OPPO doesn’t launch its true-blue flagship lineup – Find series in India, much to my dismay. Instead, the Reno series has been the frontrunner for the brand in the country with a straightforward formula – curved displays + slim chassis + good cameras + super fast charging. Despite being clear with what it wants to achieve, the Reno series has had an interesting journey. The OPPO Reno and Reno 10x Zoom as well as the Reno 2 series managed to wow everyone but OPPO kind of dropped the ball with the OPPO Reno 3 Pro (review) and the Reno 4 Pro. However, the Reno 5 Pro, Reno 6 Pro 5G (review), and Reno 6 5G (review) rekindled the flame.
Also Read: OPPO Reno 7 Pro 5G vs Vivo V23 Pro 5G vs iQOO 7 Legend 5G: price in India, specifications, and features compared
Now, the brand has launched the latest OPPO Reno 7 5G and OPPO Reno 7 Pro 5G in India. With the Reno 7 Pro, OPPO has switched up the design in a good way while offering an improved (kind of) processor, stereo speakers, and cameras. However, with the Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G (review), Vivo V23 Pro (review), and OnePlus 9RT vying for your attention in the sub-Rs 40k segment in India, the Reno 7 Pro will need a lot more than a stylish design to fend off the competition. I have been using the flagship for over a week and here’s how I feel about it.
Table of Contents
OPPO Reno 7 Pro 5G review of specifications
| Specs | OPPO Reno 7 Pro 5G specifications |
| Display | 6.5-inch FHD+ AMOLED (90Hz) |
| Processor | MediaTek Dimensity 1200-Max |
| RAM | 12GB + 7GB |
| Storage | 256GB |
| OS | Color OS 12.1 based on Android 11 |
| Rear cameras | 50MP + 8MP + 2MP |
| Front Camera | 32MP |
| Battery | 4,500mAh |
| Fast charging | 65W fast charging |
| Dimensions | 158.2 x 73.2 x 7.5mm |
| Price | Rs 39,999 starting price |
Design and display
As I have already mentioned, OPPO has taken a detour from its signature slim profile with curved display design philosophy with the Reno 7 Pro 5G. The brand has adopted a design that’s similar to the ‘Ultra-Slim Retro’ design of the Reno 6 and I remember being a fan of the implementation. Basically, the Reno 7 Pro 5G comes with a boxy glass-sandwich design featuring a flat back, flat display, and flat edges. The smartphone has a matte finish on the back as well as the sides, which looks very premium.
OPPO is offering the Reno 7 Pro in Startrails Blue and Starlight Black. While the former is obviously intended to be better looking with gradient hues, I personally prefer the Starlight Black which was sent to me for this review. According to OPPO, it has used a new laser process to create hundreds of diagonal micro-etches, which are visible when lights hit the back panel at an angle and look stunning.
Speaking of stunning, the two-part triple camera module on the back has a dual-tone glossy and matte finish and an industry-first Orbit Breathing Light around the multilayered camera module. This light glows when you receive notifications or charge the battery. I would have preferred the ability to change light colour depending on the app but maybe that’s asking too much. What you can do, however, is select which apps and events can trigger the breathing light.
Apart from the camera module, the back panel of the smartphone is bare. You will find the volume keys and power button on either side of the smartphone. The bottom edge has the usual speaker grille, USB C port, and dual-SIM slot combination, while the top edge is home to a single noise-cancelling mic. OPPO has skimped on the 3.5mm audio jack thanks to the 7.45mm girth, which makes it the slimmest Reno offering to date. The smartphone is also quite lightweight at just 180gms.
Flip the phone over and you will come face to face with the 6.5-inch display of the smartphone. It’s an AMOLED panel that delivers great contrast levels and colour accurate visuals. The FHD+ screen comes with support for HDR10+ and OPPO claims that it’s HDR certified for both Netflix and Prime Video. I watched Chiyaan Vikram and his son Dhruv Vikram’s first outing together – Mahaan, on Prime Video and the experience was intense. The stunning visuals are matched by punchy audio from the stereo speakers.
My only grievance is that I would like to see a 120Hz and not a 90Hz panel if I am spending Rs 40,000 on a smartphone. Another issue that grinds my gears is that OPPO has set the full-screen display to auto adapt by default for most apps and therefore there’s this annoying black bar to hide the punch-hole cutout on the top or left-hand side depending on how you’re holding the phone. The punch-hole cutouts are not an eyesore anymore and the black bar is only eating into the display estate. I hope OPPO turns on ‘Show front camera’ option on by default for all apps because it’s easier to manually turn it off for a few app than to turn it on for all apps.
Cameras
If you go to the official product page of the Reno 7 Pro 5G on the OPPO India website, the product overview page starts with the camera section and rightfully so, since the smartphone comes with a powerful set of cameras. On the back, the phone features a custom Sony IMX766 50-megapixel sensor developed in partnership with OPPO as the primary sensor. The camera is supported by an 8-megapixel wide-angle lens, 2-megapixel macro camera, and a colour temperature sensor. On the front, the smartphone features an industry-first Sony IMX709 32-megapixel selfie camera.
