APC Australia - September 2019

$1,499|WWW.OPPO.COM/AU

SMARTPHONE

Oppo

Cutting edge,future-ready an

E

ver oneforclassy
designs, Oppo’s
latest handset is
truly stunning.
The Reno 5G sports an
iridescent, yet
predominantly matte
finish on its rear – a
welcome aesthetic and
tactile change to all the
high-gloss that arrived on
flagship phones with the
introduction of glass
bodies. A clever addition to
the phone’s back is a small
bump (dubbed the ‘O-Dot’)
that effectively raises your
phone from a flat surface to
avoid damaging the
cameras and sensors that
are flush with the handset’s
rear.
Flip the phone over and
you’ll immediately notice
how dazzling the display is
as well. Measuring
6.6-inches and fitting in an
impressive 2,340 x 1,080
pixels, this AMOLED wonder
offers plenty of vivid
colours and detail. While
there is a tiny bezel that
surrounds all four edges (a
slightly larger one for the
chin), the lack of notch or
pinhole camera makes for

4,

upin

comfort ore

thana day’s eav y

usage.While ColorOS

isn’tnecessarilyas

appealingassomeother

major players’,it’scertainly

improved over the years and

is more than palatable by

this stage.

While the 5G competition

is thin at present, this

flagship from Oppo is the

most affordable 5G-enabled

device on the Australian

market, with its $1,499

asking price falling

comfortably below the

$1,729 of the LG V50 ThinQ

5G and the anticipated

$2,000 ballpark for the

Samsung Galaxy S10 5G. At

the time of writing, 5G

availability was rather

patchy in Sydney, although

even in areas that weren’t

technically marked by

Telstra as having coverage,

download speeds were

noticeably quicker (getting

up to 200Mbps in some CBD

areas according to

animpressively

uninterruptedviewingand

gaming experience,

enabling it to achievea

stellar 93.1% screen-to-body

ratio.

The reason this handsetis

able to maintain sucha

sleek facade is due toits

novel and genius pop-up

camera. Oppo isn’t new to

this, with the Find X first

debuting this flavour of

wizardry, but the shark-fin

design we see with this

generation of smartphones

is certainly a refinement on

the feature. The selfie

camera is quite a capable

shooter, and paired with

portrait modes and Oppo’s

penchant for beautification,

it’ll be more than enough. As

for the main snapper, this

version of Oppo’s flagship

has inherited its non-5G

counterpart’s star feature

• 10x optical zoom – and
  when paired with all the
  powerful shooting modes,
  makes for a really deep and
  pretty camera.
  Its powerful Snapdragon
  855 and 8GB R AM combo is
  more than capable of
  breezing through the latest

edtest, compared with

he40-60Mbps typically

expected of 4G).

Although having 5G

capabilities might prove

itself useful over the course

of the next year, by that

point the number of

compatible smartphones on

the market will have also

increased. You could spend

$300 less and get an

identical handset minus the

5G functionality – a much

more compelling

proposition for the majority

of users – but if you’d like to

ready yourself for the

future and are fine with

being an early adopter, the

Oppo Reno 5G is an excellent

way to buyintoallthelatest

smartphonefeaturesata

discount. Harry Domanski

Verdic t

A competitively priced

high-tech offering.

relatively affordabley

mesandday-to-daytasks.

ThankstoOppo’sVOO

Ahbatterycharges

diblyfasta

y manages

orthof

o

a