OPPO Reno5 F Review: Unbeatable Value

OPPO Reno5 was recently launched in the country. This is the company’s latest mid-range smartphone and now we have its smaller sibling in the Reno 5 line that is equally capable and even more affordable – the OPPO Reno5 F.

The OPPO Reno5 F comes in a teal green box with a black outline. Here’s what you get inside the box:

• You get a small box with paperwork that includes a safety guide, a back case,  a quick quide and a card that holds the sim ejector tool.
• Right below is the phone in a case
• We have a pair of earphones, a 30W power brick and a Type-C charging cable.

Design, Hardware and Performance

The OPPO Reno 5F shares the same design aesthetic as its older brother – the Reno5.

OPPO Reno5 comes with what the company calls Flowing Light design. Our unit comes in Fantastic purple. If you hold it in certain angles, you’ll see a subtle aurora-like green that seeps through the purple and retain its premium look.

You can get yours in Fluid black too. Both colours shimmer in the light giving it a youthful and modern charm.

The phone is pretty light and compact. You are going to love using this phone each time you pop it out of your pocket or if you like holding your phone throughout the day.

The weight of the internal hardware has been reduced, but without sacrificing its hardware’s heat dissipation capabilities.

In fact, OPPO Reno5 F is slim enough to be easily slipped into a pocket without bulging, while also light enough so that playing a mobile game for an extended period of time won’t come with hand fatigue.

Coming to the front is the 6.43” OLED display. It is gorgeous.  Apart from the hole-punch that accommodates the selfie camera, this is a fullscreen display thanks to narrow bezels that will serve all your multimedia needs – binge-watching tv shows, listening to music, gaming, scrolling Instagram, and Twitter.

It’s worth noting that the Reno 5F has a Widevine L1 certification like its sibling the OPPO Reno5 so you can stream your favorite shows in Netflix, Prime Video, or other streaming services at 1080p.

Also, 4K HDR playback at 60 fps is available on the YouTube app.

You have down-firing speaker that work in tandem with the earpriece at the top bezel to offer stereo sound. It gets loud enough without the distortion on high volume – handy when you are streaming music or listening to podcasts.

In terms of ports, you have a headphone jack, a microphone and a type-C charging port. For biometrics, we have face unlock and the in-display fingerprint sensor which are both pretty fast for when you want to quickly unlock your phone.

You also have your regular dual sim slot and an additional slot of for your microSD card in case you want to supplement the 128GB of onboard storage on the Reno 5f.

So in terms of design and display, you are getting your money’s worth with the OPPO Reno5 F.

Under the hood of the OPPO Reno 5F is where things change but in a small way. Instead of sporting a Snapdragon 720G processor, we have Helio P95 processor but other than that you’re getting the same 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage.

The processor will handle most of your tasks pretty well. I haven’t had any hiccups so far – either from light use such as sending and replying to emails, checking out social media to heavy use that includes PUBG Mobile and Asphalt 9 gaming on their highest settings.

Software

Like its older sibling, OPPO Reno 5F comes with Android 11 and ColorOS 11 straight out of the box. These are Google’s and OPPO’s latest mobile operating system and user interface so you’ll be getting the best of both worlds.

You are getting Google’s Android apps as some of the default apps.

ColorOS 11 boasts of improved gaming , privacy and productivity features.

Mobile gamers will love ColorOS 11 gaming features including Game Focus mode modeand gaming shortcut mode that let users enjoy full immersive gaming experience. Gaming Assistant blocks and disables all distractions including notification bars, incoming calls, navigation gestures, alarms and even on-screen volume prompts.

Gaming shortcut mode drastically reduces the load time by reserving virtual memory for frequently played games. This keeps the game running in the background even after exiting, but also automatically skips splash-screen logos and game intros and tips.

Other gaming features include game floating window and bullet screen messages.

In terms of privacy and security, you are getting features such as private safe, app lock and screencast privacy shield.

Productivity features include flex drop that offers the option to minimize a screen to display the app’s full screen, or instead as small window, or mini window.

OPPO Share and Nearby Sharing to share documents with friends or colleagues nearby.

