Review: The Oppo Reno 2

The Oppo Reno 2 offers a balanced mix of design, performance and imaging, says Khalid Anzar.

A smartphone doesn't need flagship specifications to deliver a comprehensive experience and the Reno 2 from Oppo just confirmed this.

The phone offers a balanced mix of design, performance, imaging and everything else that you expect from a midrange phone.

Here is my take.

Design 4/5

The Oppo Reno 2 looks identical to the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom but gets a gorgeous dual-colour tone design.

It also has better ergonomics and weighs less (189g).

The phone's premium glass-metal sandwich construction complements its design and the use of Corning Gorilla Glass at the front and back makes it impervious to everyday abuse.

Additionally, the phone has an obstruction-free profile with no notch or cut-out on the front, and no camera bump or capacitive fingerprint sensor on the rear.

The phone's design feels natural and is comfortable to operate.

Performance 4/5

The phone has a 6.5-inch dynamic AMOLED screen of a fullHD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels) resolution stretched in a tall 20:9 aspect ratio.

The screen is vivid and supports HDR, making it suitable for watching supported multimedia content.

The phone also supports WideVine L1 DRM services required for streaming high-definition video content.

The camera is where the phone shines.

It has a quad-camera set-up on the back, featuring a 48-megapixel primary sensor of an f/2.0 aperture, a 13MP telephoto sensor capable of 2x optical zoom, 8MP ultra-wide sensor and a 2MP depth sensor.

It might not have the exceptional zooming capabilities of the Reno 10x Zoom, but still manages a modest 5x hybrid zoom and up to 20x digital zoom.

Besides, its primary 48MP sensor is capable of handling tricky situations and taking decent shots in most conditions.

The phone's rear camera can record videos with bokeh effect, a feature limited to a few premium devices.

The phone also has improved stabilisation.

The phone's 16MP selfie camera takes decent shots and has a portrait mode for enhanced bokeh effect.

Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G system-on-chip, the phone is paired with 8GB RAM and 256GB internal storage.

It boots Android Pie-based ColorOS 6.1 user interface, which has improved considerably from its previous iterations but still has some flaws.

Other than its OS flaws, however, the phone is a sleek performer.

It handles day-to-day operations and power-intensive tasks with ease.

The 4,000 mAh battery keeps it going for around a day.

Verdict 4/5

The Oppo Reno 2, priced at Rs 36,990, is a strong product, offering a balanced mix of design, performance, imaging, and everything else that you expect from a midrange smartphone.