Oppo’s Reno smartphones usually have good cameras, along with some quirky features to attract customers. Oppo launched the Reno 8 series last year, and for 2023, the brand has opted to refresh the lineup. Reno8 (Review) with the new one Reno 8T 5G first, instead of Oppo Reno 9″ launched in China. The new Reno 8T 5G is priced at Rs. 29,999, completely equal to Reno 8 but lower Reno8 Pro 5G (Review). Does the Reno 8T 5G live up to the hype often seen in the Reno series? Here are our first impressions of the device.
The Oppo Reno 8T 5G is available in a single variant with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It comes in two color options, Sunrise Gold and Midnight Black in India. It will be available from February 10 in offline and online stores, such as Flipkart. Smartphones will compete with things like Realme 10Pro+ (Review) and Redmi Note 12 Pro+ (Review) in India.
Oppo Reno 8T 5G weighs 171g and is 7.7mm thick
The Oppo Reno 8T 5G has a polycarbonate body and chrome side rails, which 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 at the bottom of the smartphone.
At the top we have another microphone for noise cancellation and an additional speaker for stereo sound. The smartphone uses a hybrid SIM slot, which means you can use a second SIM card or a microSD card. The back of the Oppo Reno 8T 5G is made of polycarbonate. It feels a bit flimsy because there’s noticeable flex when you apply pressure, which is unappealing. However, the back has a great finish that doesn’t attract fingerprints. The overlay also changes color depending on the angle you look at it from.
Oppo Reno 8T 5G has a triple camera setup at the back. There’s a 108-megapixel main camera, a 2-megapixel depth-sensing camera, and a Microlens camera with 40X magnification. In my opinion, the latter feature is the best feature of this smartphone. I have used a lot of smartphones with macro cameras, but this one is on a whole different level.
Close-up shot of silver chain with Microlens camera on Oppo Reno 8T 5G
This is a sample photo of a silver necklace and you can see scratches on it that are invisible to the naked eye. The main camera performs well during the day but struggles in low light, from what I observed. Sadly, you don’t get an ultra-wide camera.
Smartphones cannot record videos in 4K, which is a pity. I found videos shot at 1080p to be a bit overprocessed, but it stabilized well. For the front camera, Reno 8T 5G uses a 32-megapixel sensor. The clarity is very good, the portrait mode works well, and the number options for enhancing your selfies are an added bonus.
Oppo Reno 8T 5G camera sample: (Left to right) Low light, daytime, selfie
Oppo Reno 8T 5G is equipped with a curved edge 6.7-inch AMOLED screen, 120Hz refresh rate. I found the screen to be fairly color accurate and bright enough to use in almost any environment. The screen’s curved edges don’t cause any accidental touches, and it’s not too prominent to be distracting. Viewing content on this screen combined with stereo speakers is a good experience. The screen also houses an in-display fingerprint sensor for quick authentication.
Oppo Reno 8T 5G has a 4,800mAh battery that offers pretty good standby time, as I didn’t have to charge it for a whole day with various uses. According to Oppo, even if you need to charge, the included 67W SuperVOOC power adapter should be able to fully charge the device in less than 45 minutes.
Oppo Reno 8T 5G is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 695 5G SoC. We have seen this SoC in many lower priced phones like OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite (Review) in the past. It’s good for multitasking and light gaming, but not great for graphics-intensive games. The 8T 5G runs Oppo’s ColorOS 13 based on Android 13.
Oppo Reno 8T 5G comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage
Oppo Reno 8T 5G is a new contender at Rs. 29,999 in India. This could be an affordable option for those who want a slim smartphone with an edge-to-edge display and love to take selfies. However, for a performance-oriented user, I feel there Better alternatives in this segment.
