OPPO Reno 4 Review | Geek Lifestyle

Back in April, OPPO released its premium mid-range Reno 3 line in the Philippines. Now, just a few months after, OPPO Philippines has launched the Reno 4, a mid-range smartphone with a number of features that you usually only see in more expensive flagship phones. For one, the Reno 4 has a large AMOLED display. Plus, the phone also has a premium design, along with a promising quad camera setup, among other features.

Of course, the Reno 4 isn’t the only mid-range phone with flagship-level features as a lot of competing mid-rangers also pack premium specifications. So does the Reno 4 have what it takes to stand out in the competitive mid-range smartphone market? Find out here in our full review!

Geek-sthetic

Before I get into the phone’s other features, let’s first take a look at the Reno 4’s designs. From the back, the Reno 4 has a simple and elegant look that’s reminiscent of the Reno 3 series’ design which I’m quite a fan of. While this might make the Reno 4 seem like a boring looking phone for some (especially compared to more eye-catching mid-rangers), the Reno 4 has a unique design element under its sleeve.

When light strikes the lower part of the Reno 4’s back, you’ll get to see a unique pattern that adds a pop of personality to the phone. What I like about this design is how subtle it still is; it just works well with the Reno 4’s overall look.

Moving to the front, we have the Reno 4’s 6.4-inch FHD+ display. Much like most smartphones released nowadays, the Reno 4’s screen has slim bezels along with a small holepunch notch on the right side. This makes the Reno 4 have an all-screen look at the front. Though personally, what makes the display stand out the most is that it has vibrant colors thanks to being an AMOLED panel.

Binge-watching Factor

The AMOLED 6.4-inch screen doesn’t just make the phone’s home screen pop though, it also makes it great for binge-watching movies and shows on. The phone’s AMOLED panel is sharp, bright and has a vibrant color output, making the Reno 4 an excellent partner for movie/series marathons.

In most of the phones I review, onboard audio is usually not the best. With the Reno 4, I was surprised by how good the built-in bottom-firing speaker performed. Not only does it get decently loud without much distortion, the audio quality is pretty good; you can even hear some low-end notes in more bass-heavy music. Of course, headphones/speakers are still recommended for extended binge-watching sessions, but the Reno 4’s speaker is still impressive, especially compared to the competition.

Gaming Prowess

The OPPO Reno 4 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G processor, a chipset designed for gaming. So does it actually deliver? Yes, in our test, the Reno 4 has proven to be a great gaming smartphone!

When playing less demanding titles, the Reno 4 has no problems as expected. For example, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang runs smoothly on the phone at the High graphics setting, with no framerate drops or slowdowns in my time playing the game.

The Reno 4 also does not disappoint for more hardware intensive titles. Take Call of Duty Mobile for instance, the Reno 4 ran the game at the Very High graphics setting with ease. The phone also ran Asphalt 9 at the High Quality graphics without any slowdowns.

Geek Photoshoot Capabilities

Now let’s move on to the cameras. The OPPO Reno 4 packs a 48MP F1.7 main + 8MP Ultra Wide + 2MP Macro + 2MP Mono quad rear camera setup, along with a 32MP + 2MP depth sensor selfie shooter setup. The cameras on the Reno 4 are quite promising on paper, but how do they perform in actual use?

For outdoor daytime and indoors, the Reno 4’s 48MP main camera takes high quality photos, with nice colors and sharp detail. Thanks to the amount of detail of each photo, you can crop and edit them without much of a drop in image quality.

: Night Mode

: Auto Mode

: Night Mode

: Auto Mode

: Night Mode

: Auto Mode

The 48MP main camera also works well for low-light photography thanks to the phone’s Night Mode. In this mode, low light shots turn out bright while still having a nice amount of detail and fairly accurate colors. Of course, you have to remember to take low light photos with Night Mode, as the auto mode struggles a bit when there isn’t much light available.

: Night Mode

: Auto Mode

: Auto Mode

The Reno 4’s 8MP ultra-wide works well when taking outdoor photos, as images in these conditions have a nice color output and decent level of detail. Though the ultra-wide struggles in low light photography, with night shots being blurry and lacking in detail, even when using Night Mode.

: Portrait

: Selfie

Thanks to the dedicated rear depth sensor, the Reno 4 can take good portrait shots. Selfies are also of high quality thanks to the 32MP front camera.

As the front camera setup also has a 2MP depth sensor, you can take quality portraits by yourself. Plus, the front depth sensor also makes for interesting selfie effects such as turning the background black & white in the image above.

Finally, the Reno 4 works well for videos. Much like its predecessors, OPPO’s latest Reno smartphone features Ultra Steady video mode which removes camera shake that makes videos seem like they were shot with a dedicated stabilizer. Thanks to this, the Reno 4 is a great choice for content creators and vloggers.

Everyday Reliability

As the Snapdragon 720G proved to be powerful enough for gaming, it also makes the Reno 4 fast and snappy everyday use. In my time with the Reno 4, I experienced virtually no slowdowns, whether I was switching between apps or checking emails/working on documents.

: Yes, it still has a headphone jack!

Aside from power, the processor also proved to be fairly efficient as I found the battery life of the Reno 4 to be quite good. In my time using it, the Reno 4 lasted for well over a day of use with ease. Your mileage may vary, but for the most part, the Reno 4’s 4015mAh battery should last you a day on a single charge. And if you do need a quick top up, the Reno 4 supports 30W VOOC 4.0 fast charge.

Final Geek Lifestyle Verdict

With its beautiful design, stand-out AMOLED display, and impressive gaming performance, the OPPO Reno 4 is a great mid-range smartphone, especially for movie marathons and mobile gaming sessions. Couple these with the phone’s good cameras and overall snappiness for day-to-day use, you can’t go wrong with OPPO’s latest mid-ranger, even with its PHP 18,990 price tag.

OPPO Reno 4 Specs: