My honest Oppo Reno 10 Pro 5G Review: Many Hits, but a Few Misses

The common factor between the OnePlus Nord 3 (Review), OnePlus 11R (Review) and iQoo Neo 7 Pro (Review) is that they are all priced under Rs. 40,000 in India, and focus on providing flagship-grade performance. The premium mid-range segment has witnessed a surge of phone launches lately, and if these options were not enough, there is the new Oppo Reno 10 Pro 5G to add to the list. Priced at Rs. 39,999, the Reno 10 Pro 5G sits between the baseline Reno 10 5G and the top-of-the-line Reno 10 Pro+ 5G (Review).


While most of the competition aims at offering value-for-money performance, the Oppo Reno 10 Pro 5G has a few tricks up its sleeve to stand out in the crowd. Should you consider buying it? Here is our full review to help you decide.
Oppo Reno 10 Pro 5G price in India

The Oppo Reno 10 Pro 5G has been launched in India in a single storage option. It comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, priced at Rs. 39,999.
Oppo Reno 10 Pro 5G design and display

The Oppo Reno 10 Pro has been launched in two colour options — Silvery Grey and Glossy Purple. We have the latter, which looks quite unique compared to most other recent phones launching in shades of green and black. The phone has a curved rear panel and frame. The glass back of the Oppo Reno 10 Pro offers a premium in-hand feel. What contributes to this further is the fairly slim and lightweight build. The Reno 10 Pro is about 7.89mm thick and weighs 185g. That being said, there are times when the phone has slipped out of my hands due to the smooth finish of the back.

The Oppo Reno 10 Pro is quite a looker in my opinion. The choice of colours and design combined make it look like a much more expensive smartphone. The shiny metallic finish also does a good job of hiding fingerprints and smudges. While the rear panel is made of glass, the chassis is made of plastic. The phone has its power and volume buttons on the right edge, which are easily accessible if you have fairly large hands.

What I did have an issue with was the single-speaker setup. For a smartphone under Rs. 40,000, it is very basic to have a good dual-speaker setup, and it is a total bummer that Oppo chose to only offer a single speaker in the Reno 10 Pro 5G. Plus, there is no 3.5mm headphone jack either. The bright side is that the speaker is quite loud but the audio experience is not as immersive.





On the bright side, the 120Hz display offers up to 950 nits of peak brightness while consuming HDR content. There is support for HDR playback on YouTube but not on Netflix at the time of writing this. The vibrant 10-bit display offers support for a billion colours. Oppo has opted for an AGC Dragontrail Star 2 glass, which is said to offer 20 percent improved drop resistance compared to Corning Gorilla Glass 5.

I did not experience any major stutters while scrolling through the user interface when the refresh rate setting was set to Auto Switch. There were some software-related issues though, which we will talk about in the next section.
Oppo Reno 10 Pro 5G specifications and software

The Oppo Reno 10 Pro 5G features a Snapdragon 778G SoC with an Adreno 642L GPU. The phone packs a 4,600mAh battery and offers 80W SuperVOOC fast charging. It offers connectivity features such as Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, dual-SIM, IR emitter, etc. The Oppo Reno 10 Pro 5G comes with 14 5G bands in India.

In terms of software, the Oppo Reno 10 Pro 5G runs the latest ColorOS 13.1, based on Android 13. Oppo's ColorOS has evolved over the years and has been one of the most preferred options for personalisation and customisation. The Reno 10 Pro continues to give users the option to change wallpapers, adjust front shape and size, change icon shape and size, etc.

There is also support for Android 13's Material You theme, which matches the system and UI colours with the wallpaper's colours. Also, Oppo also lets users choose when a bunch of featured colour options for the UI and system icons in the Settings app. More details about ColorOS 13.1 have been shared in our Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G review.

While ColorOS 13.1 is feature-rich, it is plagued with app recommendations and ads through the user interface, be it the set-up screen, bloatware-loaded app drawer and home screen, or app recommendations in the default browser app. There are also a bunch of not-so-popular games and third-party apps preinstalled. App Market, Oppo's native App Store, also spams you with multiple notifications, suggesting you install certain applications.



Oppo Reno 10 Pro comes with over 50 preinstalled apps



Oppo seems to have taken feedback and has stated that unwanted apps asking for installation permission when first setting up the phone will be removed to provide a better experience in the next software version. However, Hot Games and Hot Apps, which are Oppo's native app recommendation folders will continue to be available. Users can hide these folders by going to App Market > General > Tap Settings at the top right corner and disabling the toggle for Hot Apps and Hot Games. You can also disable the recommendations spam by long-pressing on one of the notifications, tapping on 'More Settings' and disabling the 'Allow Notifications' toggle.

