OPPO has been cementing their upper mid-range lineup in India for a while now. They had briefly dabbled into the premium space with the Find X series but that didn’t give them good results locally. Now the focus is on the Reno series and OPPO is out with the Reno7 series now.
Reno serious once was known for the cutting edge hardware from the days of Reno 10X, Reno Z but today’s Reno series is mostly based on refinement. So whats’ changed from the outgoing model you might ask, well the Reno7 get a new exterior but the interior is mostly the same as Reno6 5G.
Coming in at INR 28,999, the Reno7 5G is being offered in a single RAM/storage option. This pricing puts Reno7 in a close fight with the outgoing model, along with the OnePlus Nord 2, Xiaomi 11i, and the recently launched OnePlus Nord CE 2. All these smartphones have something or the other to offer, but should you stick with the Reno7 5G? Let’s find out in our Review.
OPPO Reno7 5G Specifications
Before starting with the OPPO Reno7 5G review, let’s have a look at the phone’s specifications.
- Display: 6.43-inch FHD+ resolution, 90Hz refresh rate AMOLED display
- CPU: MediaTek Dimensity 900 Processor
- GPU: Mali G-68
- RAM: 8GB
- Storage: 256GB internal storage
- Software: Android 11 (ColorOS 12)
- Main Camera: 64MP (f/1.7) (PDAF) + 8MP ultra-wide-angle + 2MP macro sensor
- Selfie Camera: 32MP (f/2.4)
- Connectivity: USB Type C, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth v5.2, GPS/ A-GPS, NFC
- Cellular: Dual SIM
- Fingerprint Scanner: Yes, in-display
- Battery: 4,500mAh, Li-ion Polymer, 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 fast charging
Box Contents
Here’s a complete list of items you get inside the box:
- OPPO Reno7 5G smartphone
- 65W SuperVOOC fast Charger
- USB Type C Cable
- Earphones
- Sim Ejector Tool
- Documentation
Design
One of the biggest hits that Reno7 has taken is in the design department. While the Reno6 had those iPhone style flat edges carved out of metal. The Reno7 get a curved plastic frame and looks a lot cheaper when compared with the outgoing model side by side. The phone comes in a candy bar form factor and gets glass on both the front and back.
The phone is available in two shades and we would personally go with the dark Starry Black model. There is a triple camera module on the back left with the Oppo branding on the bottom. The camera module protrudes a bit and is not exactly flushed with the back.
Upon flipping the phone, we get to see the 6.43-inch AMOLED panel with minimal bezels on the top and sides but they turn thick at the bottom. Moving to the button and port placement, the power button is on the right side, while the volume rockers are placed on the left rail. The 3.5mm audio jack makes a comeback, speaker, and the USB Type-C port sits on the bottom, while the earpiece is sandwiched between the display and the outer frame.
Display
We get a 6.43-inch FHD+ AMOLED flat panel with HDR 10 certification. Unfortunately, the refresh rate is capped at 90Hz. The bezels on the bottom are also thick this time and we would have liked the brand to go with at least the 120Hz which has been long due now.
Out of the box, the display is set to show vivid colours, but you can tweak them as per your liking with the colour profiles baked into ColorOS. The collection gets plenty bright outdoors and has a claimed peak brightness of 700 nits. HDR kicks in certain apps like YouTube and PrimeVideo while you get 1080p support on Netflix.
Software
Moving to the software, the Reno7 here misses on the latest generation of Android and instead comes with Android 11 out of the box. It still gets ColorOS 11.3 with some nifty features that are kind off lifted from OxygenOS. You still get plenty of customization options, from changing the themes to wallpapers, icons, and more, since ColorOS at its core is a decked-out skin on top of Android.
There is noticeably less bloatware this time too which is always welcomed. The use of AI is even more pronounced this time, which has been deeply integrated into all the elements ranging from camera app with dedicated modes to dynamic colour shifting in the display section. Some features or modes that have been carried over include Game Mode, Dark Mode, OPPO Relax, Always On Display, Edge lighting and many more.
Performance
The Reno7 retains the same chip as Reno6. The phone is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 900 SoC which has now seen industry-wide adoption. This is a mid-range chip that focuses on AI and 5G performance with added bonuses like access to Wi-Fi 6, wider 5G band coverage, Dual 5G and much more. The 6nm process used here makes the chip both powerful and power-efficient at the same time.
In real-world use, Dimensity 900 is perfectly capable to go head-on with the Snapdragon 778G another widely used chip in the same price bracket. Out of the box, the phone supports 13 global 5G bands, many of which are expected to be adopted by Indian Telecom operators. Keeping this aside, during our limited, use we did not notice any significant lags or overall sluggishness in the UI.
The UI is fluid and polished, with excellent RAM management. Though the phone is being offered in a single variant with 8GB RAM, you still get the Dynamic RAM feature which provides you with extra virtual RAM to boost the experience. We did some gaming, and games like PUBG and Asphalt 9 ran fine on medium to high graphics settings very smoothly. The call quality, too, is excellent, and the speakers’ audio is loud and clear for the most part.
Camera
Camera performance has been excellent on Reno series devices in the past and the Reno7 5G is no exception. It still retains the same setup we saw in the Reno6 with some added features. there is a triple camera module, with the primary camera being a 64-megapixel sensor with f/1.7 aperture, assisted with an 8-megapixel wide-angle shooter with f/2.2 aperture, a 2-megapixel unit for macro shots. As for the front, the phone boasts a 32-megapixel shooter with a slightly wider lens.
Images taken by the primary sensor are sharp, have lots of detail, and bear natural colours. The dynamic range is excellent, as well. However, for taking darker shots, we would recommend switching on the Night mode which helps in achieving good results. The wide-angle lens gets you some decent looking shots while the third macro lens only takes grainy shots and is of no practical use.
The camera app layout is fairly simple and follows the standard oppo template. The front camera impresses as well, with the primary 32-megapixel Sony IMX616 sensor pumping out consistently well selfies that have plenty of detail in them. In addition, the skin tones are on the richer side.
Battery
The Reno7 5G gets a reasonably decent 4,500mAh battery under the hood. The phone lasted for a full working day with a screen ranging from six to seven hours on medium to heavy usage during our testing. Of course, our heavy use included a bit of gaming, content consumption, usual texting, and high camera usage.
Using OPPO’s proprietary SuperVOOC 65W fast charging tech, we could charge the phone to 50% in under 20 mins, and a full top-up was done in a little over 40 minutes.
