Oppo Reno8 Pro review

Color OS 12.1 on top of Android 12

The Reno8 Pro runs on the latest and greatest Oppo has to offer - Color OS 12.1 on top of Android 12. That's great to see since there are still occasionally new Oppo phones that come out with Android 11 out of the box. 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. As per usual, Color OS has a ton of customizations when it comes to the AOD.

Always-on display settings

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.

Edge Lighting

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. We didn't manage to spot any major visual changes between Color OS 12 and 12.1.

Color OS 12.1

The task switcher is also a familiar affair. From here, you can close or lock apps and 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 Color OS can be customized. We are talking about deep customization of app icons, accent colors, quick toggles and their shape, font, and fingerprint reader animation.

UI customization

The Special features tabs hold the familiar Smart Sidebar and Flexible windows functions. They are both tailored toward better multitasking. The sidebar offers quick access to some of your favorite apps when turned on.

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 the lock screen

The Reno8 Pro has a few interesting gestures, called Air gestures and powered by the selfie camera. You can answer a call by flicking your wrist, and generally, the same motion can also be used to remotely scroll interfaces and pages up and down. There is also a nifty play/pause palm gesture for videos that works well on YouTube.

Air gestures

Color OS 12.1 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 • Game overlay

Last but not least, it is worth noting that our unit came with no China-related apps or ads as one would expect from an international model.

Performance and benchmarks

The Reno8 Pro is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8100-MAX chipset - fairly uncommon silicon which we have only seen inside the OnePlus 10R thus far. Information about the MAX variant of the chip is a bit scarce online, but we did manage to get to the gist of things eventually.

In almost every major hardware aspect, the Dimensity 8100-MAX is identical to its Dimensity 8100 sibling. That includes a 4x Cortex-A78@2.85 GHz and 4x Cortex-A55@2.0GHz CPU setup, a Mali-G610 MC6 GPU, a MediaTek Imagiq 780 ISP and a MediaTek APU 580 AI processing unit, plus an LPDDR5 memory controller all packaged on a 5nm TSMC node. That's just a hair more powerful than the Dimensity 8000 and generally positioned to be competitive with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 888 and 888+.

What about that MAX part, then? Well, back in 2021, MediaTek announced the Dimensity 5G Open Resource Architecture program, which basically allows manufacturers to custom tune and order Dimensity chips with alterations to certain bits, including things like connectivity and features and all the way up to CPU and GPU. Not many such custom chips have been created, but the Dimensity 8100-MAX is one of them with Oppo, or rather its parent BBK corporation altering the capabilities of the onboard MediaTek APU 580 in particular. These alterations promise better overall AI performance, better and more stable game framerates and improvements to low-light video recording. That's what the OnePlus 10R got out of the custom chip, and that's exactly what the Reno8 Pro is getting from it as well.

Without further ado, let's dive into some benchmark numbers to put the Dimensity 8100-MAX into perspective starting with CPU runs and GeekBench.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Realme GT Neo3
  4079
• Poco X4 GT
  3719
• Xiaomi 12
  3652
• Poco F4 GT
  3637
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  3636
• Asus Zenfone 8
  3604
• OnePlus 10R
  3564
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  3395
• Oppo Find X5
  3331
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  3238
• Realme GT Neo 3T
  3180
• Xiaomi 12X
  3168
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  3049
• vivo V23 Pro
  3021
• Xiaomi 12 Lite
  2943
• Google Pixel 6
  2899
• Xiaomi 11T
  2834
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  2694
• Oppo Reno7 Pro 5G
  2691
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  2276
• vivo V23 5g
  2140
• Sony Xperia 10 IV
  1908
• Realme 8 Pro
  1678
• Oppo Reno7
  1653

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Poco F4 GT
  1244
• Xiaomi 12
  1187
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  1126
• Asus Zenfone 8
  1118
• Oppo Find X5
  1110
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  1096
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  1032
• Google Pixel 6
  1030
• Realme GT Neo 3T
  1023
• Realme GT Neo3
  968
• Xiaomi 12X
  943
• Poco X4 GT
  917
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  894
• OnePlus 10R
  881
• vivo V23 Pro
  850
• Oppo Reno7 Pro 5G
  815
• Xiaomi 12 Lite
  785
• Xiaomi 11T
  742
• vivo V23 5g
  739
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  738
• Sony Xperia 10 IV
  662
• Realme 8 Pro
  566
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  493
• Oppo Reno7
  380

A few noteworthy observations can be made from these results: the Dimensity 8100-MAX seems to be falling a bit short compared to its Dimensity 8100 sibling on average, which is a bit interesting. It is also, as taunted, a decent competitor to the Snapdragon 888, but mostly when it comes to multi-core or rather all-core loads where the four by four CPU arrangement with decently high clocks seems to be excelling. In single-core loads the Dimensity 8100-MAX seems closer in points to a Snapdragon 870 5G instead.

