Oppo Reno7 Lite 5G/ F21 Pro 5G review

Color OS 12 on top of Android 11

The Oppo Reno7 Lite 5G has the typical software setup for the company as of late. It runs the latest version 12 of Color OS on top of the older Android 11. We're going to have to dock a few points for that. 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 Lite 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. Color OS typically has a ton of customizations when it comes to the AOD. However, this is oddly not the case with the Reno7 Lite 5G.

Always-on display settings

Since the edge lighting feature is missing altogether as well, we can only assume that this has something to do with the inclusion of Breathing light on the Reno7 Lite 5G in particular. As a reminder, these are a set of blue ring lights that sit right underneath the two rear cameras of the phone and provide a nice ambiance and a great accent color. They can be scheduled and used to indicate active charging, calls and notifications. Nothing too fancy.

Breathing light settings

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, and 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 UI

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, and fingerprint reader animation. As we already mentioned, Edge lighting is absent, and there is no deep customization for the AOD though Breathing light arguably makes up for that nicely.

UI customization

The Special features tabs hold the familiar Smart Sidebar and Flexible windows functions. They are both tailored toward 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, tapping 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, Smart Sidebar and Flexible windows

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.

Quick launch from lock screen

Color OS 12 is chock full of its own proprietary apps, often alongside alternatives from Google in the international version of phones. You get first-party apps like Photos, Phone Manager, My Files, Music, and Games (game launcher with various settings).

Photos • Phone Manager • My Files • Music • Games

Last but not least, it is worth noting that our unit came with no China-related apps or ads.

Performance and benchmarks

The Snapdragon 695 powering the Reno7 Lite 5G is a fairly popular chip. We have a good idea of the kind of performance we can expect from it. Generally speaking, it is an efficient and decent mid-range chip in terms of raw performance. Its one big noteworthy shortcoming is the limited DSP which caps camera video capture to 1080p.

Other than that, you get a decent octa-core CPU setup - 2x2.2 GHz Kryo 660 Gold & 6x1.7 GHz Kryo 660 Silver and a somewhat modest but still decent Adreno 619 GPU. Nothing chart-topping for sure, but decent non the less.

The Reno7 Lite 5G only comes in one memory tier thus far - 128GB of expandable UFS 2.2 storage and 8GB of RAM. That latter one is also expandable via virtual memory in storage. By default, the RAM expansion option comes enabled and set to the maximum value of 5GB. This means that the Reno7 Lite 5G has a total of 13GB of physical and virtual RAM out of the box.

Ram Expansion

Let's kick testing off with some CPU loads and GeekBench. There are no surprises from the Reno7 Lite 5G and its Snapdragon 695 chipset here. It performs just as expected, virtually matching scores from other similarly-equipped devices like the Poco X4 Pro 5G and Realme 9 Pro.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Realme GT Master
  2917
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  2801
• OnePlus Nord 2
  2792
• Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
  2753
• Oppo Reno7 Pro 5G
  2691
• Realme 9 Pro+
  2335
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  2276
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  2225
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  2063
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  2063
• Realme 9 Pro
  2020
• Oppo Reno7 Lite 5G
  1996
• Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
  1900
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  1891
• Poco M4 Pro
  1836
• Realme 9 5G
  1823
• Poco M4 Pro 5G
  1797
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  1729
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  1662
• Nokia G21
  1193

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Oppo Reno7 Pro 5G
  815
• Realme 9 Pro+
  814
• OnePlus Nord 2
  814
• Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
  795
• Realme GT Master
  785
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  771
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  743
• Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
  742
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  738
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  736
• Realme 9 Pro
  694
• Oppo Reno7 Lite 5G
  688
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  688
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  687
• Realme 9 5G
  610
• Poco M4 Pro 5G
  597
• Poco M4 Pro
  523
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  511
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  376
• Nokia G21
  311

In general, the Snapdragon 695 is a middle-of-the-road part regarding CPU performance and mostly matches Samsung's current in-house Exynos 1280 mid-ranger, outpacing the Mediatek Dimensity 810 and G series chips and gets slightly outperformed by Dimensity 9xx models. Again, all perfectly expected results and well in line with existing data.

AnTuTu and its more compounds benchmarking suite mostly paint the same picture. It does take into account memory size and performance and also has GPU runs, making the score it spits out a bit more relevant to the real world. Keeping in mind, of course, that synthetic benchmarks are always going to be ill-fitted for that particular task.

