Oppo has been one of the leaders of the mid-range phone market for a few years now. Now with Motorola fighting to give the premium mid-range phones a run for their money, how does Oppo’s latest mid-range phone stand up? Well, I took the Oppo Reno 12 Pro 5G for a hoon to see!
It’s got AI!
You probably haven’t heard of this new fangled thing, but there’s this thing called AI. It stands for artificial intelligence and it’s going to revolutionise the world. OK, I might be being cynical, but there are some awesome use cases for AI, and Oppo has jumped on the hype train.
The biggest thing here is the AI reading assistant. If you have a giant news article, with a quick swipe from the right, you can have it summarise some key points, or it can do text to voice and read the article out to you. There were some mixed results here, like sometimes missing key points and things, but for the most part it worked well.
Having said that, I ran it on Stuff’s main page, and instead of summarising what it saw, it gave a summary of an article about Apple getting in trouble for popping up the Palestinian flag emoji when users typed Jerusalem. I couldn’t find that article on the main page, and when I Googled it, I couldn’t find a Stuff article for it. I did find some articles from other sites telling the story… in April.
So I have no idea where the info came from, but it wasn’t from reading the text on the page. It must have pulled something out of some metadata or something.
Still, when I ran it on actual articles, it did a good job. And then there are all kinds of other AI features in there, especially in the camera.
It’s got some style!
When it comes to style, most mid range phones these days are much of a muchness. They’re all the smash rectangles with curved corners. The Oppo Reno 12 Pro 5G is the same, but unlike the Teno 10, it has gone for a flatter edge, which I like a lot. It’s super comfy and makes it way harder to accidentally have my fat hands bump the screen.
The back has gone for a matte look, with a shiny section at the bottom. I like the design here, except the shiny bit at the bottom means your palm is constantly touching it and making smudges. This will be less of an issue if you pop it in a case though, but like other Oppo phones around this price point, they have dropped the gel cases coming in the box.
I mean, it means you can pick one you like the most, but I always like them coming in the box.
How does it stack against other mid-range phones?
Another area a lot of these mid range phones struggle with is that all the good ones have similar performance. In that way, the Reno 12 Pro 5G, is much the same. Compared to the Motorola Edge 50 Pro 5G for example, they are incredibly similar.
The Edge 50 has an ever so slightly higher processor, but the Reno 12 has a massive 4GB more RAM. The Edge 50 has better screen resolution, but the Reno 12 is 0.5mm thinner and weighs a few grams less. The Edge 50 comes with a case in the box, but the Reno 12 has a way bigger battery. The Edge 50 has wireless charging, but the Reno 12’s fast charging is absurdly fast.
So between these minor things, the included features may be the difference for you. If your house has wireless charging pads everywhere, then the Motorola Edge 50 Pro 5G may be the phone for you. If you’re all about fast charging and a big battery, then the Oppo Reno 12 Pro 5G would be where you would lean. Personally, that gives the Oppo the edge.
Should you get one?
Honestly, it’s a solid phone, albeit a touch uninspiring. You’ll be perfectly happy with this purchase at the $1,100 mark. The only thing is that the Oppo midrange phones used to pack so many additional features that made them more premium. Something like eSim support or something could elevate them above the competition. Instead, it feels far too in line with the competition. Still, it is a great phone.
The Oppo Reno 12 Pro 5G is a very solid phone in the price point. Beats the competition in some areas, the competition wins in some areas. Gotta be happy with this beauty though.
