makes the Reno 4 Pro look classy from any angle.

It is also amazingly slender (7.7mm) and mild (161g), which is a refreshing change of pace.  To be able to reach the degree of lightness though, it seems Oppo has had to compromise somewhat by using a plastic framework instead of alloy, and a polymer resin for the rear panel rather than glass.  

Regardless of this, the phone still feels really sturdy and the frosted texture on the back doesn't attract lots of fingerprints.

The Oppo Reno 4 Pro has a large 6.5-inch full-HD+ Super AMOLED display with Corning's Gorilla Glass 5 for scratch protection.  It also has a 90Hz refresh rate and a 180Hz signature sampling speed, similar to the OnePlus Nord.  

Unfortunately, Oppo has dropped HDR10 support for the Indian model, which is a bit disappointing.  Still, the screen is very great.  It gets plenty bright and colours have excellent saturation.  You also receive a hole-punch cutout in the upper left corner to your selfie camera.

When I began using the Oppo Reno 4 Pro, I discovered that the fingerprint sensor was not authenticating my finger quick enough and frequently required multiple tries before it worked.  

But after re-registering my fingerprints, and a couple of software updates afterwards, it's more consistent now.  It is still not as fast as other superior phones such as the OnePlus Nord, however at least it's gotten more reliable.  Face recognition functions very nicely on the Reno 4 Pro, even under dim lighting.

The buttons are placed on each side of the Oppo Reno 4 Pro.  On the floor, we have the USB Type-C interface, a single speaker, and a headphone jack.  The SIM tray is about the top of the phone and supports two Nano-SIM cards in addition to a microSD card.  

The four rear camera lenses are individually exposed, like the camera design on the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.  This gives the Reno 4 Pro a distinct look, which should interest lots of people, unless you just happen to suffer with trypophobia.

 Also offered in the box are a silicone instance, a data cable, and a 65W quick charger.

Oppo Reno 4 Pro software: Feature-rich

The Reno 4 Pro runs on Oppo's ColorOS 7.2, which is based on Android 10.  While the functionality remains largely like what we have observed on other recent Oppo phones, the company says it has added a few new smarts from the most recent version.  

'Icon pull-down gesture' is a very handy one, which lets you access out-of-reach icons onto the homescreen using an easy gesture.

'Quick reunite bubble' lets you keep tabs on your game if you need to minimise it in order to open another program.  

As its name suggests, it creates a floating bubble which shows pertinent information from the game.  The sort of information is restricted to countdowns in games like PUBG Mobile, when you're either waiting for a match to begin, or before leaping off the airplane.

Oppo asserts that ColorOS can now learn the utilization behavior of the consumer and pre-load frequently used apps in memory, for faster loading.  You also receive a new pair of'artistic' wallpapers, which seem very good, but greater than those are the live wallpapers.  

Oppo LAB is a new app that lets you test out experimental features, which now includes a ringtone generator and a'choice spinner.'  Oppo Relax offers a choice of soothing music tracks along with guided breathing exercises.

My unit of the Oppo Reno 4 Pro had the usual bunch of preinstalled apps including some that are currently banned in India for example TikTok and Helo.  But, Oppo told Gadgets 360 that devices reaching consumers now will not have some of those prohibited programs.  

The majority of the third-party apps may be flashed anyhow, so it shouldn't be a large problem.

Oppo Reno 4 Pro functionality and battery life: Pretty great 

Additionally, it features dual-band Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.1, multiple satellite navigation systems, and the regular suite of sensors.

For instance, the OnePlus 7T (Review) sells in precisely the same cost and features the considerably faster Snapdragon 855+ SoC.  Even the OnePlus Nord is better off with its Snapdragon 765G 5G SoC in a reduce cost.

With daily use, I did not detect any problems with performance.  Navigating the port felt snappy, apps loaded quickly, and multitasking was normally a breeze.   

Even PUBG Mobile was enjoyable to play at the'HD' images quality and'High' framerate configurations, which are the greatest levels available for your Reno 4 Pro.  Despite its slim physique, I never noticed any abnormal warmth with this phone, even after extended gaming sessions.

The only speaker becomes decently loud and there is Dolby Atmos sound enhancement also.  Videos looked great about the Reno 4 Pro's display, and also the high level of brightness was able to cut reflections quite nicely.  

You also get a proper always-on screen mode along with a system-wide dim manner, which may be scheduled to trigger at a given time.  The'Edge lighting' feature lights up the curved edges of the screen when you receive a fresh notification, which looks cool and can be viewed even with the device lying down face.

 I was able to get a runtime of a bit over 16 hours at our HD video loop evaluation, which is good.  However, the most important highlight is 65W Super VOOC 2.0 quick charging.   

