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Introduction and specs
The Reno8 series has been out in China for almost two months now, but this is the first time the Reno8 and the Reno8 Pro step outside of their home country. The global versions of the handsets are slightly different from their Chinese counterparts, although the changes are rather negligible.
The focus of this review would be the vanilla Reno8, and it swaps out the depth sensor on the Chinese version for a full-fledged camera - an 8MP ultrawide one, to be exact. The rest of the specs are pretty much identical.
The handset features a bright 6.43-inch 90Hz OLED panel, which would most likely attract users looking for something more compact because, let's face it, 6.43" in 2022 is in the lower size range. Being small doesn't mean being small on features, though. The Reno8 runs on a very potent Dimenstiy 1300 SoC and has two standout cameras.
Oppo Reno8 specs at a glance:
- Body: 160.6x73.4x7.7mm, 179g; Gorilla Glass 5 front, plastic back and side frame.
- Display: 6.40" AMOLED, 90Hz, 430 nits (typ), 600 nits (HBM), 800 nits (peak), 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 411ppi.
- Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 1300 (6 nm): Octa-core (1x3.0 GHz Cortex-A78 & 3x2.6 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G77 MC9.
- Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
- OS/Software: Android 12, ColorOS 12.1.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 23mm, 1/1.56", 1.0µm, multi-directional PDAF; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.2, 16mm, 112˚, 1/4.0", 1.12µm; Macro: 2 MP, f/2.4.
- Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.4, 23mm (wide), 1/2.74", 0.8µm.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS.
- Battery: 4500mAh; Fast charging 80W, 1-50% in 11 min, 1-100% in 28 min (advertised), Reverse charging.
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); NFC.
Oppo is particularly proud of using Sony's 50MP IMX766 sensor as the main shooter, which is fairly large- 1/1.56" and offers 1.0µm pixels. On the front, the Reno8 carries an Oppo-exclusive 32MP IMX709 sensor with an RGBW filter allowing for an improved selfie performance. That's one of the phone's selling points, after all. It's important to note, though, that the Reno8 Pro has the same exact camera setup, so if the camera performance is your main priority, the Reno8 would probably do while being significantly cheaper than the Pro.
The vanilla option also doesn't skip the blazing-fast charging. The same 4,500 mAh battery supports 80W SuperVOOC charging protocol from Oppo, although countries with 110V power grids can get only 66W out of the same brick.
It's probably worth noting that the Oppo Reno8 is almost identical to the OnePlus Nord 2T. The main difference between the two is the design and the OS. OnePlus' OxygenOS is still somewhat cleaner than Oppo's ColorOS, so it strongly depends on one's personal preferences towards Android skins.
So in a sense, this review can be used as a reference when looking for OnePlus Nord 2T-relevant information. Most, if not all, of the results from our tests, would be applicable to some extent.
Unboxing the Oppo Reno8
The Oppo Reno8 ships in a standard box containing all the usual user manuals along with the corresponding 80W SuperVOOC charger and a USB-A to USB-C cable.
Oppo has included an extra case for the phone, which is transparent, so it doesn't conceal the overall design. And it's a great option until you find a case that fits you best.
Design and build
As it's usually the case, the Reno8 features an unorthodox, slick design. It's not something crazy or outside of the box, but Reno phones' design always stands out. The Reno8, for example, ditches the glass sandwich scheme and replaces the chassis with a unibody design. The front is still protected by Gorilla Glass 5, though.
The back panel and the side frame are one piece. There's no separate camera module on the back either - it's integrated with the back piece with smooth curves. There are also two metal rings for the main and ultrawide cameras sticking out and two smaller cutouts for the macro camera and the LED flash. The latter two lie flush with the back panel.
And although the back panel is made entirely out of plastic, the frosted finish seems to be getting pretty close to the matte glass feel. We got the Shimmer Black option, which looks like there's a little glitter on it at certain angles. The best part is that the surface is indeed fingerprint resistant. You can barely spot the smudges, and only if you look close enough. Your experience may vary with the Shimmer Gold option, keep that in mind.
