Oppo Reno 2 Review

Like any other smartphone maker, Oppo is trying to stand out in the flagship smartphone segment. The Chinese company brought its Reno lineup to the country back in May this year. The first-generation Oppo Reno managed to impress us with its downright premium and luxurious build quality. Oppo has now added a successor to its Reno lineup called Oppo Reno 2, which is the highest-end offering in this series.

Even though the company is emphasizing the quad-camera system here, I tend to incline more towards the gorgeous design of the smartphone. Packed with upgraded internals and stunning design, Oppo Reno 2 brings that oomph factor. Luckily enough, we managed to get our hands on this flagship device. The smartphone competes with the likes of OnePlus 7, Redmi K20 Pro, and even the Redmi K20. How well the smartphone performs when pitted against them? Let’s find that out in this comprehensive review.

Oppo Reno 2 comes in a single storage variant featuring 8GB RAM and 256GB of internal storage. The smartphone is available in two color options, namely Ocean Blue and Luminious Black. The device is priced at INR 36,990 and is available for purchase via Amazon India and various offline retailers.

At the time of writing this review, there are plenty of offers available on online purchases. Interested buyers can make use of the No Cost EMI options on all the major credit/debit cards. In partnership with SBI, the company is offering a 10% instant discount up to INR 2,000 on SBI credit/debit cards. Additionally, buyers can also use the exchange offer.

Oppo Reno 2 comes packed in a white-colored premium box that has the device’s back design printed on it in absolute minimalism. The company has also highlighted the quad-camera setup on the package. Opening the lid, you will come across a section that has the necessary paperwork. Digging inside further, you will finally see the smartphone covered up in the protective film.

Apart from that, there is a premium quality back case bundled in which you will find right below the device. The rest of the accessories include VOOC 3.0 charger, Type-C cable, SIM tray tool, and finally, a pair of earphones.

Here is the quick overview of what you’ll be getting inside the box:

• Oppo Reno 2
• Premium back case
• VOOC 3.0 20W charger
• USB Type-C cable
• SIM ejector tool
• Earphones
• Manuals and Documentation

Well, it’s time to jump towards the critical specifications of the device. After that, we’ll dive right into the review.

• Display: 6.5-inches AMOLED panel, 1080×2400 pixels, 401ppi
• Processor: Snapdragon 730G, 8nm
• GPU: Adreno 618
• RAM & ROM: 8GB, 256GB
• Software: Android 9.0 Pie, ColorOS 6.1
• Rear cameras: 48MP+13MP+8MP+2MP
• Selfie camera: 16MP, pop-up mechanism
• Battery: 4,000mAh capacity, 20W fast charging
• Weight: 189g
• Dimensions: 160 x 74.3 x 9.5 mm

With key specs cleared out of the way, let’s have a look at the very first aspect of the device, which we love.

As I have mentioned earlier, the one thing which I like the most about this device is its visual appearance. That’sThat’s the one thing the entire Reno lineup manages to excel at quickly. The back of the device features a quad-camera module that flushes easily with the body. Right below the camera setup, there is a nub that prevents the camera from getting unavoidable scratches. We have the Ocean Blue with us, and the gradient touches look visually appealing. Furthermore, the device, like any other flagship offering, uses the aluminum and glass design.

The back of the phone features a glass that has a protective layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The smartphone still feels very fragile, so you might want to use the bundled back cover just in case. On the contrary, I like using this device without any visual restrictions, but I have to be extra careful in this scenario. The smartphone slides right inside your palm and rests naturally on your fingers. From various angles, you can notice gradient glow around the strip that contains the branding of the device.

Flipping the device to the other side, we now have the all-screen immersive display with thin bezels all around. Rember the shark-fin mechanism from Oppo Reno? Well, its successor also uses the same pop-up system. This pop-up mechanism also houses the secondary microphone and earpiece apart from the selfie sensor. Coming to the button placements, you will find the power button on the right along with the SIM tray while the volume rockers are on the left. The button placements are perfect, and the tactile feedback is satisfactory.

At the bottom, you will find the USB Type-C port for charging, speaker grille, and 3.5-mm headphone jack. At last, all the small, satisfying details bring out that visually appealing design language. If you’re rooting for a premium and compact experience, then Oppo Reno 2 might be the right choice for you. In terms of design, this device managed to steal the show.

Apart from design, Oppo Reno 2 manages to deliver an impressive experience in terms of display. The smartphone features a 6.5-inch all-screen AMOLED display giving a visually striking experience. Thanks to no notch and negligible bezels, you get a massive real estate to play around. The smartphone manages to offer an impressive 93.1% screen-to-body-ratio.

With Full HD+ resolution having 1080×2400 pixels, the smartphone offers contrast-rich colors making it perfect for media consumption. The display has a pixel density of 401ppi, and like any other AMOLED panel, the color accuracy is on point. The blacks are more profound, and the colors are vibrant and crisp. The company is claiming a peak brightness level of 800 nits. Under direct sunlight, we didn’t face any issue, and everything was visible.

Overall, Oppo Reno 2 doesn’t disappoint us in the display department, and we enjoyed consuming media thanks to the massive canvas. For protections, the display comes with a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 6. The screen also has an in-display fingerprint sensor underneath it, which we will be talking about later in this review.

