Oppo Reno 10 Pro review – nice portraits, good battery life
12.7.2023
Translation: Veronica Bielawski
The Oppo Reno 10 Pro’s strengths lie in its software. But gaming and streaming on it is also fun. And you get over 24 hours of battery life.
At just under 600 francs, the Oppo Reno 10 Pro lies in the mid-range. In practice, it’s clearly superior and has only minor snags. The recipe? Good and inexpensive components.
Chic design and good display
Of the two colours available for the Oppo Reno 10 Pro, the glossy purple is an eye-catcher. I like it. It’s bright and cheerful. The matt black, on the other hand, has a grippier back that’s less susceptible to fingerprints. The phone weighs 185 grammes and measures 162.3 × 74.2 × 7.89 millimetres. It fits nicely into my rather small hand. The Oppo Reno 10 Pro also offers IP54 protection against dust and water spray. While not amazing, it’s enough to get you through any unexpected rain.
Source: Michelle Brändle
The 6.7-inch AMOLED display with rounded edges has a resolution of 2412 × 1080 pixels and delivers bright colours and a dark black. Star 2 Cover Glass from the Japanese manufacturer AGC Dragontail protects the screen, with a robustness similar to that of Gorilla Glass 5.
The screen brightness reaches a maximum of 950 nits, which is bright enough to see well even in sunshine. It has a refresh rate of up to 120 Hertz. You can set it to 120 or 60 hertz, or have it automatically adapt to your usage.
Good hardware and lots of RAM
The Oppo Reno 10 Pro is equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 778 G, a two-year-old mid-range chipset. It’s comparable to Samsung’s Exynos 1380, found in the Galaxy A54. Although this latter is newer, it doesn’t perform much better in the benchmarks. Only in the multi-core test is Samsung higher by 271 points. On the flagship side, there’s the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, found in the OnePlus 11, for example. You can see a comparison of all three in the graphic to get an idea of just how big the differences are.
The Oppo is alright for a mid-range device, though it is a bit outdated. That’s why I want to see how it performs in everyday life. During my test, I was completely satisfied and found that the 12 gigabytes of RAM were more than enough.
The Oppo Reno 10 Pro gives you 256 gigabytes of memory. It can’t be expanded, but you do get an additional SIM card slot.
Using the 80-watt power adapter included, recharging the 4,600 mAh battery takes less than 30 minutes. This is really great! Admittedly, I do sometimes have to leave the house at short notice, only to realise I forgot to charge my phone. So, this charging speed comes in handy.
If you charge your phone overnight, it switches to optimised charging. The software remembers your usage times overnight and pauses charging at 80 per cent, resuming only as your usual wake-up time approaches. This way, your phone is still fully charged by the time your alarm rings, all while protecting the battery and extending its lifespan.
One full charge will last you just under 30 hours of regular use, including social media, listening to music and watching a bit of YouTube. The phone can even last an additional 24 hours with its super energy-saving mode.
Source: Michelle Brändle
ColorOS – individuality and an overview of your usage behaviour
The Oppo Reno 10 Pro runs Android 13 with the ColorOS user interface. Android updates are guaranteed for two years, security patches for three.
The phone comes with Google Play Services. The preinstalled apps include the usual junk such as Netflix, Spotify, Facebook and TikTok. Like on the predecessor model, the Oppo Reno 8, the TikTok app was optimised in cooperation with TikTok itself. Videos created within the app are not compressed, giving you the same quality as when you record regular videos with your phone.
Source: Michelle Brändle
You’ll find several features here that make using the smartphone easier. In the quick launch menu, which you can open using the fingerprint sensor, you can store up to five apps or utilities. You can access them by swiping upwards from the fingerprint sensor on the display when unlocking the phone.
Source: Michelle Brändle
Simple mode makes texts and symbols larger. With Kids Space, you can set a special home screen and limit screen time. Floating windows allows you to switch between apps faster.
Oppo Reno 10 Pro also serves as a universal remote control; it has an infrared transmitter. You can connect many devices using the IR Remote app on your phone – from TVs and DVD players to air purifiers and robot vacuum cleaners. I connected my SLR camera, which means I finally have a remote shutter button (at least for the period of my review).
Source: Michelle Brändle
ColorOS also lets you run riot in terms of aesthetics. The Oppo app that makes this possible is Theme Store, where you can download countless themes and fonts to use on your phone for free.
Source: Michelle Brändle
If you enjoy always-on displays, you can adjust the one on the Oppo Reno 10 Pro to your liking in the settings. You can create animated wallpapers and choose a time display and animated fingerprint sensor.
Source: Michelle Brändle
With the always-on display active, battery use will increase just a bit; it only turns on when you tap on the screen or move the phone. The Oppo Reno 10 Pro achieved a runtime of 30 hours with always-on display, with the phone’s energy-saving mode deactivating the feature automatically at 20 per cent battery.