Despite being unorthodox, the Reno8 follows a recent design trend and went for a boxier feel and look. The side frame is flat, with sharp edges connecting with the front and back panels. Some may find the sharper edges pressing against the palm, which isn't optimal, but the overall feel is somewhat grippy. At least when talking about the side frame - the back surface is still quite slippery.
We like how lightweight and thin the Reno8 feels. The device measures just 7.67mm in thickness and weighs in at 179 grams. Most phones nowadays are pushing way beyond the 8mm mark and easily go north of 200 grams.
As we go around the sides, we find the power button on the right, two separate volume buttons on the left, while the bottom is home to the USB-C connector, the speaker grille and the SIM card tray. There's no room for a microSD card in that last one.
Oppo Reno8
The button positioning is quite comfortable, but the under-display fingerprint reader is too close to the bottom bezel. So depending on how you hold the phone, some finger gymnastics are needed to touch the sensor.
Speaking of bezels, the Reno8 has some thick ones. The side ones are decently thin, but the top one and the bottom chin could have been thinner. The bottom bezel is particularly distracting. There are many phones in the same price range with thinner frames. The good news is that the cutout for the front-facing camera is pretty small and doesn't take away too much UI space.
All in all, the Reno8's design is a mixed bag. It's thin and lightweight, and fingerprints and smudges aren't visible. However, the unconventional design approach, the all-plastic build and the thick front bezels might steer away some potential buyers.
6.43-inch 90Hz OLED
The Oppo Reno8 5G runs a pretty standard OLED panel with 1080 x 2400px resolution at a 6.43-inch diagonal. The screen supports up to 90Hz refresh rate, which is below the average for the price range. Most competitors are already running speedier 120Hz panels. There's also no HDR support of any kind.
The good news is that the sunlight legibility is excellent. In manual mode, the display reached 439 nits, while in Auto mode, it peaked at 633 nits. That's enough for comfortable outdoor use eve on a bright sunny day.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0 | 510 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 818 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 439 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 633 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 385 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 792 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 824 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 507 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 516 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 803 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 482 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 778 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 433 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 613 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 487 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 772 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 530 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 1003 | ∞ | |
Color accuracy isn't stellar as whites and grays appear straight-up blue, and the so-called Natural color preset doesn't seem to fix the issue. It gets some other colors in line, but whites and grays will still appear with a noticeable blue-ish tinge.
As usual, there are a couple of additional settings to enhance the viewing experience. There's the Eye comfort mode that limits blue light emissions and is particularly useful for nighttime reading. The so-called Video color boost works by analyzing video content and boost color saturation and other effects for better-looking video. It will consume more power, though.
And then there's the Adaptive Sleep option that uses the front-facing camera to determine whether or not you are looking at the display. If you are, then the screen timeout is paused, and the display will remain on while when in use.
HRR control
The refresh rate behavior isn't different from any other Oppo smartphone running the latest ColorOS, except for the handsets having LTPO displays where the refresh rate control is much more granular. Anyway, the Reno8 offers two presets - High and Standard. We recommend using the first one as it's pretty competent in choosing the right refresh rate according to the use case. Video apps tone down the refresh rate to 60Hz to preserve power. The static screens also bring down the refresh rate to 60Hz. In all other popular apps and system menus, the display runs at 90Hz, so no surprises here.
Games, on the other hand, are a mixed bag. Only a couple of them saturated the screen's maximum refresh rate, although we don't have the proper tools to verify whether or not the system can keep it steady at around 90fps.
Battery life
Battery life is pretty solid, as it's usually the case with Dimensity 1200-powered phones we've tested in the past. Despite its lower-than-average 4,500 mAh battery capacity, the handset got some impressive screen-on runtimes. However, standby and 3G call times could have been slightly better, hence the overall 105 hours endurance score.
