If you’re somehow looking for an alternative to the usual flagship smartphones from Apple, Samsung, or Google, perhaps you can take a look at the OPPO Reno10 Pro+ 5G. It’s not OPPO’s latest, but the Reno10 Pro+ 5G is quite affordably priced for somewhat capable hardware specifications.
The OPPO Reno10 Pro+ falls into the budget premium smartphone category. It has much of the hardware specifications you’d expect from a premium flagship, but with some cutbacks to keep costs down.
In fact, that “plus” designation puts the Reno10 Pro+ 5G in a higher-tier category than the newer Reno11 Pro 5G just announced, whose launch price is around half that of the former smartphone.
The OPPO Reno10 Pro+ 5G feels as premium as any other flagship smartphone from Samsung or Google. The body is rigid and sturdy. It weighs a solid 194 grams, and measures 162.9 x 74 x 8.3 mm. The glossy back is visually stunning, particularly with the purple colour I’ve got. It’s comfortable to hold.
The 6.74-inch AMOLED display has 1240×2272 pixels resolution (20:9 aspect ratio, 451 ppi density), supports 120 Hz refresh, and is capable of 1400 nits peak brightness. It looks really good. However, when left at auto refresh rate, I find that sometimes, such as when scrolling webpages, it doesn’t look like 120 Hz was used. You can force 120 Hz manually at all times but that’s of course going to have an undesirable impact on battery.
In case it bothers you, the Reno10 Pro+ 5G has a curved edge on the sides of the display. This was still the trend at the time the smartphone was launched, but flat displays have come back. I personally don’t mind a very subtle curve at the edges since it can help make the smartphone more comfortable to hold, but this is more curve than I’d ideally like.
The OPPO Reno10 Pro+ 5G has a three-camera setup located on a raised island on the back. The main camera is a 50 MP sensor with 4/1.8, 24 mm (wide) lens supporting multidirectional PDAF and OIS. The telephoto has 64 MP, with f/2.5, 3x zoom, PDAF and OIS. The ultrawide sensor has 8 MP with a f/2.2 112° lens.
The camera specifications are comparable to those of premium flagship smartphones. These days, smartphone photography also requires a lot of AI smarts. The OPPO Reno10 Pro+ 5G takes great photos that will work for many casual users. DXOMARK gives this smartphone a camera score of 116, outranked by the mid-tier Google Pixel 6a from July 2022 with a score of 122, so this should tell you how well it is placed in terms of technical scoring.
The front camera on the OPPO Reno10 Pro+ 5G has a 32 MP sensor, f/2.4, 22 mm (wide) lens with autofocus that will mostly get a decent job done.
The OPPO Reno10 Pro+ 5G runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor. This is where you can see some cost-cutting measures: while this is a premium flagship processor not used in most mid-tier phones, including the brand new Reno11 Pro 5G, it is one from 2022. It’s still a great processor for any kind of casual, entertainment, or social media usage, so it’s not something to be concerned about.
This smartphone supports dual-band Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax), Bluetooth 5.3 with LE, aptX and HD, GPS (as well as GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS, and QZSS), and NFC. It even has an infrared port, useful if you need to remote control TV and various appliances with infrared.
Let’s not forget that there is 5G support. If you’re longing to get on the higher-speed cellular network that’s already pervasively covered all over Singapore, you can do that with the OPPO Reno10 Pro+ 5G.
For biometric unlocking, the OPPO Reno10 Pro+ 5G features an under-display optical fingerprint reader. There is also face unlock, if that’s something you like to use.
The built-in Li-Po battery has 4700 mAh capacity, with support for 100 W wired charging. You should know, the charger is included, and it’s the SuperVOOC one that will do 100 W ultra-fast charging, no separate purchase needed.
The OPPO Reno10 Pro+ 5G seems to have just about everything. One notable exception is support for wireless charging. I don’t think this is something that will be a showstopper for most people. Some people might not even use it.
Something I really like about OPPO is how they ship a phone case and pre-installed screen protector on the smartphone. I know it’s a basic phone case, and sure the screen protector is not tempered glass but a thin film, but it is great that you have some protection from the get-go while you figure out other case and screen protector options later.
The OPPO Reno10 Pro+ 5G ships with Android 13 with OPPO’s ColourOS 13.1 skin. It’s an easy interface to learn. You will be able to upgrade to Android 14.
With street prices now under S$900, the OPPO Reno10 Pro+ 5G is an option to consider if you’re after premium specifications but deterred by the prices of the premium flagships from Samsung or Google.