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• Poco F3
  631850
• Oppo Reno7 Pro 5G
  550659
• OnePlus Nord 2
  512164
• Realme 9 Pro+
  495096
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  429675
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  407040
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  375528
• Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
  354420
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  335353
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  329802
• Oppo Reno7 Lite 5G
  315250
• Poco M4 Pro 5G
  296721
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  288914
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  261309
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  228044

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  598022
• Realme GT Master
  529263
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  506432
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  479608
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  437872
• Realme 9 Pro+
  416031
• Realme 9 Pro
  401894
• Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
  394918
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  384646
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  382902
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  379313
• Oppo Reno7 Lite 5G
  376819
• Poco M4 Pro 5G
  353663
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  319093
• Poco M4 Pro
  318444
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  244526
• Nokia G21
  171299

The Adreno 619 GPU inside the Reno7 Lite 5G also performs just as expected. Mind you, we are starting with the hardest GFXBench tests in the roster and working our way down, which is why the reported fps numbers are so low.

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  30
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  19
• Realme GT Master
  18
• Realme 9 Pro+
  17
• Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
  15
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  15
• Oppo Reno7 Lite 5G
  12
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  12
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  12
• Realme 9 Pro
  11
• Poco M4 Pro
  8.3
• Nokia G21
  6
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  4.6

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  21
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  13
• Realme GT Master
  13
• Realme 9 Pro+
  11
• Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
  10
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  10
• Oppo Reno7 Lite 5G
  7.8
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  7.8
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  7.8
• Realme 9 Pro
  7.8
• Poco M4 Pro
  5.5
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  3.1
• Nokia G21
  1.9

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  26
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  20
• Realme GT Master
  19
• Realme 9 Pro+
  16
• Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
  15
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  15
• Oppo Reno7 Lite 5G
  12
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  12
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  12
• Realme 9 Pro
  12
• Poco M4 Pro
  7.7
• Nokia G21
  5.6
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  4.8

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  20
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  14
• Realme GT Master
  14
• Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
  10
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  10
• Realme 9 Pro+
  10
• Oppo Reno7 Lite 5G
  8.2
• Realme 9 Pro
  8.2
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  8.1
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  8
• Poco M4 Pro
  5.1
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  3.1
• Nokia G21
  1.8

In practical terms, the Reno7 Lite 5G is a perfectly capable mid-ranger that can easily handle pretty much any game short of "AAA" titles. Even those are not going to be that much of an issue since modern mobile game engines are supremely scalable and friendly to as wide a range of hardware as possible.

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  38
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  28
• Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
  28
• Realme GT Master
  27
• Realme 9 Pro+
  23
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  22
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  20
• Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
  20
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  19
• Oppo Reno7 Lite 5G
  17
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  17
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  17
• Realme 9 Pro
  16
• Realme 9 5G
  14
• Poco M4 Pro 5G
  13
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  12
• Poco M4 Pro
  12
• Nokia G21
  8.9
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  6.8

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  46
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  33
• Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
  33
• Realme GT Master
  33
• Realme 9 Pro+
  27
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  25
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  24
• Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
  23
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  23
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  20
• Oppo Reno7 Lite 5G
  19
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  19
• Realme 9 Pro
  19
• Poco M4 Pro 5G
  16
• Realme 9 5G
  16
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  14
• Poco M4 Pro
  14
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  8
• Nokia G21
  5.2

That being said, if you happen to be after the best possible gaming performance for your buck the Reno7 Lite 5G is not the best place to look. It has what we would consider middle of the road performance in this regard. What you need to instead is either one of its competitors with a Snapdragon 778G or perhaps something with a higher-end Dimensity chip. Those are attainable without breaking the bank, particularly if you are ok looking at slightly older models.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  57
• Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
  50
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  49
• Realme GT Master
  46
• Realme 9 Pro+
  41
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  38
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  36
• Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
  35
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  35
• Oppo Reno7 Lite 5G
  31
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  30
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  30
• Realme 9 Pro
  29
• Realme 9 5G
  25
• Poco M4 Pro 5G
  23
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  22
• Poco M4 Pro
  21
• Nokia G21
  17
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  12