Still, we believe that the screen-on tests are the most relevant ones so you can enjoy long battery runtimes during the day.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating denotes how long the battery charge will last you if you use the device for an hour of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. More details can be found here.
Video test carried out in 60Hz refresh rate mode. Web browsing test is done at the display's highest refresh rate whenever possible. Refer to the respective reviews for specifics. To adjust the endurance rating formula to match your own usage patterns, check out our all-time battery test results chart, where you can also find all phones we've tested.
Charging speed
The Oppo Reno8 and Reno8 Pro share the same charging tech as well as battery capacity - 4,500 mAh over the SuperVOOC 80W charging protocol. And as one would expect, charging times are identical. They also appear to be in line with Realme's 65W and 80W charging protocols.
In the first 30 minutes, the phone regained about 90% of its battery, while a full charge took just 42 minutes. That's quite impressive, and it's one of the fastest solutions in the price bracket.
30min charging test (from 0%)
Higher is better
- iQOO Neo 6
98% - Realme GT2
97% - Realme GT Neo3T
95% - Poco F4
92% - Oppo Reno8
90% - Oppo Reno8 Pro
90% - Oppo Reno7 5G
90% - Xiaomi 12 Lite
84% - Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
51%
Time to full charge (from 0%)
Lower is better
- iQOO Neo 6
0:32h - Oppo Reno7 5G
0:37h - Poco F4
0:38h - Realme GT2
0:40h - Realme GT Neo3T
0:40h - Oppo Reno8
0:42h - Oppo Reno8 Pro
0:42h - Xiaomi 12 Lite
0:50h - Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
1:15h
Speaker
The Oppo Reno8 has a single bottom-firing loudspeaker, which isn't very loud, with an "Average" loudness of -28.7 LUFS. And you can't expect much in terms of quality either since single loudspeakers have insufficient bass, can't deliver that general fullness of the sound, and the highs start to sound distorted at higher levels.
It's a big omission on Oppo's part, given that pretty much all of the direct competitors blast stereo loudspeakers, decent-sounding at that.
Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.
Android 12 and ColorOS 12
This isn't the first time we see Oppo's ColorOS 12 in action, as the version of the OS debuted with the Find series on top of Android 12. And it looks very familiar. If you are a current or past Realme UI or ColorOS user, you will definitely find your way around.
And by familiar, we mean nearly identical looks to the ColorOS 12 that came with the Find N and the recently introduced Realme UI 3.0. We are talking style, iconography, quick toggles - pretty much everything. Most of the features are also translated into ColorOS 12.1. It's maybe part of BBK Electronic's approach to software development in an effort to make support and development much easier to handle for multiple brands of devices.
Home screen, recent apps, notification shade, app drawer
The Icon pull-down gesture is still here, and it makes it way easier to operate with one hand on an overcrowded home screen with plenty of app icons. Just swipe down alongside the edge of the display to bring down the icons close to your thumb and select an app to launch. The gesture is consistent and useful.
Icon pull-down gesture
Android 12's new privacy features are implemented. You get a summary of all the apps that use your data, location, camera, microphone, etc., all in one place. It's called Privacy Dashboard and is something like Digital Wellbeing but privacy-focused. And in case you don't want certain apps to have your exact location, you might want to give them approximate location instead.
Privacy dashboard
Most of the UI elements on ColorOS can be customized. We are talking about deep customization of app icons, accent colors, quick toggles and their shape, font, fingerprint reader animation, Edge lighting for incoming notifications, and, of course, the Always-on display.
Customization options
Oppo offers quite a bit of Always-on presets too, all of which are the same ones we saw in Realme UI.
Always-on display options
We also liked the granular notification customization. The system allows for advanced notification handling in the drop-down menu, such as instant replies or other suggested actions. Incoming notifications when the phone is in use will arrive with a quieter sound and milder vibration. Notification snoozing is another neat feature that lets you attend conversations or other apps later without having to keep them in the notification shade and clutter up.
Notification options and additional privacy features
For enhanced privacy, the system will hide the contents of the notification once the front-facing camera detects someone other than you. This requires the facial unlocking feature to be enabled and uses that data to match your face.
