OPPO has just launched their all new Reno12 series, which is OPPO’s first AI phone. As we all know the Reno series has been dubbed as the “portrait expert”, and now with the enhanced AI features that OPPO is introducing in its latest Reno series, not only will your photography moments be taken to a whole new level, other experiences like connectivity and productivity will also be levelled up. We got our hands on the OPPO Reno12 and without further ado, let’s take a look at what it got.
Pros | Cons |
Good portrait camera | Lack of telephoto lens |
Plenty of AI features in terms of photography, connectivity and productivity | Would require frequent cleaning as back material attracts fingerprint very easily |
Unique and premium eye-catching design | |
Very solid and tough protection design |
Design
Having a dimension of 161.4 x 74.1 x 7.6mm and weight of 177g, The Reno12 still feels pretty solid in hand even with its lightweight. The model comes in 2 different colours, Astro Silver and Matte Brown, and it does surprise me that OPPO has taken two very different approaches for each design. For the Matte Brown, it is more on the classic side with a rich cocoa hue topping up with a fingerprint-free finish.
On the other hand, the Astro Silver model, which is the one in my hand, is something we rarely see in today’s smartphone design. The cover applies a Retro Futurism and metal design, and is further accented by a spacecraft-inspired matte silver tone. OPPO also applied its exclusive Fluid Ripple Texture to make it look like a smooth mirror with mesmerising water ripples, which adds a cool 3D visual effect to the modern design.
Overall this gives the Reno12 a very premium and eye-catching look, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you are getting all the attention everywhere you go with it in your hand. However this does come with a very minor setback as the material attracts fingerprints pretty easily but good news is that it’s also very easy to clean up as any simple piece of cloth would get the job done in a few wipes.
Display
At the front is a 6.7 inch 120Hz 3D Curved AMOLED display with an ultra slim bezel design, allowing it to achieve a screen to body ratio of 93.4% giving you a super immersive viewing experience.
The display is further backed by the Corning® Gorilla® Glass 7i, and combined with OPPO’s brand-new all-round armour architecture, this gives the phone aerospace-grade level protection, making it tougher than ever, keeping your phone safe from the potential drops and impacts in your daily adventures.
OPPO also adopts the Full-Dimensional Touch Optimization solution on the Reno12 to improve touch accuracy, and this does significantly reduce the probability of accidentally touching the edge of the screen, which has been quite an annoying issue for me, especially when operating the phone with one hand.
Other than that, the Reno12 screen also has some nice QoL features, and among those that I find pretty useful is the Splash Touch and Bedtime Mode. With the Splash Touch feature, you can operate the phone as usual even with wet hands, like answering a call or replying to messages when you’re taking a shower or preparing a meal in the kitchen.
For the Bedtime Mode, the system would automatically adjust the screen’s colour temperature after sunset to minimise the impact on your natural melatonin levels, allowing you to enjoy better night rests with better sleeping quality.
Camera
The Reno12 features an amazing AI-powered ultra clear camera system, consisting of a 50 MP main camera, an 8 MP ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 2 MP macro camera, to help you capture perfect shots.
The main camera uses a Sony LYT 600 sensor which ensures top-notch quality and clarity in every single shot, be it daily moments capturing or close-up portraits.
When it comes to portrait mode the Reno12 offers natural and distortion-free shots with up to 2x in-sensor zoom, which does really look like they were taken with professional cameras.
The portrait mode is also available with the 32 MP selfie camera which allows for more retouch options. The AI blemish removal smooths out light and shadow areas while keeping facial contours intact, making your portrait shots flawless.
AI Photography
OPPO has also brought photo editing to another level with the enhanced AI features, and here are a few prominent features that would be very useful for our daily photography needs. We all have probably encountered this scenario, where we want to take some photos at some popular landmark or tourist hotspots, and there are just tons of passersby or other people taking photos at the back, making it extremely difficult to get a good shot. Sometimes you might manage to get a perfect timing, but at the last second someone just decided to pop out of nowhere to photobomb you. With the improved AI Eraser 2.0, you could be free from all these annoyances and not only that, OPPO even stepped up the game by adding in a “Remove People” button, in which the AI will detect all other people other the subject, and allow you to remove all of them in one go.
You can also import your old photos from other devices and it will still work like magic. Aside from people, the new AI Eraser 2.0 also has up to 98% recognition accuracy to detect any kind of objects that we are likely to see in our daily lives.