This charges the Reno 4 Pro around 97 percent in just 30 minutes, and it is ridiculously fast.  Of course, 65W will soon be overshadowed by Oppo's recently announced 125W fast charging technology, but this is not yet accessible in any phones that are actually sending.

Oppo Reno 4 Pro cameras: Can do better

The cameras are another area where the Indian model differs from the international one.  The Oppo Reno 4 Pro offered here has four rear cameras: a 48-megapixel primary, 8-megapixel ultra-wide, 2-megapixel macro, and 2-megapixel depth cameras.   

I'm not thrilled with the trade-off on the Indian model, but it is what it is.  The selfie camera is identical on both models, utilizing the exact same 32-megapixel Sony IMX616 detector since the OnePlus Nord.

The camera interface is user friendly.  You can swipe through the a variety of shooting modes on the right side of the viewfinder, and based on the chosen mode, you get corresponding contextual options on the left.  Oddly, there is no way to switch to the macro camera without jumping through a bunch of hoops.  It's like Oppo didn't want you to bother with it.  

The controller isn't found anywhere in the list of shooting modes, but instead concealed in the Expert mode.  Here, you'll want to tap on the icon of the two'trees' then pick the'blossom' icon, to use the macro camera.  The funny thing isthe camera AI indicates using the'Macro lens' when you get very near a subject, but doesn't offer any shortcut to change to it.

In terms of picture quality, the main Sony IMX586 sensor delivers predictable results over the course of the day.  Details are usually great, HDR works well, and colors are nicely saturated.  There are times when the camera AI boosts colours somewhat, like as it finds plants or flowers.  

There's digital zoom with up to 10x magnification, however, quality takes a hit.  The wide-angle camera can be useful, but it tends to catch poorer details and muted colours, when compared with the most important one.

Portrait shots look decent.  The level of blur can be adjusted before shooting, and also the brand new filters include some interesting effects to your shot.  Some of these filters are offered for the selfie camera and for videos also.  

The macro camera isn't the easiest to use, in comparison to other implementations.  I found it took a good deal more attempt to find a usable shot, as even slight movements immediately after pressing the camera resulted in blurry photographs.

Low-light photographs are not too noisy, however, the sensor does not pick up a great deal of detail in darker areas of the framework.  Night mode can make a large difference to the picture.  With it, light sources don't look like shining orbs, and darker areas show a lot more detail.

The selfie camera captures good photographs during the day.  Backlit selfies did not turn out great occasionally, as the skin seemed heavily smoothened, but otherwise, the sensor captured lots of detail.  Portrait style and filters may add some fun effects to your selfies too.

The Oppo Reno 4 Pro can shoot movies at around 4K 30fps, using stabilisation, but only utilizing the primary rear camera.  The ultra-wide camera can shoot at up to 1080p, but regrettably, you can not switch between cameras while still recording, at any resolution.  

Video quality is good in daytime but in low light, the stabilisation causes a jarring irregular rainbow, in case you walk around.  Videos taken using the ultra-wide camera look relatively poor, even in daylight.

Verdict: If you buy the Oppo Reno 4 Pro?

The Oppo Reno 4 Pro Rs. 34,990 could have been a strong contender in the Indian mid-tier smartphone segment, if only Oppo had launched the worldwide version in India with all the Snapdragon 765G SoC and the greater selection of secondary back cameras.  

The one we have this is still a fantastic product, but at its current price of Rs. 34,990, it is just too expensive and there's no getting around this fact.

I think most folks are more happy with the OnePlus 7T at this cost.  It's true that you lose out on the slender design and super quick charging, but the 7T has better cameras, a much faster processor, and superior construction, compared to the Reno 4 Pro.  

The OnePlus Nord, Realme X3 Rs. 24,999 series, and Redmi K20 Pro Rs. 22,900 are also great options that offer better functionality and are less costly.

Should you value a slim and light smartphone on high performance, then I can see the allure of this Reno 4 Pro.  It may not offer you the best value at this price, or stand-out camera performance, however you do get exceptionally quick charging, fantastic battery life, and a premium-looking display.

Good

• Incredibly slim and light
• 65W quickly charging
• Crisp AMOLED screen 
• Solid battery life
• Decent selfie camera

Bad

• Average rear cameras
• Underpowered SoC, for the price
• Expensive

Oppo Reno 4 Pro KEY SPECS

• Display: 6.50-inch
• Front Camera: 32-megapixel
• Rear Camera: 48-megapixel + 8-megapixel + 2-megapixel + 2-megapixel
• RAM: 8GB
• Storage: 128GB
• Battery Capacity: 4000mAh
• OS: Android 10
• Resolution: 1080x2400 pixels