Oppo Reno8 T review: High praise

We had very nice things to say about the Oppo Reno8 5G when we reviewed it last year. However, since Oppo, in its wisdom, wasn’t done with the Reno8 series, yet, here we are with yet another Reno8 smartphone, just 4 months later.

The Oppo Reno8 T, like its siblings in the Reno8 series that is the 4G variant of the Reno8 and the 5G variant like the one we had in for review last year, is every bit an Oppo smartphone.

That is to say, out of the box, you get an very good display panel with all the features and specs you’d expect of a 2023 smartphone, you also get an “ok” chipset, one that doesn’t disappoint but also one that’s implemented carefully so as not to make the device beyond the reach of many because of increased costs. There are upgraded optics in the camera department (does that mean they are better?) which, as has been the case with all the Oppo smartphones we have reviewed on this site over the years, do just enough to keep you impressed while leaving room for future improvements.

As usual, there’s also an “ok” battery that truly comes to life when it is being juiced up because Oppo has never shied away from sharing with users of its devices the many strides it takes throughout any calendar year with its proprietary VOOC fast charging technology.

Design and display

The Oppo Reno8 T’s display is bright but not too bright when outdoors or faced with this early-year Nairobi sun that has everything fading away in comparison. Where it truly comes alive is when one is reading text, like the text of this review, on a website. Or on a document.

Everything appears very much on point. Like it was meant to be there. Sure, there’s the high refresh rate (120Hz) and the display is an AMOLED but you have no moment to step back and think about all those when you’re holding and using the Reno8 T to read something. Especially black text on a white background. It is crisp and such a joy to read on.

And that is before you look at its hyperbolic design which has the display melting into the device’s sideways frame in the form of a curved display – or waterfall display as we call them in Androidland. Curved displays split opinion because not many people know exactly where to place them. Do they serve a purely aesthetic function or do they have any meaningful use that justifies their (expensive) presence? If I am to chime in to this debate from the point of view of a Reno8 T user then it will be this: that’s a discussion worth having when those other curved smartphones are on the table. When it’s the Reno8 T, you can give it a pass.

Why? You may ask. Well, this is the shortest implementation of a curved display that I have ever fiddled around with. And it looks like Oppo has been taking notes from everyone’s faltering and delivered a seamless experience with its own. You don’t feel like your fingers are being drawn out when you interact with the display. In true aesthetic fashion, I did not find any specific functionality built into the edges of the Oppo Reno8 T’s curved display like we have on devices from the Transsion brands that, on devices with such an implementation like the Phantom X2 5G, one is able to pull up the ‘smart panel’ with a simple right-to-left gentle swipe of the screen, depending on how it is set up.

Software and performance

The Snapdragon 695 chipset from Qualcomm does just enough to handle all the chops of the Oppo Reno8 T. To this end, as far as performance goes, I have no qualms.

The Reno8 T delivers when you want it to. And it can do a lot more if you push it thanks to the magic that mobile device makers are doing these days with virtual memory. The Reno8 T offers users up to 4GB more RAM.

In fact, the only misgiving you will have, if you’re like yours truly, then it will be with how aggressively it treats active applications after periods of relative inactivity. Like when you leave your Twitter app on and go on to another app or to do something else altogether. Unprovoked, the system will step in to kill the process after some time, and you will realize that the Twitter Space conversation you were following is no more. In my case, I had another experience: I was using the (Chrome) browser app to cast something on my TV. I had to keep going back to the browser and the specific tab every few minutes to hit the ‘play’ button since the video would automatically be paused as the app was frozen by the system. That can be annoying. Especially when there’s not much that you can do as the app is already whitelisted in the settings.

The system in question here is ColorOS, the custom overlay that Oppo runs on its smartphones. In the case of the Reno8 T, we are talking about ColorOS running atop Android 13. That means, in effect, you are running the latest version of Android and getting the best that there is on offer as far as features are concerned.

