OPPO Reno6 5G Review – This is your budget iPhone 12, read why

Hands down Oppo Reno series is one of the finest lineups of devices when it comes to design. The Reno6 series is a lineup of affordable flagship-grade smartphones that pack in a lot of beef in terms of specifications and performance. Be it the Dimensity 900 SoC or the 65W fast charging tech or the impressive design

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Oppo Reno6 5G is excitingly impressive on many fronts. I got my hands on the 5G unit (4G unit is different) of Reno6 and here’s what I have found out after using the phone for more than a week as a daily driver.

Oppo Reno6 5G is available in India via Flipkart. Simply watch in on Flipkart, search for Stellar Black or Aurora Oppo Reno6 5G and there you have it. The price tag on this unit is Rs 29,990/- at the time of writing this. You can use the Exchange option to get up to Rs 24,590/- off on eligible changes, there’s 5% unlimited cashback on using Flipkart Axis Bank CC among other deals and discounts. The phone is available in just one trim i.e. 8GB+128GB  even when a higher 12GB RAM variant is available outside India too.

Before we talk in detail about the Oppo Reno6 5G let’s see what the on-paper specs look like?

• Display: 
• Processor: 
• Storage: 
• Software: 
• Rear cameras: 
• Front camera: 
• Battery: 
• Weight: 
• Dimensions: 

What would you do if you want an iPhone 12 but don’t have a budget for it? Well, Reno6 5G is an awesome choice although with some trade-offs in terms of specs and performance. Talking about the design which is the concern here, the Reno6 5G has a boxy design. It is much similar to iPhone 12 or iPhone SE 2020 that looks flamboyant. It is a major change from the usually curved side panels since Reno6 5G has flat sides.

Also Read: Should you buy iPhone 12 in 2021?

The phone feels like holding a thin square slab and with its anti-glare and smudge-free front and rear panel, it gets an edge over its rivals. Yes, the back panel which uses an iridescent effect thanks to what Oppo calls “Reno Glow”, is smudge-free and doesn’t let fingerprints stick on it.

Reno6 is well-balanced and feels good holding it at just 182 grams which is far better than its siblings. Plus, the phone is a tad bit smaller than the Pro variant thereby enhancing its one-handed usability.

Oppo hasn’t used any sort of water resistance at least officially. Irrespective of its water or splash resistance to some degree, I don’t recommend trying it out unless you have a good reason for it or if it was accidental.

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The rear camera bump is clearly reminiscent of the Reno series and pops up considerably higher than the back panel. It also means it will wobble if you place the phone face up on a flat surface. But luckily, Oppo hasn’t painted the back panel with large insignia or any unwanted elements as the back panel is minimalistic and with the majestic Reno Glow to it.

When it comes to ports and buttons, you get a bottom-firing speaker, a primary mic, a USB-C 3.1 slot, and a SIM card slot at the bottom. You get a tactile power button on the right which is flat as well. There’s a volume rocker on the left. That’s all you get with the Oppo Reno6 5G.

At the front, there’s a giant display with tiny bezels on the edges. There’s a punch-hole cut-out on the top-left corner and the chin is considerably tiny as well.

The premium mid-ranger Oppo Reno6 5G sports an AMOLED 90Hz display with a 6.43-inch screen size diagonally with a 1080×2400 pixels resolution with a 20:9 aspect ratio and a 109 PPI density. There’s a Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on top of it.

The front fascia is equipped with a 6.43-inch display as mentioned above and it is solid. The front camera doesn’t obstruct the viewing experience. It is AMOLED afterall which means it has punchy colours, inky blacks, and brighter blacks as some of the characteristics. Oppo Reno6 5G arrived with an OSEI toggle that upscales SDR content to HDR for a better viewing experience. Moreover, the display is HDR10 supported along with HLG and Widevine L1 support that allows it to stream content in HDR resolution on OTT platforms including Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Do Check Out: AMOLED Vs OLED: Which is Better and Why?

The display has a 90Hz refresh rate. However, it is ultra-smooth and so well-optimized that you could easily mistake it for a 120Hz panel. Perhaps it’s a major improvement for those coming from a standard 60Hz refresh rate since a 90Hz panel is 50% faster. The panel offers an excellent contrast ratio, the brightness is sufficient for outdoor viewing without performing gymnastics with your eyes trying to wiggle your way to read text on the screen on a bright sunny day.

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Reno6 5G has an eye-care mode as well as various dark mode toggles to check out for. Overall, the viewing experience on a huge unobstructed display is fruitful for those who love binging movies and videos and/or playing games.

Oppo Reno6 5G is paired with a MediaTek Dimensity 900 5G SoC which is different from the 4G-based Snapdragon 720G. The octa-core chipset is built on a 6nm fabrication method and with a max 2.4GHz frequency in a dual-cluster Cortex-A78 and Cortex-A55 arrangement. The storage system used on Reno6 5G is a UFS 2.1 with 128GB and 256GB storage options while the 8GB and 12GB of RAM options.

Reno series of smartphones usually get a MediaTek processor although there are those with Snapdragon chipsets as well. Oppo Reno6 5G belongs to the first half with a Dimensity 900 SoC under the hood. When it comes to scores, the chipset scored 425,094 points on AnTuTu where Nord 2 with Dimensity 1200 SoC scored 611,498 and Realme X7 Max scored 708,871. The reason behind comparing Reno6 5G with these two phones with a different chipset altogether is to dictate that the price tag is almost the same but there’s a huge gap in performance.

