Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G Review: Meets Expectations, and a Bit More

Oppo’s Reno series of phones has been struggling to make sense over the past few years, in my opinion. What started off as a mid-range series has now been elevated to the premium segment, with last year’s Reno 8 Pro 5G being priced above Rs. 45,000. Oppo’s biggest problem with the series was not its design or battery life, but more to do with the expected camera performance and processing power, both of which lacked a comparable punch versus other similarly priced products. This year, Oppo seems to have pushed this price bar even higher with its flagship Reno 10 Pro+ 5G, which is priced at Rs. 54,999.

Unlike the Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G (Review), the new 10 Pro+ 5G packs a top-end processor and three very capable rear-facing cameras that tend to justify the price. However, is it a proper all-rounder fans of the brand have been waiting for, and does it make sense when compared to the competition?

Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G design

Oppo isn’t new to the premium smartphone space and prior to the pandemic, we have seen some very interesting designs such as the original Find X, which took the pop-up selfie camera to new heights. There was also the Oppo Reno 2, which introduced a shark fin-style pop-up camera design.

With the Reno 10 Pro+ 5G, Oppo does not break any such design boundaries. The phone is available in two finishes – Glossy Purple and Silvery Grey. I received the latter, which has a smooth matte-finished rear panel, versus the purple variant’s high-gloss finish.

The Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G uses curved-edge glass for its rear panel and display

Oppo keeps it clean and simple with the Reno 10 Pro+ 5G by going with a refined and polished design language, that is comfortable to hold. It has rounded corners, curved sides and a curved-edge display, all of which adds to its premium appeal. The display has AGC’s Dragontrail Star 2 cover glass, while the rear panel is made from Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The sandwiched frame, which is made from polycarbonate, feels quite premium in terms of fit and finish with no sharp edges near the various perforations and cutouts, and also helps keep this device feeling fairly light at 194g.

The rear camera module protrudes quite a bit and is a mix of aluminium and glass in a capsule shaped layout. There are three rear-facing cameras, stacked one below the other.

The Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G’s matte-finished rear panel can get quite slippery

Both the display and the rear panel remained smudge-free during the review period. Given how slippery this particular rear panel is, I ended up using the camera bump for support when holding the phone up. The finely ridged metal surface surrounding the periscopic telephoto camera also helped to grip the phone better. I did find the Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G a bit top-heavy and on occasion, it would tip over as well. Thankfully, Oppo bundles a grippy silicone case in the box for added protection.

While it all sounds great for a premium device, the Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G does not pack an official IP rating, which is a bit disappointing as many mid-range and sub Rs. 40,000 devices launched in 2023 offer up to an IP68 rating.

Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G specifications and software

The Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC. The processor was introduced last year and has been succeeded by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which has made an appearance in several premium devices this year. Unfortunately, the Reno 10 Pro+ 5G will have to deal with some criticism as its cousins from OnePlus and iQoo offer the newer processor at the same price point.

The Reno 10 Pro+ 5G has a 20.1:9 aspect ratio, 6.74-inch curved-edge OLED display with a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate. However, this isn’t of the LTPO variety (but LTPS) so the switching only takes place between 30Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz and 120Hz. The display has a resolution of 2,772 × 1,240 pixels offering a pixel density of 450ppi. Communication standards include Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, an infrared sensor (for the remote control function), and support for numerous 5G bands. The phone offers dual-SIM slots which can hold two nano-SIM cards but there is no SD card slot for expanding storage. There are stereo speakers, but the phone lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G’s frame is made from polycarbonate

Adding to the list of hardware features that the Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G lacks is wireless charging. The phone has a 4,700mAh battery which supports 100W wired charging. Unlike most manufacturers, Oppo does provide a charger in the box.

As for software, the Reno 10 Pro+ 5G ships with ColorOS 13.1 which is based on Android 13. During majority of the review period, our device was running the build number CPH2521_13.1.1.130 (EX01), and was only recently upgraded to build number CPH2521_13.1.1.160 (EX01) two days prior to publishing this review, which also added the June 2023 Android security patch,.

The software experience is typically ColorOS which has now made its way onto Realme and OnePlus devices. However, Oppo has fine-tuned its haptics to deliver very accurate vibrations, whether it’s for ringtones or browsing through the software interface. As usual, the software is also very customisable with a large selection of live wallpapers, a font which supports adaptive weight, customisable icons and plenty more.

