The OPPO Reno 3 has been in kenya for a while and I have been using it for quite sometime now. The phone is available in Kenya for Ksh 40,000 on Jumia and most other smartphone retailers across the country. This is the most expensive smartphone from OPPO that has been launched in the country this year.
The OPPO Reno 3 builds on what the Reno 2F brought to the market and the company is confident that the upgrades are enough to get people to buy the new variant. The OPPO Reno series has been known for its innovative ideas that have set it apart from its competitors.
The OPPO Reno3 is made for those who want to take their mobile photography game to the next level. OPPO phones are known for their cameras and the Reno3 is not any different.
In this review, we will be looking at what the phone offers and if it is worth your money.
The Design
OPPO has decided to go with a not so unique design on the Reno3. The company has ditched the design language we have come to expect on Reno devices and gone with one that you will not know is from OPPO when you see the phone for the first time. It looks like any other Android smartphone you can buy out there.
Even with that said, the design is still good but it would have been better if it was a unique one. The phone feels lighter and smaller even with its 6.4-inch display. It is surprisingly easy to carry and does not feel as bulky as most smartphones from other brands.
At the back we get the quad camera setup with LED flash. I got the Reno3 variant with the Aurora Blue finish that has a blue gradient that looks quite stylish. The back curves on the edges and this make the phone comfortable to carry around. There is not fingerprint scanner on the back as that is embedded under the display.
The power button is on the right of the phone with the volume buttons on the left. On the left is also where we find the SIM tray. The top section only has the microphone with the speaker grille, USB Type C port and headphone jack all included on the bottom section.
Overall, the design of the OPPO Reno3 is quite good. Even though it is not that unique, it still does look good and has that premium touch that this phone demands.
Now Read: OPPO Reno 3 Specifications and Price in Kenya
The Display
The OPPO Reno3 has a 6.4-inch display with a waterdrop notch at the centre. I know companies have been ditching this type of notch but OPPO has included it here. The company’s latest device, the OPPO A92, does have the punch hole notch for those who may be interested in that.
OPPO decided to use an AMOLED display on the Reno3 which is always a plus as the experience on such displays is usually much better. The blacks are really good and with system-wide dark mode available with Android 10, it is a good thing to have an AMOLED display at your disposal.
As expected with a Reno device, the Reno3 has a display with a Full HD resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels. This display is good for anything you may have in mind from day to day use to media consumption. Colour accuracy and reproduction is quite good and reliable.
The display gets bright enough for use outdoors and can even work well under direct sunlight but the experience in such situations is not necessarily the best. Auto brightness adjustment is very accurate and so far I have not had any issues as I have had with other phones before.
The fingerprint scanner below the display is quick and responsive. I had no issues setting it up and even using it was not problematic at all. It works as you expect it to and it is an optical scanner for those who are curious about that. I will be doing a comprehensive post talking about the different in display scanner so watch out for that in the next coming week.
Back to this display, it is very responsive and its size and colour accuracy make it ideal for different users. Besides the normal smartphone use, I tend to play quite a number of games and watch YouTube on my phone and I was satisfied with that experience when using this phone.
Performance and Hardware
With the Helio P90 processor, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage and quite a decent GPU, you expect a good experience from the OPPO Reno3 and that is what you get most of the time. The MediaTek Helio P90 processor is good but I feel like it lags behind to some extent as the phone does not feel as snappy all the time. It is fast but having used other smartphones from OPPO before, it is not the fastest one.
The 8GB of RAM makes this phone the ideal one for multitaskers. I can switch between multiple applications without any problems. There is no aggressive RAM management that closes apps when you switch to others so the experience is seamless.
I managed to play a few games on the Reno3 and so far it has been good. I have played both PUBG and Fortnite all at the highest settings and they both worked well. The GPU was reliable in this and overall gameplay was as expected.
Even if you are a heavy user who runs demanding applications, the Reno3 will be quite reliable for you. Apart from the occasional slowdowns, the phone handles most tasks with ease and that is what you expect from a phone with its price range.
The OPPO Reno3 comes with Android 10 preinstalled with ColorOS 7 on top. ColorOS feels natural on OPPO smartphones and the case is the same with the Reno3. It has a ton of extra features that we do not have available on stock Android and on most other custom UIs. ColorOS is heavily customized compared to most Custom UIs and you may need sometime to fully familiarize yourself with it.
Cameras
This is where the OPPO Reno3 shines. OPPO smartphones have always been known for their cameras and the Reno3 takes that to the next level.
At the back the Reno3 has four cameras made up of a 48MP main sensor, a 13MP telephoto lens with 2X optical zoom, an 8MP ultrawide lens and a 2MP lens. All these lenses are self-explanatory and their main aim is to ensure you get the best photography experience for Ksh 40,000.
The Reno3 camera has a number of modes that you can use from a pro mode, panorama mode, slow motion mode for videos to a night mode. Night mode works really well as it allows more light to come in when the shutter is pressed to capture as much detail as possible to get a decent shot at night. I did not use this feature that often since I was not usually outside at night but for the few times that I did, the results were good. The noise is still there but not to an extent that made the shots unusable.
The normal mode as I call it lets you take beautiful shots without thinking about what happens behind the scenes. The photos are detailed and quite good with the right amount of exposure and saturation.
For videos, the back camera can shot up to 4K videos at 30fps. I will be doing a camera review to highlight some of the camera features in another post that should be up in a week.
For selfies, there is nothing to complain about the 44MP camera, It does take really good and detailed shots in different lighting conditions. Portrait mode also works well and does a good job with the edges. Below are some samples.
In summary, the cameras on the OPPO Reno3 delivers exactly what the company promises. They are good and reliable in different conditions and that is what consumers have come to expect.
Battery
The OPPO Reno3 comes with a 4025 mAh battery that should be enough for most people. Depending on how you use your phone, this can last you an entire day or even more. This is a powerful smartphone so keep that in mind if you are planning to use demanding applications, they will run smoothly but at the expense of the battery life.
I could easily get up to 7 hours or more of screen on time with some light browsing and messaging, music and video playback.
There is a smart power saver feature that I found helpful as it helps me extend the battery life. For those who want more power, there is the High performance mode setting that can be too hard on the battery but can give you the best performance when you need it.
The OPPO Reno3 supports VOOC fast charging with the included adapter so expect blazing fast charging speeds when running low. When OPPO says VOOC charging is fast, believe me, they mean it and you can get a whole day of usage in just about 20 minutes or less.
Conclusions
The OPPO Reno3 is the first major release from the company and so far has lived up to my expectations. The phone has very good cameras that will compete with most of the flagships that cost way more that this. If you want a good camera within this price, you cannot go wrong with this.
The phone handles tasks with ease and should be ideal for multitaskers and most other users. There are times when I noticed the phone slowing down but nothing serious. You can get it to fit into your life no matter what you expect from your phone.
The Reno3 has a very nice AMOLED display that I have loved throughout. It does make the phone perfect for any kind of media consumption. The colour accuracy on this is quite good and better than what we get from most other phones it is competing with.
I have loved my experience with the Reno3 so far and I see myself using it even more as it is that good.
Also Read: The Tecno Camon 15 Camera Overview
