OPPO Reno12 5G
RM2,199.00
Pros
- Tougher build
- Good AI features
- Good battery life
- 360-degrees NFC
- Camera is good too
Cons
- A bit pricey
Everyone is jumping on the AI bandwagon. We are going through the AI revolution and almost all tech companies and brands are building something with AI or with AI in mind. No doubt, AI is able to help us with making tasks simpler. With that being said, OPPO have recently launched their brand new AI featured smartphones, the OPPO Reno12 and Reno12 Pro. I had the opportunity to review and test out their brand new OPPO Reno12 5G and in this review, I will talk about my personal experience with the OPPO Reno12.
First Look and Design
I received the Matte Brown colourway for the OPPO Reno12 5G (not the pro version), and I think this is something different. Not many brands are making brown colourways for their smartphones but I sort of like this colour. The matte back panel with soft grainy texture feels nice and smooth, while the overall size is just right. It is slim and quite thin, making it feel a little smaller than others.
The display is a borderless 120Hz 3D curved screen and protected by Gorilla Glass 7i to provide that extra protection along with the aerospace-grade high-strength alloy framework. It looks good, and feels good. The front facing camera is located at the mid-top section of the display. Around the back, the three camera modules are stacked together on a rectangular bump that does not protrude as much.
There is also an under display fingerprint sensor for unlocking the device and it works great, although it is not as quick as some of the flagships that I have tried but it’s pretty accurate. The volume rocker and the power button is located on the right side while nothing much on the left side. At the top, there is also an IR blaster that enables the user to control IR compatible home appliances or devices at home such as the TV or air-conditioner. You can find the USB-C port, the SIM tray and the bottom firing speaker at the bottom. Before I forget, the OPPO Reno12 comes with a stereo speaker setup, which is a welcome feature that I like.
As for the display, the OPPO Reno12 comes with a 6.7” AMOLED display at 1080×2412 screen resolution at 20:9 ratio, hence why it feels slim when I hold it in my hand. The colour on the display is vibrant and punchy with good contrast overall.
The OPPO Reno12 comes with a 5000mAh battery with up to 80W SUPERVOOC flash charge. The battery can go up from 10% to 100% in just over 40 minutes during my test. And the battery can last me the whole day and still have some juice left on the second day. Not bad at all.
Performance and Daily Use
The OPPO Reno12 is powered by a custom made MediaTek Dimensity 7300-Energy for Reno devices and is built on a 4nm process. The SoC is said to be designed for the ultimate balance of power efficiency that features an octa-core architecture with four high performance A78 cores and four efficient A55 cores to ensure smooth performance with remarkably low power consumption. The SoC is supported by a base 256GB storage with 8GB of RAM, up to 512GB storage and 12GB of RAM. My review unit comes with 512GB storage and 12GB RAM.
On top of that, the new OPPO Reno12 is powered by the latest Android 14 with OPPO’s own ColorOS 14.1. ColorOS’s Trinity Engine pushes the Dimensity 7300-Energy platform for Reno smartphones to its pinnacle of power efficiency.
This advanced system-level solution integrates three custom-designed engines, meticulously managing computing resources, memory, and storage at the microarchitecture instruction level to enhance system fluidity and reliability. This behind-the-scenes technology is crucial to delivering the enduringly smooth performance that OPPO smartphones are known for.
CPU Vita leverages AI models to detect user scenarios and precisely allocate SoC resources, optimising power efficiency. This intelligent resource management ensures smooth, stable performance, enabling users to engage in various activities without rapidly depleting the battery.
OPPO’s exclusive RAM-Vita technology optimises RAM utilisation to accelerate app launch speeds and transitions. It maintains active background apps for an impressive 72 hours, ensuring your favourite apps are always ready to go. Additionally, ColorOS’s RAM Expansion feature can convert 12GB of storage into temporary RAM, providing an extra boost of performance when needed.
Completing the Trinity Engine suite is ROM-Vita technology. The latest version performs lossless compression on infrequently used apps and manages duplicate files, reducing unnecessary storage use and optimising overall performance and storage efficiency.
What I like most about the OPPO Reno12 is the 360-degree NFC feature. With its innovative NFC hardware design, the Reno12 no longer requires precise alignment when placed near an NFC reader. You can now hold your phone up to the reader in any direction, effortlessly transforming your Reno12 into a versatile all-in-one access card, travel card, bank card, and more!
OPPO Reno12 AI Features
Let’s talk about the AI features on the new OPPO Reno12 5G. There are a few AI powered apps and features that you can find on this device and I will talk about some of them. First of all, we have the AI Eraser 2.0.
AI Eraser 2.0
OPPO’s AI Eraser transforms fingertips into powerful tools capable of eliminating photobombers, lampposts, trash cans, or any other distractions, ensuring photos remain clean and distraction-free. Trained on billions of public domain images, AI Eraser utilises the Diffusion Model to provide an image eraser tool that rivals professional photo editing software.
