Oppo Reno13 review: All-rounder mid-range phone with impressive camera

Last week, Oppo launched the new line of Reno13 series in India.

The company is offering the new mid-range phone in two models--Reno13 and Reno13 Pro.

They come with pretty much the same features and design but differ in terms of display size, battery capacity and camera hardware. I have been using the standard Reno13 variant and here are my thoughts on Oppo's latest mid-range Android phone.

Design, build quality and display

Oppo's Reno13 comes in an all-new design with refreshing colours. Our review unit is luminous blue.

The first thing you notice in the phone is the glowing edge around the camera module on the back. It has no LED light around. Yet,it has a halo luminous effect. The ingenious engineers at Oppo achieved this feat by using offset printing and reflective coating techniques, which result in a subtle, glowing outline whenever light falls on it.

. Add to that, the device has an anti-glare coating with a matte finish on the back panel. It does an amazing job of repelling the fingerprint smudges on the phone.

On the side, the Reno13 comes with high-quality aerospace aluminium frame to bring stability to the structure of the phone. It absorbs the pressure whenever the phone accidentally falls on the solid surface. It will suffer dents, but importantly protect the internal components stay in place.

On the top, the phone's display is protected by Corning's Gorilla Glass 7i shield to safeguard against scratches and other daily wear-and-tear issues.

Add to that, the device is one of the very few to boast of IP66/IP68/IP69 water-and-dust resistant certification. The new Oppo Reno13 series can survive extreme temperatures up to 55-degree Celsius and also high-speed water jet up to 1,450 PSI force.

. Further, the company offers a free cover case with the phone and also pre-fits plastic-based screen guard. The company has covered all bases to ensure the Reno13 will be able to serve the customer for several years.

The Reno 13 sports a 6.59-inch 1.5K(2760 × 1256p) flat OLED curved display with 120Hz refresh rate, up to 1200 nits peak brightness.

Though the display is a bit smaller than the Pro model, it is of really good quality; Thanks to super thin bezels, it is great for watching movies and doom-scrolling on Instagram reels for hours.

. The display comes with world-class safety features to protect the eyes. The Reno13 boasts of hardware-based low-blue-light solution certified by SGS. It ensures comfortable viewing even during long sessions such as reading e-books or binge-watching TV series or movies during long overnight journeys on flights or trains or buses.

The new Oppo device comes with dual SIM slots (type: nano), a type-c port, and an infrared sensor. The latter comes in handy to control Internet-of-Things (IoT) gadgets such as smart ACs or smart TVs and smart cameras at home.

The Reno13 features an in-display fingerprint sensor. It is very quick to identify the finger impression and unlock the display. It has a low rejection rate even with sweaty fingers.

Performance

Oppo Reno13 is powered by MediaTke's 4nm class Dimensity 8350 octa-core chipset with Mali-G615 MC6 GPU, 8GB LPDDR5X RAM with 128GB / 256GB UFS 3.1 storage.

The phone handles all tasks, be it day-to-day activities such as faster loading of apps or while playing games. The Reno13 delivered stable performance and also did not overheat. It got slightly warmed up while playing Asphalt Unite: Legends, but the heating never went out of comfort level thanks to heat dissipation.

. Even when running generative Ariticial Intelligence features such as Google Gemini or Oppo's photo application tools, the device, like Google Pixel phones, takes a few extra seconds to process a photo to add effects or remove objects, but never overheat.

The device runs Android 15-based ColorOS 15. It has a lot of bloatware in the form of games, third-party apps and applications, which most owners are unlikely to use. But, thankfully, the company has ensured there is plenty of storage space. One can install hundreds of apps of their choice and even populate it with thousands of photos and videos taken with the Reno13's feature-rich camera.

The company has confirmed to offer three years of Android OS updates and five years of software security support.

. It should be noted that the Oppo Reno13 houses a custom-developed X1 network chip and AI LinkBoost, which ensures the voice calls are clear at all times. Even when you are in the basement of an apartment or an elevator, the phone manages to receive a cellular signal to deliver a disturbance-free phone conversation.

Oppo phone houses a 5,600mAh battery. It consistently managed to deliver more than a day of battery life.

With the 80W SuperVOOC charger, the device can charge from zero to 50 per cent in under 25 minutes and hit 100 per cent mark under 50 minutes.

Photography

Oppo Reno13 comes with triple-camera module--main 50MP (with 1/1.95-inch Sony LYT-600 sensor, f/1.8, OIS) + 8MP 112-degree ultra-wide camera (with OV08D sensor, ƒ/2.2) + 2MP monochrome camera (with OV02B1B sensor, f/2.4) with LED flash.

. It takes pretty pictures in all light conditions. Like most premium Android phones, Reno13 too adds a bit of colour brightness to subjects such as human faces and flowers. They look vibrant and lovely, worthy to be shared on social media platforms.

. With wide-angle shots, the phone manages to get the vast area of the landscape without any software tricks like bending structures to include them in the frame.

. At night, the pictures look sharp. Even with less light, the phone manages to reduce noise and make the photo appear clear.

. The Portrait mode works like magic. It takes sharp photos with edges around the subject such as human head are clearly captured and manages to get a dramatic blurred bokeh effect in the background.

. It supports several generative Artificial Intelligence (gen AI)-based photography tools-- AI Eraser, AI Reflection Remover, AI Unblur, AI Clarity, AI Studio and more.

. The AI eraser does an amazing job of removing photo bombers and unwanted objects from the frame. It comes in handy for family pictures at popular tourist places. Phone users can instantly mark unwanted people and remove them with hardly any trace of them in the picture.

. I am also totally impressed with the AI Reflection remover and AI Clarity. They do a fine job of enhancing the photo quality over the original image.

. With AI Studio, one can explore several tools to turn a portrait photo or any type of a image into a beautiful piece of digital art. This feature eliminates the need for any third-party apps on the phone to convert one form of photo to another.

. On the front, it houses a 50MP camera (with Samsung JN5 sensor, f/2.0).

Both the front and the back cameras can record 4K videos at 60 frames per second (fps). The video quality is good and on par with rival brands in its class.

. Final thoughts

Considering the overall aspects and price range, the latest Oppo Reno13 is a solid mid-range Android phone. It has been upgraded with several meaningful design changes over the predecessor.

Also, the build quality is impressive and ensures the device serves the owner for several years. The display is really good and performance-wise, the device worked smoothly without any pressing issues to complain about.

Another big plus of Oppo Reno13 is the camera. It takes amazing pictures in all light conditions. And, the generative AI features further enhance the photography experience of the phone.

The device also managed to deliver a full day battery life. The 80W SuperVOOC fast charger, which comes free of cost with the retail box is another compelling reason to buy the new Oppo mid-range phone.

. Oppo Reno13 will be available in two colours-- ivory white and luminous blue. It comes in two storage options-- 128GB and 256GB-- for Rs 37,999 and Rs 39,999, respectively.

.Oppo Find X8 review: Impressive premium camera phone. Get the latest news on new launches, gadget reviews, apps, cybersecurity, and more on personal technology only on DH Tech .

Oppo Reno13 review: All-rounder mid-range phone with impressive camera

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