One of the much awaited launches of February is here — the OPPO Reno7 Pro 5G, and it comes in the under Rs 40,000 segment, which has some tough rivals. By sharpening focus down to camera and design, OPPO has managed to deliver a device that not only looks great, it should keep a vlogger happy for a few years.
Out of the box, it looks like a solid device with excellent in-hand feel. It’s a flat frame with curved corners, giving the overall design a premium look, plus it helps that it’s only 7.45mm thick and weighs 180g.

Ensuring longevity is Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection on the front, which means the phone can withstand falls, protecting the 6.55-inch FHD+ AMOLED screen. We had the Startrails Blue variant for review and it will be negligent not to mention the brilliant job OPPO has done in the design department, making the camera bump look different from rival brands while the rear panel is absolutely free of fingerprints. The LED light around the camera bump glows whenever you have a notification or when the phone is on charge.

Also, cost hasn’t been cut (well, not much) in the display department. It’s an excellent display with good viewing angles. The only quibble here is 90Hz display refresh rate, which is good but the pricing points to 120Hz refresh rate. OPPO makes up for it with the stereo set-up that not only gets loud, it’s very clear.

Commendable camera performance

Colours are not oversaturated in this sample shot

Where the phone truly shines is in the camera department. Technical details first. On the back is a 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor, an 8MPultra-wide camera and a 2MP macro sensor. The sensor, it seems, has been tuned to OPPO’s needs. Pictures taken during daytime appear true to life with almost no colour saturation, something that continues in the ultra-wide mode. Complementing this is good HDR performance when shooting against the light.

At night, there is some noise in the photos but generally speaking, the camera does a better job than what you get on, say, the One Plus9 RT. Photos are bumped up slightly but not to the point that it looks like daytime.

Photos contain very little noise under uneven lighting

OPPO has used MediaTek Dimensity 1200 MAX processor, which, in fact, helps in the camera department; it’s reflected in the high shutter speed. There are some good filters packed on the phone to make photos and videos standout. The processor also helps a great deal when taking portrait shots. Bokeh effect here is better than on most rival devices, with good separation of the subject from the background.

On the front is a 32MP Sony IMX709 sensor, which does a commendable job.

For everyday use and more

MediaTek Dimensity 1200 MAX is a decent performer and it’s useless throwing benchmark scores at you because almost every task gets taken care of. Gaming performance is good but OPPO is not promoting the device as a gaming device. You will get respectable graphic settings with most titles.

The two things that could have been done differently are having Android 12 out of the box (here it’s Android 11 with ColorOS 12.0) and putting in less bloatware even though most of it can be deleted. Otherwise, I have been enjoying the little joys of life, like having 65W fast-charging support for the 4,500mAh battery which easily lasts a day and excellent camera performance. OPPO Reno7 Pro 5G is a well thought out phone that won’t let you down.

At a glance

Device: OPPO Reno7 Pro 5G
Price: Rs 39,999 (12GB+256GB)

High points

• Excellent design and display
• Sharp camera performance
• Efficient processor
• Good audio quality

Muffled notes

• Android 11 out of the box
• Bloatware (can be deleted)