OPPO Reno7 5G launched early last week together with its 4G sibling. This is the company’s premier device in the country and we’ve used it for a little over two weeks for this comprehensive review. Comparisons with the OPPO Reno7 4G[Full Review Here] will be made here and there but stay tuned for a dedicated in-depth review of the 4G version coming out very soon.
Design
OPPO Reno7 5G ships with a 6.43″ 90Hz AMOLED screen that also supports HDR10+. It’s the right size of the display with a big enough sharp resolution and bright to use outdoors.
The front panel rocks Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection.
Colours are punchy with great contrast and the inky blacks make binge-watching Netflix, HBO and Amazon Prime Videos shows and movies.
The interface is responsive and scrolling through games and apps like Instagram and Twitter is so buttery smooth thanks to the 90Hz refresh rate. 120Hz would have been so sweet though.
It’s worth noting that the OPPO Reno 7 5G has the extra Ultra Vision Engine that enhances video colour.
I loved the light, slim and curvy design of the 5G version compared to the boxy design of the 4G version – it’s easier to use on the hand as, unlike the boxy design, its lower corners don’t dig into your palm with extended use.
Here’s what the 4G Version and the 5G version share: A 32MP selfie camera that is housed at the top left punch-hole. At the top, we have an extra microphone. On the side, we have the power button. At the bottom, we get the speaker grille, Type-C charging port, microphone and headphone jack. On the left, we have the nano-SIM slot with an additional slot for microSD expansion. Both are dual SIM phones with the Reno 7 5G supporting, well 5G.
They both have 256GB of onboard UFS 2.2 storage.
You also get stereo sound thanks to the earpiece. For biometrics, you get an in-display fingerprint reader with face unlock.
OPPO Reno7 5G comes in Starry Black and rocks a 64MP main coupled with an 8MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro.
It’s a polycarbonate back cover but with a matte finish which gives the phone a quite good overall feel.
I loved the overall design choices of the OPPO Reno7 5G.
Performance
When it comes to internals, OPPO Reno 7 5G ships with a MediaTek Dimensity 900 with Mali G68 MC4 GPU paired with 8GB RAM(plus 5GB virtual RAM) and 256GB of onboard storage(UFS 2.2).
This combination offers effortless power and is more than capable of keeping up with all your tasks.
Don’t expect dropped frames when playing graphics intense games like PUBG Mobile, Genshin Impact, Dead Cells, Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier, Dead Effect 2, Asphalt 9 and Sky: Children of The Light.
You can play these games at their highest graphics settings and they will all run very well.
It’s worth noting that both the 4G and 5G versions come with Game Assistant which let users enjoy a fully immersive gaming experience. 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.
My other usual apps ran with barely a sputter and I had no trouble switching between them.
ColorOS 12 is delightful to use and is my favourite Android UI and I liked the experience.
ColorOS 12 comes with upgrades including Omoji, floating windows, Quick launch, PC Connect, 3-Finger Translate powered by Google Lens, FlexDrop, Private System, Private Safe, App Lock, App Cloner and Phone Manager.
The quick launch feature lets you quickly launch apps or functions when you long-press the fingerprint icon when the phone is locked.
Sadly, OPPO Reno7 5G comes with Android 11 straight out of the box and at the time of publishing this review, it has yet to get updated to Android 12. The 4G version has Android 12 already installed. It’s so strange since OPPO has pushed the Android 12 update to its other phones in Kenya including the Reno5 F, Reno5 and Reno6 5G.
This is my only caveat with the OPPO Reno7 5G. Hopefully, it gets the Android 12 update sooner rather than later.
With 5G rolling out in some towns, we got to test OPPO Reno 7 5G capabilities. We tested it at Two Rivers Mall and were getting download speeds of up to 223Mbps with Safaricom 5G. These are insane speeds – games downloaded really fast, web pages and YouTube videos loaded fast too.
Safaricom now needs to launch dedicated 5G bundles as they increase their test zones across the country.
All in all, you are getting a snappy experience and speedy performance with the OPPO Reno7 5G.
Battery Life
OPPO Reno7 5G ships with a 4500mAh battery supporting 65W fast charging – you can quickly top up from empty to full in under 37 minutes.
Light to moderate usage was getting me close to two days on a single charge. You’ll never have to worry about carrying a dead phone.
With heavy use, it can comfortably last a full day – well enough into the night for a little bit of before-bed Instagram scrolling.
Photography
The OPPO Reno7 5G and 4G sport a 32MP selfie camera and a 64MP main camera. Both phones ship with a custom-made SONY IMX709 sensor that also features the next generation flagship RGBW for the selfie camera for clearer and brighter image capture in low-light conditions.
I’m happy to report that I took a ton of photos with the Reno7 5G and I liked them. OPPO handles photos by balancing naturalness and processed look.
The camera interface is responsive and intuitive.
During the day, the Reno7 5G took well-detailed, bright, colourful, contrasty and sharp photos, the ultrawide took serviceable shots while portrait mode gave a really good blur effect.
For selfies, Reno7 5G goes for more accurate looking shots.
In lowlight, Reno 7 5G handles dynamic range really well.
OPPO Reno 7 5G is more flexible with 4K recording, ultra steady mode at 1080p for selfie and regular video, AI highlight video for shooting better lowlight videos.
The night mode option also lets you pick a Tripod mode for an extra 20 seconds to capture lowlight photos.
Overall, You have more to play around with the OPPO Reno 7 5G and I loved that flexibility.
We’ll be doing camera comparison reviews with OPPO Reno7 5G’s rivals which will also be coming out very soon.
Verdict
I’m largely impressed by the OPPO Reno7 5G – it’s a full-feature upgrade with a fantastic display, pretty great and versatile camera, speedy performance, solid battery life and slim design.
You’ll be levelling up when you pick the Reno7 5G.
Stay tuned for our upcoming comparison reviews.
Pricing and Availability
OPPO Reno7 5G is available for Ksh 59,999 at OPPO’s and Safaricom’s retail stores countrywide and on e-commerce sites like Jumia, Kilimall and SkyGarden.
