The query raised by the Oppo Reno 8 Professional is a difficult one: when does a mid-range cellphone cease being a mid-range cellphone and begin to compete with flagships? The strains are pretty blurred at this level, and the Reno 8 Professional doesn’t do a lot to clear issues up, delivering highly effective efficiency, blisteringly quick charging and high-quality cameras for a worth that nearly qualifies as mid-range.
READ NEXT: One of the best mid-range smartphones
There are some things lacking that we’d anticipate from true flagship telephones – wi-fi charging and extra impactful secondary cameras – however for probably the most half, the Reno 8 Professional looks like a flagship masquerading as a mid-ranger.
Oppo Reno 8 Professional evaluation: What you want to know
Having already offered a reputable problem to the flagship market with its comparatively reasonably priced Discover X5, Oppo now positions the Reno 8 Professional as an much more cost-effective various. The spectacular factor is that it doesn’t sacrifice too many flagship options to succeed in this worth, both.
You’ve nonetheless received a stunning 6.7in AMOLED show with a 120Hz refresh price, in addition to a triple digicam array led by a 50MP major lens. A Mediatek Dimensity 8100-MAX processor powers issues, with 8GB of RAM and a 4,500mAh battery that helps speedy 80W quick charging. As for the software program, the Reno 8 Professional is working ColorOS 12.1, layered over Android 12.
Oppo Reno 8 Professional evaluation: Value and competitors
At £599, the Oppo Reno 8 Professional pushes in opposition to the higher boundary of the mid-range bracket, coming inside £150 of the model’s most up-to-date flagship, the Discover X5 (at the moment £745). For these costs, each telephones include 8GB of RAM and 256GB of space for storing, so the primary variations you’re paying for are the bigger battery, wi-fi charging and telephoto lens provided by the Discover X5.
The closest competitor to the Reno 8 Professional is the OnePlus 10T. Costing a bit extra at £629, the bottom mannequin OnePlus 10T comes with the identical 8GB of RAM, however solely half the storage capability, at 128GB. The cameras aren’t something to brag about, however the 10T does make up for these shortcomings with excellent gaming efficiency and battery life.
Oppo Reno 8 Professional evaluation: Design and key options
For a cellphone that insists it isn’t a flagship, the Oppo Reno 8 Professional certain does appear to be one. Out there in both Glazed Black or Glazed Inexperienced (reviewed right here), the Reno 8 Professional cuts a modern silhouette with its aluminium body and unibody glass rear. It’s a little bit of a fingerprint magnet, nevertheless, and it’s additionally fairly slippery, which is unlucky on condition that Oppo hasn’t included a case within the field, a transfer it says is to assist remove extra waste.
At 183g, there’s an affordable quantity of heft to the Reno 8 Professional, but it surely nonetheless feels slim within the hand, measuring 161 x 74 x 7.3mm. It’s nicely protected, too, with Gorilla Glass 5 overlaying the back and front, and an official IP54 ranking. This implies the odd splash of water or little bit of mud gained’t do any hurt, simply don’t go dunking it within the drink.
The 6.7in show is surrounded by barely-there bezels on all sides – apparently, the slimmest ever on a Reno system – and conceals an optical fingerprint reader beneath it, in addition to housing the 32MP selfie digicam in a top-centre notch. Face unlocking can also be supported right here, with each strategies of entry environment friendly sufficient to be definitely worth the inclusion.
On the left and proper edges, you’ll discover the ability and quantity buttons, with the USB-C charging port and dual-SIM tray positioned on the underside. This tray doesn’t help microSD card storage enlargement, so the inner 256GB is the utmost, and there isn’t a 3.5mm headphone jack, both.
Oppo Reno 8 Professional evaluation: Show
The AMOLED panel used within the Reno 8 Professional continues the uncanny flagship feeling, with its vibrant FHD+ (2,412 x 1,080) decision, slick 120Hz refresh price and HDR10+ certification making a beautiful first impression. The distinction is successfully excellent, as now we have come to anticipate from OLED screens, and the height brightness I recorded of 479cd/m² isn’t too shabby, both.
There are two color modes to select from, Vivid and Pure. As is usually the case with color profiles, Vivid does precisely what it says on the tin, producing brighter, extra impactful colors throughout the spectrum, however anybody who prefers accuracy to vibrancy will wish to go along with the Pure profile.
Right here, I recorded an sRGB gamut protection of 98.9% and a quantity of 106.9%, with a median Delta E rating of 1.36. This isn’t probably the most correct display screen in the marketplace – reds specifically are a way astray – but it surely’s shut sufficient that you simply shouldn’t discover any colors trying irregular.
