Geek Lifestyle Review: OPPO Reno 3 Pro

Back in March, we got our hands on the Reno 3 Pro, the latest smartphone in OPPO’s Reno series. Unlike the previous Reno phones, the Reno 3 Pro does not come with the unique shark fin pop-up camera that made the original Reno and Reno 2 stand out. In exchange though, the Reno 3 Pro features camera and design upgrades.

Thanks to upgrades in various features, the Reno 3 Pro is looking like a definite step-up from the Reno 2; though the Reno 2 is still a capable smartphone, not to mention still fairly new as it has only been a few months since its release.

So is the 3 Pro a worthy successor to the Reno 2? Find out here in our full review of the OPPO Reno 3 Pro!

Geek-sthetic

As I mentioned in my first impressions of the Reno 3 Pro, the phone eschews the “everything at the middle” design of the previous Reno phones. With the 3 Pro, the cameras are now on the top left corner, with the OPPO logo now on the lower right. In spite of these changes, the Reno 3 Pro is still an elegantly designed smartphone, especially in the black colorway. While I’m a big fan of the minimalist black color, the Reno 3 Pro does come in other colors for fans of phones with more eye-popping designs.

From the front, the Reno 3 Pro still retains the minimal bezels of its predecessors, though it now has a holepunch notch for its dual selfie camera setup (instead of a pop-up camera module). Even with the notch, the Reno 3 Pro is still a good-looking phone when viewed from the front. It also helps that the display of the Pro is a bright and eye-catching Super AMOLED screen.

Binge-watching Factor

The Reno 3 Pro’s AMOLED display has a 6.4-inch diagonal, with a 1080 x 2400 resolution. As the Reno 3 Pro’s display uses an AMOLED panel, it’s no surprise that the phone is excellent for binge-watching. If you love watching movies, TV shows, or any other media, the Reno 3 Pro is a great partner as it produces vibrant colors, a good level of brightness, and has sharp output.

Much like most other smartphones, headphones or speakers (via Bluetooth or the phone’s 3.5mm headphone jack) are recommended for a better experience in longer binge-watching sessions. This doesn’t mean the Reno 3 Pro’s onboard speaker is bad though, it’s actually of decent quality and can work in a pinch when watching videos/listening to music; it’s just that there is a bit of distortion at or near max volume.

Gaming Prowess

OPPO’s Reno 3 Pro packs a Helio P95 processor, a slightly upgraded version of the Helio P90 from MediaTek. For gaming, the Helio P95 on the Reno 3 Pro provides adequate power to run most of today’s popular games.

For example, Call of Duty Mobile ran without a hitch on the medium graphics setting (which was the default for this phone). Upon shifting the graphics setting to high, the Reno 3 Pro still ran the game decently well. For less demanding titles such as Mobile Legends, the Reno 3 Pro had no problems even at max or near max settings.

Geek Photoshoot Capabilities

In the imaging department, the OPPO Reno 3 Pro packs a 64MP main, a 13MP telephoto (with 2x optical zoom), an 8MP ultra-wide, and a 2MP B/W depth sensor quad camera setup. For its selfie shooter, the Reno 3 Pro has a dual 44MP + 2MP depth sensor front camera setup.

Firstly, let’s talk about the main camera’s capabilities. For daytime outdoors shots, the 64MP shooter takes great quality photos, with those images having a good amount of detail as well as nice colors. Indoor photos also turn out quite well too.

Though at night, photos do come out slightly grainy. When you use night mode though, low light shots see a noticeable improvement in terms of brightness and detail.

As for the 13MP telephoto, the 2x zoom images are also of good quality, with colors having a nice pop when shooting outdoors with a good amount of light. Quality does take a bit of a dip in low light situations though.

Moving on to the 8MP ultra-wide, shots taken with this camera as pretty good as well. Though much like the telephoto shooter, the ultra-wide camera also doesn’t take the best night shots. What it does shoot well is macro shots, as the Reno 3 Pro’s ultra-wide also doubles as a macro camera; perfect if you love taking photos up-close.

For selfies and portraits, the Reno 3 Pro works quite well. When using the rear camera setup, the 2MP depth sensor helps in creating a nice bokeh effect. The same can be said for the selfie camera as it also produces good quality portraits thanks to the dedicated depth sensor.

The Reno 3 Pro also retains the Ultra Steady Video feature of the Reno 2, and it works just as well as its predecessor.

Everyday Reliability

Thanks to the Helio P95 processor, the Reno 3 Pro not only works well for gaming, it’s also a snappy phone for day-to-day use. During my time with the Reno 3 Pro, I did not experience any slowdowns, even when switching between multiple apps. For most users that run productivity or social media apps, this phone should be plenty capable.

Another impressive thing about the Reno 3 Pro is its battery life. Thanks to the 4025mAh battery, the phone easily lasts for a day even with heavy use (for me at least). If your smartphone usage isn’t that heavy, the Reno 3 Pro can even last for up to two days on a single charge. And if you do need charging, the phone comes with a 30W VOOC 4.0 fast charger which charges the phone from 0% to full in just a bit over an hour.

Final Geek Lifestyle Verdict – 8/10

The Reno 3 Pro is another solid offering from OPPO thank to its quality AMOLED screen, good gaming performance, and capable quad camera setup. The Reno 3 Pro is also reliable for everyday use, and it’s a good-looking phone to boot.

Overall, there Reno 3 Pro doesn’t really have any glaring weaknesses, though it does lack an impressive ‘killer feature’ given its PHP 28,990 price tag. While you can’t go wrong with the Reno 3 Pro, it’s definitely a phone that’s on the expensive side.

OPPO Reno 3 Pro Specs:

• Mediatek Helio P95 processor
• PowerVR GM9446 GPU
• 8GB RAM
• 6.4-inch FHD+ AMOLED Display
• 256GB storage (expandable via SD card)
• 64MP F/1.7 + 13MP telephoto (2x optical) + 8MP ultra-wide + 2MP B/W depth sensor rear camera setup
• 44MP F/2.0 + 2MP depth sensor front camera setup
• 3G, LTE (Dual SIM)
• WiFi, Bluetooth
• Fingerprint scanner (in-screen), USB Type-C
• 4025mAh battery w/ 30W VOOC 4.0 fast charging
• Android 10 with ColorOS 7