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OPPO Reno4 Review

Written By Alyza Angeles
Published • August 14th, 2020
Gadget ReviewsMobile
2 Comments

It was only in April when OPPO launched the Reno3 series in the country, and in just four months, the company released its successor, the Reno4 series. With the Reno4 in the front line, we expect better chipset, new features, and modern design. However, let’s take a more in-depth look and see what the Reno4 has to offer. Here’s our full review.

Table of Contents

Design and Construction

The OPPO Reno4 touts a brand new design called “Reno Glow.” It achieves a plastic matte finish with some glittery details on the back and metal frame on the sides. Our unit is in the Galactic Blue color, and it does look super trendy. However, we miss the old Reno aesthetic that genuinely made it unique, but the gradient style on this still looks good.

In front, we get a pill-shaped dual punch-hole on the upper left side of the screen, housing its front shooter, and an AI-enhanced Smart Sensor for the SmartAir Control that we will talk more about later. We also get a speaker grill on the top bezel.

Like most phones today, the Reno4 has a vibrant AMOLED screen with slim bezels and a slightly thicker chin.

On the right side, we can find the power button.

While on the left side, there’s the volume rocker and a dual SIM card tray with a dedicated microSD card slot expandable to 256GB. Up top, we have the noise-canceling microphone.

At the bottom are its loudspeaker, USB Type-C port, primary microphone, and a 3.5mm audio port—which is still good news, especially for those who prefer wired headphones.

Flipping on its back, we have the camera module that reminds us of iPhone 11’s but in vertical form. So far, we like the design choices that OPPO did with the Reno4. In the hands, it feels functional, lightweight, and has a good grip. Using it without a jelly case won’t be a problem since it’s not that much of a fingerprint magnet.

Display and Multimedia

The Reno4 sports a 6.4-inch Full HD+ AMOLED panel with a 2400 x 1080px, and a pixel density of 409ppi. The screen looks great, but it isn’t the best panel we’ve seen in terms of brightness and image quality. Other than that, watching videos in the device is immersive.

As for audio quality, the single down-firing loudspeaker is loud enough to fill a room; however, you only have one speaker. So, if your finger happens to block the other corner more often, we recommend you hook up your earphones. We also appreciate the Dolby Atmos feature as it makes sure that the sound of the single speaker is crisp and balanced.

Camera

The Reno4 sports a quad-camera setup that consists of a 48MP Sony IMX 586 primary shooter, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera, a 2MP macro, and a 2MP for mono or portrait shots. Meanwhile, for selfies, you get a 32MP Sony IMX616 shooter.

One of the exciting camera features of the Reno4 is the AI Color Portrait. What it does is it retains the natural color of the subject and turns the background in black and white in real-time. We like that it works on both front and rear cameras.

In proper lighting conditions, images produced are sharp and stunning. Color reproduction is excellent and accurate. Details are preserved even when you zoom in. For portrait mode, background separation is good. It blurs out very well, and still, the details of the subject are present and real to its colors. Lowlight shots, on the other hand, are quite okay. Details are not that sharp, but it is present. Shots tend to look hazy, depending on the lighting.

The Reno4 also comes with the Night Flare feature. The bokeh effect might be exaggerated, but if you have good light, it still captures a great image, and details of the subject are pretty present. Selfies look great. The dynamic range is on-point. For portrait selfie, subject-background separation is not that good if you zoom in closely into the image. Here are our sample shots.

As for videos, you can shoot up to 4K in either 60 or 30 frames per second. Quality is decent and would suffice if you want to make vlogs or cinematic shorts. It also comes with Ultra Steady Mode if you wish to a more stabilized video.

OS, UI, and Apps

As for software, it runs on Android 10 out of the box with Color OS 7.2 skinned on top, which is one of the cleanest skins currently out there. We have our usual eye candy, and any users will be at ease with the features. Still, some may not be able to bear with the increasing amount of bloatware– contrary to other major smartphone manufacturers who have spent considerable effort trimming down on this area.

If you’re using a smart gesture-based navigation system before, OPPO also added a Smart AirControl to the Reno4, and this feature allows you to scroll up and down on pages within the apps like Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Phone calls can also be answered with a swiping motion with one hand, and in our experience, it still needs improvement. It’s not that smooth, and sometimes it doesn’t work, retrying for the nth time can be frustrating and tiring.

Performance and Benchmarks

The Reno4 is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G paired with an Adreno 618 GPU, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of internal storage expandable up to 256GB via microSD card. When it comes to day-to-day tasks such as being on social media, watching videos, and playing a bunch of games, the Reno4 handled it very well. We experienced no lags, no delay. Multitasking is a breeze.

• AnTuTu v8– 270,007
• Geekbench – 570 (Single-Core), 1,746 (Multi-Core)
• 3D Mark SSE – 2,535 (OpenGL ES 3.1), 2,360 (Vulkan)
• PC Mark – 7,979 (Work 2.0)
• AndroBench – 494.68 MB/s (Read), 199.46 MB/s (Write)

When it comes to biometrics and security, you can unlock the phone through facial recognition and in-display fingerprint scanner. Both method work pretty quickly compared to other devices we’ve tried.

Connectivity and Battery Life

The Reno4 comes with standard wireless connectivity features such as 4G LTE, WiFi 802.11 n, wireless hotspot, Bluetooth 5.0, and GPS. Sorry, but no 5G here.

When it comes to battery, the device gets a 4,015mAh capacity with OPPO’s 30W VOOC 4.0 Flash Charge. We ran it through the PC Mark’s battery test, and we got a total of 11 hours and 50 minutes. Meanwhile, in our standard video loop test, which entails the phone being at 50% brightness, 50% volume, Airplane mode turned on, and with headphones plugged-in, the device lasted a longer 19 hours and 48 minutes.

The Reno4 can last at least a day if you’re not a heavy user. Thankfully, it takes no more than an hour to charge this up with the 30W VOOC 4.0 included charger.

Conclusion

Compared to the OPPO Reno3, the Reno4 did receive a lot of improvements. It’s got better performance, faster-charging, more attractive design, and impressive cameras. First-time Reno buyers will definitely like this, however, those who just recently bought the Reno3 might get upset about the quick succession.

Do we recommend the OPPO Reno4? If you have the budget for it, our answer is YES. For PHP 18,990USD 324INR 27,433EUR 308CNY 2,357, you’ll get a capable device handling your day to day tasks efficiently, and you get great battery life. If you’re into photography, this device offers cool camera features that you will find enjoyable, but we think that they could have used a more powerful chip for that hefty price.

OPPO Reno4 specs:
6.4-inch FHD+ (2400 x 1080) AMOLED display, 409 PPI
Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G 2.3GHz octa-core CPU
Adreno 618 GPU
8GB LPDDR4X RAM
128GB storage
Up to 256GB via MicroSD Card
Quad rear cameras:
• 48MP Sony IMX 586 F1.7 (primary)
• 8MP F2.2 (ultra-wide)
• 2MP F2.4 (macro)
• 2MP F2.4 (mono)
Dual front cameras:
• 32MP Sony IMX616 F2.4 front camera
• AI-enhanced Smart Sensor
4G LTE
WiFi
Bluetooth
GPS
In-display fingerprint scanner
3.5mm audio jack
USB Type-C
Dolby Atmos
ColorOS 7.2 (Based on Android 10)
4015mAh battery w/ VOOC 4.0 30W fast charging support
160.3 x 73.9 x 7.7mm
165g
Galactic Blue, Space Black