Under the hood, Oppo Reno 2 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G processor coupled with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The Snapdragon 730G SoC is manufactured over an 8nm fabrication process and features eight cores. It has two Kryo 420 clocked at 2.2Ghz, and six Kryo 470 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. For graphics, the device makes use of Adreno 618 GPU.

For those who’re unaware, Snapdragon 730G is a competent processor and is designed especially for improved gaming performance. For your average day-to-day tasks, Oppo Reno 2 can easily handle without breaking any sweat. Furthermore, the device can also handle aggressive multitasking. Switching between app and UI animations are quite smooth, and in no scenario, I witnessed any noticeable lags or stutter.

Coming to the gaming performance, we tried playing Pubg Mobile on the smartphone. By default, the graphics settings are set to HD with High preset. At these settings, the gameplay was pretty smooth, with no occasional frame drops, though we were not able to bump the settings further. Additionally, there were no heating issues on this device while playing this game.

With 8GB of RAM, Oppo Reno 2 offers breezy multitasking, and the apps stay in memory for a more extended period. This much amount of RAM is more than enough for most of the smartphone users out there. The same goes for the internal storage, which should be enough for most users out there. If not, you can easily expand it to 256GB via MicroSD slot.

Oppo Reno 2 runs on the latest version of Android, i.e., Android 9.0 Pie based on the ColorOS 6.1. It is the same software that you can find on other Reno 2 devices. As expected, it comes with tons of bloatware apps, which I don’t like having on my phone. You can uninstall them, but you’ll have to deal with it for the majority.

If you have already used custom skins on any other Chinese device, then you can quickly get used to this user interface. You should not face any trouble navigating around it. If you don’t like the traditional navigation buttons, you can opt for gesture navigation, which this device supports. The device also comes with a digital wellbeing feature, and you can use that to track your smartphone usage.

One thing which annoyed was the push notifications from the pre-installed applications. For some reason, Oppo has its own apps store called App Market, which again counts to the bloatware. There are plenty of features which you might find useful. Overall, the software experience was decent, but it could have been better. I don’t mind a few bloatware apps, but those push notifications annoyed me throughout the day.

As mentioned earlier, Oppo has been trying to put more emphasis on the quad-camera setup with this device. We’veWe’ve noticed the same with the device’s packaging box. The rear camera setup consists of a primary 48MP sensor (f/1.7), an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens (f/2.2), a 13MP telephoto sensor and a 2MP depth sensor. The entire camera module is quite versatile, allowing users to click photos using different lenses. The device offers 20x digital along with optical as well as electronic image stabilization.

Another exciting feature is Sound Focus, which is similar to Samsung’sSamsung’s Zoom Mic feature on Note 10. The camera software is identical to the previous generation of Reno devices. There are plenty of modes to play around with, such as Night Mode, Pano, Time-Lapse, and Pro Mode. To click photos in 48MP, you will have to switch to a 4:3 aspect ratio.

In daylight conditions, the device clicks photos with excellent details and accurate colors. For bright scenes, the device enables HDR automatically to click good images. The bokeh effect works well – the device was able to separate the background from the subject with perfection. As expected, the wide angles lens clicks photos with a little less detail, but thankfully, there is no barrel distortion.

Coming to the low-light scenarios, Reno 2 manages to click pictures with excellent details. The AI mode detects the low-light conditions and automatically lowers the shutter speed. For much better details and shadows, you can use the Night Mode, which reduces the shutter speed even further. I am impressed by the portrait shot taken from the device. The resulted images turn out to be great with the right level of edge detection.

For selfies, the device has beautified mode enabled by default. You might want to turn that off if you don’t like to soften selfies. In proper lighting conditions, you can get selfies with beautiful details, but the same is not the case with low-light scenarios. You will see fewer details in low-light selfies. You can also use the screen flash if you’re into that.

When it comes to video recording, the device is capped at 4K 30fps for the primary sensor and 1080p for a wide-angle lens. You can use the ultra steady mode, but it will crop the frame. With that said, the mode does work pretty well and does a better job of stabilizing.

4,000mAh battery fires up Oppo Reno 2 with the support of 20W fast charging support. The device is quite impressive in terms of battery life, and it was easily lasting for about a day and a half. If you’re an aggressive user, then you can expect a full-day battery life on a single charge.

It comes with VOOC 3.0 fast charger, which can juice up your device to 47 percent in just 30 minutes. The machine takes around an hour and 25 minutes to completely charge from zero to 100 percent.

For audio, the smartphone makes use of a single stereo speaker located at the bottom. Even though Oppo calls it the flagship phone, Reno 2 still lacks dual stereo speakers. The audio output is excellent considering the single loudspeaker, and in no scenario, we faced any distortion issue. There is a 3.5-mm audio jack that you can use, and the output from it is very decent. The bundled earphones are pretty good and should do the job for most users out there. In our daily usage, we found no issue with the earpiece, microphones, and overall call quality.

As for connectivity, the smartphone comes with all standard features. The device comes with Bluetooth 5.0, dual-band WiFi, five satellite navigation system, and dual 4G LTE. There is an NFC for mobile payments and one-tap pairing requests.

The smartphone uses the in-display fingerprint sensor for biometrics, which is very reliable and quick. You can also make use of the Face Unlock, which uses software to detect your face using a 2D mapping system. Of course, it is not that reliable and secure.

Pros:

• Visually appealing design
• Smooth performance
• Full-day battery life
• Good daylight camera performance

Cons:

• Too much bloatware
• UI needs improvement