OPPO Reno 6 5G is the entry-level model in the series.

OPPO Reno 6 5G is the entry-level model in the series. The smartphone slightly looks like iPhone. It comes with a unique Reno Glow housing, a display with high refresh rate. The most attractive feature is its fast charger. This charger allows you to fully charge the battery in 30 minutes. However, it has components which are not very impressive. Considering all this I think the price is little bit high?

The Price of Oppo Reno 6 is Rs. 63000/- in Pakistan. 

Packaging and accessories

Inside the box, your will find a 65 W fast charger, a USB cable (USB-A to USB-C), a transparent, silicone case, a pin for opening the SIM card tray and wired headphones with a USB-C connector. It is worth adding that a protective film is attached to the screen at the factory.

Construction and Screen

The design of the Reno 6 is unique. The color of the panel is Artic blue which give the panel a look of the frozen sheet of ice. Oppo has named this pattern ‘Reno Glow’. The panel surface has been designed in a such a way that you will not see finger prints on the casing, and the smartphone is more resistant to scratches.

The smartphone itself weighs 182 grams and in terms of size it is a handy, though angular device. 

The 6.43-inch flat screen has Full HD + resolution, which gives 410 pixels per inch. This is an AMOLED panel, so we get deep blacks, saturated colors and excellent contrast. The colors are pretty cool – the white is a bit blue – but this can be changed in the settings (white balance and vivid or soft color mode). The brightness level allows for comfortable use of the device both at night and on a sunny day. Let’s not forget about the higher refresh rate – we have 90 Hz here, which may not be the highest value available, but it is a good compromise between getting a noticeably smoother interface without exposing the battery to excessive consumption. It is a pity that there is no adaptive mode that would automatically select the frequency due to what is actually displayed on the screen. It is worth adding that the smartphone supports HDR10 and Widevine L1, it also supports the OSIE (OPPO Screen Image Engine) technology, which has an intelligent adjust the colors to the displayed content.

The screen is protected by a sheet of Corning Gorilla Glass 5, and the display is surrounded by narrow frames – the bottom of which is noticeably the thickest. In total, the screen takes up approx. 90% of the front panel. Its symmetry is disturbed by the hole in the upper left corner where the selfie camera is placed. On the border of the upper frame and the metal edge, we can see the speaker slot for conversations. In the lower part of the screen there is a fingerprint scanner – at the right height and fast and effective in operation. It is worth adding that the smartphone can be easily used while wearing glasses with polarization.

You will not notice any dirt or fingerprints on the back panel – this is due to the specifically finished housing (including colored foil, reflective nanolaminate and indium coating). However, this does not change the fact that it is quite slippery. The manufacturer placed his logo here, and also printed mandatory certifications and markings – fortunately, they are not too conspicuous.

The photo module landed in the upper left corner – it protrudes about 1.5 mm above the housing and has a color corresponding to the color of the panel – although with a different finish There are three cameras, and they are accompanied by a color temperature sensor and a LED flash. You can see that the manufacturer did not try to expose this module, but rather camouflages it neatly

The Oppo Reno 6 5G frame is metal, which you can immediately feel when you pick up the phone. The edges of the phone are flat, slightly cut at the edges and interrupted in places by antenna strips. Thanks to this angularity, the whole thing takes on an elegant character. On the right side there is a screen on / off button with a green color accent, on the bottom there is an external speaker, a USB-C port, a microphone opening and a tray for two SIM cards. On the left side there is a separated volume control, and on the upper edge – a microphone hole for noise reduction. The buttons are metal and quite shallow, but in practice I had no problem with feeling and using them. There are no old school elements such as a 3.5 mm mini-jack connector and a memory card slot.

System and Applications

The smartphone works with ColorOS 11, based on Android 11, with the security update of August 5, 2021. There is some bloatware here (including Amazon Shopping, Booking.com, Facebook, LinkedIn, Prime Video, TikTok) but unnecessary applications can be uninstalled without any problems.

The software is extensive and refined in practically every aspect. In addition, it gives a lot of possibilities in terms of personalizing the device – you can choose the appearance of the AoD screen, change the icons, theme color and animation when touching the fingerprint scanner. There is also edge lighting, a game space, a sidebar for quick access to applications and specific functions.

