Oppo Reno4 Pro 5G in review: High-end mid-range for around 550 euros

In this article, it's time to bring us the last smartphone in the world Reno4 series, the Oppo Reno4 Pro 5G, under a closer look. It comes with a 48 megapixel triple camera, a 4.000 mAh battery with 65 watt fast charging and a 6,5 inch OLED panel with 90Hz.

For this, the Chinese manufacturer asked for a proud 799 euros at the market launch. Fortunately, the price has dropped quite quickly and you can currently get it for around 550 euros. Whether this price is justified, how it fared in comparison to other smartphones and whether I can recommend it, you will find out in the following lines.

Haptics, design and processing

When you first pick it up, you immediately notice how thin, light and compact the smartphone looks despite the huge 6,5-inch screen. The device measures 159,6 mm in height, 72,5 mm in width and is only 7,6 mm thin. Due to this and the fact that the edges on both the front and back are perfectly rounded, the Reno4 Pro is very comfortable to hold and can be used in most situations. probe easily operated with one hand. The low weight of only 172 grams also contributes to good handling.

Oppo saves on the materials used, unlike Samsung on the S21 or grade 20, luckily not. The front and back are made of high-quality glass and the frame is made of high-gloss aluminum. When it comes to colors, buyers can choose between blue, green and black. I got the latter for testing. The manufacturer came up with something for the black color, because depending on the incidence of light, some patterns and even rainbows appear on the underside. Unfortunately, the color is glossy and not matte like the blue or green model, which is why fingerprints are almost magically attracted. Quite conspicuously, Oppo positions three cameras in the upper left corner. Since the cameras protrude slightly from the housing, the smartphone wobbles a little when it is on the table when operated.

If we turn the smartphone around, we are greeted by a large 6,5 inch display, which is only interrupted by a small punch hole. The sides of the screen are only very slightly rounded, which means that there were no incorrect entries in my everyday use. The edges around the panel look pleasantly thin, although some competitors are slightly ahead here.

As with the cheaper one Reno4Z The workmanship is first-class. The buttons sit firmly in the casing, have a good pressure point and overall the Reno4 Pro makes an extremely stable impression.

Display - one of the highlights

The OLED display has a diagonal of 6,5 inches and has a pleasantly sharp resolution with FHD + (2.400 x 1.080 pixels). So no individual pixels can be seen in everyday life. In addition, the panel reproduces content at up to 90 Hertz, which provides an extremely smooth user experience.

The display is slightly rounded on both sides and the front camera is located at the top left. (Image: TechnikNews)

As is typical for OLED, the screen impresses with extremely good black and contrast values. Colors are reproduced a little too saturated for me in standard mode, but this can easily be changed in the settings. In the so-called "soft mode" colors are then displayed visibly more naturally. The maximum brightness is simply excellent. I never had any problems with readability, even in direct sunlight, not even at extreme viewing angles. All in all, this is an excellent display that can keep up with significantly more expensive smartphones.

Software - unfortunately still Android 10

The in-house user interface ColoOS is unfortunately still based on Android 10, which I find rather disappointing, even if an update to the latest Android version is to follow in the near future. I like ColorOS very much because there are useful additional functions on the one hand, such as tapping twice to switch on or off or an eye comfort mode that reduces the bluish light of the display, and on the other hand I am also a fan of the optics.

Performance - fast and fluid

Under the hood is the well-known Snapdragon 765G from Qualcomm, which is manufactured using the energy-saving 7-nanometer process. The processor is supported by 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of flash memory, which unfortunately cannot be expanded.

Everyday things pose no problems for the Oppo Reno4 Pro. Apps start and close quite quickly, animations appear smooth thanks to the refresh rate of 90 Hertz and most games can also be played proplay without any problems. Only with more complex things does the processor reach its limits here and there, but that is still perfectly fine, especially for the current price of around 550 euros. However, you also have to consider that a OnePlus 8T for currently 519 euros already the tipsproprocessor from last year, the Snapdragon 865.

Battery - good runtime, even better charging speed

Despite the extremely thin casing of just 7,6 millimeters, there is a large 4.000 mAh battery inside that can be quickly charged with up to 65 watts. The smartphone is fully charged from 35 to 0 percent in just 100 minutes. Hardly any other smartphone can keep up with that and the power adapter is even included in the delivery. Many other manufacturers could learn a lot from that. Unfortunately, despite the high RRP, wireless charging is not on board.