However, there seems to be a need for optimisation as I noticed the screen orientation changing automatically even when the Auto-rotate option was disabled. There were times when I noticed minor jitters while going back to the homescreen. Hopefully, Oppo fixes these issues soon. The Oppo Reno 10 Pro is promised to get two major Android updates and security support for three years.
Oppo Reno 10 Pro 5G performance and battery life

The Oppo Reno 10 Pro features a mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G SoC, which we have seen in a few smartphones priced at around Rs. 30,000 in India. The Reno 10 Pro 5G is clearly not the most powerful phone in the segment. However, when it comes to routine tasks such as scrolling through social media, messaging, content consumption, app loading, etc, the chipset can still get the job done.

Casual gaming, too, is doable. However, for the price, the likes of the OnePlus Nord 3 (Review), OnePlus 11R (Review) and iQoo Neo 7 Pro (Review) offer far better gaming performance and value. Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) supports 'HDR' graphics and 'Ultra' framerate settings. I noticed some stutter when playing with the highest settings but the gameplay was slightly better when the graphics settings were dropped to 'Balanced' or 'HD'. Asphalt 9: Legends, on the other hand, ran quite smoothly.

RAM management is quite good and apps continued to load from where I had left them. The Reno 10 Pro also offers support for up to 8GB of virtual RAM, which is borrowed from the 256GB of internal memory.



Oppo Reno 10 Pro's in-display fingerprint scanner is placed quite low for comfort



I also ran a few benchmark tests on the Oppo Reno 10 Pro 5G. It scored 5,89.206 points on AnTuTu (v10). In Geekbench 6, the phone scored 1,013 (single-core test) and 2,669 points (multi-core test). It gets demolished by the competition, with the iQoo Neo 7 Pro scoring 1,263,884 points in AnTuTu (v10). While benchmarks are not the only metric to judge a phone's performance, it does highlight that raw performance is not the Reno 10 Pro's forte.

However, when it comes to battery life, the Oppo Reno 10 Pro 5G can last a full day. My average screen-on time (SoT) was about 8 hours and 20 minutes. When there was more than two hours of gameplay involved, the phone returned a SoT of about 6 hours and 50 minutes. In our HD video battery loop test, the Oppo Reno 10 Pro lasted for 20 hours and 44 minutes. The 80W SuperVOOC charger refills the battery completely in about 29 minutes.
Oppo Reno 10 Pro 5G cameras

The Oppo Reno 10 Pro 5G features a triple-camera setup on the back. It has a 50-megapixel Sony IMX890 primary camera with support for optical image stabilisation (OIS). The same sensor is found in the flagship OnePlus 11 (Review) and the Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G. The Reno 10 Pro also features an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 32-megapixel telephoto camera with 2X optical zoom. For selfies, there is a 32-megapixel front camera sensor.

Starting with the primary camera, you get good quality images with true-to-life colours. The dynamic range performance is good in most cases. There were times when the exposure in the shadows was not optimal. Night mode shots were well-exposed with little-to-no noise in many scenarios. The highlights were not blown out while trying to retain details in the shadows. In my opinion, the Reno 10 Pro's primary camera's low-light performance is among the best in the segment.



Oppo Reno 10 Pro primary camera samples (Top row: Photo mode, bottom row: Night mode)



The ultra-wide camera's colour temperature varies compared to the main camera with slightly warmer tones. There is definitely a lack of details, especially around the edges but the camera does a good job with colours and dynamic range.



Oppo Reno 10 Pro ultra-wide camera sample



You also get a 2X telephoto camera which is not as common in the segment. I really liked the telephoto camera's performance, although there is room for improvement. You get good details and the dynamic range performance is also quite good. Again, the colour temperature is different as telephoto images are slightly cooler compared to the primary camera's samples.










Portrait mode's edge detection is excellent. However, the primary camera's portrait mode makes human skin look a bit red. The telephoto camera's portrait mode performance, on the other hand is pretty impressive when it comes to colours, edge detection and details. A thing to note though is that there is a shutter lag while taking portrait mode shots, so you need to keep the phone steady and make sure that the subject does not move until you hear the shutter sound.
Verdict

Oppo Reno 10 Pro is perhaps one of the best designed smartphones under Rs 40,000. It not only looks good but it is also well-built and has a good in-hand feel. The phone scores big points for its good display and battery life. The performance unit is passable for the price as the competition offers far better value. Where the Reno 10 Pro 5G has a slight edge over the competition is its versatile camera system, which also features a good quality telephoto lens.