Sound

The loudspeaker is single and is placed on the bottom edge. It emits a sound to the side, not towards the user, and it is easy to cover it with your finger while holding the device in a horizontal orientation. In terms of sound, the smartphone is moderately loud, gives the correct sound, albeit with a predominance of medium and high tones, and works well when using YouTube or watching series. Even so, Reno 6 5G would benefit if it offered a stereo system that has competition in the same price range. It is a pity there is also no universal headphone jack here. But at least, as a sake, the manufacturer included headphones with a USB-C connector in the set.

In terms of sound, the smartphone will not impress with its equipment, but there is support for Dolby Atmos technology. The producer for playing music has also pre-installed the company’s application and YouTube Music here.

Photos and videos

The triple camera houses three sensors, which are to meet the photographic aspirations of amateurs of mobile photography. The main camera with the OmniVision 64B sensor has 64 MP and a lens with f/1.7 brightness. It is supported by an 8 MP camera with an f/2.2 ultra wide-angle lens (120 degrees) and a 2 MP macro camera with f/2.4 aperture. It’s a good set, although – taking into account the price range – I expected something more. The smartphone can also record video in 4K quality at 30 fps and Full HD at 60 fps. What’s more, for Full HD resolution, electronic image stabilization works, there is also a special mode that improves stabilization (however, it involves cropping the image).

Sample photos taken with the phone look very good, with the appropriate level of detail and sharpness, and natural colours. At high magnification, while viewing the photos on the monitor screen, we notice that the photos tend to be soft, a bit blurry – but this is a feature of the camera, not its disadvantage. By default, they are 16 megapixels, but you can force a resolution of 64 megapixels – you gain a bit of detail but lose brightness. Daytime photos look great, have the right dynamics and efficient HDR. Focusing is instant, or you can use the 2x zoom, which is a digital zoom (there is also a 5x and 10x zoom, but it’s not worth using them). But nowadays rarely any smartphone can not cope with photos in good lighting – worse conditions and photos after dark are a real challenge.

On the other hand, night shots look average, especially in terms of photo detail and white balance. Compared to the camera, the main photos also lack contrast. The night mode (for the main and ultra-wide-angle cameras) slightly improves the quality of photos – it de-noises them and strengthens the contrast, although you need to maintain a stable position for a few seconds. But don’t expect above-average results anyway.

Photos from a camera with an ultra-wide angle lens in good conditions are rather average, but have a noticeably weaker quality, different colors and are darker than the photos from the main camera. There is also a 2 MP macro camera – something that frequently appears as a clog in cheaper smartphones. However, in a model for over 2,000 I would prefer something more useful, such as a telephoto lens.

Oppo Reno 6 5G offers generally correct photos – but doesn’t really stand out in terms of photography in its price shelf.

The camera application is powerful and intuitive to use. The most important switches and modes are at hand, there is artificial intelligence that helps in selecting the optimal settings for the photo, there are color filters – that is, what an application to operate the camera should have. The video recording modes currently available only to Oppo, i.e. the movie portrait mode, deserve special attention.

We have a 32 MP camera with f/2.2 brightness for selfies. It gives good looking photos with good detail and fairly correct background blur for portrait photos. By default, it is better to be careful with the beautification mode, which likes to smooth the face excessively, giving an effect that is far from natural.

Communication. Voice calls

The set of connectivity options is complete – as befits a mid-range device. It includes Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax (with hotspot and Wi-Fi Direct), Bluetooth 5.1 module (with aptX, aptX HD, LDAC, AAC codec support), there is NFC for contactless payments, while in terms of geolocation, we have GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou and QZSS systems. None of the mentioned modules caused problems in everyday work, and navigation both in the city and outside it was reliable. There is a USB-C port (USB 3.1, OTG) from the physical connectors.

The smartphone supports 5G networks and supports two SIM cards. You can easily configure the default card for connections and data transfer. The quality of calls itself is a plus – everything is heard loud and clear.

Memory and performance

The smartphone offers 128 GB of memory – in practice about 106 GB for the user. If this is not enough space for files and applications, cloud solutions remain – in Reno 6 5G you cannot mount a memory card. It should also be noted that this is UFS 2.1 storage, not the newer and faster version of UFS 3.0.

