Oppo’s Reno smartphones typically had good cameras, along with some quirky features to woo customers. Oppo launched the Reno 8 series last year and for 2023 the brand has decided to renew it reno 8 (review) with the new Reno 8T 5G first, instead of Oppo Reno 9 which has already been launched in China. The new Reno8 T 5G costs Rs. 29,999, which is exactly the same as the Reno 8 but lower than it Reno 8 Pro 5G (review). Does the Reno8 T 5G live up to the hype that usually surrounds the Reno series? Here are our first impressions of the device.
The Oppo Reno8 T 5G comes in a single variant with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It is available in two color options, Sunrise Gold and Midnight Black in India. It will be available in offline and online stores like Flipkart starting February 10th. The smartphone will compete with people like that Realm 10 Pro+ (review) And Redmi Note 12 Pro+ (review) in India.
Oppo Reno8 T 5G weighs 171 g and is 7.7 mm thick
The Oppo Reno8 T 5G features a polycarbonate body and chrome side rails that surprisingly don’t attract a lot of fingerprints. On the right side of the smartphone is the power button, while the volume buttons are on the left. The USB Type-C charging port, speaker grille, microphone and SIM tray are all located on the bottom of the smartphone.
On the top we have another microphone for noise cancellation and an additional speaker for stereo sound. The smartphone uses a hybrid SIM slot, meaning you can use either a second SIM card or a microSD card. The back of the Oppo Reno8 T 5G is made of polycarbonate. It feels a little flimsy as there’s a noticeable flex when you apply pressure, which is unattractive. However, the back has excellent workmanship that doesn’t attract fingerprints. The coating also changes color depending on the angle you look at it from.
The Oppo Reno8 T 5G has a triple camera setup on the back. There’s a 108-megapixel primary camera, a 2-megapixel depth-sensing camera, and a 40x Microlens camera. In my opinion, the latter is by far the best feature of this smartphone. I’ve used many smartphones with macro cameras, but this one is on a whole different level.
Macro shot of a silver chain taken with the Oppo Reno8 T 5G’s Microlens camera
Here is an example photo of a silver chain and you can see the scratches on it that are otherwise invisible to the naked eye. The main camera does a good job in daylight but struggles in low light conditions from my observations. Unfortunately, you don’t get an ultra-wide camera.
The smartphone cannot record videos in 4K, which is a shame. I found video shot at 1080p to be a bit over processed, but it’s stabilized well. For the front camera, the Reno8 T 5G uses a 32-megapixel sensor. Clarity is great, portrait mode works well, and the number of options for enhancing your selfie is an added bonus.
Oppo Reno8 T 5G camera examples: (left to right) Low light, daytime, selfie
The Oppo Reno8 T 5G comes with a 6.7-inch curved-edge AMOLED display that has a 120Hz refresh rate. I found the screen to be fairly color accurate and bright enough to use in almost any environment. The curved edge of the display doesn’t cause accidental touches and isn’t very noticeable to distract. Viewing content on this display combined with stereo speakers was a good experience. The display also houses an in-display fingerprint sensor, which is quite fast when it comes to authentication.
The Oppo Reno8 T 5G packs a 4,800mAh battery that offers decent standby time considering I didn’t have to charge it for a full day of mixed use. Even if you do need to charge it, the included 67W SuperVOOC power adapter should be able to fully charge the device in under 45 minutes, according to Oppo.
The Oppo Reno8 T 5G is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 695 5G SoC. We’ve seen this SoC in many cheaper phones like this one OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite (review) in the past. It’s decent for light multitasking and gaming, but not great for graphics-intensive games. The 8 T 5G runs Oppo’s ColorOS 13, which is based on Android 13.
The Oppo Reno8 T 5G comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage
The Oppo Reno8 T 5G is a new contender at Rs. 29,999 in India. This could be a decent option for someone who wants a slim phone with a curved display and likes to take selfies. However, for the performance-oriented user, I think they exist better alternatives in this segment.
