The Oppo Reno 7 4G, Oppo’s latest flamboyant flagship entry into the Kenyan market since mid-April has been with the team for a while now and I got the chance to daily drive the device since then and compiled the following review; highlighting the pros and cons of the phone’s performance in normal daily tasks. starting with the aesthetics, performance in regards to the camera, display, battery and charging, and the ColorOS. Here goes:
Design and Display
At the back, the device comes with a stylish design especially the Sunset Orange, boasting of an exquisite leathery cover finish, boosting it to a premium texture and a sight to behold, one of the best we have seen in the local market so far, actually makes it seem as if one has bought a premium case you dig. Definitely a thumbs up.
The front has a 6.43 FHD+ AMOLED punch-hole display which has been amazing in my daily usage. No eye discomfort which in case it happens maybe you can always turn on the “Eye Comfort” feature which helps filter blue light. The display is bright enough for use outdoors as it gets bright up to a maximum of 800 nits and a standard 430 nits which is pretty nifty if I may add, see the word play? no, yes? we move on regardless.
Scrolling on different social apps and websites has been very smooth due to the 90Hz refresh rate and 180Hz sampling rate. There is an option to switch off the 90Hz refresh rate in settings to the default 60Hz but why would you do that really? why? do you not love smoothness?
Performance
In regards to the rise of mobile gaming, the Oppo Reno 7 comes powered with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 processor which is quite interesting as every game I have played including Call of Duty mobile and Asphalt 9 has been smooth with no lag and not a feeling of overheating. The phone does really well even when game settings are set to the highest graphics. Opening background apps and experiencing no lag is a good deal. I daily drive the 8GB version that comes with 256GB of storage which is an upgrade and to make the deal even sweeter in case the storage is not enough for you you can expand it with the dedicated MicroSD slot which is an upgrade from the Oppo Reno 6 5G.
Operating system
Oppo Reno 7 4G comes with ColorOS 12.1 based on Android 12 out of the box. The update brings lots of features and customizations making ColorOS smoother and fun, from creating your own themes from a picture of your choosing to the Always-On-Display, fingerprint animation, edge lighting, and choosing primary colors for the notification drawer among others. Pre-installed are the Google and Oppo essentials which you can uninstall if you want to. Normally I, a lover, sorry, a human who loves adding launchers (yeah, yeah, I have just defined it) to a phone have found the ColorOS sufficient in matters launching.
Camera
The camera which is the main focus of the device delivers as expected. The main camera images have quality details and on switching to the 64MP mode you can even get more details on your images. Also included is a microlens which helps in magnifying very small details not visible to the human eye. I have had the most fun using it. Around the micro-lens is an LED light that Oppo called the Orbit light. It lights up when you are shooting in microscope mode. The light also activates when there is a notification or when charging but can be de-activated when you want. The selfie camera does its job as expected but can be grainy when there is no adequate light. Portrait photography has been the selling point of the Oppo Reno 7 4G and so far is my favorite part of the camera on this device. The images are clear and sharp and background separation is accurate. Most of the portrait mechanism happens behind the scenes and when you take a photo there is a sort of AI identification to figure out the main subject of the image and separate it from the background. For video, the maximum the phone can do is 1080p@30fps which is okay but is quite low in my opinion. I wish we had an option for 1080p@60fps since the processer supports it.
Battery and sound
The 4,500mAh capacity battery gave yours truly a day’s use with a 20% charge remaining. Something you won’t worry about when using the Oppo Reno 7 is the battery. The power consumption is very good for someone who is into content creation and gaming. The 33W fast charger included in the box takes not more than 1hr 15minutes to fully charge the phone which coming from the Reno 6 5G or Reno 5 4G will be slow.
The audio has been amazing and the speakers get loud enough with enhanced details. The Reno 7 comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack that Oppo had ditched on the Oppo Reno 6 5G. For the mics, there has been no interference when talking to anyone on the phone and people I have called say the audio they receive is crisp enough with minimal noise. This phone doesn’t come with Dolby Atmos which is also available on the Oppo Reno 5 instead it comes with Real sound technology.
Issues
Although the phone is fantastic there are small issues that might be fixed in the future via an update. One thing you might not notice unless you try it out is the fact that you can not switch off the phone or restart it using the power button. The only way to do it is by pressing both the power button and volume plus button at the same time. I have had issues where the phone takes time to recognize different wifi networks in the house which is frustrating sometimes.
The phone has a usual auto-rotate button since ColorOS 11 and doesn’t have an option to switch it off. The button only appears when you have opened certain apps and rotated your phone at a horizontal angle. Sometimes it is useful but sometimes it is annoying and it would be amazing if Oppo could give an option for deactivating it.
Conclusion
The Oppo Reno 7 4G is an amazing smartphone packed with awesome aesthetics at the back, a pretty decent camera, a mid-range processor which handles day-to-day tasks surprisingly well, a loud enough speaker system, a great battery that lasts a whole day, and a good charging system. Overall a decent phone and a recommended buy for someone looking for outstanding design, smooth user interface, portrait photography, or someone looking to play games on a day-long battery. The price of the Oppo Reno 7 4G IS SET at Ksh 42,999 the 8GB RAM and 256GB storage.
