Oppo Reno7 5G/Find X5 Lite review

Color OS 12 on top of Android 11

The Oppo Reno7 5G runs on Android 11 with the latest version 12 of Color OS. BBK is using Color OS for all its current Oppo's and Realme's, so if you've used any recent Oppo or Realme phone, you will feel right at home here.

The Oppo Reno7 5G supports an Always-on display. You can schedule it, make it appear only for a few seconds, or leave it on/off all the time. ColorOS 12 has a ton of new AOD themes you can choose from and make it yours. You can customize many of those.

Always-on display and Edge Lighting

Edge lighting is also supported - the edges of the display will flash with colors upon new notifications. This can work with or without the AOD screen.

You unlock the screen via the under-display fingerprint scanner. The reader is easy to set up, incredibly fast (as these go), and with great accuracy.

You can set up face unlock, too, but it's less secure.

Security

The ColorOS launcher is indeed quite clean and simple to use - apps and widgets go to your homescreens, there is a leftmost page with an integrated system-wide search. There is an app drawer, but you can get rid of it if it's not your cup of tea.

The notification area with expandable toggles is familiar, too.

Color OS 12

The task switcher is also a familiar affair. From here, you can close or lock apps, as well as initiate split-screen multi-tasking or a floating window (one at a time).

Task Switcher with floating windows and split screen

The Icon pull-down gesture is still here, and it makes it way easier to operate with one hand on an overcrowded home screen with plenty of app icons. Just swipe down alongside the edge of the display to bring down the icons close to your thumb and select an app to launch. The gesture is consistent and useful.

Icon-pull down gesture

Most of the UI elements on ColorOS can be customized. We are talking about deep customization of app icons, accent colors, quick toggles and their shape, font, fingerprint reader animation, Edge lighting for incoming notifications, and, of course, the Always-on display. Oppo offers quite a bit of Always-on presets, all of which are the same ones we saw in Realme UI.

UI customizations

The Special features tabs hold the familiar Smart Sidebar and Flexible windows functions. They are both tailored towards better multitasking. When turned on, the sidebar offers quick access to some of your favorite apps. The system allows you to adjust the position of the sidebar, which is crucial because it might interfere with the back gesture if you are using the standard Android gestures. Anyway, tappping and holding on an app icon enters split-screen mode while a single tap opens up the app in a floating window or, as Realme likes to call it, "Flexible window". The supported apps can be opened in small, draggable and size-adjustable windows.

Special features

The Quick launch function has been around on OnePlus' OxygenOS-powered phones for a while now, and it's nice to see it making its way to other brands under the BBK Electronics umbrella. Once enabled, you can set up to three apps that can launch as soon as the display is unlocked. Tap and hold on the fingerprint reader from a locked screen to open up the Quick launch menu.

The good old screen-off gestures that allow you to launch certain apps or the flashlight by drawing letters on a locked screen are here, too.

Quick Launch

ColorOS 12 relies on proprietary apps like Photos, Phone Manager, My Files, Music, and Games (game launcher with various settings).

Photos • Phone Manager • My Files • Music • Games

Finally, our unit did not come with baked-in ads or China-related apps.

Performance and benchmarks

The Oppo Reno7 5G runs on the MediaTek's Dimensity 900 5G chipset, the same we saw on the Reno6 5G. It is based on TSMC's 6nm manufacturing process and offers slightly lesser performance than the Dimensity 920 (by about 5%-9%).

The chip uses an octa-core CPU that consists of 2x Cortex-A78 cores ticking at 2.4 GHz that do the heavy lifting and 6x Cortex-A55 cores running at 2.0GHz. The Mali-G68 MC4 GPU clocked at 900MHz takes care of the graphically-intensive workloads.

The Reno7 5G is available in one configuration only - 8GB LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB UFS 2.2 storage. There is RAM expansion available with ColorOS 12 - 3GB is enabled by default, but you can increase that up to 5GB.

RAM Expansion

Finally, Oppo has used vapor chamber cooling with multiple sheets of graphite plus borazon aerospace-grade insulation. This multi-system solution should provide good cooling and insulation that should result in super performance stability.

And now, let's run some tests.

The Dimensity 900 CPU is one of the best in this price bracket, bested only by the Snapdragon 778G as part of the Galaxy A52s.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  2801
• Realme 9 Pro+
  2335
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  2276
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  2225
• vivo V23 5g
  2140
• Oppo Reno6 5G
  2131
• Realme 9 Pro
  2020
• Sony Xperia 10 IV
  1908
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  1891
• Realme 9 5G
  1823
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  1729

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Realme 9 Pro+
  814
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  771
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  743
• vivo V23 5g
  739
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  738
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  736
• Oppo Reno6 5G
  722
• Realme 9 Pro
  694
• Sony Xperia 10 IV
  662
• Realme 9 5G
  610
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  511

The graphics performance isn't topping the mid-range charts, but it is surely adequate and among the best performers. It is slightly below the one available on the Dimensity 920 chipset that has the same GPU but with a higher clock speed. You can notice the Realme 9 Pro+ and the vivo V23 5G score a bit better because of that.

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  28
• Realme 9 Pro+
  23
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  22
• vivo V23 5g
  22
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  20
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  19
• Realme 9 Pro
  16
• Sony Xperia 10 IV
  16
• Realme 9 5G
  14
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  12

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  49
• Realme 9 Pro+
  41
• vivo V23 5g
  40
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  38
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  36
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  35
• Realme 9 Pro
  29
• Sony Xperia 10 IV
  28
• Realme 9 5G
  25
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  22

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  2491
• vivo V23 5g
  2315
• Realme 9 Pro+
  2296
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  2292
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  2037
• Oppo Reno6 5G
  2024
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  2014
• Realme 9 5G
  1228
• Sony Xperia 10 IV
  1213
• Realme 9 Pro
  1211
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  1101

Finally, the AnTuTu tests put the Oppo Reno7 5G among the best phones in its class, so you can rest assured you are buying something that is on par with the competition in terms of performance.

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• Realme 9 Pro+
  495096
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  429675
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  407040
• vivo V23 5g
  406498
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  375528
• Oppo Reno6 5G
  362450
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  329802
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  261309

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  506432
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  479608
• vivo V23 5g
  476058
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  437872
• Oppo Reno6 5G
  430765
• Realme 9 Pro+
  416031
• Realme 9 Pro
  401894
• Sony Xperia 10 IV
  396008
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  379313
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  319093

The cooling solution on the Oppo Reno7 5G lived up to the hype, and it provides excellent stability. The processor kept 82% of its maximum performance under peak usage, while the GPU got 99.5%. And even better - the phone did not get hot under either test, just slightly warm.

CPU test • GPU test

As far as performance and cooling are concerned - the Reno7 5G provides an excellent experience for its mid-range class, and it can even reach beyond 60fps if the game allows it and the GPU can handle it. It will be a rare occasion, sure, but possible. Overall, we think the Dimensity 900 5G chipset is a great choice here.