The camera UI is typical ColorOS with gallery preview, shutter, and selfie camera toggle at the bottom. On the top, there are toggles for flash, HDR, AI scene recognition, 50MP mode, and a three-dot icon to access the timer, aspect ratio, and settings. The viewfinder Rolodex has a night mode, video, photo, portrait, and ‘More’.Inside ‘More’ you’ll find expert, extra HD, pano, macro, film, slo-mo, time-lapse, dual-view video, sticker, text scanner, and soloop templates. The extra HD mode uses sub-pixel interpolation to enhance the picture’s final resolution to 108MP. There are buttons for retouch, filters, and Google Lens on the viewfinder itself.
Lastly, the OPPO Reno 7 Pro 5G comes with Dimensity 1200-Max, which is the same as the standard Dimensity 1200 SoC but with the addition of AI Deblur and AI-PQ. The former is said to improve the selfie quality, whereas the latter adjusts the HDR levels in videos.
The daylight pictures are taken in 12.5-megapixel pixel-binned mode by default and capture detailed photos with good colour accuracy. I found the 50MP and extra HD modes to struggle with dynamic range and noise levels. As for low-light shots, the pictures retain natural colours and the details in shadows and highlights, in standard mode. Turn on the dedicated night mode and you get a better dynamic range control unless there is assisted lighting from a bright light source.
RegularRegularRegularRegularRegularWide-angle1X2X5X10X20XRegular low lightNight modePortraitMacroCloseupMacroCloseupThe portrait mode works exceptionally well with accurate edge detection and good subject separation. Additionally, users can choose between 25 levels of aperture adjustment with varying depth of field and the Bokeh Flare effect for different types of bokeh effects. The wide-angle lens performs as expected with sharp focus and details all across the frame. However, the 2-megapixel macro camera is kind of a let down and I prefer the closeup mode from a little farther because of the colour accuracy and details.
As for the selfies, the 32-megapixel Sony IMX709 sensor captures detailed and pleasing pictures if vibrant images are your thing. The camera uses DOL-HDR, which is expected to click two selfies of different exposure to click a vibrant and crisp image but IMO it seems to be cranking up the saturation levels instead of vibrancy and details. Moreover, despite turning off the beautification, there’s still some level of masking, which is a bummer. What I liked about the selfie camera is the automatic switch to the wide-angle mode when the camera detects more people in the frame.
Performance, software, and battery
The OPPO Reno 7 Pro 5G comes with a Dimensity 1200-Max chipset, which is a custom variant developed by MediaTek and OPPO together to offer “much-enhanced display, better imaging, and video clarity.” However, I could not find any difference compared to the OPPO Reno 6 Pro, which featured the standard Dimensity 1200. OPPO is offering the smartphone in a single variant with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. The RAM can be further expanded by up to 7GB using the Virtual RAM feature.
The smartphone is quite fast and smooth in day-to-day usage, thanks to the Dimensity 1200 SoC and the additional 7GB RAM. There are no noticeable lags or hanging or janky animations even when I multitasked with around 10-15 apps open in the background. I had none of the apps die on me even during intense multitasking. As for gaming, I played heavy titles like F1 Mobile, Genshin Impact, and PUBG: New State with settings cranked to the max. However, the metal sides and the glass back panel heats up quickly if you’re having an intense gaming session.
In the software department, the OPPO Reno 7 Pro 5G ships with ColorOS 12 based on Android 11. I was disappointed to see the dated Android 11 on a phone in 2022 but the ColorOS has evolved quite well over the years and is now among the best interfaces around. You get tons of bloatware, however, most of them are third-party apps and can easily be uninstalled. Apart from that, you get goodies like Omoji (limited to AOD and phone’s account profile picture), Anti-peeping notifications, Quantum Animation Engine, AI System Booster, Clone Phone 2.0, and more.
As for the battery, the OPPO Reno 7 Pro 5G ships with a 4,500mAh battery. The battery supports OPPO’s 65W SuperVOOC fast charging technology. On my regular usage of binge-watching a couple of episodes on Netflix and YouTube, little gaming, tons of IM interactions, and social media browsing, I always needed to plug the Reno 7 Pro to charge by dinner time. On the bright side, the phone juices up pretty quickly from zero to 100 percent in just over 30 minutes. So I had a fully-charged phone to take to bed by the end of the dinner, double thumbs-up to that.
Bottomline
The OPPO Reno 7 Pro keeps the spirit of the Reno series alive with its thin profile, stylish design, and fast charging. I personally love things like the Orbit Breathing Light, AI camera features, and the micro-etched back panel that looks stunning. In case you are not a serious mobile gamer and want a powerful camera smartphone with a stylish design, the Reno 7 Pro 5G is a good pick.
However, the phone comes with a sticker price of Rs 39,999 and at this price point it goes up against the likes of Xiaomi 11T Pro, which features Snapdragon 888, a 108MP primary camera, and 120W fast charging for the same price i.e. Rs 39,999. Then there’s the OnePlus 9RT with the same display and processor as Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G as well as camera and battery as Reno 7 Pro.
In a nutshell, if a stylish phone with AI camera feature appeals to you, the Reno 7 Pro 5G should make you happy. But bear in mind, there are better options at this price point.