Other ColorOS features you’ll get to enjoy include mindfulness with OPPO Relax 2.0, customizable dark mode, customizable always-on display, wallpapers and ringtones, new in-display fingerprint sensor animations, multiple alert tones for successive notifications, and a host of new customization options.

Android 11 gives you new privacy and security features including improved handling of app permissions for the camera, microphone, and location, scoped storage, and auto-reset permissions for apps you haven’t used in a while, ability to pin apps in share menu and scheduled dark mode, powerful media controls, seamless updates, Multitasking pane, improved autofill, suggested apps, biometric authentication, among a host of other useful features.

You’ll have no problems using both Android 1 1and ColorOS 11.

Cameras

For photography, OPPO Reno5 F ships with five cameras. A quad setup at the back and a single hole-punch selfie camera.

At the back, we have a 48MP main camera instead of a 64MP main camera in its bigger sibling.  Other than that, they both retain the same setup for the other cameras – An 8MP ultrawide, a 2MP macro and a 2MP mono.

We have a 32MP selfie camera instead of a 44MP selfie camera of the OPPO Reno5.

Apart from the hardware, you get the same AI-powered software features such as AI Colour Portrait video and in this distinctive video mode, color keeps all eyes on your subject as they move through black-and-white scenery.

We also have Monochrome Video, Soloop Smart Video Editor, Slo-Mo, Night Flare Portrait, Ultra-clear 108MP Image, AI Scene Enhancement, EIS Steady Video, AI Mixed Portrait, AI Beautification 2.0 , Dynamic Bokeh, Neon Portrait, Night Tripod mode, Night Plus filters such as Cosmopolitan, Astral and Dazzle.

In terms of photography, you are getting the same quality of photos as the OPPO Reno 5. Vibrant colours, detailed shots with decent dynamic range not only in well-lit situations but also challenging scenarios. Lowlight performance is good on its own so  only use the night mode only when necessary.

For videos, you can shoot at 4K and 1080p at 30fps and slo-mo at 1080p and 720p. Sadly selfie videos are capped at 1080p.

Thanks to EIS steady video, the videos are super stable and worth sharing on YouTube and other social media platforms such as Stories and Fleets.

If you have a tripod, you can use the UltraSteady mode to shoot even more stable videos even at night.

Selfies and Portraits

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Regular shots/bokeh shots

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Lowlight shots

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There’s a lot of features to play around with so you are sure going to love taking photos and videos with the OPPO Reno 5F.

Battery Performance

Keeping the lights on the OPPO Reno 5f is a 4,310mAh battery with 30W fast charging. It’s not as fast as OPPO Reno5’s 50W fast charging but its still welcome.

It can get you from 4% to 37% in 27 minutes and from 7% to 85% in 43 minutes.

OPPO included nifty features including a new Super Power Saving Mode and Battery Guard feature that prolongs battery life of your phone. When you plug in your phone at night, the battery is charged to 80% and then the rest of the 20% is charged just before you wake up.

We also have sleep standy optimization where ColorOS creates a sleeping profile that optimizes the

phone’s battery consumption while you’re asleep. With this mode, OPPO Reno5 F’s battery life only decreases as little as 2% so you can rest easy and wake up without the anxiety of a dead battery the next morning.

You’ll be getting full day’s of battery life. I was getting 7 hours screen-on-time with heavy usage. I’m pretty sure you can squeeze more with power saving mode on and the rest of the battery saving features.

And if the phone dies on you, you can quickly charge with the 30W VOOC Flash Charge 4.0.

Verdict

The OPPO Reno 5 f is a worthy smartphone especially if you are coming from the OPPO A92, OPPO A93, OPPO Reno 3 and OPPO Reno4 and want an affordable device to upgrade to instead of breaking bank with the relatively more expensive Reno 5.

The OPPO Reno5 F literally bridges the gap between OPPO’s A series and the OPPO Reno series and it does it so well.

You are getting a sleek and attention-grabbing smartphone with incredible performance, powerful specs, refined software, crisp camera shots, high-quality display and excellent battery performance too.

Exceptional Design, elegant software, excellent cameras and fast charging – the total package you’re getting with the OPPO Reno5 f.

Pricing and Availability

OPPO Reno5 is available for Ksh 31,999 at OPPO’s retail stores countrywide and in online retail stores including Jumia, Kilimall and Masoko.