Oppo Reno 12 Pro review: Feature-rich mid-range phone

Oppo earlier this month launched the new premium mid-range Reno 12 series phone in India.

The new Oppo phone comes in two variants-- a regular Reno12 and a top-end Reno12 Pro -- with prices starting at Rs 32,999 and Rs 36,999, respectively.

They feature similar design language and most of the hardware too is the same, but differ in terms of the photography features.

I spent a little over a week with the Reno12 Pro; here are my thoughts on the latest offering from the house of Oppo.

Design, build quality and display

The new Oppo Reno12 Pro flaunts a dual-tone design with a slim profile. The top part has a matte finish and the lower part has a smooth glossy finish. Also, a band with Oppo brand engraving runs horizontally across the back of the phone with a metallic finish.

. At the sides, the frame around the display is made of high-strength metal alloy. It offers a good grip for the fingers to hold onto the device.

Our review unit is a space brown colour variant. But, to the eyes, the device's colour closely matches burgundy, the deep reddish-brown shade of wine. The company also offers the device in a sunset gold variant.

. On the front, the device features a quad-curved display panel. It is guarded by Corning's Gorilla Glass Victus 2 series shield.

And, on top of the display, the company has fitted another plastic-based screen guard, ensuring the screen is scratch-free when kept in tight spaces such as pant pockets with metal articles like keys or coins.

There's more protection for the device. It comes with an IP65 rating, meaning it can survive accidental water splashes or even moderate rainfall while talking in rain outdoors. The openings of the devices including speakers, the USB-C port, and the SIM card tray, have been reinforced to make the phone even more waterproof.

. Oppo Reno12 Pro flaunts a gorgeous 6.7-inch full HD+ (2412 × 1080 pixels) quad-curved OLED display with 120Hz refresh rate and pixel density of 394 ppi (pixels per inch).

Indoors, it supports a peak brightness of 600 nits. It can reach maximum brightness up to 1,200 nits outdoors. The display's brightness is good enough to read news or messages, watch videos and play games without squinting outdoors under the shade. But, under direct sunlight, you have to take the phone's display a little closer to the face.

. The display also comes with a Splash Touch feature. Even if the screen has water droplets on it, the owner can still be able to use the keyboard on the screen to type messages or navigate through the phone using touch gestures without much hassle.

The device also features an in-display fingerprint sensor for security and an infrared sensor to control Internet-of-Things (IoT) gadgets at home. The biometric-based fingerprint sensor works smoothly without any issues as long the finger is clean and dry.

Performance

The new Reno12 Pro houses a 4nm class MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Energy edition octa-core processor with Mali-G615 MC2 GPU. It comes with 12GB LPDDR4X RAM with 256GB / 512GB UFS 3.1 storage (expandable up to 1TB).

During the review period, the device performed smoothly without any issues. The apps loaded faster and was able to switch between apps with ease.

Also, while playing Asphalt series gaming titles, the device did not show any sign of lag-ness as such.

Important aspect about the latest Reno 12 series is that they come with several generative Artificial Intelligence features. They are powered by Google's Gemini large language model (LLM). Depending on the type of tasks, gen AI features work on Gemini Nano and Ultra versions.

AI-generated summaries of audios, AI Studio (photography tool), it will make use of Gemini Ultra and needs an internet connection and sign up for an Oppo account. Both the features are good but have limitations. In India, the speech-to-text conversion supports only Hindi, English and other select international languages, and has a limit of 45,000 characters. I wish Oppo would bring more local languages and increase the character limits with future updates.

. The device runs on Android 14-based ColorOS 14.1. It comes with a lot of third-party apps, but they can be removed on the phone.

Another good thing about the device is that it is confirmed to get at least three years of Android updates.

And, the device will get an additional year of security software support up to 2028 for protection against emerging cyber threats.

Also, the base variant comes with 256GB. which is more than enough to install all the favourite apps and also be able to add thousands of images and videos in the storage.

With a 5,000mAh battery, it was able to consistently deliver more than a day's battery life under normal usage with a Wi-Fi connection. If you are fully dependent on the cellular network, the device may need a recharge in the evening.

For that, the company is offering an 80W SUPERVOOC flash charger. It can power up the phone from zero to 100 per cent under 46 minutes.

Photography

. The new Reno12 Pro houses a triple-camera module-- main 50MP (with 1/1.95-inch Sony LYT-600 sensor, f/1.8, OIS: Optical Image Stabilisation) with 8MP 112-degree ultra-wide camera (with Sony IMX355 sensor, ƒ/2.2) and 50MP 2x telephoto camera (with Samsung JN5 sensor, up to 20x digital zoom) with LED flash.

. It takes brilliant photos in all light conditions. The subjects particularly the colourful flowers look vibrant, a tad warmer than what they appear to the eyes. But, they look lovely and the phone manages to get all the details clearly, worthy to be shared on social media platforms.

Even the human faces look sharp in the frame.

. In night mode, as you can see in the sample photos, the phone does an amazing job of balancing the light coming from sources such as buildings and street lamps.

. Even indoors too, the Reno12 Pro aces the test with flying colours.

. With wide-angle mode, the phone can capture vast areas of the field without any artificial bending tricks to accommodate more things in the frame.

. The new Oppo Reno12 Pro supports several generative AI features such as AI Best Face, AI Studio app, AI Clear Face and more.

Oppo's AI Best Face is a really good value-added photography feature. It comes in handy when a person in a group photo is looking in another direction or his/her eyes closed. It can be altered to make the person look towards the camera or open eyes with minimal effort.

With AI Clear Face, it can enhance the beauty of the face in terms of skin smoothness. Also, it can turn blurred photo into clear, sharp, and prettier than the original photo.

. Also, the Oppo AI feature allows users can pick subjects from the photo frame and create a customised sticker to make the conversation more engaging on the messenger apps.

And, the AI Eraser 2.0 does an amazing job of removing unwanted objects or people from the frame without leaving any noticeable trace.

. On the front, it houses a 50MP (with Samsung JN5 sensor, f/2.0) for selfies and video calling.

. With AI Studio, users can turn their selfies into cartoon or superhero comic-like sketches and offer several fun templates such as beach, royal ethnic wear and more.

. Both the front and primary cameras on the back support 4K videos at 30 fps (frames per second). They are really good quality and stable too, on par with other rivals in its class.

Final thoughts

The new Reno 12 Pro is a really good mid-range phone. It excels in day-to-day performance, build quality and delivering a full-day battery life.

. Oppo AI features particularly in the photography segment, are good in almost all use cases. However, there is room for improvement in terms of summarising audio recordings.

Oppo Reno12 Pro comes in two variants-- 12GB RAM + 256GB storage and 12GB RAM + 512GB storage-- for Rs 36,999 and Rs 40,999, respectively.

.Oppo Find X7 Ultra review: Powerful premium phone with incredible camera. Get the latest news on new launches, gadget reviews, apps, cybersecurity, and more on personal technology only on DH Tech .

Oppo Reno 12 Pro review: Feature-rich mid-range phone

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