Oppo Reno 8 Professional evaluation: Efficiency and battery life
The Reno 8 Professional runs on an octa-core 2.65GHz Mediatek Dimensity 8100-MAX chipset with 8GB of RAM, and the outcomes are actually spectacular.
Going up in opposition to the Discover X5 and its Snapdragon 888 chipset, the cheaper Reno 8 Professional scores about the identical, with an 8% lead in single-core processing, and a barely decrease victory of round 5% in multi-core. Much more spectacular is that the Reno 8 Professional secures related multi-core scores to the beefier Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor contained in the Discover X5 Professional – a bona fide £1,049 flagship.
Curiously, even the newer and extra highly effective Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 used within the OnePlus 10T couldn’t match the Mediatek Dimensity 8100-MAX in our multicore benchmarks. The OnePlus 10T does, nevertheless, stage the taking part in discipline by pulling round 15% forward of the Reno 8 Professional within the single-core outcomes.
The Reno 8 Professional initially appears to carry up nicely in opposition to the Discover X5, X5 Professional and OnePlus 10T within the 3D graphics assessments too, with equivalent 60fps scores for every within the on-screen portion of the GFXBench Manhattan 3 benchmark.
The off-screen outcomes, recorded by the orange bar, are extra helpful, and right here the variations begin to present. The Reno 8 Professional, to its credit score, does pull barely forward of the Discover X5, however the OnePlus 10T and Discover X5 Professional depart each within the mud right here, with positive aspects of practically 90% apiece.
Battery life doesn’t fairly compete with the exemplary efforts of the Discover X5 Professional and OnePlus 10T, however a results of virtually 22 hours continues to be superb and will see you nicely right into a second day of use.
As soon as depleted, the battery has a secret card to play within the type of an 80W Supervooc quick charger, which is included within the field. Oppo says that is its quickest charger but, and is able to taking the 4,500mAh battery from empty to 50% in simply 11 minutes, and to full in a mere 33 minutes based on my assessments.
Oppo Reno 8 Professional evaluation: Cameras
Whereas there have been odd niggles up thus far, the digicam array is the primary space through which the Oppo Reno 8 Professional actively disappoints. To be clear, the 50MP (f/1.8) major lens isn’t an issue. The difficulty lies with the backing cameras – an 8MP (f/2.2) ultrawide and a 2MP (f/2.4) macro shooter are the sort of extra fluff that I can nearly forgive in a cellphone half this worth, however right here, their presence feels extra tedious.
Nonetheless, as talked about, the primary lens carries the group nicely sufficient for it to not fall down fully. Photos produced in first rate lighting are stuffed with color and element, with well-represented home windows within the cityscape pictured beneath, and properly distinct tree foliage with vibrant shades of inexperienced.
The digital zoom isn’t half dangerous, both. This 3x crop of a Parisian metro signal retained sufficient element to make out the scuffs within the paintwork, even when the sky is a bit muted.
The principle digicam fares moderately nicely after darkish, too. The element and synthetic brightening are first rate sufficient, the sky is comparatively freed from visible noise and there aren’t any lens flares points with streetlights. My one criticism is that the night time mode tends to veer too exhausting into the nice and cozy colors when lighting up the scene, giving the entire picture an over-the-top yellow tint.
The 32MP (f/2.4) front-facing digicam can also be definitely worth the worth of admission, with helpful options reminiscent of autofocus and a bokeh portrait mode. I’m but to discover a portrait mode that doesn’t blur out my earring, so I gained’t choose too harshly right here, however in any other case, the factitious bokeh impact was suitably efficient.
The Reno 8 Professional can seize 4K footage at 30fps or 1080p at 60fps, with digital stabilisation employed to cut back sway from shaky palms. When the solar goes down, the MariSilicon X picture processor will get to indicate off, lifting the brightness and element of night time video. It’s not on a par with daytime footage, however anybody who typically data after darkish will discover this a helpful inclusion.
READ NEXT: These are the perfect Chinese language smartphones in the marketplace
Oppo Reno 8 Professional evaluation: Verdict
The Oppo Reno 8 Professional hasn’t finished itself any favours being priced so near the flagship competitors, however if you dig down into the figures, it’s really spectacular how nicely it stacks as much as the dearer Discover X5. Efficiency is on par and each telephones profit from the 80W quick charging, serving to to make up for the Reno 8 Professional’s barely inferior battery life.
The Discover X5 does have a few benefits, after all, together with wi-fi charging and a telephoto lens, however should you’re joyful to forgo these for the sake of saving over £100, the Reno 8 Professional presents a powerful argument for (barely) undercutting the flagship market.