The new, mid-shelf Mediatek Dimensity 900 processor, which has two ARM Cortex-A78 cores clocked at 2.4 GHz and six ARM Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2 GHz, is responsible for the speed and smoothness of work. This processor can be found in smartphones cheaper than Reno 6, such as Honor X20 or Honor 50 SE. In this price range I would expect at least Dimensity 1200. However, the processor is supported by Mali-G78 graphics and 8 GB of RAM (expandable by 2.3 or 5 GB).

Everyday – as well as in more resource-hungry applications – Reno 6 5G is at the level we expect from a solid mid-range. Multitasking is not a problem, switching between applications takes place without delay, and the device can also handle more demanding games (although you have to bear in mind that it will not satisfy the most demanding players). Rather, it sticks to lower graphics settings – you can change them to a higher one, but then the smoothness of the work will suffer. As shown by benchmarks and everyday use, there is no problem with throttling, and when playing (e.g. Asphalt 9 or Genshin Impact) the smartphone gets warmer, but not to such a level that using it becomes uncomfortable.

Battery

The energy for operation is provided by a battery with a capacity of 4300 mAh (basically two batteries with a capacity of 2150 mAh). For a smartphone with Chinese roots, it is a relatively unimpressive value – other manufacturers from the Middle Kingdom provide cells from 4500-5000 mAh as standard. But it does translate into good working times. It will easily survive a full day of intensive work or 2 days when we use a smartphone more sparingly.

•    lifetime with the screen on (YouTube, 1 SIM card, active Wi-Fi module, 50% screen brightness, minimum sound level) – 19 hours and 5 minutes;

•    result in PC Mark battery test – failed to complete the benchmark 3 times (unknown application error);

•    Geekbench result (full discharge, dim screen) – 9060 points, discharge after 15 hours and 6 minutes;

•    an hour of video streaming (Chrome, 1 SIM card, active Wi-Fi module, 50% screen brightness) – 7% battery less;

•    an hour of playing videos from the phone’s memory (airplane mode, system player, 50% screen brightness) – 6% battery less;

•    half an hour of using online navigation – 7-8%, battery less;

•    half an hour of playing Real Racing 3 – 8% battery less;

•    8 hours in standby mode – 1-2% less battery.

Chinese producers put a lot of emphasis on fast charging – the charging power increases, and the time in which we get a 100% filled cell is getting shorter. In the case of Oppo Reno 6 5G we are dealing with a 65W charge – and in practice a fully charged battery in just 30 minutes. After 15 minutes we will see 65%, the next quarter of an hour and the state of charge reaches 99%. The last percent is the slowest – but it’s a matter of about 5 minutes to get 100%. Unfortunately, there is no wireless charging here, which would look very good in the specification of a smartphone from this price range.

Summary

Oppo Reno 6 5G is a great smartphone with a design that makes it stand out from the crowd of other mid-range devices. It offers high performance and ensures smooth operation in all applications, the interface offers a lot of options to customize the phone to your liking, and the battery not only provides good working times, but can be recharged in as little as half an hour.

You can complain about some shortcomings – there is no headphone jack or support for microSD cards, cameras could be better, there is no stereo speakers or wireless charging. The last thing is the price – 499 euros is a lot considering what the competition offers. The middle shelf is very crowded and very competitive. Manufacturers use a similar specification, so ultimately the fight for buyers’ wallets is based on the right price. Chinese producers can really aggressively price their flagship products, but clearly Oppo is not one of them. And although the smartphone itself is recommendable, it is better to wait until it is cheaper. Because with what it offers, cheaper alternatives can be found.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

•    back panel texture (Reno Glow), anti-fingerprint and scratch resistant

•    elegant (slightly iPhone-like) look of the phone (flat screen and cut edges)

•    lots of options in the field of ColorOS personalization

•    AMOLED display with high screen refresh rate

•    well-working biometric security features: subscreen fingerprint scanner and facial recognition

•    unusual video modes

•    satisfactory performance and no throttling

•    expandable RAM

•    good working times

•    65W instant charge

•    strong charger, case and headphones included

•    RAM memory expansion up to 5 GB

Cons:

•    the price should be lower

•    no telephoto lens – instead there is a popular clog, i.e. a 2MP macro camera

•    not very impressive internal memory capacity

•    night shots could be better

•    no OIS on camera

•    single speaker

•    not dust- or waterproof

•    no wireless charging

•    without 3.5mm mini-jack and microSD card support