OPPO Reno12 Pro review: goodness of Gen AI features

Is the Dimensity 7300-powered OPPO Reno 12 Pro worth considering at this price range?

• By Abhik Sengupta
Published On: 12 July 2024 | 01:00 IST

The new OPPO Reno12 Pro is unlike any OPPO Reno smartphone you’ve seen yet. Sure, its specifications are quite modest. Its design remains sleek and slender, and there’s a big focus on cameras backed by some AI features – similar to previous OPPO Reno smartphones. The 80W charging speed is the same as the one on the Reno11 Pro (review), but we now get a bigger 5,000mAh battery for longer backup. There’s still no wireless charging support.

However, the latest iteration focuses on enhancing productivity, and OPPO seems to be heading in the right direction. For instance, users can now leverage generative AI to summarise lengthy articles. There’s also a native feature to write Instagram captions.

While full-fledged AI integration isn’t here yet, it doesn’t seem far off. Until then, is the OPPO Reno12 Pro, priced at 36,999 (256GB storage), worth considering, especially against competitors like the OnePlus 12R and Xiaomi 14 Civi? Let’s find out.

Verdict

Simply considering the hardware, the OPPO Reno 12 Pro may surprise many users. But its native AI features give the smartphone an edge over rivals, and its performance is surprisingly smooth despite modest specifications. The camera and battery performance are decent, if not the best. However, given the aggressive competition, OPPO needs to revamp the next Reno smartphone with high-end hardware to stand out. But if you value cameras, sleek design, and a vivid display, the Reno12 Pro won’t disappoint.

Design and display

In terms of design, OPPO has rarely disappointed, and the new Reno12 Pro continues that trend. Its sleek build is easy to hold and carry, and the side buttons are ergonomic for my grip. The sides have a metal-like finish that looks and feels premium. OPPO claims the sleek design doesn’t compromise durability, and I can vouch for this to some extent, as the smartphone has survived a few accidental bumps. The Reno12 Pro also boasts an IP65 rating, offering considerable protection against dust and water splashes.

However, OPPO continues to offer limited colour options, exactly two, for its Reno smartphones. The Reno12 Pro this year gets a new Sunset Gold variant, which I am reviewing. The colour may remind you of Rose Gold, which many smartphone brands have adopted over time, though its back incorporates multiple finishes for a distinct look. The bottom half features a glossy finish, while the top gets a coarse matte texture to hide fingerprint smudges. The rear cameras are stacked vertically inside the rectangular module, unlike the oval module on the Reno11 Pro. The OPPO branding on the back stays constant.

Truth be told, the Sunset Gold option may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I don’t mind distinct designs. The colour undoubtedly draws some eyeballs, but that could match some users’ preferences. The somewhat black option (called Space Brown) is more subtle and will appeal to a broader audience. OPPO could’ve added more options, including a white one, which I feel would look brilliant on the multi-textured back panel.

Otherwise, it’s safe to say that its display won’t leave you disappointed. Despite having a tall 6.7-inch display, the OPPO Reno12 Pro doesn’t feel awkward in your hand due to its slender frame. OPPO has used a quad-curved panel, which means the display has slight curves on all sides. Thanks to this, combined with 120Hz refresh rate support, the scrolling experience is incredibly smooth and comfortable.

Although the viewing experience is decent, if not the best. The display offers full HD+ resolution (2,412 x 1,080 pixels) and HDR playback support. There’s also Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection for the front — a must considering the price.

I compared its display performance against the OnePlus 12R (review) and Xiaomi 14 Civi (review) by opting for natural colour screen mode. The OPPO Reno 12Pro offered the lowest brightness, though it’s adequate for most users. The viewing experience was more or less similar across all devices (in a good way), though the OnePlus 12R offered the punchiest colours. The dual speakers on the Reno12 Pro produced extremely loud output, but the bass levels were quite subpar. Perhaps the next iteration can incorporate a more immersive audio system.

Cameras

The camera system on the Reno12 Pro remains more or less unchanged. There’s a 50MP primary camera with OIS, an 8MP ultra-wide camera, and a 50MP telephoto camera with 2X optical zoom. For selfies, there’s a 50MP sensor with AF capabilities.

The primary camera also supports 20X digital zoom. Additionally, OPPO has provided some AI camera features, such as Magic Eraser 2.0, Best Take, and AI Avatars to add an element of fun to the overall photography experience.