The OS is also certified by ISO, ePrivacy and TrustArc for advanced privacy and security. For instance, you can protect your recent app activity (it's supported by 800 apps at the moment), or you can set up a password when turning off the device.
The Special features tabs hold the familiar Smart Sidebar and Flexible windows functions. They are both tailored toward better multitasking. When turned on, the sidebar offers quick access to some of your favorite apps. The system allows you to adjust the position of the sidebar, which is crucial because it might interfere with the back gesture if you are using the standard Android gestures. Anyway, tap and hold on an app icon enters split-screen mode while a single tap opens up the app in a floating window or, as Oppo likes to call it, "Flexible window". The supported apps can be opened in small, draggable and size-adjustable windows.
Smart sidebar and Flexible windows.
The Quick launch function has been around on OnePlus' OxygenOS-powered phones for a while now, and it's nice to see it making its way to other brands under the BBK Electronics umbrella. Once enabled, you can set up to three apps that can launch as soon as the display is unlocked. Tap and hold on the fingerprint reader from a locked screen to open up the Quick launch menu.
Quick launch and other special features
The good old screen-off gestures that allow you to launch certain apps or the flashlight by drawing letters on a locked screen are here to stay.
The experimental features that Realme offers are nowhere to be found here. The fingerprint can't measure heart rate, nor can you stream sound to connected Bluetooth and wired headsets simultaneously. Those are hardly features to miss but are worth mentioning.
Synthetic benchmarks
The handset runs on a recent MediaTek Dimensity 1300 chipset, which is almost identical to the Dimensity 1200. In fact, for all intents and purposes, those chips are indeed identical. They have the same CPU configuration, and clock speeds (1x3.0 GHz Cortex-A78 & 3x2.6 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55), the same Mali-G77 MC9 GPU and the SoC is based on TSMC's 6nm manufacturing process. So it's no surprise that the performance difference between the two silicons is negligible.
MediaTek does say that the improved HyperEngine 5.0 helps optimize sustained load, and gaming and boosts efficiency. And it's important to note that the Indian market gets the 8GB/128GB memory option while the global variant will be selling with 8GB/256GB memory.
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Realme GT2
3487 - Oppo Reno8 Pro
3395 - Poco F4
3190 - Realme GT Neo 3T
3180 - iQOO Neo 6
3076 - Xiaomi 12 Lite
2943 - Oppo Reno8
2694 - MediaTek Dimensity 1300 reference
2694 - Realme 9 Pro+
2335
AnTuTu 9
Higher is better
- Realme GT2
810512 - iQOO Neo 6
730223 - Realme GT Neo 3T
726007 - Oppo Reno8 Pro
718351 - Poco F4
698586 - Oppo Reno8
619610 - MediaTek Dimensity 1300 reference
619610 - Xiaomi 12 Lite
528905 - Realme 9 Pro+
416031
GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Realme GT2
27 - Oppo Reno8 Pro
26 - Oppo Reno8
22 - MediaTek Dimensity 1300 reference
22 - Realme GT Neo 3T
22 - iQOO Neo 6
22 - Xiaomi 12 Lite
13 - Realme 9 Pro+
11
GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Realme GT2
40 - Oppo Reno8 Pro
39 - Realme GT Neo 3T
32 - iQOO Neo 6
32 - Oppo Reno8
31 - MediaTek Dimensity 1300 reference
31 - Xiaomi 12 Lite
19 - Realme 9 Pro+
17
GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Oppo Reno8 Pro
40 - Realme GT2
38 - Realme GT Neo 3T
34 - iQOO Neo 6
34 - Oppo Reno8
30 - MediaTek Dimensity 1300 reference
30 - Xiaomi 12 Lite
19 - Realme 9 Pro+
16
GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Realme GT2
30 - Oppo Reno8 Pro
26 - Realme GT Neo 3T
24 - iQOO Neo 6
24 - Oppo Reno8
20 - MediaTek Dimensity 1300 reference
20 - Xiaomi 12 Lite
15 - Realme 9 Pro+
10
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- Realme GT2
68 - Poco F4
59 - Realme GT Neo 3T
59 - iQOO Neo 6
58 - Oppo Reno8
51 - MediaTek Dimensity 1300 reference
51 - Oppo Reno8 Pro
46 - Xiaomi 12 Lite
33 - Realme 9 Pro+
27
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Realme GT2
56 - iQOO Neo 6
50 - Poco F4
49 - Realme GT Neo 3T
49 - Oppo Reno8 Pro
44 - Oppo Reno8
42 - MediaTek Dimensity 1300 reference
42 - Xiaomi 12 Lite
29 - Realme 9 Pro+
23
As you can see, the Dimensity 1300 performs just as expected and to be fair, there's nothing inherently wrong with the chipset. In fact, judging by our past experience with the practically identical Dimensity 1200, the SoC is powerful and efficient. However, since the Reno8 has to compete against more powerful alternatives in the price bracket running Snapdragon 870 or even Snapdragon 888, it makes the Dimensity 1300 look bad.
Sustained performance
Oppo is really proud of the advanced cooling solution it has used for the Reno8. It has a 16.8% bigger cooling area than the previous generation. It consists of a graphene film and a big vapor chamber. Unfortunately, though, the CPU throttle test doesn't support those claims.
Even though the Dimensity 1200 isn't the most demanding chip around, the Reno8 struggled to maintain remotely decent performance over long periods of time. Even after just 5 minutes, the system's performance dipped to around 60% of the SoCs theoretical performance, and the situation didn't improve until the one-hour mark. The CPU throttled to 60% of its performance, which is quite underwhelming given that phones with flagship chipsets that are harder to cool off score better in that test.
CPU throttle test: 30 min • 60 min
At least the device itself didn't feel uncomfortably hot as plastic has poor heat conductivity.
Standard triple camera setup with 50MP main shooter
Oppo didn't spare any cost when choosing the main camera for the Oppo Reno8. It's a 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor, which is fairly large - 1/1.56" with big 1.0µm pixels. The sensor also supports Omni-directional PDAF and is paired with an f/1.8 aperture, and the lens has the equivalent of 23mm focal length.
The ultrawide and the macro cameras, on the other hand, are quite basic and can be found in pretty much every low-end to upper mid-range phone on the market. The Reno8 uses the 8MP IMX355, 1/4.0", 1.12µm, f/2.4 camera for ultrawide and a 2MP 1/5.0", f/2.4 unit for macro photography.
Oppo paid special attention to the selfie camera. It's again made by Sony, but it's also an Oppo-exclusive sensor, at least for now. It's a 32MP Sony IMX709, 1/2.74", 0.8µm sensor, which is fairly big for a front-facing camera and is paired with an f/2.4 aperture. Unfortunately, it's still fixed-focus, but the Reno8 wants to make up for that with some additional features.
It has an RGBW filter instead of just RGB. The RGBW pixel arrangement allegedly allows for 60% better light gathering capabilities, thus reducing noise and supposedly capturing sharper images.
Camera menus
The default Camera app is almost indistinguishable from the one the latest Realme and OnePlus smartphones use. Swiping on the viewfinder or the scroller below switches between modes, while the additional ones can be found under the "More" sub-menu. There's an option to re-arrange them to your liking. The general Settings menu is found under the three-dot menu in the upper-right corner of the viewfinder.
Camera menus
In Video mode, Oppo provides all of the essential toggles, including the one that enables Portrait video mode. That's the shutter icon next to the three toggles. It seems like the Portrait video mode is supported only using the main camera. The 2x zoom mode still uses the main camera.
And although there's a dedicated Night mode, we found it to be working even when using the standard Photo mode. If the lighting conditions are met, the software automatically shoots in Night mode. It doesn't take more than a second or two at most to take a shot and stack all the frames. There's also a tripod mode within the Night mode that uses longer exposure for better results. The Night mode is supported on all three cameras.
