OPPO has long offered amazing bang for your buck with their smartphones and although they do offer some great flagship smartphones their bread and butter is still the entry to mid-range smartphone.
This is shown in great detail in their latest mid-range device, the Reno10 5G. At just $749 it sits comfortably into the mid-range – it is possible given the price hike of nearly everything under the sun that we need to re-evaluate just where the entry, mid and premium smartphone ranges are but at $749 the Reno10 5G is well within any mid-range before and after the current inflationary period.
Read on to hear why I think that the Reno10 5G is neck and neck with the Google Pixel 7a when it comes to value for money of any smartphone on the Australian market.
Design
If you read my OPPO Pad 2 review you will have heard me sing the praises of the OPPO design team before and once again they have done a great job with this smartphone. The Reno10 5G is just 7.99mm thick and actually feels even thinner thanks to the curved rear of the phone which is apparently a “3D micro-curved body.”
I was a fan of the square body of one of the Reno8 variations from last year but as far as feel in the hands go, the curved edges cannot be beat. Not only is the rear of the phone curved but the display is as well – something not often seen in a mid-range phone.
The display is a big 6.7-inch 1080P 3D AMOLED covered by Japanese-made AGC DT-Star2 scratch resistant glass with a refresh rate of 120Hz. While not Gorilla Glass the Dragontrail (DT) glass is the second most popular brand of screen protection on the market with the Star2 variant its latest protective glass. Its scratch resistance offers similar results to Gorilla Glass so you can feel happy knowing there is decent protection for this AMOLED display.
The display is what you’d expect from a flagship device with a quality AMOLED screen and high refresh rate. It is the 1080P resolution rather than 2K where OPPO has saved some money with a slight downgrade in specs.
Another inclusion that we don’t see in as many mid-range smartphones is the in-display fingerprint sensor. As per every OPPO smartphone I’ve ever used, it was fast, accurate and reproducible. What more could you ask for?
All of the buttons are on the right hand side of the phone this year which I prefer so there are no accidental presses of the volume buttons while powering the display on or off. In saying that, the volume button is actually a volume rocker – a single button that either is pressed up or down which I do not prefer over distinct buttons.
Now this is the strange thing – the official Reno10 5G cases from OPPO (which incidentally are amazing but more on that below) have separate volume up and down buttons which then press the volume rocker which is strange but something I prefer.
The rear of the device has the rather large camera island which houses the triple camera setup – a 64MP main camera, a 32MP telephoto camera and an 8MP ultra-wide angle camera. The front selfie camera is a decent 32MP camera – the camera specs belie the mid-range moniker with what appear to be flagship figures.
Although sometimes extreme colours on smartphones can be polarising but the Ice Blue colour of the review unit is stunning. It is blue in some light but in others it is pink or silver. OPPO has used this type of chameleon type colouring on many phones in the past but the matte implementation of it on the Reno10 5G is amazing. I’ve tried to show it in the images and video below but it is something that you need to experience in person.
Specs
Does it really matter is 2023? We used to closely examine the specs of a phone and could fairly easily determine how fast and responsive it would be based on that. Nowadays pretty much every phone is capable of performing exactly how we need it to on a day-to-day basis. The Reno10 5G is no different.
There was no lag anywhere. Apps behaved as you would expect them to with smooth opening and closing. By itself you would think it is perfect. It is only when side-by-side with a flagship smartphone such as the OPPO Find X5 Pro or the Pixel 7 Pro when you see a difference. That difference is a very minimal decrease of the speed in opening and switching between apps but at half the price it is certainly forgivable.
For those interested in the specs the basics are:
- MediaTek Dimensity 7050 Octacore CPU
- 8GB RAM
- 256GB storage
The MediaTek chipset works just fine for the mid-range.
Camera
OPPO says the Reno10 5G has an “enhanced portrait camera” thanks to the 32MP Telephoto portrait camera powered by a Sony IMX709 RGBW sensor. There is also a 64MP f/1.7 main camera and an 8MP ultra-wide angle camera. The camera system supports 2x optical zoom and 20x digital zoom offering some flexibility.
In real world scenarios the whole idea of the camera system is to allow the user to shoot natural portraits in any situation, including low light. The portraits were good with accurate blurring of the background — even in low light, although it did struggle with facial features at low light. I’m still not convinced why we need to much focus on portrait images though. If I’m getting a photo of myself done it’s because of the landmark in the background — e.g. Eiffel Tower — so why would I want to blur that out?
For me I found the camera to be good but not great. The colours produced by the camera were natural and well replicated of the photography subject with decent detail even at some distance.
In low light the camera performed just okay. this is where I find the big difference from mid-range to premium and ultra-premium smartphone. The camera struggled to get enough light into the lenses to get much detail of my face. The landscape image wasn’t too bad though — these were both with very low light.
You can check out the examples below.
Battery life and charging
OPPO has the best, bar none, charging solution of any manufacturer on the Australian market. It’s not the first time I’ve said this and the way the others are stagnating and not even bothering to push the envelope, it won’t be the last time I say this.