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Oppo Reno6 5G is fluid and responsive no doubt. You won’t see any lag whatsoever be it launching and toggling between multiple apps here and there. It’s gaming where the chipset is originally tested for its performance by a lot of reviewers. When I played BGMI (or PUBG Mobile), gaming ad High FPS and HD graphics ran super smooth. The HRR cannot help here but the chipset did handle the game maintaining stable fps. Asphalt 9 is available with High Graphics while COD Mobile can be played on High FPS and Medium Graphics for a wholesome gaming experience.

I wouldn’t say the chipset is unwise but Oppo should’ve gone for a better chipset like the Dimensity 1000 and above. Dimensity 900 SoC is just a bit above the budget-friendly chipsets so the performance can take a hit at times.

Oppo Reno6 5G arrives with Android 11-powered ColorOS 11.3 and with this OS, Oppo and OnePlus have merged their codebase. It is unknown if some features from OnePlus made it to Reno6 5G at the time of writing this but I do believe future updates could bring some chops from one of the best UI to ColorOS 11. Meanwhile, you have a lot of features to use including Smart Sidebar, Conversation Bubbles, Floating Window, Google Discover, Improved Dark Mode, and so on. The phone will get its hands on Android 12-powered ColorOS 12 a well.

With the Oppo Reno6 5G, I am talking about a triple rear and a single front shooter. This includes a 64MP primary camera at the rear with PDAF, f/1.7 aperture; an ultrawide snapper with 8MP shooter with 119-degree FoV, f/2.2 aperture; and finally, a 2MP macro sensor with f/2.4 aperture. You get a 32MP front wide-angle sensor with f/2.4 aperture which is a downgrade from the 44MP snapper used with the 4G variant.

Reno6 5G packs in a 64MP primary sensor that captures high-quality shots in the daytime. I found out that the shots had accurate colours and a high dynamic range. You can capture UHD resolution of photos and crop as you go forward. Apparently, even a 10x zoom would result in shots with text that are readable. You can go all the way to 10x digital zoom and still retain some details although 2x zoom is appropriate for better details. You can extend to its full 64MP resolution or check super-stretched out 108MP mode on Reno6 5G.

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You can go for quality night-time shots using a dedicated night mode. It does take some time though but you get good shots depending upon the availability of light in a low-light mode.

There’s an 8MP ultrawide snapper with a 119-degree FoV. It does have softer colours, edge distortion is apparent although it is minimal at this point, and overall, the colour science isn’t as matured as the primary camera. You can use night mode on the ultrawide snapper as well which bores favourable results although not too detailed.

When it comes to the 2MP macro sensor, it is supposed to take you closer to the object capturing intricate details. However, it is, at the end of the day, limited to 2MP and thus, lacks quite a lot in terms of quality, clarity, and detail. You can take average shots during the day, however, low light photography is simply below average.

The selfie camera mounted on Oppo Reno6 5G lets you capture quality selfies. Night mode, on the other hand, grabs quality shots surprisingly, although it takes some time to capture shots. The front camera uses beautification mode which tends to soften skin texture which is something I really don’t like. You can turn off AI beatification if you want the camera to preserve facial features though. Edge detection for portrait shots is average and may take a few hits and misses combined.

Oppo Reno6 5G is shipped with a meaty 4,300 mAh battery pack under the hood. It is more than average and offers a day of battery backup of moderate to heavy usage. This including gaming cameras, calling, browsing the internet, and so on. You can easily end up with a day and a half of the backup on light to moderate usage with the Reno6 5G.

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Reno6 5G arrives with a superfast 65W fast SuperVooC charging tech. This ends the anxiety that the battery would drain sooner as it literally fills the battery in just 30 minutes approx. A mere 10 minutes of charge would give you 3-4 hours of calling and movie-watching time for perspective.

Oppo Reno6 5G is fitted with a single bottom-firing loudspeaker. No doubt this sounds bad since Oppo should’ve included a stereo speaker setup instead. However, the bottom-firing loudspeaker is as loud as it can be producing HD sound quality for immersive gaming and media experience. Its position is such that it produces muffled sound if your case blocks the speaker for some reason but that’s fairly normal for any mono speaker setup.

Reno6 5G doesn’t have a 3.5mm headphone jack which is sad, however, at least you get a USB-C earphone with the smartphone for music and more. It is Oppo’s way of not letting its customers left in the dry.

Oppo Reno6 5G has a USB Type-C 3.1 storage which is an upgrade over USB-C 2.1 used on the 4G variant. There’s a GPS on-board that counts QZSS, Galileo, BDS, Glonass, and A-GPS as supported systems. You get dual-band Wi-Fi 6 as well. Unfortunately, there’s no 3.5mm headphone jack and NFC either.

Talking about the network reception, Vi 4G performed really good and since Jio 4G has magically improved its cell towers and network reception across India, using Jio 4G on Reno6 5G was a great experience. Call drops aren’t much and cellular connectivity and sound quality are good as well. VoIP calls over WhatsApp, Zoom, and Instagram among others are excellent too.

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For authentication, you have an in-display fingerprint scanner and facial recognition or face unlock method. Both the methods are attuned to unlock faster and are two modes of authentication under biometrics. The FPS is any day better than the face unlock since the latter is 2D software-based and can be fooled in some cases. You have the usual soup of PIN and Pattern lock as well.

Pros 

• 90Hz refresh rate display
• MediaTek 900 SoC
• Superfast 5G connectivity
• 64MP triple-rear camera
• 32MP excellent selfie camera
• 65W fast charging support

Cons 

• No wireless charging
• No dust and water resistance
• No provisions for memory expansion