OPPO recently launched the Reno subbrand and the OPPO Reno 10x Zoom is their maiden flagship phone in this new series. We’ve used the phone for over month now and here’s our full review. The OPPO Reno 10x Zoom is a solid smartphone and has been my daily driver for that time period. This phone is big in size and features and packs more power in a phone than you’ll ever need and that’s a good thing.
Display and Design
The OPPO Reno 10x Zoom boasts a refined design that balances between function and form. You get a brilliant 6.6″ AMOLED Display with FHD+ resolution at 1080 by 2340 presented in a 19.5.9 aspect ratio.
The uninterrupted display that stretches from side to side(93.1% screen-to-body ratio) with very minimal bezels is nice and you’ll enjoy using it be it streaming video or movies, lazily browsing the internet and scrolling through Tweetstorms or liking the Instagram posts of your crush from last year – I know I’m not the only one. Anyway, you’ll never get bored of using the display whether indoors or when you’re out and about.
Relatively safe design
There’s an in-display fingerprint scanner that works flawlessly fast. There’s face unlock too that works fast as well. At the bottom, there’s a slot for your sim card that can either hold two sim cards or one and a slot for external storage using a microSD.
There’s a USB Type-C port for charging and connects with the USB-C earphones provided in the box. There’s a mono speaker at the bottom too. At the top bezel, you get another speaker that allows for more balanced stereo audio thanks to Dolby Atmos.
At the back, you get a sleek frosted glass that gives a matte finish that you’ll dig as it keeps the phone free from fingerprint smudges and the Gorilla Glass 5 reinforces the dual-glass design. The display is protected by Gorilla Glass 6. There’s an added case if that’s what you prefer. This previous article went in-depth on the design language of the OPPO Reno 10x Zoom.
Software Performance
The OPPO Reno 10x Zoom runs on Android 9 Pie coupled with ColorOS 6. There are other software customisations added such as the Smart Panel and Game Space that boosts game performance. You also get a Lock Screen Magazine(you can disable it in the settings if you don’t like it), Music Party, Private Safe, granular notification management, a theming engine, Clone Space that allows you to run two instances of an app and the ability to password-lock apps.
Even with the ColorOS 6 skin on top that comes with slightly tweaked icons, menus and other Android details, no lag was experienced.
The notification shade can be overwhelming if you haven’t used ColorOS but once you get used to it, you won’t find it as a hindrance.
I loved the flatter look, pleasant looking and snappy animations, smooth and responsive gesture navigation. You’ll also notice the attention to detail with ColorOS shown by the white backgrounds and subtle gradients within the UI on the OPPO Reno 10x Zoom.
When compared to other ColorOS versions, this latest version provides a remarkably clean and simple overall user interface even.
Memory management is commendable as unlike other Chinese smartphone manufacturers, it isn’t as aggressive so I could access up to 6 apps running in the background without having to reopen them.
In terms of software upgrades, I recently got the Android security patch for August. OPPO has promised that once Android Q goes live, the OPPO Reno 10x Zoom will be the first devices to get it along with the standard Reno edition.
There’s an abundance of speed regarding the phone’s performance; be it downloading, running apps, multitasking or performing resource-intensive tasks including playing games at their highest settings. This is all thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor and an Adreno 640 GPU coupled with 8GB RAM and 256GB of onboard storage the Reno packs.
Even with my “I should be on the show Hoarders” characteristics, I couldn’t even fill up the storage. All these specs are an overkill even for a smartphone geek like me and this is a compliment as you can now use the phone for a couple of years without feeling the need to upgrade.
To recap, the OPPO Reno 10x Zoom flies. I didn’t experience any slowdowns or hitches during my time with the phone.
Cameras
Cameras is where the OPPO Reno 10x Zoom also went big. The phone packs a triple setup that includes a 48MP f/1.7 sensor, a 13MP f/3.0 telephoto and an 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide sensor. The primary and the telephoto camera are the only ones optimized optically.
On the front is the 16MP selfie camera housed in the shark fin asymmetrical pop-up module that also features a front-facing soft flash, an earpiece and an LED flash at the back.
The regular camera shot stunning photos in most well-lit areas and the wide-angle and zoom lens are great additions that make the camera become more versatile. You get photos with lots of details and high dynamic range with vibrant colours.
The 10x zoom on the Reno isn’t as good when compared to other phones as it doesn’t maintain details that well.
We went in-depth with how the four cameras perform here but check out these samples(Click to expand)
Selfies
Portraits
Normal Photos
Bokeh
Wide-angle shots
Telephoto shots
Low light
Night Mode
As its focus was on photography, the camera’s did an exceptional job and never failed me.
Battery Life and Charging
The OPPO Reno 10x Zoom features a gigantic 4065mAh battery that I found difficult to drain between gaming, lazily browsing the web, live-tweeting at DroidCon and binging Suits this past weekend. Switching between Gmail, Instagram, Medium and Telegram all day long didn’t kill this phone.
With the OPPO Reno 10x Zoom, you don’t need to worry about its battery life. If it dies, you get to use OPPO’s proprietary VOOC 3.0 fast-charging to juice up your phone from 0 to 75% in 30 minutes and in under an hour, your phone is full – this comes in handy if you take your time preparing yourself in the morning when you wake up with an empty battery.
Is it worth it?
Yes. All these features are worth it. There’s a lot to like in the OPPO Reno 10x Zoom – from the stunning all-screen display, photography prowess courtesy of the versatile camera setup, all-day battery life, loudspeakers, exceptional performance and refined design.
The biggest drawbacks on the OPPO Reno 10x Zoom are easy to swallow. It would have been better if the screen resolution was upped to 1440 by 3040 Quad HD+ resolution.
Also if you’re not into large and relatively huge phones, then skip this.
Other than these knocks, the OPPO Reno 10x Zoom delivers excellence across all the standard smartphone features and handles pretty much any situation between work and play and should easily last a few years without any issues.
You can get the OPPO Reno 10x Zoom for Ksh 90,000.
The OPPO Reno 10x Zoom is outstanding and worth buying. It features a lot of similar specs other big Android phones have for less money.
If these features excite you, then you’re going to love the OPPO Reno 10x Zoom. The phone is a worthy competitor and makes for a viable option to the likes of Huawei’s P30 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S10.
