We are ushering into a new age of smartphone experience with AI. Yes, we know this buzzword has been marketed to maximum hype by everyone, and the market is now so saturated with extremely performant options at the same price, but it’s time to recalibrate our opinions.
After the introduction of LLMs, the AI buzzword may have some substance to back it, moving beyond gimmicks. Building on the strength of hardware design and software perks (thanks Google Gemini), the OPPO Reno 12 Pro managed to excite even our tech-savvy team with just one AI feature, which we think will become a standard on all smartphones. If you are in the market for a new mid-range premium experience and also interested in exploring AI, with nearly zero compromises on design, camera, the Reno 12 Pro is a strong contender you can consider. Let’s dive into the details.
Box Contents
- OPPO Reno 12 Pro 12GB + 256GB in Space Brown colour
- 80W SuperVOOC fast charger
- USB Type-C cable
- Protective case
- SIM Ejector tool
- User guide
AI Studio
This is an exclusive app from OPPO, enabled by GenAI imaging. It’s a simple app, where you have templates of various styles of portraits that you can generate with your own look-alike. All you have to do is upload a profile photo, and AI magic, which is, apparently, OPPO’s own solution, will give you a magical result. Turn yourself into a cowboy, or a Chinese warrior, or an Indian tourist visiting Taj Mahal in the best shape, best costume and lighting. These are some images that we were able to have fun with. It definitely enticed our team into sending their own profile pic to generate some stunning, stylish images for their socials.
OPPO gives you 5000 credits for free, to begin with, with each generation of 4 images, 10 credits have to be spent. It’s fast, the images look too good and is a great party trick. Suddenly you might become a photo booth which creates images your friends want. It ranges from professional, too stylish to fantasy to cartoon. Sure, there are not enough options, or control. You can’t play around with it much, for now, but whatever it lets you do, it does perfectly well.
Sometimes, there are errors like, heads are bigger, the uncanny valley appears, otherwise, a really fantastic experience, a party trick, will attract all your friends into sending their mug shots for this GenAI transformation.
AI toolbox
While the GenAI based Studio app is entirely OPPO’s doing, there are some other features integrated, mainly on the sidebar, which are powered by Google Gemini.
You can ask it to speak out any text that you find on the browser, or generate text on any social app text box. Really, if you are running out of ideas on what to post, just giving it a prompt will generate, let’s say, a tweet. I was able to make it tell a joke about Elon Musk having too many children, and it was quite original.
This feature is available on the sidebar as “AI writer”. The speaking AI is called “AI speak” and also along with it comes the popular “AI summary” feature which lets you TLDR any article or story. This works really well in the recorder app as well. We’re sure these features will become standard in almost all Android phones that have an NPU, of which, the OPPO Reno 12 Pro in one.
Smart Screenshots
Extracting text or photos from screenshots used to be impossible. AI helps you with it, on the Reno. Even better is the superb ability to drag and drop anything into this feature called “File Dock”, so that all your notes can be gathered in one place, and it can be drag-dropped anytime into any app that’s willing to work with it.
Camera, powered by AI
There are certain camera and gallery features as well. This might be familiar to Google Pixel users. AI portrait retouching, which works on the face and the clarity of your portraits. AI eraser 2.0, which removes unwanted objects or people in the frame. AI clear face, which lets you enhance facial details. What’s great in these features is, all of them work well, on-device, without sending data to the cloud. All thanks to the on-board NPU.
There’s also the AI best face, which fixes closed eyes, errors that previously we were not able to fix, now we cfan, with AI. Now, the main question seems to be, are these features so useful that we will use them? Well, if you are a content creator with a limited time budget and is in search of fixes to problems, you surely will. All these AI features provided us an extra edge when we were looking for equivalent smartphones in the same price range. There are very few phones that can do all these features together right now. If you want to be ahead of the game, AI will come in handy.
- 50MP main camera with 1/1.95″ Sony LYT-600 sensor, f/1.8 aperture, OIS
- 8MP 112º ultra-wide camera with Sony IMX355 sensor, ƒ/2.2 aperture
- 50MP 2x telephoto camera with Samsung JN5 sensor, up to 20x digital zoom
- 50MP front camera with Samsung JN5 sensor, f/2.0 aperture
In our experience, the 50MP cameras are performing really well, in almost all conditions. There is OIS for the main camera alone. The main camera is a star, as it really shines in tough conditions and throws up great colors. There is a slight color shift when 2x is applied, the telephoto sensor, but it is very high clarity as well. In fact, both these cameras together contribute to a perfect portrait mode experience. Add all that AI based face-sharpening and modifying features, and you have a great portrait mode experience. We will let the samples talk for itself.
Design and Build
Moving on to the hardware, the Reno 12 Pro shines in many segments. For example, the build is very pleasant. There is a dual tone glass back, with features that might attract ones who like some bling. On the inside, OPPO claims to use a high-strength alloy, which is corrosion and temperature resistant. Basically, it means the phone is very light but very strong as well. Seems true in my experience. The phone is indeed very light and the design feels quite premium.
OPPO also claims that inside the phone, there is a certain special arrangement of cushioning material that will help take in the shocks of a fall and prevent damage. Helping that fact is also the strongest Gorilla Glass used, the Victus 2. There is an IP65 rating as well. The device we have is a Space-Brown color. In our experience, the two-tone color and that chic ribbon make for a great visual experience, and the in-box case is even better. Overall, we feel the weight distribution, the design and the build quality are top-notch. Maybe not flagship-level, but definitely something premium and sleek.
The phone is just 7.4mm thick, and weighs 180g. This is felt when using the device. When you take the device in the hand, it will feel sleek, comfortable and gentle. And yes, there is a splash touch feature where the display will continue to work normal even if water drops are hanging on to the screen. Yeah, you can use it with wet hands.
Display
The first thing you will notice about this display is that it is curved on all sides. OPPO calls it the “infinity view” screen. They are not too far from that description, because there is definitely a striking difference when you see it in person.
The display is a 120Hz capable AMOLED screen with FHD resolution, 394 ppi. It’s in the 20:9 aspect ratio. Brightness goes up to 600 nits, and can be boosted to 1500 nits outdoors. Thanks to PWM dimming, the display has low blue light. All this makes for a satisfying mid-range premium flagship experience. We had no complaints with it during the course of our review.
ColorOS 14.1
ColorOS has maintained its style, its features and of course, its bloatware. As a long time OPPO user, the familiarity is helpful. There are plenty of features to explore and get excited about. The customization is, thankfully, still there. Beyond AI, it is the kitchen sink where everything is available. If you’re already a ColorOS user, no problem. If you’re switching from other platforms, there might be some quirks you will find. Nevertheless, it’s not alien to Android users like us.
There’s no doubt that AI is now the centerpiece of ColorOS experience. All the above listed features now belong to this OS, which I am sure, will get its due in terms of updates, following the company policy of 3 years of OS upgrades plus 4 years of security patches. There is bloatware, but but you can uninstall these apps.
Performance
Powered by the Dimensity 7300, the OPPO Reno 12 Pro manages to barely satisfy premium needs and happily satisfies the basic needs. Make no mistake, this is not a gaming phone. This is not a performance oriented flagship either. The Reno 12 Pro is purely in a new category of AI-powered phones. For that the NPU is important. Neural Processing Unit, which resides inside the incredibly tiny 4nm chip, the Mediatek Dimensity 7300 (Energy). Yes, there is an extra tag to tell you that it is not the usual chip we see. There have been some modifications, at least a bit of overclocking for sure. In our experience, it’s an extremely power efficient chip that manages to save a ton of battery life. 3 days without a charge is easy if you are a moderate user like me.
Color OS has a “Trinity engine” which manages the CPU, ROM and RAM resources in a way that it feels performant. There is RAM expansion as well, adding on to the already abundant 12GB. The only issues I have with Mediatek Dimensity 7300 is the stability when it comes to performance. Sure. It is fast and blazing when it comes to raw performance, but in regular usage, the throttling is so high that, some stutters and lags are unavoidable, making it fall in the territory of mid-range phones than flagship, which is understandable considering the Reno 12 Pro being positioned like that. It is definitely not a flagship device, like the X series.
That said, check out the synthetic benchmark scores below.
Battery life
When it comes to battery technology, if there is a company that is way ahead, it is OPPO and its sister concern OnePlus. The Reno 12 Pro is no exception, it has a 80W superVOOC charging, which, as you might expect, is blazing fast. Also, the phone is so efficient that the 5000 mAH battery lasts a lot longer than competing high-performance devices in the same price range. Oh, and the charger comes in the box.
Conclusion
OPPO Reno 12 Pro will definitely inspire you to use the AI features more than any other smartphone you have used before. The design will make heads turn, make your hands feel content. There will also be a clear difference in your camera shots, when you upgrade from inferior phones. But it is definitely not a gaming phone or a flagship performance phone. Do tune your expectations before approaching for a purchase.
Pricing and availability
The OPPO Reno12 Pro is priced at Rs. 36,999 for the 12GB + 256GB model and the 12GB + 512GB version costs Rs. 40,999. This is cheaper than the Reno11 Pro which was launched for Rs. 39,999 for the 12GB + 256GB model. The phone is available to order and will be available from Flipkart, OPPO India online store and offline stores starting from July 18th.
Pros
- Design is great
- Build is reassuring
- AI features are useful and fun
- Comfortable battery life
Cons
- Not a flagship-level product
- Not a spec upgrade
- Can be more stable and optimized