In the newly updated AI Eraser 2.0, the effect of large-area removal in photos has been further enhanced, offering even greater freedom to remove unwanted objects. A specific feature has been added for removing unwanted passersby. With a single tap, the system automatically identifies people in the photo, allowing for their removal without manual selection.
Image recognition accuracy has also been improved in the updated version. With up to 98% recognition accuracy, the AI Eraser can automatically detect virtually any kind of object encountered in everyday situations.
AI Clear Face
When taking group photos with the front camera, the Reno12 can detect the number of people and automatically switch to an optimization mode. After capturing the photo, users can edit it in the album using the AI Clear Face feature, which enhances facial details such as contours, hair, and eyebrows for up to 10 individuals. Unlike traditional cloud-based editing, AI Clear Face leverages the AI processing power of the Reno12, providing on-device processing and editing in just 1.8 seconds. This approach enhances efficiency and ensures both user convenience and privacy.
AI Studio
AI Studio enables users to transform any photo of themselves into a personalised digital avatar or profile picture. Whether imagining oneself as a cowboy or the protagonist of a cyberpunk manga, AI Studio uses the latest GenAI technology to generate images in various styles, creating a unique digital persona. Additionally, users can share an HTML5 link to invite friends to participate in a group AI photo, enhancing interactivity and ensuring compatibility across different phone brands.
AI Recording Summary
The Reno12 introduces the AI Recording Summary feature in its Recordings app, simplifying the extraction of meaningful summaries from recorded meetings, interviews, or voice notes. These summaries are exported to the Notes app, where crucial information such as to-do lists, time, and locations are highlighted and formatted for easy reading.
AI Recording Summary is OPPO’s latest GenAI feature, powered by Google’s Gemini. It supports speech-to-text conversion in Chinese, English, and Hindi, with a capacity of up to 45,000 characters. Plans are in place to support additional languages in the future.
Camera and Photography
OPPO has been known for its ability to capture awesome portrait photos and that hasn’t changed with the new OPPO Reno12. Portrait shots are still as good, if not better. I do feel that the new camera system worked better for overall photography and it can compete with some of the mid-range smartphones out there.
The Reno12’s main camera is equipped with a Sony LYT-600 sensor featuring All Pixel Omni-Directional PDAF and Optical Image Stabilization (OIS). This advanced sensor ensures faster and more stable focusing, consistently producing crystal-clear photos. The OPPO’s Flash Snapshot feature now offers more nuanced adjustments of the shutter speed based on ambient light levels, further enhancing image quality.
The Portrait Mode leverages in-sensor zoom technology on its high-resolution 50MP Sony LYT-600 sensor, delivering optical-quality portraits at 2x digital zoom. This feature ensures ideal composition for capturing striking portraits that rival the quality of professional cameras.
As for the selfie camera, it boasts an impressive 32MP resolution and supports both autofocus and Portrait Mode. Users can switch between 0.8×, 1×, and 2× zoom levels to frame the perfect shot. The camera allows for precise and natural adjustments to features such as face shape, hairline, and cheekbones, enhancing the overall quality and customization of selfies.
Let’s take a look at the photography samples from the OPPO Reno12 camera in the gallery below:
Outdoor shots are awesome. Colours are accurate and the level of detail is just right. HDR worked well in outdoor shots and I really enjoyed taking these shots. As for indoors, it still performs well with good details and colours. Low lights and night shots are good too. I don’t see any “noise” on any of low light photos, which is good.
Close-up shots are good too. The auto-focus was quick and the image quality is above my expectations. Colours are still punchy with well balanced contrast. Selfies worked great too. I can see good details on my face without looking too fake with any post-processing “enhancements”, like filters. The normal selfie and the portrait mode selfie are both well executed.
So I would give a good remark on the OPPO Reno12’s camera. The overall photography performance is up to my standards. I would definitely use it again.
Conclusion
The New OPPO Reno12 5G is an awesome mid-range device for those seeking a change. The available AI features are top-notch for an entry to AI on a smartphone. I particularly like the AI Recording Summary feature as I usually attend meetings that require me to write a summary. All I have to do is simply record the audio and the AI feature will transcribe the audio into text seamlessly. I think they still need to tweak the software a little more to make it perfect as I find the transcribed texts had a little hit and miss at times. Overall, it worked great.
As for the performance and daily use, the OPPO Reno12 is a great device. Multitasking is flawless, battery life is awesome, and it can handle heavy tasks with ease. The Dimensity 7300-Energy is a good SoC in my opinion. And there is much to love about this new chipset. It’s quick and energy efficient, great for gaming as well. Alas, I don’t have much time to explore its gaming capabilities but I believe it can perform really well.
If you’re thinking of purchasing the new OPPO Reno12 5G, it is available right now on OPPO’s official website and it’s retailing for RM2,199.00. Get yours at: https://www.oppo.com/my/product/oppo-reno-12-5g.P.P1000694
