One big grouse I have and many share the same thought is that the phones are getting fatter and heavier. When most Smartphone buyers were resigned to the fact, Oppo has brought back the definition of slim with Oppo Reno 4 Pro. A phone that looks slimmer, lighter and with a stellar design that stands out in the crowd. But is there more to the phone than the looks? Let’s unravel it in this Oppo Reno 4 review.
Oppo Reno 4 Pro box contents
- Reno4 Pro
- Earphones
- Type-C Cable
- 65W Adapter
- SIM Eject Tool
- Phone Case
- Quick Guide + 1Warranty Card
Oppo Reno 4 Pro – A design that can’t go wrong
Measuring 7.7mm and weighing 161 grams, the Reno 4 Pro pushes the boundary in 2020 where almost every phones are closer to 9mm and around 200 grams weight. This definitely feels a delight while holding it. Plus, it looks premium. The front and back are curved, I will talk more about the display in the coming part but the phone is a sizzler when it comes to design. It comes in three aesthetically done colors – silky white, starry night and galactic blue with the last one being a special edition.
When you need to make your phone lighter, there are few choices to make, the primary being the choice of material used. The Reno 4 Pro has a polymer resin for the back panel instead of glass and uses a plastic frame. The matte frosted finish is a good treatment to the phone and also avoids fingerprint smudges. Overall the phone not only looks great but also feels premium on hand.
The back has the quad camera setup stacked one above another in a rectangle module and Oppo branding. The bottom has the speaker mic, USB type C port and audio jack. The right side has the power button highlighted with a green tone. The left side houses the volume buttons and the top has the SIM tray. It can accommodate two SIM and one micro-SD card for storage expansion.
Oppo Reno 4 Pro – Display
Matching the gorgeous design is the larger, crisp and vibrant and curved display. Yes, the brilliant and upmarket curved edge AMOLED display is something not people expect here. Even If the design fails to impress you, the display would definitely grab your attention. The 6.5-inch fullHD+ Super AMOLED display is wrapped with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for protection. There is a punch-hole cutout in the upper left corner for the front camera. The 90Hz refresh rate and 180Hz touch sampling rate completes the expectations when it comes to butter smooth operations. Though HDR 10 has been dropped. The 500 nits gives adequate brightness levels and the colors have excellent saturation and vibrancy. The blacks are very deep too.
You also get a proper always-on display mode and a system-wide dark mode, which can be scheduled to activate at a given time. The ‘Edge lighting’ feature lights up the curved edges of the screen when you get a new notification and it looks cool.
Oppo Reno 4 Pro Software Features
Over the last two years, Oppo has shown great stride in the Color OS – each upgrade has fine-tuned it and I could easily count Color OS as one of the best custom Android UI in the market now. The Oppo Reno 4 Pro as on this time of review, runs on Android 10 based Color OS 7.2 , though it is expected to be treated with the Android 11 based Color OS 11 shortly. I will update the review when the software updates kicks in to this phone.
On the features side, it is loaded with Game Space, App cloner, Smart sidebar and assistive ball feature for quick access of apps and tools, gesture and motion options including screen-off gestures, raise to wake, flip to mute incoming calls etc.
The in-display fingerprint sensor works like a charm and there is face unlock too. App lock and private safe features are also found.
Oppo Reno 4 Pro performance
There is a single variant of the Reno 4 Pro in India with a 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.1 storage. It also features dual-band Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.1, multiple satellite navigation systems but NAVIC is not there, and the usual suite of sensors. When it comes to the choice of SoC, Oppo has settled for the Snapdragon 720G, which is the only odd man out in an otherwise seemingly impressive read so far. There is no denying that, it is not a bad chipset, the competition offers a bit more firing power in this price segment. Again, it depends on what you would use the phone for.
On a day to day basis, on usual tasks, one will not have any issues regarding the performance, and it would be adequate enough. Thanks, to the optimized UI, the navigation feels snappier, and multi tasking also is good enough. Unless you are a hard core gamer, you will be at ease here playing Call of Duty like heavy games. And to the phone’s credit, I didn’t notice any sign of heating on extended gaming sessions. The single speaker gets decently loud and you also get Dolby Atmos enhancements.
Oppo Reno 4 Pro Battery
The Oppo Reno 4 Pro has a 4000mAh battery and in my usage, I could manage a little more than a day on a medium use. The star attraction here though is the 65W Super VOOC 2.0 fast charging. It charges the Reno 4 Pro up to 97 percent in flat 30 minutes, which is insanely fast. So even if you run out of battery juice, you can tank it up super fast.
Oppo Reno 4 Pro Camera
- Main camera: IMX586, 48MP, 1/2″, 0.8um
- Wide-angle Camera: Hi846, 8MP, 1/4″, 1.12um
- Macro Camera: OV02B10, 2MP, 1/5″, 1.75um
- Mono Camera: GC02M1B, 2MP, 1/5″, 1.75um
- Front: 32MP Selfie Cameraf/2.4 aperture
I took tons of photos on Reno 4 Pro, I showed them to others and the general consensus is that the photos are good. It tends to slightly over saturate but people seem to like that color render. The photos have a lot of detail.
Reno 4 Pro has a macro mode but it is hidden. While when you go up-close to the subject, it shows macro mode but it is basically the output from the 48 MP camera and not the actual macro camera. To get to the real macro mode, you need to get into the expert mode, tap on the two tree icon and it shows the macro mode. The selfies come out well with natural color tones. The edge detection is pretty good too.
There is video stabilization and it is implemented well. It works the best when you shoot 1080p at 60fps. 4K video is also available but you would find shutter rolling a bit when the camera moves around. Other modes include Slo mo, timelapse, pano and text scanner. Google lens is also integrated.
Oppo Reno 4 Pro Review Verdict
What works – The Pros
- Slim and light weight which is a rare find these days
- Premium feel and looks
- Gorgeous curved Super AMOLED display
- 90Hz refresh rate and 180hz touch sampling
- 65W Super VOOC 2.0 fast charging
- Decent camera
What could have been better – The cons
- Snapdragon 720G while it is good, the competition offers better on the plate
On a final note, Oppo Reno 4 Pro is a beautiful phone with a brilliant display and super fast charging capabilities, if you are not a hardcore gamer and want a lightweight phone with premium feel, the Reno 4 Pro might be an attractive choice.
