OPPO Reno 5 Pro review: Pretty and powerful

The OPPO Reno 4 Pro was among the first phones to bring 65W charging to India’s premium mid-range segment. Unfortunately, fast charging alone doesn’t make for a stellar package. The ho-hum spec sheet ensured that the phone was rather overlooked. The OPPO Reno 5 Pro — or OPPO Reno 5 Pro 5G to give it its full name — aims to correct that.

The company is seriously ramping up the OPPO Reno 5 Pro’s credentials with a Dimensity 1000 Plus chipset, an attractive design, and an excellent camera system to boot. But is that enough to challenge the tough competition? Find out in Android Authority‘s OPPO Reno 5 Pro review.

Is the OPPO Reno 5 Pro well designed?

The design of OPPO Reno 5 Pro is more evolutionary than revolutionary compared to the Reno 4 Pro, but that’s okay.

While I really liked the design the first time around, OPPO has managed to up the ante. The phone feels absolutely fantastic in the hand and there’s Gorilla Glass 5 protection, both at the front and the back.

The slim 7.6mm profile combined with the 173g weight is refreshing in a world of significantly heavier glass and metal sandwiches. I’m looking at you, Xiaomi.

Amongst the BBK group of companies, OPPO has traditionally had a strong focus on design. This continues to be the case here. The Reno 5 Pro debuts an interesting new finish. It employs a combination of a reflective layer and a glass sheet that gives it this gorgeous, glittery sheen. I’ve got the Astral Blue shade here, and while I’m not a huge fan of gradients, even I’ve got to admit that the OPPO Reno 5 Pro is a head-turner.

The back panel has a matte finish that gives the phone extra grip, which definitely comes in handy as the thin mid-frame doesn’t leave too much to grab on to.

OPPO has done an exemplary job with the off-set buttons, however. Over on the right is the power key, while the left has a split configuration for the volume rockers, all of which have top-notch tactile feedback.

Switching to the front, the OPPO Reno 5 Pro sports a 6.5-inch dual-curved AMOLED screen. It’s possible to get phones with 120Hz panels in the price range, but I don’t mind the 90Hz screen used here at all. In fact, OPPO has done a brilliant job with color calibration. The OPPO Reno 5 Pro looks vibrant out of the box, without coming across as oversaturated.

I tested the Reno 5 Pro outdoors, and here too the phone delivers. OPPO claims peak brightness levels of 1100 nits. Viewing the phone under direct sunlight is no trouble at all. Additionally, if you enjoying viewing multimedia content on your smartphone then you’ll appreciate the HDR10+ compatibility.

There’s an in-display fingerprint reader that does the job perfectly well. I found it to be amongst the fastest that I’ve tested. I experienced very few failed unlocks during the testing period.

All in all, OPPO has done really well here, and there aren’t many things I’d want to be changed. A 120Hz panel and wireless charging support would’ve made the Reno 5 Pro a bit more competitive, but neither is a huge miss at this price point. I would have appreciated an IP rating for peace of mind.  Additionally, stereo speakers are table stakes at this price point, and the tinny mono speaker just doesn’t cut the mustard.

How powerful is the OPPO Reno 5 Pro?

When I reviewed the Reno 4 Pro last year, I found the use of a Snapdragon 720G chipset a bit perplexing. The performance wasn’t bad, but for the money, you’d expect a bit more. This year, however, it looks like OPPO took the feedback to heart.

The OPPO Reno 5 Pro is the first phone released in India to pack a MediaTek Dimensity 1000 Plus chipset. Simply put, the performance improvements here blow the Reno 4 Pro out of the water. The 7nm chipset combines four Cortex A77 cores with four A55 cores. Additionally, there’s a Mali G77 GPU backing it up for graphics duties.

The performance here is as good as anything else in the price tier. The phone remained absolutely smooth throughout my testing period, though this also has to do with how well Color OS is optimized for the hardware.

Battery life is exemplary too, with the 4,350mAh cell lasting a day and a half with normal use. This involved a lot of phone calls, emails, social media use, and a few photographs. Even with extended gaming, the Reno 5 Pro should handily last a full day of use.

I also came to appreciate the fast 65W charging during the testing period. It takes just over 30 minutes to charge the phone from scratch. This comes in really handy when you are in a rush.

Oh and it bears mentioning that the OPPO Reno 5 Pro is a 5G capable smartphone. Unfortunately, India is not getting 5G anytime soon so there was no way for me to test this out. That said, if you like to hold on to your phones for a couple of years, the Reno 5 Pro should be able to handle next-gen networks just fine.