Overall, I find ColorOS pleasant and user-friendly.
The camera does a good job
The Oppo Reno 10 Pro has three cameras on the rear module as well as a front-facing camera.
- Main camera: 50 megapixels. 1/1.56 inch sensor, f/1.8
- Ultra wide-angle camera: 8 megapixels, 1/4 inch sensor, f/2.2
- Telephoto camera: 32 megapixels, 1/2.74-inch sensor, f/2.2, 2x optical zoom
The depth of field can be adjusted with a digital aperture from f/1.4 to f/16.
- Front-facing camera: 32 megapixels, 1/2.74 inch sensor, f/2.4, 1080P / 30 fps video
On the main camera, you can record videos at up to 4K and 30 fps.
The main camera delivers a good result even under cloudy skies and at dusk. The images are slightly over-sharpened, but the colours look natural. In lower light conditions, the pictures look increasingly flat, though it’s something I only noticed on my computer screen.
Source: Michelle Brändle
Source: Michelle Brändle
Portraits turn out great on the Oppo Reno 10 Pro. I can adjust the depth of field when shooting or afterwards. For people with long hair – like me – the bokeh effect can look artificial. I manually adjust it down in this case. But I achieve good results overall in daylight and at night.
Source: Michelle Brändle
Source: Lorenz Keller
Source: Michelle Brändle
In general, night photos are fine. Night Mode brings out a bit more texture in photos in a natural-looking way. But the really dark parts remain hidden.
With the wide-angle lens, you get more on the picture, but the quality decreases a lot, as you get only eight megapixels. Details are less discernible, and shading is a bit too strong. Even good weather doesn’t bring about a better result.
The Oppo Reno 10 Pro’s telephoto lens produces good results with its dual-optical zoom. I don’t recommend using a zoom any higher than that. On the phone, 5x still looks halfway okay. But not so when you look at the photo on the computer, and it certainly doesn’t look good at the maximum 20x zoom.
Source: Michelle Brändle
Source: Michelle Brändle
Source: Michelle Brändle
Source: Michelle Brändle
The video quality looks perfectly fine on the smartphone and the colours are bright. However, panning looks choppy on the computer screen. The autofocus doesn’t always work either; I have to help out manually.
And for anyone hoping to capture the odd snippet of a concert (I say focus on enjoying the moment ;D), rest assured that the sound doesn’t crack. The fact that Axel Rose from Guns N' Roses sounds a bit outlandish isn’t due to the smartphone ;D. This video wasn’t recorded in 4K like the one above, but in the regular 1080P.
Good entertainment with the Oppo Reno 10 Pro
If you like watching movies, you’ll enjoy the Oppo Reno 10 Pro. The 2K resolution is enough to stream movies in Full HD, and colours are nicely displayed thanks to the good AMOLED screen. In addition, there’s an auto mode to provide the typical cinematic look with natural colours and warmer whites.
When it comes to sound, you’re a bit limited. In general, smartphone speakers tend to only be «acceptable» in terms of quality. And on the Reno 10 Pro, you get only one speaker – located at the bottom right. Depending on how I hold the smartphone, I end up accidentally covering it with my hand. Mind you, I also have this problem with my Oppo Find X5.
Source: Michelle Brändle
When gaming, I’m satisfied apart from the speaker output. More graphics-heavy games, such as Genshin Impact or GRID are slightly jerky on occasion. But the graphics quality is okay. Games requiring less graphics power – like Mahjong or Royal Crush – are displayed very nicely on the Oppo Reno 10 Pro.
Source: Michelle Brändle
A clear recommendation with minor drawbacks
The Oppo Reno 10 Pro is a good smartphone for just under 600 francs. For half the price of a flagship phone, you get close to flagship quality – with some minor compromises. Unfortunately, Oppo isn’t currently selling phones in Germany due to a legal dispute with Nokia.
The Oppo Reno 10 Pro’s beautiful AMOLED display is bright and produces vivid colours. Star 2 Cover Glass provides ample protection, albeit not flagship level. The chip offers solid performance – good enough for demanding games with minor restrictions in the graphics.
The camera on the Oppo Reno 10 Pro delivers sharp pictures with natural colours. It only shows minor weaknesses when it comes to the zoom and wide-angle lens. The battery is strong, lasting a good 30 hours with a charging time of just 30 minutes. The software allows for extensive customisation and a lot of creative freedom.
If you can live with the compromises, you’ll find yourself well equipped for the next few years with the Oppo Reno 10 Pro – though unfortunately only with two years of updates for Android and three years for security patches.
Header image: Michelle Brändle
In my world, Super Mario chases Stormtroopers with a unicorn and Harley Quinn mixes cocktails for Eddie and Peter at the beach bar. Wherever I can live out my creativity, my fingers tingle. Or maybe it's because nothing flows through my veins but chocolate, glitter and coffee.
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