In my everyday use mainly in the WLAN and with 90 Hertz activated, the battery lasted at least 1,5 days. The screen-on-time was usually a good 10 hours. If the smartphone is mainly used in the cellular network, the screen-on-time drops to around 9 hours. These are really strong values ​​and heavy users should get through a day with them.

Camera - good quality and lots of options

The Chinese manufacturer installs three sensors on the back, which are located at the top left. The triple camera is led by a 48 megapixel main sensor with a bright aperture of f / 1.7. There is also an ultra wide-angle camera with 12 megapixels and, last but not least, a 13 megapixel telephoto lens that enables a 2x optical zoom.

The triple camera of the Oppo Reno4 Pro 5G. (Image: TechnikNews)

The main camera convinces above all with a very good dynamic range and decent sharpness. This is a thing of the past when it comes to color rendering, because every now and then colors seem too unrealistic even though the AI ​​scene recognition was deactivated. Recordings in low light are useful, but can not quite with one Pixel 4 to 5G or I live X51 5G Overall, the Reno4 Pro has a good main camera, especially for currently around 550 euros, but it can't quite keep up with the competition from Google and Vivo. But it is definitely better than the OnePlus 8T.

If you switch to the ultra-wide-angle camera, you can first see a slight color difference compared to the main camera. The colors look a bit more saturated here. Otherwise, it can score with a good dynamic range, which I even liked a little better than with the pixel in some situations, and the sharpness is also at a decent level. The ultra-wide-angle camera can also be used for macro shots, which makes much more sense than installing a dedicated 2 megapixel macro camera. This is exactly what is shown in the results, which look nice and sharp and can still be used to some extent even in difficult lighting conditions.

Last but not least, we want to take a closer look at the telephoto lens. First of all, I would like to praise Oppo for having installed a telecamera at all, because only a few competitors offer this in this price range. The quality of this camera is then rather average. Photos often miss some details, colors are rendered a bit too pale and the dynamic range is also rather expandable. The photos can no longer be used from 5x magnification at the latest.

Oppo Reno4 Pro 5G: Test photos

Let's take a look at a few test photos. The following images are absolutely unprocessed, but compressed without loss in order to keep the loading times and memory consumption of the website low.

Comparison with the Google Pixel 4a 5G and Vivo X51 5G

Finally, we want to see how the camera of the Reno4 Pro compares to the competition from Google and Vivo. It is important to mention that the Pixel 4a 5G is already available for over 100 euros less than the Reno. The Vivo X51 5G had an RRP of 799 euros and is currently available for 529 euros, making it slightly cheaper than the Oppo smartphone.

In daylight, all three smartphones take excellent photos that only differ in nuances: the X51 tends towards warmer colors, the Reno4 Pro towards stronger colors, and the Pixel tends towards more contrasting colors. In the end, everyone has to decide for themselves which one they like better. In terms of dynamic range, the Pixel cannot quite keep up with the others, which is particularly noticeable in the second comparison. As soon as the lighting conditions get worse, the Reno4 Pro can no longer quite keep up, especially in terms of brightness.

Other - disappointing vibration motor

Unfortunately, Oppo installs a very bad vibration motor that has absolutely no place in a 799 euro smartphone. It feels cheap, which gives the impression of having a 300 euro device in hand. Even that Little X3 NFC or OnePlus North are a clear step ahead of the Reno4 Pro in this case. Too bad Oppo. But I really liked the stereo speakers. They are loud enough and don't sound tinny even at higher volumes.

The smartphone can be unlocked using the fingerprint sensor integrated into the display, which responds quickly and is easy to reach. Unfortunately, the Reno4 Pro is not officially protected against water and dust according to IP-68.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, it is difficult for me to draw a conclusion about the Oppo Reno4 Pro 5G. On the one hand, I really like the device because it hardly has any weaknesses, but on the other hand, I can only recommend it to a limited extent due to the strong competition from OnePlus, Vivo and Google. A OnePlus 8T is clearly ahead in terms of display, performance and vibration motor and if the camera is very important to you, you should probably go for a Vivo X51 5G or Google Pixel 4a 5G, some of which are even offered at a slightly lower price. So I can really only recommend the device to those who are fans of the in-house software ColorOS or if you wait until the price drops to around 480 euros.

Again, the Reno4 Pro is a very good smartphone, but I just miss a unique selling point that sets the device apart from the strong competition.

We would like to thank Oppo Germany for providing the Reno4 Pro 5G!

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