Camera menus
Oppo has brought Pro mode support to the main camera only. When you have the main camera active, it will give you two toggles on the viewfinder - 1x and 2x zoom.
In any case, the Pro mode gives you control over the usual stuff like ISO, exposure, white balance, manual focus and shutter speed. There are also focus peaking and histogram to help you out.
Daylight samples
Main camera
It's no surprise that the main camera's performance is almost identical to the Realme GT2's and Oppo Find X5's since they all use the same Sony IMX766 sensor. And this, in turn, means that the Reno8's main camera ensures solid performance. The daylight samples are clean, sharp, have lively colors and dynamic range is good for the most part. There are those occasional moments in which the shadows could be crushed, but it strongly depends on the lighting conditions. Take a look at the indoor samples, for example. You can find some shadows darker than usual.
12.5MP daylight samples
Still, even in more challenging situations, the Reno8's samples lack noise and remain pretty sharp and detailed.
12.5MP daylight samples
Perhaps due to the fact that many of the Reno8's competitors use 108MP cameras, Oppo decided to include the so-called Extra HD mode, which captures 50MP images and upscales them to 108MP. It's needless to say that the results are unimpressive, to say the least. The jagged edges, the increased noise and the dramatic loss of sharpness and dynamic range don't really make up for the extra detail, which isn't improved by much, anyway.
Upscaled 108MP daylight samples
2x zoom
Even though there's no real telephoto camera to take the zoom shots, the 2x zoom crop samples from the main camera look pretty solid and almost indistinguishable from budget 2x telephoto shooters. As expected, the overall rendition is identical to that of the standard 1x samples, but the loss of sharpness is minimal, and there's no extra noise either. Even indoor scenes turn out pretty good.
2x zoom daylight samples
Ultrawide camera
The commonly used 8MP ultrawide camera performs just as expected for the price range. You get decent sharpness and dynamic range. Contrast and color reproduction is very good.
Ultrawide daylight samples
Macro camera
The 2MP macro camera with fixed focus is another common find on today's smartphones and produces subpar images. They are low-contrast, lack detail (it's a 2MP camera, after all) require the best possible lighting conditions, and colors look undersaturated. It's hard to recommend it unless you spend some time post-processing to make them look decent enough for social media purposes.
Macro camera samples
Low-light samples
Main camera
The nighttime behavior of the software is the same as on the Oppo Find X5 series. If the algorithm decides it's dark enough, it will opt for the Night mode automatically, and there's nothing you can do about it. It takes just a second or two to take all the needed frames and stack them, so you won't have to wait too long. More importantly, the nighttime performance is excellent.
The samples below are clean, have a wide dynamic range, resolve quite a bit of detail in the shadows, and the dynamic range is impressive. Noise is non-existent, contrast is good, and color accuracy is pretty close to natural. Surely, you can find some clipped highlights, but those are rare cases and are usually small parts of the image. Overall, light sources are well-processed. You can expect a solid performance after dusk.
Low-light main camera samples
In some rare instances, the software may decide that the scene is bright enough to use the standard Photo mode. That's why Oppo kept the Night mode as a separate mode so you can force it when needed. Take a look at the example below. Although the gain in sharpness and detail in the shadows is minimal, the overall clarity of the Night mode image is undeniable. That's why we suggest using the dedicated Night mode after dark at all times.
Low-light main camera: Normal • Night mode
2x zoom
Expectedly, cropping from the main camera in low-light situations isn't ideal. Overall quality deteriorates significantly as objects are softer and the noise becomes more visible in the shadows. Still, though, you can get some decent-looking pictures suitable for social media.
Low-light 2x zoom samples
Ultrawide camera
The ultrawide shots look somewhat decent only because of the automatic Night mode. They have a wide enough dynamic range, good contrast, punchy colors and a decent amount of detail.
