Oppo Reno Z Review: Features | Pricing | Specs

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In years past, Oppo's budget and mid-range lines had their own naming schemes, but in 2019, it appears that everything Oppo will be a Reno.

Not a renovated phone, but instead one carrying the Reno suffix. We've already seen the Reno 5G, and its slightly cheaper Reno 10x Zoom phone, and it's now joined by the much more affordable Oppo Reno Z.

It's a good-looking phone, but one that launches into a mid-range market that's genuinely more competitive than it has been in years.

Design

• Gorgeous gradient finish at a budget price
• In-display fingerprint reader works well

• Read our full review of the Oppo Reno Z's design

  In the lower mid-range space, it's pretty rare to find anything that isn't an LCD display.

  Samsung's A-series phones do have AMOLEDs, and Oppo joins that crowd with the Oppo Reno Z. It features a bright 6.4-inch 2340x1080 pixel display with minimal bezels.

  There is a teardrop notch at the top to incorporate the front-facing selfie camera, so you're not getting the "shark fin" pop up camera of the Reno 5G. At the same time, you're not waiting for it to pop up before you can take shots either.

  The body of the Oppo Reno Z is smooth, thanks to the fact that it incorporates an in-display fingerprint reader.

  This isn't the first time Oppo's dabbled with the technology, with both the Reno 5G and last year's Oppo R17 Pro having hidden fingerprint readers. Its accuracy wasn't quite up there with the top performers in this category, but given it's between a third to a quarter of the price of those handsets, it's a fair trade-off.

  Looking at the near-priced Samsung Galaxy A70, the responsiveness of the Oppo Reno Z's fingerprint sensor was markedly better.

  Oppo sells the Reno Z in two colour variants in Australia. There's the predictable black finish, or as Oppo would have it, Jet Black. Then there's the much more showy Aurora Purple variant, which is what I've tested with.

  It's reminiscent of Huawei's "Twilight" colour scheme with a shifting blue/purple tone that runs the length of the phone and even alongside the sides of the phone frame.

  Controls are limited to power and volume on the right sides respectively, although fans of wired headphones will appreciate the inclusion of a standard 3.5mm headphone jack.

Camera

• Dual rear lenses offer decent but not stellar shots
• Ultra Night Mode doesn't grab that much light
• Selfies can be spectacular – or frightening

• Read our full review of the Oppo Reno Z's camera

  The Oppo Reno 5G impressed me with its camera prowess, but for the Reno Z, Oppo's definitely dipping back into the mostly-mid-range well.

  At the back, you'll find a 48MP sensor paired up with a 5MP secondary sensor. It's a fair recipe at its price point, but we're in a market where Oppo's taking on the Google Pixel 3a and its exceptional computational photography prowess. The Reno Z is a little cheaper, it's true, but it's still got a serious fight ahead of it.

  The Reno Z features "Ultra Night Mode 2.0", which is its marketing way of saying it takes a bracketed shot approach, stitching them together to make a theoretically brighter shot. To test this, I took the Reno Z to a local park late at night to get some test shots. The Reno Z's light pickup was at best OK for a mid-range phone:

  The issue here is that while it's doing pretty well for a $499 smartphone, there's no doubt that the Pixel 3a's night mode will do a lot better in similar situations. It's well behind the efforts of phones such as the Huawei P30, although that's a phone that comes in at twice the price.

  Oppo has changed up its ColorOS approach in most respects, save for its camera app. It's a very basic application, which is great if you prefer a simpler experience. Still, in 2019, it can't help but feel a little bit bare bones.

  Flip around to the front, and under the teardrop notch, you'll find a single 32MP sensor for selfie purposes. Predictably, it features a beauty mode to smooth out your wrinkles, and if you ramp it up too much, it all starts looking very plastic and weird. See?

  

  For its price tag, the Oppo Reno Z provides good photographic experiences, but not stellar ones. Where Oppo once owned the mid-range photographic market, it's been overtaken by the likes of Samsung and Google, at least for now.

