OPPO Reno12 5G Review | Geek Lifestyle

The OPPO Reno12 5G is finally here, and in our review, we test OPPO’s newest phone to see if it’s the new mid-range phone to beat.

Over the years, OPPO has released an array of Reno series phones, and all of them (especially the newer ones) promise great photography capabilities, especially for portraits. Now though with the Reno12 Series 5G, OPPO’s key highlights are the lineup’s array of AI-powered features. These include the new AI Eraser 2.0 which should be able to erase objects and people in the background smartly, along with the AI Studio which can make some interesting photos with generative AI.

Of course, while AI features are great and all, it’s still important for a phone to have capable cameras and performance. With this in mind, our test of the Reno12 5G will also delve into the phone’s photography capabilities, along with its performance for daily use and for gaming.

Geek-sthetic

Before we get to performance though, let’s first take a look at the Reno12’s design. From the back, you can see that the Reno12 5G has an eye-catching look with a pattern that OPPO dubs the Fluid Ripple Texture. Thanks to this, the phone’s back has visual ripples that dance around depending on how light hits it.

From the back, you can also see the phone’s triple rear camera setup which looks quite a bit different from the previous Reno7 model. This is a simpler design, though it fits the look of the phone as the finish on the back is the one that makes up for it when it comes to grabbing attention.

Even though it looks shiny in its Astro Silver colorway, the phone isn’t as much of a fingerprint magnet as you’d think. If you want to go caseless though, the Matte Brown colorway should be the one for you as that one should be guaranteed to be fingerprint-free.

As for how it feels, the Reno12 5G feels great in the hand as it is quite slim and easy to grip. If you use the included case, the phone still doesn’t feel bulky — great if you’re planning to use the phone for hours of gaming for example.

Moving to the front, you can see the phone’s 6.7-inch display, and it comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 7i protection, along with Splash Touch which means you can use the phone as normal even if it’s a rainy day out or if your hands are damp.

You can also see that the Reno12 has curved edges which make for a premium look. It’s also good that even with the curved edges, the phone still feels nice to grip when you use it normally.

Binge-Watching Factor

While I still prefer watching movies and shows on a TV or a big monitor, having a good phone is still important when I want to watch a new episode of my favorite show while on the go. For this, the Reno12 5G does not disappoint as its 6.7-inch screen has a Full HD+ resolution, ont of being an AMOLED panel. Thanks to this, image quality for movies and shows are great, with colors also appearing vibrant with deep blacks (great if you’re watching 16:9 content which has pillarboxing on the side).

For audio, the Reno12 5G’s onboard speakers are surprisingly good. The phone’s earpiece serves as another speaker, meaning this has a stereo setup. More importantly though, the audio quality is clear, complete with decent bass output. Sure, some flagships do still have it beat sound-wise, but the Reno12’s speakers are still good overall if you want to watch a video. Plus, the phone has a volume boost feature that turns the volume up to 300%. While other phones have this feature, the Reno12 doesn’t suffer as big of a drop in quality when the feature is used.

If you want to connect headphones or external speakers though, you’ll need a wireless device. That’s because this phone does not have a headphone jack.

Gaming Performance

The base Reno12 is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7300-Energy processor that’s paired with 12GB of RAM. Even though it’s not billed as a gaming phone, we did try the phone out for today’s popular games to see if it can run them well.

Generally, popular competitive multiplayer titles like League of Legends: Wild Rift and Call of Duty Mobile ran without much issues. Take note that you likely won’t be able to max out their settings as you would in dedicated gaming smartphones.

For instance, Wild Rift ran smoothly at the Medium and even at the High graphics quality setting at 60FPS, though if you want to play at 90FPS to take advantage of the phone’s high refresh rate screen, you may need to turn the quality to Low.

As for Call of Duty Mobile, it ran smoothly at the High graphics setting and at 60FPS. This should mean the phone will also be able to run other popular shooters at the Medium to High setting.

For more demanding titles though, you may need to temper your expectations. While the Reno12 was able to run Genshin Impact, the game defaulted to the Lowest Graphics Quality preset. You’ll want to stick with this setting for a smoother gaming experience. On the flip side though, the game ran smoothly at the recommended preset.