In any case, it's a chip that holds its own well. This fact is also evidenced by the AnTuTu scores of the Reno8 Pro.

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  985115
• Poco F4 GT
  952124
• Realme GT Neo3
  819348
• Oppo Find X5
  810715
• Asus Zenfone 8
  799738
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  789332
• OnePlus 10R
  759929
• Poco X4 GT
  747871
• Realme GT Neo 3T
  726007
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  719696
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  718351
• vivo V23 Pro
  716766
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  714395
• Xiaomi 12X
  690298
• Google Pixel 6
  676831
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  619610
• Xiaomi 11T
  590837
• Xiaomi 12 Lite
  528905
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  479608
• vivo V23 5g
  476058
• Sony Xperia 10 IV
  396008
• Oppo Reno7
  289250

AnTuTu is a much more compound benchmark which incorporates GPU runs and takes into account memory as well. We can see that the Reno8 Pro performs about as well as a flagship from 2021 overall. Not too shabby at all and about what we expected.

Moving on to GFXBench and some more dedicated GPU tests, we start to see a bigger device between the Dimensity 8100-MAX and chips like the Dimensity 1200 and Snapdragon 870. While the latter generally come close to the Dimensity 8100-MAX in CPU tasks, they get generally outpaced by it in the GPU department.

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  59
• Google Pixel 6
  46
• Realme GT Neo3
  42
• Asus Zenfone 8
  41
• Oppo Find X5
  40
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  39
• OnePlus 10R
  39
• Poco X4 GT
  38
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  38
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  38
• vivo V23 Pro
  34
• Realme GT Neo 3T
  32
• Xiaomi 12X
  32
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  31
• Xiaomi 11T
  30
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  24
• Xiaomi 12 Lite
  19
• Sony Xperia 10 IV
  11
• vivo V23 5g
  11
• Realme 8 Pro
  11
• Oppo Reno7
  5

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  41
• Google Pixel 6
  30
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  28
• Oppo Find X5
  27
• Realme GT Neo3
  27
• Asus Zenfone 8
  27
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  26
• OnePlus 10R
  26
• Poco X4 GT
  26
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  25
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  24
• vivo V23 Pro
  23
• Realme GT Neo 3T
  22
• Xiaomi 12X
  22
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  22
• Xiaomi 11T
  21
• vivo V23 5g
  16
• Xiaomi 12 Lite
  13
• Sony Xperia 10 IV
  7.8
• Realme 8 Pro
  7
• Oppo Reno7
  3.2

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  59
• Asus Zenfone 8
  45
• Realme GT Neo3
  43
• Google Pixel 6
  43
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  40
• OnePlus 10R
  39
• Oppo Find X5
  38
• Poco X4 GT
  38
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  38
• Xiaomi 12X
  35
• Realme GT Neo 3T
  34
• vivo V23 Pro
  32
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  30
• Xiaomi 11T
  29
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  29
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  27
• Xiaomi 12 Lite
  19
• Sony Xperia 10 IV
  11
• Realme 8 Pro
  11
• vivo V23 5g
  10
• Oppo Reno7
  4.9

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  45
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  31
• Oppo Find X5
  30
• Google Pixel 6
  30
• Asus Zenfone 8
  30
• Realme GT Neo3
  28
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  26
• OnePlus 10R
  26
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  25
• Poco X4 GT
  24
• Realme GT Neo 3T
  24
• Xiaomi 12X
  24
• vivo V23 Pro
  21
• Xiaomi 11T
  20
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  20
• Xiaomi 12 Lite
  15
• vivo V23 5g
  15
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  14
• Sony Xperia 10 IV
  8.2
• Realme 8 Pro
  7.2
• Oppo Reno7
  3.2

Moving further down the difficulty stack with more OpenGL ES testing we can see a very similar overall picture. The Reno8 Pro is generally holding its own well against its competitors.

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  75
• Asus Zenfone 8
  61
• Google Pixel 6
  57
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  56
• Oppo Find X5
  55
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  54
• Realme GT Neo3
  53
• Realme GT Neo 3T
  49
• Xiaomi 12X
  47
• Poco X4 GT
  46
• vivo V23 Pro
  45
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  44
• OnePlus 10R
  42
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  42
• Xiaomi 11T
  40
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  36
• Xiaomi 12 Lite
  29
• vivo V23 5g
  22
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  20
• Sony Xperia 10 IV
  16
• Realme 8 Pro
  16
• Oppo Reno7
  7.2