Although the OPPO Reno10 5G only supports 67W SUPERVOOC charging (their flagships support 80W) it is still the best solution on the market. The speed means that you don’t even have to worry about charging your phone overnight if you wish. Just plug it in for 30 minutes when you are showering and having your morning coffee and it will likely be close to fully charged when you leave for work.
From empty, the battery can be charged to 100% in just 47 minutes. Given the battery life was up to a day with very heavy use – it was at around 20% around 6pm with this very heavy use during the day – I can say that the battery life is great too.
I use my phone a lot, especially for work, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi hotspot all day etc and yet was able to have it last the day – just. I was able to get over 7 hours of screen on time which is well above average for me and my usual usage. Not many smartphones can deliver that for me. The good news is that if it does get low you can just plug it in for 15 minutes for another 40%. OPPO sell spare chargers as well as fast car chargers on their webstore if you want more options.
Personally, I bought an 80W car charger that can top up the battery in no time flat but I had to dig through AliExpress to find that – OPPO Australia only has a 65W car charger on their website but that is more than likely enough for everyone as it is.
Once again there is no wireless charging which is disappointing but with 67W charging it’s certainly not required. Corners need to be cut somewhere for OPPO to hit the $749 mark.
Accessories
As above, corners needed to be cut to hit the $749 mark and unfortunately in recent times the included factory protective case is one thing that has been cut. Whether it was cut to save money or to make more money in the way of separate case sales is unknown but I’m not a fan – it was a nice touch that I thought set them apart from other manufacturers.
Many folks buy their phones and then are left with a phone without a case unless the case they wanted was for sale where they bought their phone. My suggestion if you buy the Reno10 5G is to buy the case from the OPPO website before you buy your phone (unless you buy it from OPPO).
I was sent the black and white cases from OPPO and the $29.95 is money well spent for them (this is a massive improvement on the Reno8 Pro case from last year which would have cost you $45!). They are really good looking and stylish cases with the buttons and the outer ring of the camera island metallic. The cases fit perfectly, prevent the phone from sitting on the display when face down.
The drop protection seems to be really good with them too although I don’t think OPPO would be too thrilled with me actually testing it out with a drop from too far. This is all without adding too much bulk to the phone so it still fits in the pocket easily. They are two of the best cases I’ve used in a long time (keeping in mind that I am not a fan of using cases full stop and often just buy a cheap AliExpress one for the gym).
Software
I’m not going to go over the software yet again. We’ve covered enough OPPO phones over the last year or two to easily be able to refer you to another article and just have you read that. It really has not changed much in the last year or so, aside from the full Android updates which OPPO are getting a lot better at.
I was once a big time hater of the OPPO ColorOS software but now the only thing I miss when using it is Google’s Assistant Voice typing (which, for those who use their phone a lot while on the road is a godsend) but they have included nearly everything else I could realistically wish for.
I say nearly, and I’m only putting this in here in the hope that OPPO read it and implement it in future software editions (OnePlus have it so it shouldn’t be much of a stretch for them to add it in), is a double tap of the power button to open the camera.
You can have a lockscreen off shortcut to launch the camera but if you have lift to wake on that “screen off gesture” is useless as the screen won’t be off. You can also have a lockscreen shortcut to launch the camera but if you have face unlock on it will unlock your phone before you have a chance to launch it. That leaves a homescreen shortcut and you may have to go and find it if you are already in an app etc.
If you have fast moving dogs or kids they are well gone by the time the camera launches. Double tap the power button to launch the camera fixes this (Motorola has a shake phone to launch the camera app which also works well).
So, OPPO if you are reading this, you have everything else including the kitchen sink available as an option, how about this?
Final thoughts
We’ve seen some great mid-range smartphones in the last few years and given the continual increase in the cost of living it is a segment of the market that we are going to be seeing more and more people shopping in. The good news, no, the great news, is that with the Reno10 5G alongside the Pixel 7a there are some great options.
The OPPO Reno10 5G offers a great looking smartphone that sits comfortably in the hand, with a big, bright, curved AMOLED display that is smooth and fluid thanks to its 120Hz refresh rate. The chipset is easily enough to push it to easy transitions between apps and even the more intensive games.
The Reno10 5G is designed to be a photographic behemoth with amazing portrait imaging. It is certainly a great camera, outperforming what we would normally expect from the mid-range with a special focus on portrait photography. The problem is that the Pixel 7a also sits in the same price range and its photography chops are premium.
The Reno10 5G does offer more options, including an IR remote capability, a more stylish design and improved display but it is a tough call.
The battery life and charging solution for the Reno10 are second to not a single mid-range phone. The speed with which it can charge, even after an amazing battery life is exceptional and something you will never want to do without once you have used it.
To find out more about the OPPO Reno10 5G head on over to the OPPO website. The OPPO Reno10 5G is available to purchase from JB Hi-Fi, Officeworks and OPPO Australia’s Online Store in Ice Blue and Silvery Grey, with an RRP of $749. Until 9th September those who purchase the Reno10 5G will receive bonus Enco X earbuds and OPPO Screen Care.