Low-light ultrawide samples
Once you are done with the real-life examples, take a look at our Photo compare tool for some pixel-peeping and see how the Oppo Reno8 fares against the competition.
Oppo Reno8 vs. Realme GT2 and the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE in our Photo compare tool
Portraits
Portraits are pretty good with plenty of detail, wide dynamic range and are sharp-looking. However, the software tends to overexpose, and a bit more contrast won't hurt either. The third and fourth samples, in particular, are considerably brighter than they should be. Edge detection is pretty good, though, and the overall faux bokeh effect is convincing enough.
Portrait samples
Selfies
It seems like all the hype for the selfie camera isn't for nothing. The selfies below look pretty solid, no matter the lighting conditions. Even in poorly-lit scenarios or challenging lighting conditions where the sun shines directly behind the subject, the camera maintains excellent dynamic range, the subject's face is always well-exposed, there's plenty of detail, little to no noise, and sharpness is great as well.
Selfies
As expected, the portrait samples are not ideal as the edge detection can be rough around the edges sometimes, and the HDR is disabled, so you end up with an overexposed subject at times or clipped background.
Selfie portraits
Since Reno8 boasts advanced selfie capabilities, mainly thanks to its RGBW sensor, we tried out some low-light scenes with and without the dedicated Night mode for selfies. Understandably, there's a visible deterioration in overall quality in low-light conditions but not nearly as much as we expected. Even without resorting to Night mode, these selfies look decent at the very least. The Night mode improves upon sharpness, and dynamic range and is even capable of preserving some fine detail.
Low-light selfies: Normal • Night mode
Video recording
The handset can do 2160p videos at 30fps using its main camera, but the ultrawide is limited to just 1080p. Video stabilization is also at hand but only in 1080p resolution. The same resolution mode offers advanced stabilization capabilities mimicking action cameras with 60fps framerate.
Let's start with the standard 4K mode. The video below looks sharp and resolves quite a bit of detail, while the dynamic range is excellent. Colors, although a bit conservative for some, are really close to real-life. Contrast is good, and noise is non-existent. The only thing to complain about here is the shaky footage due to the lack of any video stabilization in 2160p.
Understandably, the ultrawide's quality is far from the main camera. Due to the nature of ultrawide lenses and the lower 1080p resolution, sharpness is unimpressive, to say the least. Colors are washed out, and the dynamic range is limited.
Here's the 4K footage without stabilization (since there isn't one) followed by a 1080p, action cam-like stabilization with a narrower field of view. It's called Ultra Steady mode, and it records at 60fps. The video is considerably softer than the 2160p footage, but stabilization seems stellar with no apparent jitter.
And since Oppo is really proud of the low-light videos the Reno8 can do, we couldn't miss trying it out ourselves. The result is quite impressive as the video's dynamic range is wide, there's plenty of detail, sharpness is good, and light sources are well-contained for the most part. Sure, there's some little noise left in the shadows, but that's to be expected. Colors are accurate, and contrast is good, too.
Turning on the AI video mode supposedly improves nighttime performance. However, we fail to see any difference at all, except that the AI video appears slightly softer with a narrower field of view. That's hardly a surprise, though, since the AI mode is limited to 1080p recording.
Once you are done with the real-life scenarios, take a look at our video compare tool to see how the Oppo Reno8 stacks against the other phones we've reviewed.
2160p: Oppo Reno8 vs. Realme GT2 and the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE in our Video compare tool
Competition
The Reno8 is a solid all-rounder with a good chipset, nice screen, long battery life, blazing-fast charging and excellent camera performance, including the selfie. However, as it's usually the case with Oppo smartphones, it's its pricing that keeps us from recommending it straight up.
The Indian pricing of around INR 30,000 makes sense (somewhat), but we have a good reason to believe that once the device goes global, it will be priced in the mid-€400. That's because the current Oppo Reno7 (for Eastern Europe) / Find X5 Lite (for Western Europe) is priced around there, and so is the OnePlus Nord 2T, which is an identical phone for €439.
