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The Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G, which was released recently in South Africa, is the upgrade to last year’s Reno 8 Pro 5G. It looks very different to its predecessor, with a more protruding oval camera bump on the back.
If you are using the Reno 8 Pro, this shouldn’t be a concern, as you are not likely to upgrade after a year. But coming from an older device, Reno 10 Pro+ carries a R22 999 price tag, which could make it a difficult sell.
Add to that, the smartphone industry is stagnant. Apart from innovation being showcased among foldables, regular smartphone iterations offer faster chips, updated cameras, and sometimes a bigger battery, which isn’t as exciting for consumers.
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It is no surprise then that smartphone shipments globally have declined for eight straight quarters, according to Counterpoint Research. It says the global smartphone market is well past its rapid growth phase with consumer replacement cycles getting longer, convergence in device innovation, and the emergence of a more mature refurbished market.
So, what does the Reno 10 Pro+ offer consumers?
Key features on the Reno 10 Pro+ include a 64MP triple rear camera; a large battery with Oppo’s proprietary 100W SuperVooc fast charging; and a lightweight, slim design.
Our review unit came in the current trending shade of purple. It is a slim device at 8.28mm in thickness, weighing 194g, which fits easily into the hand. A plastic cover is included in the box, which protects the edge of the camera bump.
It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen1 chip, an Adreno 730 GPU, 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. Its predecessor featured a MediaTek chip, 8GB RAM and the same amount of storage.
The Reno 10 Pro+ was fast during testing; there was no lag between doing a bunch of tasks, like switching between multimedia-intensive apps, browsing, and using the camera.
This is due to the RAM expansion, which has 12GB as standard, but can leverage an additional 12GB from its 256GB storage capacity. Oppo says you can keep 41 apps open in the background.
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It has a 6.74-inch FHD+ AMOLED display, a 2770x1240 screen resolution with a 450 pixel per inch (PPI) density and a 120Hz screen refresh rate.
While most consumers don’t care about these figures, everything appears crisp, and transitions are smooth. You can choose to use it on the standard 60Hz or maximum 120Hz setting, though auto-select offers a good balance of optimising what you’re viewing and battery life.
A closer look at the cameras
One of the features being pushed by Oppo is the camera system, which is made up of a trio of a 64MP telephoto; 50MP wide-angle and 8MP ultra-wide angle. It supports 3x optical zoom and 120x digital zoom, though the latter is not recommended; and shoots videos in 4K.
The 64MP lens is great for bokeh shots, which lets you control the depth of field. I enjoyed capturing AI colour portraits where the background is black and white. The results were mostly good, except when it included a background person in colour, too.
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Something I noticed among Androids is it can be a struggle with capturing macro shots. The Reno 10 needed a few tries, but in all honesty, I only ever use this feature during testing.
The camera did well in low light, but for wide-angle shots, I preferred doing it during the day or outdoors, as some of the indoor ones show the 8MP quality, which can be grainy. Overall, the HDR shots are vivid and it is an excellent travel companion.
The rest of the specs
The battery capacity is large at 4700mAh, and it doesn’t matter if you forget to charge it or run out of power during the day because Oppo’s SuperVooc charging plug makes all the difference. A full charge to 100% takes 27 minutes; in the age of load-shedding, this is key.
It has an in-display fingerprint sensor, facial recognition, dual nano-SIM support, Bluetooth 5.3, WiFi 6, and NFC for contactless payments.
Interestingly, it is Oppo’s first smartphone with infrared support, which allows you to control devices like air conditioners and TVs.
Final thoughts
The Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G ups the ante with a powerful chip, a good camera and fast charging – we’re talking 50% battery life in a mere ten minutes if your phone is completely flat.
However, if you are forking out R22 999, know that it does not support eSIM or carry a waterproof rating, and is made from plastic. Plus, there is no expandable storage, but this seems to be an Android trend.
