Oppo launched the successor of Reno 5 Pro just months after its launch. But since that was a good smartphone in itself, we obviously were intrigued by Oppo Reno 6 Pro. It has a beautiful design, a bigger battery, and comes with a more powerful processor. We spent more than a week with it and here’s our Oppo Reno 6 Pro review detailing its pros and cons.
Oppo Reno 6 Pro review: Design and Display
The beautiful design of Oppo Reno 6 Pro smartphone is definitely one among its pros. The handset has a curved front and back panel and it comes with a glossy-looking frame. The back panel is made up of glass, but it has a matte finish. It’s almost shiny in appearance – not in a blingy way, but instead, it looks like it subtly glitters. The back of the smartphone houses the camera module that has four lenses and an LED flash, and besides that, there is Oppo branding at the bottom right. Oppo Reno 6 Pro is available in two colour variants – Stellar Black and Aurora. We got the latter for review and we think it looked absolutely stunning.
The right edge of the smartphone has the Power button sandwiched on it while the volume rocker keys are on the left. The SIM tray, USB Type-C port, speaker and microphone are at the bottom while the secondary microphone is at the top. We could reach the keys easily at all times and one-handed usage was no problem at all. Another great thing about the device is its weight. It’s very refreshing to see a smartphone with a display and battery like Oppo Reno 6 Pro weigh just 177 grams.
Flip over and you will see the front panel of the smartphone, which is protected by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 5. As we mentioned earlier, the screen is curved and it makes the device look all the more premium. The bezels that surround it are really thin, and even the chin at the bottom is only marginally broader, making it ideal for anyone who loves to watch shows and movies on their smartphone. The screen of the smartphone also has a punch-hole camera on the top left and there is an on-screen fingerprint scanner embedded towards the bottom.
Speaking about the screen of the device, Oppo Reno 6 Pro comes with a 6.5-inch full-HD+ AMOLED display that has a refresh rate of 90Hz and a touch sampling rate of 180Hz. The display of the smartphone also comes with HDR10+ playback certification. We think that the display of Oppo Reno 6 Pro is another positive point of the smartphone, even though the company hasn’t upgraded the specifications from that of the predecessor of the device. But nevertheless, it performed well during our time with the handset. The display is bright and vibrant, and the colours showcased were accurate and remained consistent at different viewing angles. The sunlight readability was good too, and the images appeared sharp and clear at all times. Playing games and watching Netflix shows on the handset was a delightful experience thanks to the screen.
In a nutshell, we would say that the design and display of Oppo Reno 6 Pro will certainly not disappoint you. If looks matter to you when buying a phone, you would be happy with Oppo’s latest offering. The display could have been upgraded, but even then, we can’t complain about its performance. The phone could also include a stereo speaker at this price, it would have made a great addition to a package that’s already good.
Oppo Reno 6 Pro review: Performance and cameras
Before we start talking about the performance of Oppo Reno 6 Pro, let’s take a minute to discuss the rest of its specifications. The smartphone is powered by the new MediaTek Dimensity 1200 processor clubbed with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. The handset houses a 4,500mAh battery and supports 65W fast charging. The device runs ColorOS 11.3 that gets with itself some customizations like always-on display, really cool animated wallpapers, a dedicated gaming mode, and more. There are some pre-installed apps on Oppo Reno 6 Pro including Soloop, Snapchat, Facebook, Josh, Hey Fun, Moj, et al. While most of them can be uninstalled, you’ll have to live with Hot Apps and a few other apps from Oppo’s family. This is a downside as some of them really spammed us with notifications during our time with the phone, and we didn’t really expect this from a device that is this expensive.
Finally, coming to the performance of Oppo Reno 6 Pro, we think that it did an excellent job. The smartphone could handle even heavy multitasking like streaming episodes from Netflix and navigation simultaneously (we weren’t driving ourselves of course!). Everyday tasks were an absolute cakewalk for it, but that’s what we expected from such a high-end phone. The biometric scanners of the device worked very smoothly and were very quick. The on-screen fingerprint scanner as well as the facial unlock didn’t disappoint us even once – not even when our finger was sweaty or when we tried unlocking our phone in dimly lit areas.
Gaming was another good experience on Oppo Reno 6 Pro and we are impressed by the fact that the device doesn’t heat up even after we stayed glued to the phone for playing games for long. We tried an array of games on the smartphone ranging from Temple Run 2 to heavy-graphic ones like Asphalt 9: Legends, and they all ran well. The battery life of Oppo Reno 6 Pro is quite long-lasting and even with usage involving two active Instagram accounts, gaming, watching Netflix shows and listening to Spotify pretty obsessively, the battery lasted for more than a day. Even when the battery falls below 20%, it lasts for quite a while. What’s even better is that it charges almost completely in about 30 minutes.
Finally, let’s talk about the cameras of the smartphone. Oppo Reno 6 Pro comes with a 64MP primary lens, an 8MP ultra-wide lens, a 2MP macro sensor and a 2MP monochrome sensor. It also has a 32MP camera on the front panel for selfies and video calls.
During our time with the smartphone, the cameras performed well most of the times. During the day or in well-lit conditions, most of the images we took turned out to be great. They had accurate colours, were aptly bright and had plenty of details. But this is just the primary camera. Once you switch to the ultra-wide lens, you will see fewer details and a slight difference in colours. So, you must choose between near-perfect photos or capturing more area in your images.
At night, however, things change a bit. We observed some noise in images — even the ones clicked from the primary lens. However, we wouldn’t really count it as a downside as the moment we switched to Night Mode, the problem was instantly fixed. In fact, with the Night Mode enabled, we managed to click some really nice pictures in dimly lit areas with colour accuracy and image quality intact. The macro and the monochrome lenses on the device performed well too.
We should mention that the cameras on the device come without optical stabilization, which is a downside at this price point. The upside of the cameras is the Bokeh Flare Portrait filter. As the name suggests, it adds Bokeh effect to your videos even when the subject is moving. We tried to use it and it gave us some good results. There is another fun mode on the camera called AI Color Portrait filter using which you can click images with a monochrome background around the subject.
The selfie camera did a great job during the day as well as at night. It comes with an option called ‘Retouch’ which, as the name suggests, completely eliminates the need for make-up. You can smoothen out your skin, make your cheeks or nose thinner, eyes bigger, chin more pointed, and even touch up your make-up with this option before you click your selfie. Trust us, it can make you look exactly how you wish to look like. And if you, like us, prefer more natural-looking pictures, all you have to do is disable the Retouch.
Verdict
At Rs 39,990, Oppo Reno 6 Pro is certainly a good buy. The smartphone has a beautiful design, smooth performance, and a lasting battery. The cameras are great too and the biometric locks work excellently. There are a few features that are missing in the phone like a stereo speaker and optical stabilization in cameras, but we think a lot of people can live without those.
Although the display is a delight, at this price point we did expect it to be upgraded from the phone’s predecessor. Honestly, had the smartphone been slightly less expensive, we wouldn’t have even expected all of this, and definitely wouldn’t be counting these as features that the phone lacks. The bloatware apps and spammy notifications are the only real con of the device. But even then, the overall package is so good that we have to say that Oppo Reno 6 Pro would not disappoint you.
Pros
- Beautiful design
- Smooth performance and ability to multitask
- Long-lasting battery
- Amazing biometric locks
Cons
- Bloatware apps and notifications
- Lack of optical stabilization is cameras
- No stereo speakers
For the latest gadget and tech news, and gadget reviews, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. For newest tech & gadget videos subscribe to our YouTube Channel. You can also stay up to date using the Gadget Bridge Android App. You can find the latest car and bike news here.