ColorOS, for the longest time, has been a delight to use. It has offered a delightful experience. There are various custom Android skins out there and ColorOS is up there with my top favourites. However, that standing is no longer guaranteed going forward given the experience one encounters with the Reno8 T. There are additions in the device that weren’t there when I last took an Oppo device for a spin. Oppo has gone back on years of resisting the urge to duplicate apps. In the Reno8 T, I encountered browser, messaging and app store apps from Oppo, duplicating the functionality that is already offered by Chrome, Google Messages and the Play Store, apps from Google that are usually pre-installed on a device.

While I would understand where Oppo is coming from with these, for those that won’t use them like yours truly, they are to be regarded as bloatware, taking up valuable space. Sure, Oppo has been very generous to offer 256GB storage with the device and an option to expand it, even though that’s a lot, but, we can never have enough space, can we?

Camera

You’ll obviously want to watch on the space if you take the device out for a shoot.

The Oppo Reno8 T’s four cameras combine to offer an acceptable experience.

The 108-megapixel portrait camera at the back means that one gets a bigger canvas to work with when they take their snaps. The 108MP can be called into action by selecting “High” in the “High-res” menu up top on the viewfinder.

Paired with the 40X microlens for better close-ups means that one can barely miss the details when they want them, whether up close or far off.

There are still some challenges getting the outlines of portrait shots, an industry-wide problem, as well as a shifting and unpredictable dynamic range. Those are likely to be the only visible glitches one encounters.

Selfies on the Reno8 T are good. One just has to remember to turn off all the filter settings and selections which are on by default. Set everything to natural and, voila!

Battery

Battery life on the Reno8 T is impressive. I comfortably lasted over a day with the device, averaging anywhere from 6 to over 8 hours of screen-on-time. Obviously, everyone’s mileage will vary based on what they do and whatnot but that should give you a clue of what you can expect.

That Oppo managed to sneak in a beefy 4,800mAh battery unit on a device with such a slim profile, managing to offer prolonged battery life without making the device unnecessarily bulky or sacrificing its striking beauty is something to marvel at.

You’ve not marvelled enough if the convenience of the 67W SuperVOOC fast charging doesn’t rank anywhere near the top of the best things about the device. You don’t have to bother about timing yourself and your charging intervals. When you’re running low or just wish to top up, go ahead and do that. Whatever place the battery mark was, you’ll have more than enough whatever time you choose to yank the phone off the charger, even minutes after you plug it in.

Oppo says that there’s a Battery Health Engine which works behind the scenes to make sure the device’s battery stays intact for long, despite the very fast charging.

The fast charging is so good that the only disadvantage here is that you will never want anything less ever again. We are just from covering devices with “20W fast charging” and others that won’t even give you the necessary accessories to enjoy the so-called fast charging and that looks laughable at this point. Oppo gives you some of the best accelerated charging on the market on one of the best mid-range devices in the local market and still goes a step ahead and offers you all the accessories you need to make all of that possible.

The Good

• Excellent design. This is the best-looking smartphone that has launched in our market that we have laid our hands on this year.
• Vibrant, crisp display.
• Very good-sounding and loud dual speakers. You can even crank up the volume all the way to 200%. You know the way VLC on your computer has some “magical” extra volume from a place you can’t explain? Yeah, the Oppo Reno8 T has something similar, too. And, it’s brilliant. You’ll definitely be keeping the volume down, not up.
• The fast charging is so good.
• The pricing. Kshs 50,000 for this device makes it a definite recommendation from me. There are no two ways to it, if you are in the market for a good mid-range smartphone, this is the smartphone to buy, period.

The Bad

• The in-display fingerprint sensor feels sluggish.
• The duplication of internet browsing, messaging and app store functionality in the form of apps from Oppo is a step back from the clean approach Oppo has taken for over half a decade and puts a stain to what is otherwise one of the best custom Android implementations in the world.

The lowdown

The Oppo Reno8 T represents a new approach to the mid-range smartphone.

With it, Oppo took a step back, re-strategized and came back to the market with something to add on to an already impressive Reno8 lineup. It cut down the price, maintained – heck, even improved – the quality, and added lots of value to the user of the device. We may have our misgivings about the bloat in the software but that’s it, there’s nothing else sour with the experience one gets on the device.

What Oppo has done, in effect, is piece together what is easily the best mid-range smartphone experience that one can get in the Kenyan market right now. Definitely, the Oppo Reno8 T is the best way “to 5G”.