Next up would be the AI Smart Image Matting 2.0. The one-tap subject extraction has been super convenient since it was introduced back in the Reno11 but editing is still a little hassle as you would need to do it externally. In this enhanced AI Smart Image Matting 2.0, you can directly add your extracted subjects as stickers, which then you could use them to unleash your creativity directly in the gallery itself.
With generative AI getting more popular among the public, Reno12 has also brought AI Studio to its users, which is the world’s first free AIGC application. With a photo of yourself, you can make use of the available templates to l transform yourself into different styles of avatar. There is this urban formal attire and resume template, where you can create for professional usage, or this Q-style doodle and Mona Lisa template, where you can use these cute avatars on your social media. All you need is register an OPPO account, and you will be given credits for around 500 uses, which is valid for a year.
Connectivity
And AI is not limited to photography only. The Reno 12 also comes with OPPO’s own developed AI LinkBoost, and combined with the 360-degree surround antenna design, it ensures the most stable signal possible with minimum downtime in scenarios like after leaving an elevator or at a crowded concert.
Besides, OPPO’s Beacon Link technology lets you make calls via Bluetooth, and this works up to a distance of 200 metres even at places with zero signal and connectivity, allowing you to stay connected with your friends all the time. However, currently this function only works within OPPO Reno12 Series devices so hopefully this practical function would get used in more devices.
Performance
The OPPO Reno12 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7300-Energy platform developed exclusively by MediaTek and OPPO, and this gives a very good balance between performance and power consumption. It comes with 12GB RAM, and allows for another 12GB of Dynamic RAM expansion, giving users a smooth and seamless multitasking experience. 512GB of internal storage is definitely more than enough for your daily photography and post editing needs.
I did a quick game test of Honor of Kings at Max FPS, Ultra Resolution and HD Quality. Overall performance is quite good, the game is able to run smoothly without any noticeable lag, the fps is fluctuating around 80-100 fps but doesn't really affect the gaming experience so actually you can opt for a higher graphic quality and lower the fps if you prefer better looking graphics. Good to say that you definitely will not be facing any problem catching a few rounds of quick games in between your photography sessions.
Battery
On the battery side is a large 5000mAh battery packed in without sacrificing the thickness, and this should easily last a full day even if you are a heavy user. Actual battery test done with some entertaining activities and the result proved to be quite impressive. An hour of music on wireless earbuds consumes around 5% battery, whereas another hour of livestream at 1080p consumes around 6% battery.
It comes with 80W SUPERVOOC Flash Charge, and according to official lab tests it is able to charge from 1-100% within 49 minutes. Actual charging test carried out starting from 8%, took 15 minutes to 48%, another 15 minutes to 80% and lastly 12 more minutes to reach 100%. Overall it took 42 minutes to charge from 8% to 100%, which comes pretty close to official data so you can be rest assured of how long lasting the battery can be, given OPPO even promises a battery lifespan of over four years.
Productivity
Lastly, there are also a few other AI productivity tools that's worth mentioning. AI Clear Voice helps to filter out background noise while you’re on a call, and it works on pretty much all of the common communication apps, though it only works on calls using the built-in earpiece speaker.
Under the AI Tool Box are some handy tools like AI Writer, AI Speak and AI Summary. AI Writer helps you to generate social media captions based on keywords and tone selection.
When browsing over some webpages, you can make use of AI Speak and AI Summary to save you some time. AI Speak will read out the on-screen content for you, whereas AI Summary will summarise the main points for you.
The AI Record Summary is also very useful for your daily meetings or conferences, as it intelligently generates summaries of your recorded content for easy reading and reference. This OPPO’s new GenAI feature, which is based on Google’s Gemini, currently supports speech-to-text conversion in Chinese, English, and Hindi only with a maximum of 45,000 characters, and we can look forward to more languages being supported in the future.
Verdict
The OPPO Reno12 not only continues bringing the best portrait photography to users, it also further steps up in terms of design, durability and AI features to give a more comprehensive user experience. Having all these AI features that covers from creativity to connectivity and productivity at your fingertips is just perfect for an era where everything is about AI. Whether you’re a fan of photography, or a trendsetter looking for an all-rounder phone, the OPPO Reno12 is definitely something you should consider.
The OPPO Reno12 is selling at RM2199 and from today until 31 July, consumers would receive free gifts and rebates upon purchasing the OPPO Reno12 Series, alongside a chance to win lucky draw prizes worth up to RM10,000 via the MY OPPO App. Details as below, be sure to check them out at the available stores.
