OPPO Reno 10 5G

The OPPO Reno 10 5G is a smartphone for tough times. It takes some of the best OPPO technologies from its Find series and brings them in at an affordable and value-packed $749.

It is the successor to the OPPO Reno 8 5G that launched at $999 and is on runout at $699.

We are the #2 Android smartphone brand in Australia, ahead of Nokia and Google by a large margin. But we also know that times are tough, and value is even more important now. People want a smartphone with all the features that lasts but can’t afford $1,000 or more to get it”.

Q: OPPO has three Reno 10 models – the OPPO Reno 10 5G (this review), Reno 10 Pro and Reno 10 Pro+. Why only this model for Australia?

A: In better economic times, we would have sold the 10 Pro+ with everything. But it is close in specs to the current Find X5 and X5 Pro. We opted for the OPPO Reno 10 5G as it has a dual hybrid/micro-SD capability, 67W PD3/SuperVOOC charging (included inbox) and that fantastic 6.7” 10-bit/1.07 billion colour, 120Hz AMOLED screen.

Q: You mentioned the Find. Will you be bringing the new Find X6/Pro to Australia?

A: It is initially for the Chinese market only, and we realise that Find lovers will be disappointed. There is much cost in getting phones certified for use in Australia. We know that the premium segment has suffered the most significant demand drop. The OPPO Reno 10 5G, for now anyway, is a flagship-class in sheep’s clothing. And the Find X5 Lite, X5 and Pro X5 are on runout at JB for $599/799/899, respectively – these are bargains.

Is it a flagship class? Let’s find out.

We use Fail (below expectations), Passable (meets low expectations), Pass (meets expectations), Pass+ (near Exceed but not class-leading) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. You can click on most images for an enlargement.

Entry-level phones should at least score a pass mark against each category.

We strongly advise you to buy a genuine model with Australian firmware. It is easy to identify the Australian version – under Settings>About Device>Regulatory, there is an Australian RNZ C-tick mark. There is also an RNZ C-Tick on the box. They use unique Australian 5G sub-6Ghz and 5G low-band frequencies, requiring local activation first. Read Don’t buy a grey market phone (guide)

The huge pill-shaped camera housing stands out and up (use a bumper case, or it will wobble on the desk. It contains three sensors and a flash. While the 10 Pro+ has a 64MP 3X Optical OIS periscope telephoto – this settles for a very good 32MP, Telephoto with 2X/20X Optical/Space zoom.

The front AMOLED panel is gorgeous, bright, and colourful, with slightly curved edges. It is protected by the new AGC Dragontail Star-2 float glass, which has similar characteristics to the Gorilla Glass Victus. The chrome finish frame has soft curves and conceals the antenna strips. The rear is OPPO’s characteristic iridescent glow PMMA (Acrylic glass). It looks superb and elegant in Ice Blue.

Its most important feature is the dual hybrid sim/micro-SD allowing mountable expansion. It is perfect for storing photos, videos, and music.

Interestingly it has an IR Blaster on the top with an App that allows you to control almost anything.

OPPO is known for good screens, and this 20:9 is no exception. It supports auto adaptive stepping 60/90/120Hz, or you can select 60 or 120Hz. Add 500/800/950nits (typical/peak/HDR10+) and 100%+ sRGB/DCI-P3 colour gamut, and you have a winner.

OPPO includes a 10-bit/1.07 billion colour screen at this price when Samsung doggedly sticks to 8-bit/16.7 million colours. The colour, brightness and contrast difference is like chalk and cheese (in OPPO’s favour). You will notice this most if you watch HDR movies and in the colour accuracy of photo previews. Read 8-bit versus 10-bit screen colours. What is the big deal?

One way OPPO can reduce costs is by using the 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 7050 System on a Chip (SoC). Dimensity chips that offer decent performance ( similar to a Qualcomm SD888) and better battery life.

It is a good mid-range chip with enough power to perform phone tasks. The game’s performance is average. You can read its benchmarks here.

OPPO has developed a Dynamic Computing Engine (DCE) that better balances computing power and battery life and manages multiple background apps. It is most evident in the battery tests.

It has 8GB RAM – another interesting feature is its RAM expansion. You can borrow up to an extra 16GB of virtual ram from the slower SSD – a perfect companion to the DCE.

The 256GB UFS 2.1 SSD (210GB free) can also be expanded via a micro-SD (up to 1TB) – great for storing photos, videos, and audio. The USB-C 2.0 port supports external SSD in On-the-Go mode for backup.

It had 0% throttle in a 15-minute test. Superb thermal management as MediaTek chips usually run hotter than Qualcomm.

OPPO has a nearly full suite of sensors. It also includes a pedometer for step recording that is not usually found in other bands.

We have mentioned the IR Blaster.

MediaTek modems get a solid signal for the closest tower – in this case, up to 10 picowatts. But they don’t find other towers as Qualcomm modems do. It is a great phone for cities, suburbs, or anywhere with good tower coverage. It supports all Australian and most overseas 4/5G bands.

It has a dual SIM or hybrid with micro-SD. Although both sims are active, it only has one ringtone.

First, OPPO has started to use safer Lithium Poly (Li-Poly) batteries instead of Li-Ion, which can pose a fire risk, especially with fast charging. We are not scaremongering but read Large-capacity Lithium-ion batteries will end in death.

