Oppo Reno 12 Pro Review: The Most Stylish Mid-Range Smartphone of 2024

Yes, you read that right. The Reno 12 Pro from the house of Oppo is one of the most stylish smartphones I have come across in 2024. It’s also true that it’s only a few months after Oppo launched the Reno 11 Series. But The Times They Are A-Changin', and Oppo doesn’t want to be left behind.

The Oppo Reno 12 Series continues the trend of smartphone manufacturers launching ‘AI’ phones instead of ‘camera’ or ‘gaming’ smartphones that used to be the ‘it’ thing. Priced at Rs 36,999 (12GB RAM + 256GB storage) and Rs 40,999 (12GB + 512GB storage), is the Reno 12 Pro the AI-powered smartphone of them all?

That stylish design

Let’s start by talking about that design. Oppo has always prioritised style and camera performance for the Reno series. That is no different on the Reno 12 Pro, which has been with me, for the past two weeks. It may be the sleekest and sturdiest Reno smartphone to date. however, the design language has remained the same. The Reno 12 Pro is available in Sunset Gold and Space brown colour options, the former of which I have for review.

The Reno 12 Pro has a distinctive dual-glass finish at the back and is separated by a glass strip that carries the Oppo branding. It’s got a shiny matte finish up to, and a glossy texture on the bottom. There’s the triple-camera setup on the top left, all stacked vertically, flanked by a flash, and “AI camera system” wording. The matte finish, on my Sunset Gold unit, is fingerprint-free! It’s the glossy texture on the bottom which attracts fingerprints, but is easy to clean.

More than the design, I was attracted to the case, that came in the box. It’s a transparent silicon ribbed case and provides an extra layer of grip you never thought you needed. The smartphone is lightweight at 180 grams and is 7.4 mm thick. It has an IP65 rating for water and dust resistance.

Display

The Reno 12 Pro features a 6.7-inch quad-curved AMOLED display with a Full HD+ (2412x1080) resolution. It has 394 PPI and a 20:9 aspect ratio. There is support for a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate and HDR10+ for a better viewing experience. The display is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2. There’s an in-display fingerprint sensor that is fast and accurate.

The display, is beautiful, though it isn’t as sharp as some of its rivals. It’s got vibrant colours and is very responsive. Indoors is where the display shines and is good for consuming media. The stereo speakers, surprisingly, don’t distort at loud volumes. Unlike on OnePlus smartphones, the auto brightness worked without any issues.

One thing to note here. You can use the smartphone even when water is on the display or your fingers are wet. This is thanks to the Splash Touch feature.

Performance: MediaTek Dimensity 7300

Good for daily usage. The Reno 12 Pro isn’t a gaming smartphone, neither is it trying to be one. In day-to-day usage, I hardly noticed any lags or stuttering, even when I was multitasking. From watching YouTube videos to taking photos and messing with the AI features, and from writing emails to listening to music, multitasking on the Reno 12 Pro was a breeze.

I tried playing a few games such as Call of Duty: Mobile, but it did lag a bit on maximum settings. I wouldn’t recommend gaming on the Reno 12 Pro.

However, the stereo speakers, are good and can get very loud. There is an Ultra Volume Mode (where the speakers can be cranked up to 300 percent), but I wouldn’t recommend this.

One feature that is exclusive to Reno 12 Pro is the BeaconLink feature. It’s basically an enhanced Bluetooth uplink. Within a range of 30 meters, you can perform device-to-device voice calls. This is just like a walkie-talkie, and can be useful in concerts, or similarly crowded events.

Oppo AI-ness

I’m not going to ponder on the camera for long as I think the AI features make this more of a complete product. Oppo wants to democratise AI and it’s on the path to doing just that with the Reno 12 Pro. Most of these AI features are seen on smartphones that cost much more than the Reno 12 Pro.

Let me rundown some of the AI features for you:

- AI Best Face: With AI Best Face, you never have to worry about having someone with their eyes blinked. AI Best Face takes the best face, of every subject, from a number of photos, and outputs one photo that will be the best of them all.

- AI Eraser 2.0: This is Oppo’s version of Magic Eraser that’s on Google’s Pixel phones. It can get rid of unnecessary details in the background of an image. It’s fairly easy to use and works on most photos except those taken in very low-light conditions.

- AI Clear Face: AI Clear Face increases clarity and reduces distortion for up to ten people.

- AI Clear Voice: With AI Clear Voice, the caller’s voice gets isolated and the background noise is minimised.

- AI Summary: With AI Summary, you can get a summary, in key points, of details from a text message or a web-page.

- AI Record Summary: It does as it says. It transcribes voice recordings and makes an easy-to-read summary.

- AI Writer: AI Writer is there to suggest relevant and smart things to add to your style.

- AI Speak: With AI Speak, text-to-speech has never been better.

- AI Studio: AI Studio lets you transform yourself, or your subjects into digital avatars.

A lot of these features aren’t new to smartphones, but in the Rs 40,000 price bracket, they’re a novelty. They’re built right into the smartphone. All you need is to download the AI plugins, and sign in with your Oppo account.

Camera

I was mostly pleased with the Reno 12 Pro’s cameras, especially in well-lit environments. I got detailed and sharp photos from the 50MP main camera (with a Sony LYT600 sensor). Whether it was clicking portraits, or taking photos of the brewery I frequent, the photos dazzled my friends and me. This is thanks to the AI-tuning. The post-processing done on the device is fast and provides great results.

It was when I took photos with the night mode, that I wasn’t a happy camper. The colour tone of photo mode (regular) vs night mode is very different and that put me off. The colour science seemed off. The smartphone also doesn’t have the fastest shutter speed out there, and hence, a lot of photos come out with a slight blur.

Photos from the ultra-wide sensor are strictly okay and nothing to write home about. Portraits have good edge detection, while videos were stable but with a lot of noise.

The selfie camera performed pretty well, for those who are interested in that.

Battery life: Long-lasting

What surprised me the most was just how long the battery life lasted on a single charge. Thanks to the 5,000mAh battery under the hood, I was able to get an all-day battery life, and sometimes almost two days. My SoT (screen on time) was over six hours and I was pleasantly surprised daily. Thanks to the speedy 80W fast charging support, the smartphone can juice up from 0-100 in just 45 minutes.

Verdict: Slightly overpriced

Yes, the Reno 12 Pro is a stylish device that is slightly overpriced. Why do I say this? Well, two reasons: First, the Dimensity 7300 isn’t the strongest chip out there. It’s also a chipset that is present in the CMF Phone 1 (by Nothing), a smartphone that costs half as much as the Reno 12 Pro. Second, the smartphone comes barely six months after the Reno 11 Pro, and there aren’t any massive upgrades to justify it.

What the Reno 12 Pro gets right is the AI features. The Reno 12 Pro is a sleek smartphone with a great in-hand feel. There’s an included case that is of high quality. The battery life is excellent and there is a gorgeous AMOLED display. But the whole suite of AI features is where the Reno 12 Pro shines.

If you aren’t a gamer or a professional photographer and want to let a suite of AI tools do the work for you, then the Reno 12 Pro is highly recommended. At Rs 36,999, the Reno 12 Pro is facing some serious competition - Realme GT 6T, iQOO Neo 9 Pro, OnePlus 12R, Xiaomi 14 Civi, Nothing Phone 2a, and the upcoming OnePlus Nord 4.