Now that it’s a file OPPO Reno8 Pro 5G Launched in Malaysia, I can finally talk about my experience using the phone over the past few weeks.
As with any new smartphone, the Reno8 Pro comes with several major improvements over its predecessor, the OPPO Reno7 series, which was released just half a year ago in February 2022.
With that in mind, the first thing I thought of when I received the phone was, what improvements can OPPO bring to the Reno8 series in such a short time?
Judging from the fact that they invited me to Gopeng, Perak to test the low-light photographic performance of the phone, however, it’s safe to assume that most of the improvements were focused on the camera.
Sleek and elegant design
Starting with the design, I noticed on the back of the phone what OPPO called the Seamless Unibody Design, where the back was a single piece of glass instead of two separate parts like other smartphones.
The phone has a square shape that is softened by rounded corners, similar to the Galaxy S22 series smartphones from Apple.
On the front, the screen-to-body ratio is 89%, which makes the bezels very thin and premium looking.
Turning the phone to its sides, you’ll find the power button with a small indentation on the right side and a pair of volume buttons on the left. Nice standard for phone design.
Unfortunately, unlike the USB Type-C port, the Reno8 Pro doesn’t come with a 3.5mm audio jack slot.
Although you can buy a USB Type C to 3.5mm adapter which is relatively inexpensive these days, the fact that it doesn’t come with one out of the box is somewhat inconvenient for those of us who still use group wired headphones.
OPPO included at least a silicone case and a factory applied screen protector, which offers some protection for the phone’s finish.
As of now, the Reno8 Pro is only available in two flavors, Glazed Green and Glazed Black. Knowing OPPO, they may release more colors in the Malaysian market in the near future.
Low-light capable camera with OIS and EIS
One of the main standout features of the Reno8 Pro is the fact that it is equipped with a 50MP IMX766 image sensor, as well as a 32MP IMX709 image sensor on the front that was developed in collaboration between Sony and OPPO.
To illustrate why this is important, the IMX766 comes equipped with both optical image stabilization (OIS) and electronic image stabilization (EIS) to ensure images remain sharp even while taking pictures on the go.
On the other hand, the IMX709 helps ensure optimum performance for taking pictures in low light due to its larger pixel size that allows it to absorb more light.
In addition to the camera sensors, the phone also comes with an in-house developed MariSilicon X Neuroprocessing Unit (NPU) for improved HDR performance and skin beautification (which can be turned off).
The phone also has a 2MP macro camera and a 32MP front camera.
The camera was very responsive, and the photos I took weren’t underexposed. In good lighting, there is no doubt that the Reno8 Pro performs excellently, so I took it to Gua Tempurung.
I have noticed that when it comes to very dark subjects, I still have to hold the phone still so the photo is taken while moving the phone before the photos are made to look blurry.
When taking pictures while touring the cave, images remain relatively sharp, likely due to the IMX766’s OIS and EIS feature.
When you switch the camera to night mode, the device is able to capture more details, especially in the darker parts of the cave.
The disadvantage of using this mode is that taking photos can be very slow, as the phone has to take multiple photos at the same time at different exposures and combine them to produce a single well-exposed shot.
A little over 950 degrees stairs later, we reached the end of our tour before Round 3 of Gua Tempurung.
We weren’t allowed to go further because it’s a bit more serious, and the phone doesn’t have a water and dust resistance rating.
On a separate trip, I went to Petaling Street in the heart of Kuala Lumpur for a street photography tour.
This time around, I exclusively used Pro mode to manually adjust ISO and shutter speed to achieve a defined look.
I did feel, though, that launching the camera app from the lock screen by double-clicking any of the volume buttons was a bit slow, which caused me to miss a few opportunities to take a nice picture.
For the selfie camera, I love how it automatically switches to wide-angle mode when it detects more than one person in the frame.
On top of that, the selfie also supports night mode, but be sure to turn off the beauty mode if you prefer something that looks more natural.
Devices capable of a mid-range phone
| Slices | Dimension MTK 8100 |
| RAM “ | – 8 GB – 12 GB |
| internal storage | – 128 GB – 256 GB |
| Monitor | 6.62 inch AMOLED screen – HDR10 + – 120 Hz 1080×2400 . Resolution – ~89.0% screen-to-body ratio |
| cam | – 50 MP, f/1.8, wide, Sony IMX766 – 8 MP, f / 2.2, ultra wide – 2 mega pixel camera, f / 2.4, macro 32 MP, Sony IMX709 |
| batteries | 4500mAh non-removable battery Fast charging up to 80W Reverse wireless charging |
When testing the phone using synthetic benchmarks, it managed to score around 7,590 points on 3DMark Slingshot, which puts it in the top 95% of all smartphones tested so far.
With 3DMark Wildlife, on the other hand, it was placed in the top 82% with a score of 5,597 points.
The Reno8 Pro scored 834 points on single-core performance and 3,401 points on multi-core performance on Geekbench 5.
However, standards only tell a small part of the story. The 120Hz screen, on top of the ColorOS 12.1 that has been optimized to run on the Reno8 Pro, made the phone feel smooth and responsive.
While talking about the topic of smoothness, the fact that our unit comes with 12GB of RAM allowed me to quickly switch between multiple apps without lag.
The phone also comes with a RAM expansion feature, which uses spare internal storage as the device’s default RAM to offload less intensive tasks.
When it comes to playing mobile games, the phone manages Apex Legends Mobile and Asphalt 9 quite well. Although the device started to lag while playing Genshin Impact on medium settings, it wasn’t so bad that it was unplayable.
During my tests, the phone stayed relatively quiet and wasn’t uncomfortable to hold. The only moment I noticed the phone starting to heat up was also when I was playing Genshin Impact, but even then, it just wasn’t unbearable.
Long lasting battery and fast charging
During my trip to Gua Tempurung, the phone only dropped by 16% during my almost 2 hour visit.
On Petaling Street, the phone battery dropped 20% because I was taking more photos and videos during the two and a half hour visit.
As it supports 80W SuperVOOC fast charging technology, I was able to fully charge the Reno8 Pro in about 34 minutes, which is really fast.
But keep in mind that this is only possible when using a compatible SuperVOOC charger. This is because the chargers are equipped with several safety features to ensure that the phone does not experience problems while charging.
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If you’re looking for a camera-focused mid-range smartphone that can compete with flagship devices that double its price, the OPPO Reno8 Pro 5G is a relatively safe bet.
This is especially true if you find yourself taking a lot of photos in low-light situations, in which case the MariSilicon X NPU, Sony IMX766, and Sony IMX709 image processors can make a difference.
Having said that, if you are looking for something similar to the OPPO Reno8 Pro 5G but don’t need all the high-end specs, you can opt for the slightly cheaper OPPO Reno8 5G instead.