ColourOS 13.1 is highly customisable

The only detail I found missing was its ability to theme the icons as per the system accent colour or theme, which is available on OnePlus devices. The Reno 10 Pro+ 5G comes with a Multi-Screen connect feature, which basically connects the phone with your tablet or a Windows PC and lets one copy/paste across devices with a shared clipboard, transfer files, screencast, open mobile apps on the PC, and more.

What seems to be a bit of a turn off (at least initially) are the preinstalled third-party apps. There are 12 of them when I first began using the phone and thankfully all of them, apart from FinShell Pay, can be uninstalled.

What I also found a bit annoying was Oppo’s App Market app, which basically has the same function as the Google Play Store, but throws plenty of spammy notifications on a daily basis. Game Center is another such app which lets you download games but sends plenty of notifications on a daily basis. Given the smartphone’s premium price tag, I really expected Oppo to tone this down. Eventually, I had to disable notifications all together from both apps.

Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G performance

The Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G performed as expected in terms of benchmarks, managing a score of 10,87,266 in AnTuTu and 951 and 3,728 in Geekbench 6’s single and multi-score tests, respectively. Oppo claims that it has equipped the Reno 10 Pro+ 5G with an ultra conductive graphite sheet in addition to its vapour chamber cooling system, which the company says is larger than the one in the Reno 8 Pro 5G.

In my experience, the phone remained cool whether I was using the camera outdoors to record 4K videos or even playing competitive games with maxed-out graphics. With a bit of tweaking in the gaming console’s toolkit, I managed to get the most out of the phone’s claimed 240Hz touch sampling rate, which was perfect for fast-paced gaming titles. This made the Reno 10 Pro+ 5G a very capable gaming device which barely got warm, no matter if I was playing Asphalt 9 Legends in 60fps mode or Call of Duty Mobile at Max or Ultra framerates.

The Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G has a curved edge OLED panel

The phone’s display also fared well in bright sunlight and was quite accurate in terms of colour reproduction, provided I switched to the Natural display colour scheme. The Reno 10 Pro+ 5G’s display is also HDR10-certified and offers Oppo’s ProXDR Smart Display Control, which brightens up the display when viewing HDR photos on the device (one can tap on it the Pro XDR button to temporarily turn it off). HDR10 video streaming was limited to Amazon Prime Video and the YouTube app. Netflix did not show support for the same.

As for battery life, the Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G lasted a good 19 hours, 15 minutes in our HD video loop test. With heavy use, the phone easily lasted a little over a day and about a day and half with casual use, which is also quite good for a premium device.

The fine ridges around the telephoto camera makes this phone easier to grip

Charging the Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G was unbelievably quick when using the proprietary SuperVOOC charger. The phone charged from zero to 75 percent in just 15 minutes. The charging system takes a breather after that mark and slows down, but yet, it manages a full charge in just 30 minutes. During the initial burst, the phone barely warmed up which again is quite impressive for a wired fast-charging system.

Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G cameras

The Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G has three rear cameras which includes a 50-megapixel primary camera (with OIS), an 8-megapixel ultra-wide with a 112-degree field of view (FOV) and an interesting 64-megapixel telephoto camera with 3X optical zoom. Selfies are handled by a 32-megapixel front-facing camera. The camera interface is typically Oppo and you also get access to a Pro mode for photos, if you desire that level of accuracy or aren’t happy with the results from the Auto mode. Despite having HDR10+ support for its display, the Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G cannot record HDR video.

In daylight, the primary camera manages an impressive level of detail. Whether shooting landscapes or people, photos have accurate skin tones and mostly natural-looking colours. Dynamic range is well in control, but there are overexposed patches in the brighter areas of a scene. However, these are quite rare. The phone lacks a macro camera or the capability to shoot such photos, but the primary camera lets you get close enough to the action (10-15cm) and the results look sharp and clear.

Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G daylight camera samples (Top to bottom): Ultra-wide, primary, telephoto (tap to see full size)

In low light, the phone automatically captures longer exposures so there’s usually no need to switch to the dedicated Night mode. The camera performs quite well under street lighting with slightly limited dynamic range (particularly in the shadows) leading to slightly contrasty photos. However, there is less resolved detail when snapping photos of dimly-lit scenes, even after switching to Night mode, which is expected from a smartphone at this price point.

Performance of the ultra-wide camera in daylight is just fine, but photos were not as detailed as the primary camera and often came out a bit overexposed. There’s minor barrel distortion as well along with some purple fringing when shooting bright scenes. In low light, photos appear quite average with soft details and blotchy textures.

Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G low-light camera samples. Top: Ultra-wide-angle camera (Auto), bottom: primary camera (Auto) (tap to see full size)

In the case of the Reno 10 Pro+ 5G, the telephoto camera is the actual showstopper. Oppo has equipped it with an unusually high-resolution sensor and this manages to capture really incredible photos that are difficult to find among smartphones at this price point. Oppo’s periscopic telephoto setup also manages to keep the minimum focussing distance at around 25cm.

There is also a hybrid implementation at work where the camera software sticks to the primary camera inside the 25cm margin, even if you switch to the 3X zoom setting. Once an object is more than 25cms away from the phone, the system automatically switches back to the 3X periscope telephoto camera.

Photos captured by the telephoto camera (right) have a cooler colour tone compared to those captured by the primary camera (left)

Because of this implementation, there is a noticeable difference between the quality of these 3X magnified photos from the primary camera and the telephoto camera. 3X photos from the primary camera don’t look as sharp as the ones captured by the telephoto camera as they are scaled-up crops from the primary camera. However, the photos from the 3X telephoto camera are quite impressive. When shooting subjects or objects, the depth, detail and separation offered by this camera is really impressive in daylight and even under artificial light. In dimly-lit or street-lit shooting conditions, photos come out looking soft and have a water-colour effect with limited detail.

The camera system is also capable of shooting beyond 3X zoom, but the results start to drop in quality after 6X itself.

The telephoto camera (right) shows noticeably cooler colour tones compared to the primary camera (left)

Selfies look sharp with accurate skin tones once you switch the beautifying features off. The phone is also good at shooting clear and sharp selfies in low light, which is another rarely found quality in smartphones in this segment. Edge detection, while accurate in daylight, falters a bit in low light.

Videos captured at 4K 30fps in daylight are well stabilised and show good details and dynamic range. 4K 60fps footage is also equally impressive with a steady framerate and good stabilisation. Shooting at 4K 30fps setting in low light results in footage with minimal noise with a steady framerate and slightly limited dynamic range. Stabilisation is also quite good with a bit of shimmer, but the frame is a bit cropped. Switching to 4K 60fps in low light produces a steady framerate but with very limited dynamic range and a contrasted look. The ultra-wide angle camera is limited to 1080p 60fps video recording.

Verdict

The Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G definitely meets our expectations and is a noticeable leap over the Reno 8 Pro 5G, which felt more like a mid-range smartphone in terms of its camera and raw performance. Despite the slightly dated processor, the Reno 10 Pro+ 5G still manages to deliver good performance and also comes with capable camera hardware.

However, as mentioned earlier in this review, there’s the OnePlus 11 5G (Review) which offers a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, along with a bigger 5,000mAh battery. It also has a superior ultra-wide angle camera with a higher resolution sensor. There’s also the iQoo 11 5G (Review) which packs hardware that’s similar to the OnePlus 11, and although it lacks the rather flexible camera of the 11 5G and the Reno 10 Pro+ 5G, it does gets 120W wired fast charging, which is pretty much unmatched in this segment (and beyond). If you’re specifically looking for good cameras in this segment, then it’s hard to ignore the Google Pixel 7 (Review).

Those looking solely at the raw power of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC, will also find it in more affordable alternatives. The recently launched iQoo Neo 7 Pro 5G has similar core specifications and a faster 120W charging system and is priced from Rs. 34,999. The newly launched Nothing Phone 2 uses the same processor too and adds an IP54 rating and wireless charging, along with an eye-catching design.

Oppo’s Reno 10 Pro+ 5G has managed to find its sweet spot with its quality telephoto and selfie cameras, both of which are hard to find at this price point and would probably be one of the main reasons why many would choose it over the OnePlus 11 5G.