After much anticipation, OPPO Reno 6 5G has finally launched in the country. The OPP Reno6 5G is the latest in the Reno line and it’s a 5G powered premium mid-range smartphone from the company and let’s get right into it.
But before we begin, here’s what you get in the box. We have a 65W charging brick, type-C cable, type-c earphones, a protective case, sim ejector tool, warranty and quick guide and the phone itself.
Design
OPPO Reno6 5G comes in this alluring and stunning colour gradient look which OPPO calls Ren Glow. The gradation of the colours especially on the Aurora version makes for a slick look. This bad boy is definitely a stunner.
It’s an exciting design in a small light compact form and it was a joy to use even one-handed.
Button placement is fairly standard – we have the volume rockers on the left and power button on the right which are easily accessible.
We have a camera island at the top left with the triple main camera setup and LED flash. We have a type-c charging port at the bottom alongside a speaker grille, a microphone and a sim slot – this is a single slim slot with no additional slot for another sim and microSD card slot.
Around its sides is a slither of bezel – they’re pleasantly slim. The screen stretches all the way to the corners of the phone, with a small, “hole punch” for the selfie camera at the top left.
This is a 6.4 inch AMOLED screen with a 90Hz refresh rate and Gorilla Glass 5 protection. It had no trouble showing off the dark scenes when binging shows and movies on it. Not only that but it also brushes off harsh sunlight when you’re out and about making it easy to read text messages, browse the web or scrolling social media.
The display is Widevine L1-compliant for HD streaming on sites like Netflix and Amazon Prime.
The colours and viewing angles are great too. Audio clarity is good too, perfect for casual listening and gaming.
Also, its high refresh rate is pretty awesome. Scrolling is smooth, animations are snappy, and playing heavy gaming titles benefit from less screen tearing and smoother performance.
We have face unlock and in-display fingerprint sensors for biometrics and they’re both pretty fast.
The haptic feedback is pretty excellent when interacting with the phone’s interface. You are going to love the vibration.
You’ll notice the antenna lines around the phone and that’s for better network signal reception.
In terms of aesthetics, the OPPO Reno6 5G ticks off all the right boxes for both contemporary and out of the box smartphone design – I really loved the hardware on it.
5G Connectivity
OPPO Reno6 5G supports 5G NR(New Radio) which is the global standard for a unified, more capable 5G wireless air interface.
The Reno 6 is supposed to get 5G and we are in liaison with OPPO to get when we’ll be able to connect.
5G is still in its infancy in the country with Safaricom leading with very few selected 5G spots including around its HQ, few spots along Waiyaki way, Two Rivers Mall, Amboseli and Kisii.
Also, the company is probably using 4G/5G carrier aggregation. In terms of 5G, the telco is using the 5G n78 band which the OPPO Reno6 5G uses among other bands including n1,n3, n5,n7, n8, n20, n28, n38, n40, n41, n66, and n77.
Safaricom has yet to launch 5G fully and we expect a public rollout early next year.
Performance
Under the hood, the OPPO Reno6 5G ships with top of of the line specs including a Dimensity 900 5G chip coupled with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage.
At the helm is Android 11 and ColorOS 11.3. ColorOS comes with features like a new personalization tab, customizable dark mode, flexdrop, battery power saving mode, game space, oppo relax 2.0, private system and more that make navigating the phone a pleasant experience.
All this works in tandem to give you slick performance. The OPPO Reno 6 5G gets the job done so well, you’ll hardly ever stop to think about it – from regular works stuff, streaming music, movie binging to heavy gaming.
Overall performance is unwavering. The user interface is pretty snappy and that high refresh rate is welcome.
You can also expect timely and long-term software support. This is something I love about OPPO smartphones so expect Android 12, ColorOS 12 to roll out to the Reno6 once it launches later this month.
Battery Life
Powering the OPPO Reno 6 5G is a 4300mAh battery that also supports 65W fast type-C charging. The big capacity should last you two days with moderate use, and even if you spend the whole day on the phone with occasional heavy gaming, you’ll still easily make it to bedtime – this superb endurance.
And the good thing is that you don’t even have to charge it overnight – SuperVooc 65W fast charging lets you juice up from empty to 57% in under 14 minutes, another 8 minutes to 81%, another 6 minutes to 97% and 2 minutes to complete charge.
30 minutes from dead to full – it doesn’t get better than this.
Everything on the OPPO Reno 6 5G is so frictionless which now comes down to its camera performance.
Cameras
The phone comes with four cameras – three at the back and one at the front. We have a 64MP triple camera setup with an 8MP ultrawide and 2MP macro lens. We also have a 32MP punch-hole selfie camera.
READ NOW: OPPO Reno6 5G Camera Review: Lives up To The Hype
Verdict
The OPPO Reno6 5G is a solid phone – from the exceptional and polished build quality to the silky smooth performance, excellent hardware, long battery endurance, dependable camera performance – all of which make for a great premium midrange stacked with features that work effortlessly.
Pricing and Availability
OPPO Reno 6 5G starts selling from Ksh 59,999 in OPPO retail stores and selected eCommerce sites like Kilimall, Jumia, Skygarden and Masoko(Ksh 56,999).
