Oppo Reno8 review

Introduction and specs

The Reno8 series has been out in China for almost two months now, but this is the first time the Reno8 and the Reno8 Pro step outside of their home country. The global versions of the handsets are slightly different from their Chinese counterparts, although the changes are rather negligible.

The focus of this review would be the vanilla Reno8, and it swaps out the depth sensor on the Chinese version for a full-fledged camera - an 8MP ultrawide one, to be exact. The rest of the specs are pretty much identical.

The handset features a bright 6.43-inch 90Hz OLED panel, which would most likely attract users looking for something more compact because, let's face it, 6.43" in 2022 is in the lower size range. Being small doesn't mean being small on features, though. The Reno8 runs on a very potent Dimenstiy 1300 SoC and has two standout cameras.

Oppo Reno8 specs at a glance:

• Body: 160.6x73.4x7.7mm, 179g; Gorilla Glass 5 front, plastic back and side frame.
• Display: 6.40" AMOLED, 90Hz, 430 nits (typ), 600 nits (HBM), 800 nits (peak), 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 411ppi.
• Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 1300 (6 nm): Octa-core (1x3.0 GHz Cortex-A78 & 3x2.6 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G77 MC9.
• Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
• OS/Software: Android 12, ColorOS 12.1.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 23mm, 1/1.56", 1.0µm, multi-directional PDAF; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.2, 16mm, 112˚, 1/4.0", 1.12µm; Macro: 2 MP, f/2.4.
• Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.4, 23mm (wide), 1/2.74", 0.8µm.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS.
• Battery: 4500mAh; Fast charging 80W, 1-50% in 11 min, 1-100% in 28 min (advertised), Reverse charging.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); NFC.

Oppo is particularly proud of using Sony's 50MP IMX766 sensor as the main shooter, which is fairly large- 1/1.56" and offers 1.0µm pixels. On the front, the Reno8 carries an Oppo-exclusive 32MP IMX709 sensor with an RGBW filter allowing for an improved selfie performance. That's one of the phone's selling points, after all. It's important to note, though, that the Reno8 Pro has the same exact camera setup, so if the camera performance is your main priority, the Reno8 would probably do while being significantly cheaper than the Pro.

The vanilla option also doesn't skip the blazing-fast charging. The same 4,500 mAh battery supports 80W SuperVOOC charging protocol from Oppo, although countries with 110V power grids can get only 66W out of the same brick.

It's probably worth noting that the Oppo Reno8 is almost identical to the OnePlus Nord 2T. The main difference between the two is the design and the OS. OnePlus' OxygenOS is still somewhat cleaner than Oppo's ColorOS, so it strongly depends on one's personal preferences towards Android skins.

So in a sense, this review can be used as a reference when looking for OnePlus Nord 2T-relevant information. Most, if not all, of the results from our tests, would be applicable to some extent.

Unboxing the Oppo Reno8

The Oppo Reno8 ships in a standard box containing all the usual user manuals along with the corresponding 80W SuperVOOC charger and a USB-A to USB-C cable.

Oppo has included an extra case for the phone, which is transparent, so it doesn't conceal the overall design. And it's a great option until you find a case that fits you best.