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  75
• Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
  57
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  56
• Realme GT Master
  56
• Realme 9 Pro+
  45
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  43
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  42
• Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
  38
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  38
• Oppo Reno7 Lite 5G
  35
• Realme 9 Pro
  35
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  34
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  34
• Realme 9 5G
  27
• Poco M4 Pro 5G
  26
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  24
• Poco M4 Pro
  24
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  15
• Nokia G21
  8.5

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  69
• Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
  59
• OnePlus Nord 2
  59
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  57
• Realme GT Master
  57
• Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
  56
• Realme 9 Pro+
  56
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  55
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  52
• Oppo Reno7 Lite 5G
  43
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  42
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  41
• Realme 9 Pro
  41
• Realme 9 5G
  39
• Poco M4 Pro 5G
  37
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  34
• Poco M4 Pro
  33
• Nokia G21
  24
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  18

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  123
• Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
  79
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  77
• Realme GT Master
  77
• Realme 9 Pro+
  68
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  64
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  61
• Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
  60
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  60
• Oppo Reno7 Lite 5G
  48
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  47
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  47
• Realme 9 Pro
  47
• Realme 9 5G
  41
• Poco M4 Pro 5G
  40
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  37
• Poco M4 Pro
  37
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  21
• Nokia G21
  14

3DMark paints a similar picture overall, though its results tend to converge a bit better and hence offer a slightly clearer picture. 3DMark seems to be a bit more favorable towards Samsung's current md-range Galaxy A lineup, though, which is worth noting.

3DMark SSE Vulkan 1.0 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  4231
• Realme GT Master
  4020
• Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
  3989
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  3570
• Realme 9 Pro
  2773
• Oppo Reno7 Lite 5G
  2751
• Realme 9 5G
  2441
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  1267
• Nokia G21
  930

3DMark SSE ES 3.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
  5030
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  5010
• Realme GT Master
  4988
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  3631
• Realme 9 Pro
  2946
• Oppo Reno7 Lite 5G
  2921
• Realme 9 5G
  2574
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  1316
• Nokia G21
  962

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  4224
• Oppo Reno7 Pro 5G
  4219
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  2491
• Realme GT Master
  2481
• Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
  2476
• Realme 9 Pro+
  2296
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  2292
• Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
  2260
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  2037
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  2014
• Poco M4 Pro 5G
  1232
• Realme 9 5G
  1228
• Oppo Reno7 Lite 5G
  1217
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  1211
• Realme 9 Pro
  1211
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  1204
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  1101
• Poco M4 Pro
  1099
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  439
• Nokia G21
  403

Speaking of which, we remind you that when comparing graphical scores across devices, it's best to only look at off-screen rendering to eliminate the effects of device display resolution.

Last but not least, we made sure to look at the thermal-throttling behavior of the Reno7 Lite 5G. On the surface, the phone hardly heats up at all. The Snapdragon 695 is an efficient and generally cool-running chip. That's great in terms of hand comfort but doesn't really tell the whole story in terms of sustained performance. To analyze that, we ran our usual hour-long CPU Throttling torture test.

Thermal-throttling performance

The behavior we observed is not what we would consider perfect but also not particularly problematic. Ideally, what you want to see from a performance graph over time in a closed thermal system such as this is a gentle slope down in performance as heat builds up. Any sudden and jarring drops typically result in in-game stutters, and we want to keep them at a minimum.

The Reno7 Lite 5G appears to have two distinct performance "stages". The second one kicks in rather suddenly at around the 20-minute mark and sees the phone drop its performance to around 63% of its max. Not a small drop, but we've seen worse. Sans from that one jarring drop, though, performance during the two stages is nice and steady with no sudden dips, which means no opportunities for in-game stutters.

We're giving this a positive passing grade, even though looking at the core temperatures and the relatively low surface temperature of the Reno7 Lite 5G, we can't quite explain why the engineering team decided to tune the CPU governor in exactly this manner. It seems a bit unnecessarily aggressive. But, we digress.

As far as overall performance goes, the Reno7 Lite 5G does not disappoint one bit. It runs smoothly and chews through daily tasks with ease. Its Snapdragon 695 chipset, while not impressive in any way, has more than enough power for a smooth experience. If anything, we find ourselves missing a high refresh rate display and the perceived smoothness and responsiveness it tends to provide rather than a more powerful chipset on the Reno7 Lite 5G.