In premium OPPO models (including this), it uses a custom-designed chip, Smart Battery Health Algorithm and Battery Healing technology called Battery Health Engine to extend the recharge cycle life to over 1600 and still hold 80% of the charge. This is in comparison to most Lithium-Ion batteries at 300-500 cycles. Apart from a longer battery life (well over four years), OPPO smartphones with this technology will retain better trade-in value.

Read – How to extend your smartphone battery life (guide)

Typical users will get two days between charges, and even heavier users will get over a day. At 48 minutes for a recharge, who cares?

It has an earpiece and bottom-firing speaker – a typical stereo phone setup. The OPPO Reno 10 5G uses the MediaTek SoC amplifier that can produce a maximum of 80dB (loud enough). It has a Real Original Sound by Dirac, which includes EQ settings for smart, movies, games, and music. This works for speakers and headphones, although it impacts the latter most.

It has no low/mid-bass, a little high bass and relatively flat to 7kHz. The sound signature is Bright Vocal (bass recessed, mid/treble boosted) – for vocal tracks and string instruments, but it can make them harsh. The EQ can recess the treble for a better clear voice.

The sound stage is as wide as the phone in landscape, and there is decent left/right separation. The two speakers are reasonably well-matched. Handsfree is good with decent noise-cancelling mics and volume.

Interestingly it has two features for headphones that most other brands do not have.

First is the FSA4480 USB Type-C port, which passes through analogue audio, sideband, and microphone signals. This means you can plug cabled USB-C headphones in – no DAC needed.

Second is OPPO, including Qualcomm aptX and aptX HD in the codecs. This gives you higher-quality sound than SBC and AAC. See Bluetooth sound codecs – what you need to know as the game changes.

OPPO has always had a class-leading build standard, and its resultant reliability is about 99% in an industry that thinks anything over 90% is good. Add a two-year warranty and excellent local after-sales support; you can see why it scores so highly in customer satisfaction ratings.

It is beautifully built, with Dragontail Star-2 front glass, an iridescent and tough PMMA back, and only lacks a formal IP rating. While that is important, I can live without it – I have never toilet-dunked my phone.

OPPOs Reno policy is now 2+2+3 – two years warranty, two OS upgrades and three years of security patches. Its Find X policy is 2+4+5, and that is class-leading. Still, for a $749 phone, the Reno policy is fine.

ColorOS 13 is a valuable light overlay on Android 13 – it papers over the pure Android cracks.

It has all the Google Apps and OPPO substitutes (as OPPO cannot use Google Apps or services in China). OPPO has also drastically reduced bloatware, removing pre-installed Facebook, TikTok, etc.

Compared to a premium level, Find X5/X5 Pro – not much. It is missing:

A better heading would be what tech has come down from the Find X5:

The 64MP primary sensor is an Omnivision OV64B. It is not quite as good as a Samsung or Sony sensor. It bins to 16MP, 1.4um, and OPPO’s camera prowess and OIS make for an excellent point-and-shoot image. It is used in several Xiaomi, Poco, Realme, Motorola Edge 30 Neo, OPPO Reno 6/7/8/9(China versions), Vivo T1 and many more.

The 8MP Sony IMX355 ultrawide has one purpose – to take a 112° FOV shot. It does that well, although it is nothing special.

The 32MP Telephoto 2X/20X optical/digital zoom using a Sony IMX709 sensor is interesting – f/2.0 and 0.8 μm pixel pitch stacked back-illuminated CIS with RGBW (red, blue, green, white) pixel technology for better low light (captures more light and less noise) photographs. It also has PDAF and a closed-loop focus motor for fast focus. But there is more.

It supports DOL-HDR, increasing the dynamic range to shoot well-exposed images and detailed low-light videos. The sensor captures multiple long-exposure and short-exposure frames simultaneously and fuses them into a single image. OPPO marries this with its Portrait Expert Engine tuned to your cultural preferences across five optimisation processes, covering faces, skin, and backgrounds.

The front camera is a 32MP Sony IMX615 bins to 8MP and 1.6um. It has 1080p@30fps HDR video with gyro EIS stabilisation.

At $749, it has one of the most versatile smartphone point-and-shoot cameras. Exposure, dynamic range, colour, autofocus, and textures are all above par for this phone level. Subjectively rated against the OPPO Finds X5, it is about 80% as good.

Champagne tastes on a lemonade budget. This gives you most of the best OPPO has to offer at a $749 price that is hard to beat.

Only when you do a deep-dive review do you begin to appreciate why OPPO is the #2 Android supplier in Australia. The OPPO tech for battery, camera, and processor is quite special. To see that in this phone – more so.

Would I buy it? Yes – it is the class-leading phone in this price bracket.

The real competition is from the runout OPPO Find X5 at $799 OPPO Find X5 – the more affordable flagship sibling and the Find X5 Pro at $899 (OPPO Find X5 Pro – a superb Android flagship with insanely fast charge).

While all these are good phones, none has the complete package that the OPPO Reno 10 5G offers in this price bracket.

When reviewing the Reno 8 5G (predecessor), I wrote, ‘It is the Toyota Camry mid-range model – the one everyone buys—excellent battery, camera, power, and screen for a great price.

Pro

Killer battery life, fast charge and 67W charger inbox

Terrific/large/ bright/colour-accurate/120Hz, 10-bit AMOLED screen

Excellent quality build and 2+2+3-year warranty with local support

Front and rear cameras are excellent for point-and-shoot day or night.

Micro-SD and ram expansion

Con

Only IPX4, but you don’t expect more at this price

Sound quality is adequate for voice, not music

SoC is not great for gamers

Phone antenna strength is for city and suburbs only