Color OS 11: Everything you need to know

Over on the software side of things, Color OS 11 has really matured. OPPO is delivering excellent synergy between hardware and software. Built on Android 11, the operating system flies, and the animations are incredibly fluid.

Additionally, there are nice feature additions like a smart sidebar for shortcuts and a highly customizable always-on display. My only gripe is with the pre-installed bloat. I counted over 21 apps which is a lot. Most can be removed, but not all of them.

Is the OPPO Reno 5 Pro camera good?

OPPO has been talking up the AI chops of the camera system on the Reno 5 Pro, particularly when it comes to video. I was therefore quite excited to test out what the 64MP primary camera could do. Turns out, the results are pretty darn good.

The primary camera on the Reno 5 Pro takes natural-looking images without any of the tell-tale oversaturation that we’ve seen on OPPO phones in the past. What stood out to me was the minimal noise reduction and digital smearing that is often found on phones in this price segment.

Indoors too, the 64MP sensor does very well with minimal grain. The phone nailed color accuracy. HDR performance was also very good at taming highlights and extracting details from darker regions. Noise reduction gets a bit more aggressive, but there’s enough detail here to please most users.

The 8MP ultra-wide camera, however, doesn’t impress indoors. The resolution is too low to capture a lot of detail. Additionally, while the camera manages to keep exposure and white balance consistent, the noise levels ramp up massively.

Switching back to the primary camera, OPPO has done a really good job at eking out the most from the sensor. The combination of hardware and software delivers excellent results in less than great lighting.

Switching over to the 2MP macro camera, there’s not a whole lot of detail here. However, in good lighting, the photographs sit a cut above those from alternatives like the OnePlus 8.

Sadly, I wasn’t too impressed by the 32MP front-facing camera. More often than not, the phone overexposed the shot, and getting a consistent blur-free image wasn’t easy. Portrait mode on the OPPO Reno 5 Pro does well enough in broad daylight, but I noticed one too many instances where it messed up finer details like hair.

Finally, in terms of video capabilities, the OPPO Reno 5 Pro delivers. The phone captures well balanced and evenly exposed videos, with the AI mode filling in the gaps once ambient lighting goes down. It’s not going to turn night into day. However, I found that the phone was able to capture usable footage, albeit with a fair amount of grain, even in dim lighting.

What I like about the OPPO Reno 5 Pro

• The performance. The MediaTek Dimensity 1000 Plus chipset delivers performance that sits a cut above most competitors and is a huge step up over the Reno Pro 4.
• The camera. The 64MP primary shooter on the OPPO Reno 5 Pro captures excellent images in broad daylight and does very well even in dim lighting. This makes it an excellent choice if photography is a priority.
• The design. While I’m not a huge fan of curved displays, I really came to appreciate the slim profile of the phone. The lightweight build also helps keep the phone comfortable to use.
• The fast charging. 65W charging is an excellent feature, and the ability to top up the phone in half an hour is very handy.

What I dislike

• The secondary cameras. The Reno 5 Pro’s ultra-wide camera has too low a resolution to offer compelling results.
• The mono speaker. The speaker sounds tinny and underwhelming, taking away from the overall excellent multimedia experience the phone could offer.

OPPO Reno 5 Pro specs

OPPO Reno 5 Pro review: The verdict

It speaks volumes that I had to think long and hard about features that I dislike about the OPPO Reno 5 Pro. Not only does the phone deliver incredible performance, but it backs it up with an eye-catching design as well as a camera that can keep up with the best in its class.

The OPPO Reno 5 Pro sits right in the middle of OPPO’s Reno 5 series. While the designs remain largely similar across the board, the chief difference is in the processing capabilities. Broadly speaking, the Dimensity 1000 Plus on the Reno 5 Pro makes it the most bang for your buck compared to the Reno 5 with its Snapdragon 765G, and the Reno 5 Pro Plus packing a Snapdragon 865.

One of the strongest competitors to the OPPO phone is the Xiaomi Mi 10T. The Xiaomi device offers a bit more grunt but is much bigger and heavier, which might be worth considering when deciding on your next phone.

Sure, the phone could have an even higher refresh rate display and the additional cameras could do with some work. However, that doesn’t take away from the fact that the OPPO Reno 5 Pro has truly upped the game. The overall experience is one of the best you can get in the premium mid-range segment, and it’s a bit of a shame that the phone is available only in India for the moment.

That’s all for our OPPO Reno 5 Pro review. For more reviews from Android Authority, sign up below to receive all of the latest device testing and analysis straight into your inbox.