OPPO Reno 4 Pro (Global) Review: A Mid-Ranger in a Premium Outfit starting price
smartphone brand by volume. As the first phone brand under China’s BBK Electronics Group, OPPO has dominated the smartphone markets of China and parts of Asia throughout the 2010s. However, it remained alien to the majority of users in the West until its flagship, the OPPO Find X, caught the world’s attention in 2018 with its mechanically driven camera module. In the following year, i.e. 2019, OPPO announced the Reno series that underlined a healthy blend of style and performance. With quarterly updates, the OPPO Reno Series is already four generations old — even without including variations in Chinese and global models. It is commendable that OPPO has kept its pace despite the global pandemic and launched the OPPO Reno 4 and the OPPO Reno 4 Pro globally. The two Reno 4 series smartphones, especially the Pro, don a premium outfit despite mediocre components inside.
OPPO bundles the Reno 4 Pro’s ergonomically and aesthetically attractive design with a vibrant and fluid 90Hz Super AMOLED display and quirks such as 65W charging. The phone appears to be ideal for anyone who wants charming looks and reliable performance out of the smartphone but without high expectations for performance or gaming. The only challenge the smartphone faces is a high price that is comparable to flagship killers like the OnePlus 7T and Realme X2 Pro. Notably, OPPO unveiled the Reno 4 series in China before launching it globally, but those devices vary from the global variants considerably in terms of specifications.
OPPO Reno 4 Pro:
OPPO Reno 4 Pro Chinese and Global Specifications
Design
The OPPO Reno 4 Pro is extremely convenient to hold in hand, thanks to a slim structure. The curved edges of the back panel add to the ergonomics of the design. While the smartphone measures only 7.7mm in thickness, the tapered edges on the back and the display make it seem much slimmer.
The OPPO Reno 4 Pro comes in Starry Night and Silky White colors. The satiny surface on the back panel definitely feels like silk and justifies this naming. Although the Reno 4 Pro’s back gives the impression that it comprises frosted glass, it is made out of a premium-grade plastic. The use of plastic, as opposed to glass on the Chinese variant of the smartphone, results in a weight of only 161 grams. The lighter weight makes the phone easy to handle and really desirable — especially when most smartphone makers are actually tossing the aspect of usability out of the window and increasing the weight of their smartphones, stuffing them with more features.
Despite being made of plastic, the back feels durable and sturdy. Although sweat quickly deposits on the surface, it is not strikingly visible. At the same time, the body is also moderately resistant to scratches.
The camera array on the back of the OPPO Reno 4 Pro sits on top of a platform that is raised slightly. Unlike the rest of the back, this raised platform has a mirror finish. While this platform does not explicitly look like a camera bump, all four cameras protrude out individually, and that effectively is the same as a camera bump. The finish as well as the rings around the camera makes the Reno 4 Pro looks starkly similar to the iPhone 11 series, even despite the differences in the material.
Like the back panel, the side rails on the OPPO Reno 4 Pro are also made of a premium grade plastic material. The midframe is curved and tapered in the middle whereas it is flattened at the top and the bottom. The surface of the frame looks like ceramic but has a soft rubber-like feel to touch — even though it is made of a relatively rigid material. The power button, accented by a thin groove painted in shiny green color, lies on the right side of the frame. Separate buttons for volume up and down lie on the left side. The bottom features the mono loudspeaker, the primary microphone, a USB Type-C port, and a headphone jack (thank goodness!). On the top lies a secondary noise-canceling microphone alongside the inlet for the SIM tray.
Unquestionably, the OPPO Reno 4 Pro’s elegant design beats the style statement of most other mid-rangers. The handy and ergonomic build and peculiar eye-catching gloss over the back make the phone hard to resist, especially if looks are among the most essential features you desire in a smartphone.
Display
The OPPO Reno 4 Pro is equipped with a 6.5-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display that features a tiny hole-punch cutout for the selfie camera on the top left corner. The display has a screen-to-body ratio of ~92%, and the thin strips on the top and bottom of the display validate this.
