Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G hands-on review

Software

The handset runs the familiar ColorOS 11.3 based on Android 11 and brings a couple of new features to the table. Aside from the Android 11-intrinsic ones, the overall user experience is more polished.

A couple of interesting things we've noticed - there's haptic feedback for almost every UI interaction, the RAM expansion feature allows for up to 7GB allocation of the storage space, and HDR doesn't kick in even in YouTube. Even though the handset is Widevine L1-compliant for HD streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Home screen, app drawer, recent apps, quick toggles

Anyway, the haptic feedback motor elevates the user experience as its punchy, strong and precise. Interacting with most of the UI elements, even when changing modes in the camera app, for example, triggers a certain vibration pattern. It feels really nice in the hand. The fingerprint reader's accuracy and speed is also great.

General settings and RAM expansion

The RAM expansion feature is nice but it's also hard to justify on a 12GB RAM phone, which is the only configuration in India right now. Allocating any additional virtual RAM would bear no net-positive. It would just limit your available storage.

Lastly, setting the screen refresh rate to 90Hz means it's on auto. Once you stop interacting with the screen, the software reduces the refresh rate to 60Hz to preserve power. And this applies to pretty much every app or system menu we've tested.

Camera samples

The slightly altered Camera app UI brings out a couple of useful shortcuts directly onto the viewfinder and provides an easier and faster access to the "More" sub-menu. The camera hardware remains the same, though, so we expect similar, if not identical, camera performance like the Reno5 Pro 5G. Here are a couple of photos for you to look at.

Camera samples: Main camera • Ultrawide • Main camera • Ultrawide

Oppo is particularly proud of the Extra HD (108MP) camera mode, which upscales the full 64MP photos to 108MP. And here's a side-by-side comparison with the 64MP shots.

Main camera: 64MP • Extra HD 108MP • 64MP • Extra HD 108MP

The AI Highlight Video is another key feature and Oppo even uses it as a reason to promote the phone as a videography expert. Unfortunately, 4K@60fps video recording isn't a thing here, just like its predecessors. The camera sensor and the hardware support 2160p@60fps recording but Oppo believes it's not a feature that many users would benefit from. It did say that it might bring it with a future software update. Oh, and the AI Highlight Video mode is restricted to 1080p only.

Early verdict

A premium-looking phone with a powerful hardware on board, that's the Reno6 Pro 5G. A nice paint job to go along with too. However, as it's usually the case with Oppo mid-range devices, it's a bit on the expensive side - perhaps too much for its own good. The Reno6 Pro 5G has a tough competition to match in India with the Poco F3 GT, the Realme X7 Max 5G and even the OnePlus Nord 2 are offering better value for money.

Additionally, Oppo's odd decision to bring only the 12GB/256GB storage variant to the market puts it in an exceptionally tough spot. The entry barrier is higher this way. In fact, the Reno6 Pro 5G may very well be the most expensive Dimensity 1200-powered phone right now. And that's a bit hard to sell.