This leads us to our first set of alternatives. And surprisingly enough, those alternatives come from the same BBK Electronics corporation. The OnePlus Nord 2T is the first to come to mind as it's essentially the same exact phone with a different design and software on board. OxygenOS still remains one of the cleaner Android alternatives out there, and the reason why many go to OnePlus. Admittedly, things have changed in the last year or two, but that's an entirely different topic. Moreover, the Nord 2T can be found for as little as €370 from third-party sellers, rendering the Reno8 completely obsolete. OnePlus' offering is also around the INR 30,000 mark in India.
Another option for Indian consumers would be the Realme 9 Pro+, which undercuts the Reno8 by about INR 5,000. It offers largely the same user experience and even adds a set of stereo speakers and a bit of battery endurance. However, the Dimensity 920 isn't on par with the Dimensity 1300, and the selfie game is nowhere near the Reno8's.
OnePlus Nord 2T • Realme GT2 • Realme 9 Pro+ • vivo iQOO Neo 6
The iQOO Neo 6 is yet another BBK Electronics-made option for around INR 30,000, and it's arguably the better choice. It has a more powerful chipset, a faster and brighter 120Hz screen and similar battery endurance and charging speed but lacks the Reno8's camera proficiency, at least when it comes to the main shooter.
The Realme catalog has another similarly priced option in the European market. The vanilla Realme GT2 seems to be quite similar in terms of features, but it's undoubtedly the better of the two since it has stereo speakers, a faster chipset, a bigger battery, a better display and comparable main camera performance. They share the same sensor and software, after all. The Reno8's only advantage is the stellar selfie performance.
Looking outside the BBK circle, Xiaomi has two rather enticing alternatives. The Xiaomi 12 Lite and the Poco F4. The first one could be particularly interesting to those who come for the compact nature of the Reno8. Like the latter, the Xiaomi 12 Lite boasts a lightweight and compact design, which is better-looking, although this is strongly subjective. However, it's not as powerful as the Reno8, and it's not as good at taking photos.
Xiaomi 12 Lite • Xiaomi Poco F4 • Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
The Poco F4, on the other hand, succeeds where the 12 Lite fails. It's a more powerful alternative to Oppo's offering, has a better display, a set of stereo speakers and charges just as fast. Don't expect a camera performance close to the Reno8, though. Then again, the €400 price tag in Europe or the Indian pricing of INR 28,000 may convince you, though.
And last but not least, the European market offers Samsung's popular Galaxy S21 FE for around €480, which is probably a bit more than the Reno8 in the same region, but there's a very good reason why. Samsung's phone is much more versatile in terms of photography (immensely better ultrawide camera and proper 3x telephoto camera), has a vastly better display, good-sounding stereo speakers, ingress protection, and runs on a more powerful chipset. The Reno8 edges out with slightly longer battery life, marginally better selfie performance and faster charging. It's up to you to decide whether or not the extra cash is worth it, although we believe it is.
Verdict
Compact design, long battery life, stellar camera performance (including the selfie camera), fast charging, bright OLED display and powerful yet efficient SoC. Sounds great on paper, right?
Sadly, that's not nearly enough to stand out from the competition, which often comes with even more high-tech displays, stereo speakers, some sort of ingress protection, and even sometimes bigger battery and/or faster chipset.
Oppo's pricing of its mid-range devices is not competitive in the mid-range market segment. Not to mention the Reno8 faces some fierce in-house competition from brands such as Realme, OnePlus and even iQOO. If only the Reno8 was cheaper, it would have punched above its class with its impeccable camera performance.
Pros
- Fresh new design, compact and lightweight.
- Flagship-grade main camera performance, especially at night.
- Good selfie game.
- Dependable battery life, fast charging.
- Latest ColorOS 12, customizable and snappy.
Cons
- Competition often has brighter and faster displays.
- No ingress protection, no stereo speakers.
- Similarly priced competitors run on faster SoCs.
- Expensive at launch.
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