As mentioned above, the slightly curved edges of the display make it easier to wield the smartphone without obstructing screen usage. The curvature along the edge, in addition to the light weight of the smartphone, facilitates stretching the thumb to the far edge of the display without any assistance from the other hand.
OPPO has big claims for the quality of the Reno 4 Pro’s display, starting with a peak brightness of 800 nits that increases up to 1100 nits for HDR content on YouTube. This trait allows OPPO to position the Reno 4 Pro among premium — and flagship killer — smartphones. While I do lack the proper equipment to verify OPPO’s claim, I can still confidently say that the Reno 4 Pro’s display shines bright against most odds, including bright sunlight hitting it upfront. Indoors, I have kept the brightness mostly around 25-30%, and anything brighter than that feels extreme on the eyes.
OPPO boasts about the display’s high contrast ratio of 5,000,000:1. In practical usage, the display visibly has deep blacks with a neutral white balance. Besides being cranked to a really high value, the display’s brightness can be reduced to much lower than competitors with Super AMOLED displays.
Additionally, OPPO also says that the display covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut in the Vivid mode. The display feels vibrant, thanks to sparkling colors, and offers a very pleasant viewing experience for movies or other video content. If you are not a fan of punchy colors, you can also switch to the standard mode for relatively duller colors that are gentle on the eyes
OPPO Reno 4 Pro: Battery & Charging
Helping the OPPO Reno 4 Pro endure through the day is a 4000mAh battery. What is extraordinary for the smartphone is its superfast 65W charging via OPPO’s proprietary SuperVOOC protocol, which as per official claims, can refill the battery in under 40 minutes.
Camera
The quad-camera setup on the back of the OPPO Reno 4 Pro consists of a 48MP primary camera, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera, a 2MP macro camera, and lastly, a 2MP mono camera. This camera array differs from the Chinese variant of the OPPO Reno 4 Pro that comes with a 48MP primary, 12MP ultra-wide-angle, and 13MP telephoto cameras alongside laser autofocus.
The 48MP primary camera uses the last year’s favorite Sony IMX586 sensor along with an f/1.7 aperture lens. The camera uses pixel-binning to capture images in 12MP by default but you can also switch to the 48MP mode for full resolution images. The 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera uses an f/2.2 aperture lens that helps capture a 119° wide field of view. The 2MP macro camera has a fixed focus and captures shoddy details and colors as compared to the primary camera. The Camera app automatically switches to this camera when you close in on any object but you cannot select this camera manually. Lastly, the 2MP mono camera is expected to improve the sharpness of the images.
On the front, the OPPO Reno 4 Pro features a 32MP selfie camera nestled inside the single hole punch cutout. Unlike the rear camera, the front camera captures images in full resolution without any pixel binning.
When it comes to videos, the OPPO Reno 4 Pro can capture 4K videos at 30fps or Full HD videos at up to 60fps. The smartphone also comes with an Ultra Steady OIS mode to stabilize videos, though it doesn’t make a lot of difference if you are moving fast.
OPPO Reno 4 Pro: Conclusion
The OPPO Reno 4 Pro definitely has a lot to offer — from its eye-candy and ergonomic design to the excellent display and the impressively fast charging. It is an elegant phone that is not centered around performance. But despite its mid-range processor, the Reno 4 Pro does not come across as deficient in any way. It is certainly proficient in being a worthy premium choice for non-gamers. The key areas of focus for this smartphone are entertainment and reliability.
Although the OPPO Reno 4 Pro has a pleasant and minimal exterior, the software experience it offers is quite the opposite. ColorOS still lacks the fluency you demand from a premium smartphone and has an incoherent user experience, especially when it comes to Google apps. If you can digest that, the OPPO Reno 4 Pro will be a suitable option for your needs.
Lastly, I wish OPPO released some of the more punchy colors variants globally as they did in China. This would have made the already aesthetically rich design even more exciting. You can buy the OPPO Reno 4 Pro in India for N216,000 (~$478).