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  84
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  70
• Oppo Find X5
  69
• Asus Zenfone 8
  69
• Google Pixel 6
  66
• Realme GT Neo3
  60
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  60
• Realme GT Neo 3T
  59
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  57
• Xiaomi 12X
  55
• vivo V23 Pro
  53
• Poco X4 GT
  52
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  51
• OnePlus 10R
  48
• Xiaomi 11T
  47
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  46
• Xiaomi 12 Lite
  33
• vivo V23 5g
  27
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  24
• Sony Xperia 10 IV
  20
• Realme 8 Pro
  18
• Oppo Reno7
  8.1

It should be noted that the Reno8 Pro failed to run GFXBench at a higher refresh rate which effectively limited the on-screen runs to 60Hz and hence 60fps. Not that you should be using on-screen test to compare across devices with different native resolution, though. Just as a reminder.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  117
• Asus Zenfone 8
  105
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  98
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  95
• Google Pixel 6
  90
• Realme GT Neo 3T
  85
• vivo V23 Pro
  79
• Xiaomi 11T
  72
• Xiaomi 12X
  70
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  60
• Oppo Find X5
  60
• Realme GT Neo3
  60
• OnePlus 10R
  59
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  57
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  55
• Poco X4 GT
  54
• Xiaomi 12 Lite
  50
• vivo V23 5g
  40
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  36
• Realme 8 Pro
  31
• Sony Xperia 10 IV
  28
• Oppo Reno7
  14

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  164
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  119
• Google Pixel 6
  117
• Asus Zenfone 8
  117
• Oppo Find X5
  115
• Realme GT Neo3
  111
• Poco X4 GT
  103
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  103
• Realme GT Neo 3T
  98
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  97
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  97
• OnePlus 10R
  95
• vivo V23 Pro
  91
• Xiaomi 12X
  89
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  81
• Xiaomi 11T
  77
• Xiaomi 12 Lite
  54
• vivo V23 5g
  45
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  42
• Sony Xperia 10 IV
  35
• Realme 8 Pro
  28
• Oppo Reno7
  20

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  121
• Asus Zenfone 8
  119
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  118
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  116
• Realme GT Neo 3T
  115
• Xiaomi 12X
  106
• Xiaomi 11T
  96
• Google Pixel 6
  90
• vivo V23 Pro
  89
• Xiaomi 12 Lite
  68
• Poco X4 GT
  65
• vivo V23 5g
  63
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  61
• Oppo Find X5
  60
• Realme GT Neo3
  60
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  60
• OnePlus 10R
  59
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  59
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  52
• Sony Xperia 10 IV
  39
• Realme 8 Pro
  38
• Oppo Reno7
  20

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  236
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  174
• Oppo Find X5
  169
• Realme GT Neo3
  168
• Asus Zenfone 8
  164
• OnePlus 10R
  159
• Google Pixel 6
  159
• Poco X4 GT
  146
• Realme GT Neo 3T
  145
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  143
• vivo V23 Pro
  140
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  137
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  133
• Xiaomi 12X
  127
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  124
• Xiaomi 11T
  121
• Xiaomi 12 Lite
  78
• vivo V23 5g
  68
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  61
• Sony Xperia 10 IV
  48
• Realme 8 Pro
  43
• Oppo Reno7
  22

Finally, we have 3D Mark and its Wild Life test since the Reno8 Pro proved two powerful for the Slingshot Extreme runs and maxed those out. We get a much cleaner and neater performance stack overall from this test suit.

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  9535
• Google Pixel 6
  6832
• Oppo Find X5
  5851
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  5701
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  5668
• Asus Zenfone 8
  5666
• OnePlus 10R
  5600
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  5432
• Realme GT Neo3
  5428
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  5412
• vivo V23 Pro
  4713
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  4653
• Xiaomi 12X
  4320
• Poco X4 GT
  4301
• Realme GT Neo 3T
  4255
• Oppo Reno7 Pro 5G
  4219
• Xiaomi 11T
  4172
• Xiaomi 12 Lite
  2483
• vivo V23 5g
  2315
• Oppo Reno7 5G
  2037
• Sony Xperia 10 IV
  1213
• Realme 8 Pro
  1051
• Oppo Reno7
  450

The Reno8 Pro handles heat pretty well. Like any closed-off passively-cooled system heat buildup is inevitable over time. The main thing to consider is how gradually the phone drops down its performance to accommodate the extra heat. The Reno8 Pro does that quite well. There are no sudden or jarring drops in performance, which is what typically causes stutters in games.

Thermal-throttling behavior

All things considered, we are very pleased with how the Oppo Reno8 Pro and its Dimensity 8100-MAX chipset perform. While the hardware can't quite rub shoulders with this year's latest and greatest, it easily matches flagship performance from a generation ago with advanced chipset features like ISP capabilities and connectivity to match. As far as the "MAX" notation on the chipset goes, it denotes some extra custom capabilities apparently added to the NPU for improvements to general AI performance, game stability and low-light video.