  Oppo Reno Z sample photos

  

  

  

  

Performance

• Low-end processor, but plenty of RAM
• No expandable storage
• ColorOS still feels messy
• Good audio output if you need an ad-hoc speaker
• Dolby Atmos support for three-dimensional audio

• Read our full review of the Oppo Reno Z's performance

  The Reno Z's price point can be tracked pretty closely to its choice of processor. It's running on a MediaTek Helio P90 with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage.

  The Oppo Reno Z is a dual SIM phone, but it lacks the ability or space for that secondary SIM slot to accommodate a microSD card for expansion purposes.

  MediaTek's business is in the lower end of the processor pool, and typically I'd expect it to sit near the bottom of most processor tests. Here's how the Oppo Reno Z compares using Geekbench 4's CPU test:

  That additional RAM makes a big difference in benchmark terms, far more than I expected to be honest.

  It's not always reflected in real-world usage, however. Running the same apps across a Pixel 3a and the Reno Z, you'd expect the Reno Z to overtake the Pixel 3a pretty tidily. In many cases, the reverse was true.

  That additional RAM also doesn't do much for the Reno Z's 3D performance if you're into mobile games. Here's how it compares using the 3DMark Slingshot Extreme benchmark:

  Oppo does provide a game boosting mode to improve your casual gaming experience, but again its implementation was a little tough to accurately assess. It'll easily stop notification intrusions and can limit network access for games if that helps, but this is still definitely a mid-range proposition.

  Despite its flashy looks, the Reno Z can run a little slow at times. Push it hard and you'll hit its limits, although within that mid-range space it's certainly not bad – just deeply average.

  The Oppo Reno Z is an Android 9 ("Pie") phone, but that won't be readily apparent to most users thanks to Oppo's own software launcher overlay. ColorOS has been Oppo's take on Android for years now, although it has shifted markedly away from its direct aping of whatever iOS was doing in a given year.

  The end result is very bright and still a good bet if you are switching away from an iPhone. Equally however, that can make it a touch frustrating if you're more used to the way Google arranges Android functions.

  Oppo includes a lot of its own applications on each phone, and they all tend to ask for a lot of permissions when they launch. If you're not comfortable with a Chinese phone potentially spying on your activities, Oppo does little to quell those concerns.

Battery

• 4,035mAh battery gives plenty of battery endurance
• Very fast charging, but only with Oppo's own VOOC charger

• Read our full review of the Oppo Reno Z's battery

  We've seen a wave of more affordable handsets launch into the local market with quite large battery capacities. Combine this with their mid or low-end processors, and you've got a recipe for some pretty good battery life.

  The Oppo Reno Z's battery capacity is a little oddly stated at 4035mAh – who's counting that extra 35mAh exactly? – but it performs admirably when pushed.

  Here's how the Oppo Reno Z compares using Geekbench 4's battery test against a range of mid-range handsets:

  While the Motorola Moto G7 Power trumps everything in this space, and at a price point lower than that of the Reno Z, it's nowhere near as powerful a phone. For its price, the Reno Z does very well indeed.

  Charging is via USB C, but if you want the fastest possible battery top-up, you'll need to keep the supplied VOOC charger handy. Oppo has its own fast charging standard, and while it does an admirable job of topping up its own phones, it's less impressive on other chargers. They'll work, but you may be waiting quite some time to get a full charge.

Verdict

• A great return to the mid-range for Oppo

Oppo made its name in Australia with a range of innovative and low-cost phones that provided superior value to competing phones of the time.

In many ways that's exactly what the Oppo Reno Z is. It's a gorgeous looking phone that's a lot of fun to use in most cases, but in 2019, there's even more pressure in the mid-range to compete. The Reno Z doesn't stand alone in the mid-range the way previous Oppo phones may have, but it's certainly worth your consideration.

Pricing and availability

Price

RRP $499

Where to buy

Check availability at eBay

Check availability at Amazon

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Compare Oppo Reno Z plans

Alternatives

If you're a fan of Oppo phones and want a bit more camera oomph, consider the Oppo R17 Pro.

In the mid-range space, Google's Pixel 3a looms large for its combination of amazing camera performance and slick, pared-down Android OS. It's a little more pricey than the Oppo Reno Z, however.

You could also consider the Samsung Galaxy A70 or Samsung Galaxy A50 if you want a phone with a large OLED display and dual camera options.

Specifications

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