The Oppo Reno 7 : New phone, old tactics, underwhelming improvements

The Oppo Reno 7 is the Reno 7 Pro’s younger sibling, but unlike the Reno 7 Pro, the Reno 7’s upgrades have mostly concentrated on design. While it does get a few handy upgrades, like expandable storage and a slightly bigger battery, the features and specifications remain mostly the same as the Oppo Reno 6 — but it is cheaper.اضافة اعلان

In this article, we will evaluate the Reno 7 and its features to help you gauge whether or not this is the phone for you.

Design

The Oppo Reno 7’s fresh appearance is appealing. This phone has a sleek appearance because of its rounded frame and curved edges on the rear.

The Reno 7 receives the same laser-etched design on the back as the Reno 7 Pro. It also does not attract fingerprints. The phone also very thin and light, weighing only 173g.

All of this makes the phone quite easy to handle and operate, but Oppo had to make some sacrifices. The Reno 7’s glossy frame and back panel are made of plastic rather than metal and glass like the Reno 7 Pro. Even the Reno 6 had an aluminum frame, which is a slight drop in quality.



The Oppo Reno 7 has a headphone jack and the 6.4-inch AMOLED display is the same as the previous generation, it offers a Full-HD+ resolution, a maximum refresh rate of 90Hz, and is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5.

Except for the chin, the bezels around the display are rather thin. In addition, an in-display fingerprint sensor and facial recognition through the selfie camera in the hole-punch cutout are included.

Overall, while the phone appears to be stylish at a distance, when up close and personal, it falls short and feels slightly cheaper than it actually is.

Specifications and software

Oppo has not bothered to update the Reno 7’s SoC — which is essentially the “brain” of the phone — and kept the same MediaTek Dimensity 900 seen in the Reno 6. This is still a pretty modern and strong 5G SoC built on a power-efficient 6-nanometer fabrication process, but having something newer like the Dimensity 920 would have made this phone more competitive, particularly against versions based on Qualcomm’s products like the Snapdragon 778G.

The phone lacks stereo speakers, which is unfortunate given how widespread this feature has become. So, the Reno 7 might fall short on the audio quality side of things for those who enjoy their media without auxiliaries.

The Reno 7 software experience is identical to that of the Reno 7 Pro. It runs ColorOS 12 on Android 11 and will almost certainly get a reliable Android 12 upgrade soon.



Users get a slew of new shortcuts and gestures, a theme shop to personalize the look of your phone, and many other customizations for the always-on display, including new Apple-like Omoji avatars.

Bloatware is plentiful in the form of third-party apps, which tend to fill your notification shade with spammy notifications. Fortunately, all of them can be removed.

Battery life and performance

Day-to-day performance was relatively consistent. The SoC is capable of handling frequently used productivity and social apps. The UI also operates nicely at 90Hz, with no obvious sluggishness or animation slowdowns. The phone’s lightweight and small design makes it easy to carry in your pocket, and one-handed use is now easier than ever.

The Reno 7 also performed admirably with videos and games. The audio quality was adequate, although the experience may have been enhanced by using dual speakers. Heavy titles, such as PUBG: New State, performed admirably with the graphics level turned up to 11. The gameplay was fluid, and the Reno 7 never became excessively hot, even after extended sessions.

The increase in battery capacity to 4,500mAh (from 4,300mAh in its predecessor) appears to have substantially influenced battery life. In HD video loop tests, the Reno 7 lasted 19 hours and 25 minutes, three hours longer than the Reno 6.

With average use, users can easily get two full days out of it. Charging was speedy, and the included charger allows users to completely charge the phone in under an hour, thanks to the renewed battery technology.  

Cameras

The Reno 7’s cameras have also not changed much. Still, the AI functions in the camera app have been improved, so you can now digitally adjust the aperture for a narrower depth of field while filming movies — exactly like the Reno 7 Pro.

However, these are minor adjustments, and everything else on the Reno 6 remains the same. The phone can shoot up to 4K 30fps, but video stabilization is still restricted to 1080p. When you enable any of the filters or AI capabilities when recording video, the resolution is set to 1080p by default.

Camera sensors are also somewhat similar. The Reno 7 is equipped with a 64-megapixel primary camera with an f/1.7 aperture, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera, and a 2-megapixel macro camera. In the front, there’s a 32-megapixel camera for selfies.



The final take

Given that the Reno 6 was released less than a year ago, it’s understandable why Oppo has not given the Reno 7 a substantial overhaul.

However, unless the business promises to replace this phone with a Reno 8 this year, the Reno 7 may struggle to acquire a foothold in the market, especially because alternatives exist within the same price range from Huawei, Xiaomi, and even Samsung that have more capable hardware.

Overall system and game performance are decent, battery life is adequate, and the phone is light and comfortable to use. When it comes to stills, the cameras are not too awful, and the possibility to extend the internal storage is a wonderful feature of this model. The Reno 7, like the Reno 6, can be a trustworthy everyday driver.

However, some of the phone’s drawbacks include a lack of stereo speakers, poor video recording capabilities, and a lower-quality plastic casing than the Reno 6.

Our advice? It’s a good phone with no obvious flaws, but be aware that more feature-rich alternatives are available, and these alternatives offer a lot more bang for your buck.


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