Daylight

By default, the Reno12 Pro prioritises vibrant colours and high contrast in photos. The overall dynamic range and shadows remain balanced, at least in daylight. As a result, images may appear slightly dramatic, though punchier colours make them more social media-ready. The colour of the sky in our test remained inaccurate, but not necessarily in a bad way. In most cases, the smartphone rendered the sky deep blue, which some may appreciate despite its lack of accuracy.

The overall sharpness is decent, but once you zoom in, the clarity gets sketchy. That’s likely because the phone tends to soften some areas to reduce noise. In that case, the Xiaomi 14 Civi with its Leica cameras performed relatively more efficiently in my test.

OPPO Reno12 Pro

Xiaomi 14 Civi

When we add human subjects into the photo, the story remains broadly the same. You will notice high contrast, some degree of softening, which hides facial details, and punchier colours. The skin tone detection remains accurate, though facial details aren’t the best, which may sit well with many users.

Ultra-wide

While using the ultra-wide lens, the OPPO Reno12 Pro maintains the same colour science. However, details aren’t always the best.

OPPO Reno12 Pro

Xiaomi 14 Civi

If you zoom into the photos above, you will notice the Xiaomi 14 Civi captured a more readable number plate of the car at the bottom right. While photos look good in their own ways, better camera hardware would’ve captured more details.

Telephoto

The dedicated telephoto camera balances light well while adding some degree of punchiness to colours, making the overall image social media-ready – similar to that of the primary camera. The 1x and 2x portrait modes maintain the same colour science, which is a good implementation. The bokeh effect is also good, and the edge detection remains sharp in most cases.

OPPO Reno12 Pro

Xiaomi 14 Civi

However, the OPPO Reno12 Pro tends to soften facial details. In the comparison below, you will notice a balanced output by the Reno12 Pro against the Xiaomi 14 Civi. However, the latter captures more facial details.

OPPO Reno12 Pro

OnePlus 12R

Selfies

OPPO is boasting the Reno12 Pro’s 50MP front camera with autofocus capabilities. Despite not having a dedicated ultra-wide lens for selfies, the wide lens offers different focal lengths.

OPPO Reno12 Pro

Xiaomi 14 Civi

At least with the selfie camera, facial details remain prominent, and the photos generally have a decent depth, even without enabling the portrait mode. I am equally pleased with the skin colour detection.

However, selfies with portrait mode can be a hit-and-miss in terms of edge detection. OPPO should be able to fix this with an OTA update.

Low light

I am equally pleased with the low-light performance of the Reno12 Pro’s cameras. Unlike daylight shots, you will notice prominent shadows in dim conditions. The softening of images also becomes slightly more prominent to reduce noise.

Overall, images look decent. However, more details in such conditions are always welcome. You can manage the sharpness by enabling night mode if only you have stable hands.

On the other hand, selfie performance in low-light conditions was surprisingly good. I compared the results against the OnePlus 12R, and the OPPO Reno12 Pro maintained an accurate skin tone.

Videos

Videos in daylight look good and should be adequate if you’re an upcoming content creator. However, I’d still recommend an iPhone for videos as you may notice fewer jerks while in motion.

However, at 4K you only get the option of 30fps, while 60fps at this price range is least expected. I compared the results against the Xiaomi 14 Civi, and the Reno12 Pro surprisingly captured better colours. Stability in videos by Xiaomi 14 Civi was a tad better.

AI Features

While the overall camera performance of the OPPO Reno12 Pro was decent at best, its native AI features make the overall camera experience exciting. I still believe the Xiaomi 14 Civi offers slightly more practical features with the Leica collaboration, but the Reno12 Pro offers AI avatars wihthin the AI Studio app, which may up social media games, as it happened in my case.

Other features like Magic Eraser 2.0 worked efficiently in my test, but some improvements are still needed to offer the proper finesse. If you want to change your facial details, the Retouch option in the edit settings proves to be quite versatile.

Performance and software

Purely based on the hardware, the OPPO Reno12 Pro may perplex most tech-savvy users, considering its price. It features MediaTek’s Dimensity 7300 SoC, which also powers the lower-priced CMF Phone 1 (review).

Oppo calls it Dimensity 7300 Energy because of its special “optimisation” for the Reno12 Pro. While specifics are sketchy, OPPO states the processor and the MediaTek NPU 655 ensure a smooth performance for productivity-focused users.

Another change that may take users by surprise is the memory standards, as the smartphone offers up to 512B of UFS 3.1 storage and 12GB of LPDDR4X RAM. To recall, the last Reno11 Pro provides 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM, which offers faster performance and better efficiency over LPDDR4X RAM.

Interestingly, the new CMF Phone 1 outperformed the OPPO Reno 12Pro (table above), along immediate rivals (images below) in our synthetic benchmarks.

If you seek a gaming-centric smartphone, the iQOO Neo 9 Pro (review) or the relatively more affordable Realme GT6 (review) are your best bets. For instance, the phone supports only “Extreme” FPS at Smooth “graphics” in BGMI, which is quite average for the price. However, OPPO is neither boasting gaming nor talking about numbers but is focusing on user experience. As mentioned, its key features include Gen AI or generative AI-backed features to improve productivity.

To an extent, OPPO has delivered what it promises, which makes the Reno12 Pro one of the most fun devices I’ve used this year. Its real-life performance is average, but OPPO has implemented successful optimisations to ensure smooth performance on the Reno12 Pro. You may notice some stutters occasionally, though that’s bound to happen with this selection of hardware.

In terms of AI features, my favourite is the AI Summary, which summarises lengthy articles in seconds. The Reno12 Pro also offers features including AI Speak to listen to texts and news articles. There’s AI Write to help you write captions for social media posts. Users can also use AI Gestures to scroll up or down with hand gestures, though this feature does not always work as smoothly as you’d expect. Lastly, you can take minutes of a meeting with the AI Record Summary feature in the Recordings app, but that may struggle with local lingos.

Others are camera and photography-related features, which I’ve already mentioned in the camera section. Again, the catch is that you’ll need to create an OPPO login and have internet connectivity to use these AI features.

While AI features (or Gen AI) features are definitely useful in this case, the overall software experience needs improvement. Some native features, including Trinity Engine (for performance) and File Dock, are still very useful, but there will likely be substantial changes with ColorOS 15.

Before that happens, OPPO must consider minimising the number of pre-loaded apps. There’s an option to delete some pre-installed apps, but native apps, which is a sizable amount, cannot be uninstalled. The phone is shipped with ColorOS based on Android 14 and is promised to receive three more major updates. Plus, the Reno12 Pro will receive four years of security updates.

Battery

The OPPO Reno12 Pro now incorporates a bigger 5,000mAh battery, though the 80W charging speed remains the same. To be clear, the latter isn’t an average feat by any metric, but there’s no harm in touching the 100W mark.

With the bundled charger, the smartphone took only 34 minutes to attain 100 percent from 20 percent (a decent benchmark). However, the phone performed poorly in the PCMark battery test.

That could be because of the app optimisation. Otherwise, using the OPPO Reno 12 Pro for a full day on a single charge wasn’t an issue during my test. Mind you, this was despite having maximum settings enabled (AOD, 120Hz refresh rate, boost mode, and so on).

Final Verdict

Despite its modest specifications, the OPPO Reno12 Pro is a fun device that packs a lot of useful AI features. Its camera performance remains more or less similar to its predecessor, but that does not make it poor by any metric. However, the brand must consider upgrading the hardware as rivals, including Xiaomi, have already started collaborating with traditional camera makers to take the game to the next level. High-end hardware also ensures long-term useability.

That being said, if you’re a gamer, the iQOO Neo 9 Pro remains the ideal choice in this segment. For productivity, the OnePlus 12R may have an edge in terms of hardware, but we are yet to see significant AI integration. If you want to experience Gen AI before it becomes mainstream across all devices, the OPPO Reno12 Pro is a good choice to consider.

Editor’s rating: 7.5 / 10

Reasons to buy

• OPPO Reno12 Pro is ideal for those who prefer a sleek design.
• The quad-curved display with 120Hz refresh offers a super smooth scrolling experience.
• Native Gen AI features provide Reno12 Pro gives an edge over rivals.
• 80W charging support fully charges the phone in less than 40 minutes.

Reasons to not buy

• The Reno12 Pro uses modest hardware, also available in cheaper smartphones.
• Loads of pre-installed apps make the software cluttered.