However, the one area where it struggles is the software experience, which currently does not match the premium price. The phone is also not IP-rated and only has a single speaker.

All in all, if you are looking for a phone which has a flagship-grade design and display, and a versatile camera setup, you can consider getting the Oppo Reno 10 Pro 5G. On the other hand, if you want premium performance, a good software experience, and are okay with missing out on a telephoto camera, you have plenty of options such as the OnePlus 11R (Review), OnePlus Nord 3 (Review) and iQoo Neo 7 Pro (Review).
Verdict

The OPPO Reno10 has a design language that’s worth showing off and an attractive AMOLED display, both of which are rather significant upgrades over the Reno8 5G. While the chipset is not its biggest draw, the Reno10 can handle basic daily tasks well and is backed by decent battery life. However, with a price tag of Rs 32,999, the Reno10 5G finds itself amongst some powerful competitors.

Design and display

There’s no denying that the Reno10 5G is a good-looking smartphone. OPPO has tried to keep the design philosophy similar across all three devices in the series. In fact, the Reno10 5G and Reno10 Pro 5G look almost identical from the back, with a similar pill-shaped camera module and camera layout. The only difference between the two phones is the finishing of the panel. While the Reno10 Pro gets a glossy back panel, the vanilla model offers a matte finish. I personally prefer the matte finish as it avoids noticeable fingerprints and smudges.

You have the option to purchase the phone in either Ice Blue or Silvery Grey colour variants. I received the Ice Blue version. This variant features a pleasing light Blue hue with gradient colours that shift depending on the angle and intensity of light hitting the panel.


The 3D curved sides on the front enhance the device’s ergonomics and provide a comfortable grip. Add to that, the phone is lightweight at just 185 grams. This design element is consistent across all three phones in the lineup, and it looks particularly delightful on a phone that costs around Rs 33,000.

The frame sees the power button and volume controls placed at an ideal location on the right side, while the dual Nano-SIM slot is placed at the bottom next to the Type-C port. The Reno10 5G features dual stereo speakers, with a speaker grille at the bottom and the earpiece doubling up as a secondary speaker. This is a pleasant surprise considering the more expensive Reno10 Pro misses out on this feature. The audio quality itself is decent but lacks a certain clarity and punch, especially at higher volume levels.

While the Reno8 offered a 6.43-inch 90Hz AMOLED display, the Reno10 5G gets a bigger 6.7-inch screen and a higher 120Hz refresh rate. OPPO has managed to offer a bigger screen without changing the footprint much by reducing the bezels significantly, especially the chin. The Reno10 5G offers uniformly slim bezels, so you get a rather large and immersive display.



The Reno10 5G boasts an AMOLED panel that delivers vibrant colour reproduction with deep Reds, Greens, and Blacks. The 2,412 x 1,080 pixel resolution ensures consistently crisp picture quality. Moreover, the phone supports HDR10+ content on platforms like Amazon Prime Video. During my review, I watched HDR10+ shows like The Rings of Power and Jack Ryan and found the dynamic range to be satisfactory, although overall brightness levels seemed less than adequate.
Cameras

In some ways, the Reno10 5G comes with some decent camera upgrades. OPPO has replaced the (pretty useless) 2MP macro lens of the Reno8 with a (pretty useful) 32MP Sony IMX709 telephoto camera that supports 2x optical zoom and up to 20x digital zoom. The wide-angle camera still uses an 8MP sensor much like its successor. Meanwhile, the primary camera gets a 64MP Omnivision OV64B sensor compared to the 50MP Sony IMX766 camera on the Reno8 5G. While the higher megapixel count sounds like a nice upgrade on paper, it doesn’t really translate too well in real-world testing.


In normal daylight conditions, the 64MP primary camera captures adequate scenic photos with a good amount of detail. However, it occasionally tends to blow out certain areas like the sky, and overprocess the images. Indoors, the camera performs well with impressive details compared to similar photos taken with my iPhone 14 Plus. Nevertheless, the Reno10 5G tends to oversaturate colours, while the iPhone delivers better colour accuracy. Additionally, images taken with both the primary and telephoto lenses exhibit a cooler colour temperature.

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