Given these results, it’s clear that the Reno12 can be a good gaming partner for popular MOBAs and FPS titles, though heavy gaming is not exactly what OPPO designed this phone for. Still, more casual gamers should be satisfied with the performance.

Geek Photoshoot Capabilities

OPPO packed the Reno12 5G with a 50MP main + 8MP ultrawide + 2MP triple rear camera setup along with a 32MP selfie shooter. As the phone’s main camera has a Sony LYT600 sensor and OIS, it should make for great photos in a wide variety of situations.

As expected, the 50MP main camera can take great photos in daytime and indoors, with photos having a lot of detail with vibrant colors to boot. Note that the images can look quite saturated, but for those who prefer this and want to upload photos to social media with minimal editing, the Reno12’s main camera shouldn’t disappoint.

At night, the main camera also works quite well, especially when paired with the camera app’s Night Mode. In this mode, photos turn out sharp and detailed, even if I was shooting with my shaky hands. Again, the colors can appear a bit vibrant, but not enough to say that they are too unnatural.

Moving on to the ultrawide camera, the 8MP shooter takes pretty good images in daytime, though low light shots are not as detailed which is to be expected. Still, the performance is respectable, with low light shots taken with the Night Mode still looking fairly decent.

With the 2MP macro camera, the phone can also take macro photos, though the quality here is in line with other phones with 2MP macro shooters, meaning this is more of somethin to simply play around with.

For selfies, the 32MP front camera is quite good as photos taken with it are sharp and detailed. Even at night, selfies are quite good thanks to the screen flash. Do note that as with many phones, the beautification feature here is quite aggressive by default. Personally, I like turning it down or turning it off entirely, but you can tweak the beautification settings to your liking.

Normally, this is where we end camera tests for reviews, but we did take a look at the AI Studio and AI Eraser 2.0 features of the OPPO Reno12 5G as these are new and unique features for the Reno series.

With AI Studio, users can select their photo and select a template that they want to get. What it does is that it will generate an image in the style of the template. The app includes an array of template options such as wild west, sci-fi, secret agent, and more. Though you’ll need to be online to use this app.

The results are pretty nice, though they are in line with other AI generators that have become popular, meaning it’s a feature that may be fun to play around with from time to time. What you need to remember is that generating an image will require some in-app currency which has to be purchased. It would’ve been nice to have it free, or at least have a sizeable free currency allocation.

What is free is the AI Eraser 2.0 feature which can remove people automatically. It also gives users the option to use the Smart Lasso tool to select people or objects that they want to remove.

Again, you’ll need to be online to use this, but the results are impressive. For the most part, the AI Eraser was able to remove people while still making the photo look natural. As such, this feature is definitely something that Reno12 5G owners will want to use when editing their photos.

Everyday Reliability

When it comes to being a daily driver, the OPPO Reno12 5G is quite reliable. Given its decent gaming performance, it makes sense that the phone also performs well for everyday tasks like social media and office applications. It should also have enough power for some light content creation, all of this while being snappy and responsive.

Connectivity should also be no issue as the phone boasts the AI LinkBoost feature which should enable the phone to stay connected even in challenging conditions. In our time with it, we weren’t able to fully test the phone out in this regard, but if you have decent coverage anyway, you should have no worries with this phone.

As for battery life, the 5,000mAh battery means it can easily last for a day of use with ease. You can even stretch that to a day and a half if you’re not a particularly heavy user.

What we liked most though is its blazing-fast 80W SUPERVOOC fast charging. More than the fast 0 to 100% speed though, we liked how just quick top-ups will already give you hours of use. This is great for users who often forget to charge their phone the night before (which happens to me plenty of times).

OPPO Reno12 5G Review – Final Geek Lifestyle Verdict

The Reno12 5G has an eye-catching design, reliable performance, good cameras, and a wealth of AI features. This makes it an intriguing smartphone option for those looking to upgrade, as long as heavy gaming and having a telephoto shooter aren’t their main priorities.

At its price of PHP 24,999 though, the Reno12 5G is quite a premium product that may be too pricey to some. Based on its performance coupled with its cameras, this phone may be worth checking out for those who are interested in the phone’s AI features.

OPPO Reno12 5G specs: