In my opinion, Oppo's Reno series of phones has been floundering for the past few years. What began as a mid-range series has graduated to the premium tier with last year's Rs. 45,000+ Reno 8 Pro 5G. The series' biggest flaw wasn't its design or battery life; rather, it was its underwhelming camera performance and processing power in comparison to competing products of a similar price. This year, Oppo appears to have set a new benchmark with the Rs. 54,999 price tag on the Reno 10 Pro+ 5G, its flagship model.
The new Oppo 10 Pro+ 5G is more expensive than the Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G (Review), but it has a more powerful processor and three excellent rear cameras. But is it the true all-arounder that brand loyalists have been waiting for, and does it make sense when weighed against the alternatives?
With the Reno 10 Pro+ 5G, Oppo opts for a minimalistic aesthetic that is both refined and polished, making the phone easy to hold. Its curved display, curved sides, and rounded corners all contribute to its high-end aesthetic. Corning Gorilla Glass 5 is used for the back panel, while AGC uses its Dragontrail Star 2 cover glass for the screen. The polycarbonate sandwiched frame gives the device a premium feel and helps keep the weight down to 194g by eliminating sharp edges near the various perforations and cutouts.
During the testing period, no fingerprints or other marks were visible on either the screen or the back. Since the back of my phone was so slick, I had to lean on the camera protrusion to keep it from slipping out of my hand. The metal surface around the periscopic telephoto camera was finely ridged, so it was easier to hold. The Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G was somewhat top-heavy, and it would occasionally topple over. Fortunately, Oppo includes a silicone case with a good grip as part of the package.
While this all sounds fantastic for a high-end phone, it's a little disappointing that Oppo didn't include an official IP rating in the Reno 10 Pro+ 5G given that many new phones under Rs. 40,000 in 2023 boast ratings of up to IP68.
Features and software for the Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G.
The Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 system-on-chip. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, which was released this year and has already appeared in several high-end devices, replaced the original Snapdragon 8 last year. There will be some criticism levelled at the Reno 10 Pro+ 5G because its siblings from OnePlus and iQoo offer a more recent processor at the same price.
The Reno 10 Pro+ 5G's curved 6.74-inch OLED display features a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate and an aspect ratio of 20.1:9. This, however, is not of the LTPO variety (but LTPS), so the frequencies it can switch between are limited to 30Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz. The screen packs in 450ppi of pixel density thanks to its resolution of 2,772 by 1,240. The device supports multiple 5G bands and communicates via Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, an infrared sensor (for the remote control function), and so on. Despite having two nano-SIM card slots, the phone does not support external storage expansion via a microSD card. Even though it has stereo speakers, the phone doesn't have a 3.5mm jack for headphones.
Only on OnePlus devices did I not find the option to theme the icons to match the system accent colour or theme. With the Multi-Screen connect feature on the Reno 10 Pro+ 5G, you can link your phone to a tablet or a Windows PC and perform tasks such as sharing a clipboard, transferring files, screencasting, opening mobile apps on the PC, and more.
What seems to be a turnoff (at least at first) are the third-party apps that come preinstalled. When I first started using the phone, there were 12, and I was relieved to find that all but one, FinShell Pay, were removable.
Another thing that irritated me was the Oppo App Market, which serves the same purpose as the Google Play Store but constantly bombards you with irrelevant notifications. Another app like this is Game Center, which allows you to download games but constantly bombards you with notifications. I thought Oppo would tone this down, given the high price of the phone. I had to turn off alerts from both apps completely.
The 5G capabilities of the Oppo Reno 10 Pro+
The benchmark results for the Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G were satisfactory, with scores of 10,87,266 on AnTuTu and 951, and 3,728 on Geekbench 6, respectively. The Reno 10 Pro+ 5G, according to Oppo, features a vapour chamber cooling system and an ultra conductive graphite sheet that are both larger than the system found in the Reno 8 Pro 5G.
The phone never got too hot to the touch, even when I was using the camera to record 4K videos outside or playing games at their highest settings against other people. With a little fiddling in the gaming console's settings, I was able to maximise the phone's advertised 240Hz touch sampling rate, making it ideal for fast-paced games. Whether I was playing Asphalt 9 Legends at 60 frames per second or Call of Duty Mobile at Max or Ultra frame rates, the Reno 10 Pro+ 5G barely got warm enough to be uncomfortable.