Oppo Reno16: The Battery Life World Champion

4

Good!

4.0/5

Pros

• Excellent battery life
• Takes impressive photos & selfies overall
• Impressive OLED Display
• Impressive build & compact design
• Impressive water & dust resistance
• Includes 80W charger

Cons

• Average video quality
• Overall performance is average
• Smaller battery & slower charging for the EU market
• High price

oppo reno16 5g review

Oppo Reno16 5G

“The Reno16 5G from Oppo comes as an all-rounder smartphone with a impressive build, great design, and an even crazier battery life…”

If you’re tired of carrying a massive glass brick that feels like it’s trying to snap your pinky finger in half, the Oppo Reno16 5G is going to feel like absolute heaven. Oppo just dropped their latest premium mid-ranger, and it’s actively fighting back against the “giant phone” trend. While everyone else is building pocket-stretching giants, Oppo manages to cram a ridiculous large battery and a high-end triple-lens camera setup into a chassis that you can actually use with one hand. It’s a bold move that shows Oppo is listening to what real people actually want from their daily drivers. However, is this the ideal smartphone for you? Let’s find out more about it by checking out the Oppo Reno16 5G review. 

Overview

Holding this phone for the first time feels like a genuine breath of fresh air. Oppo completely shifts the focus with the Reno16 5G by including a highly compact 6.32-inch 120Hz AMOLED display with some of the best durability ratings in the business. 

They loaded this sleek device with a Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 processor, upgraded the battery to a massive 6,700 mAh capacity (6000 mAh for the EU version), and added an incredible IP68/IP69K rating for water and dust resistance. This means you can literally drop it in the mud or rinse it under a high-pressure tap, and it’ll still work. First impressions are incredibly strong—Oppo masterfully proves that you don’t need a gigantic, heavy phone to get the elite battery life and a stunning smooth display.

It also comes with a 50 MP triple-lens camera on the rear with a drop-size lens 50 MP camera on top the screen for taking selfies. In terms of the design you get three colors options to choose from, namely: Starry White, Steller Purple, & Twilight Violet.          

When you open the box, you get a USB-A to USB-C cable for data transfer and wired charging, a ‘SuperVOOC’ 80W phone charger, and a transparent silicone case. It’s great that the charger comes with the phone and not sold separately, like other phone brands I won’t mention, which is a win, just saying. 

Now you know what you’re dealing with, let’s get to the nitty-gritty.  

Specifications

The Best Features

It feels almost black magic how a phone this compact can survive almost two full days of moderate use without needing a charger. The best feature here is the battery life. With a large battery of 6700 mAh for the global release (6000 mAh for the European release), you’re looking at an average of up to 17 hours of battery life for both versions. Paired with an 80W ‘SuperVOOC’ charger, you’re looking at zero to full charge in an hour. Some would say there’s faster chargers out there for other phone brands but this is what you can work with.   

Next up is the camera system. Oppo doesn’t play favorites with the lenses; you get a triple 50MP setup on the back (a 50 MP wide lens + a 50 MP telephoto lens, and a 50 MP ultrawide lens). Lets not forget the 50MP selfie shooter on the front. Photos look remarkably clean, punchy, and true-to-life without that overly artificial AI-processed look that plagues other mid-rangers. The videos you can create are not as impressive sadly.

Thirdly, the Reno16 comes with a 6.32-inch display with HDR10+ support, a refresh rate of 120Hz, and an impressive brightness that helps to enhance your viewing experience and HDR performance. 

Finally, the design and ruggedness are top-tier. The premium metal-and-glass body feels rich in the hand, and the IP68/IP69K rating gives you total peace of mind.  Other features include the stereo speakers which deliver great sound quality overall, and the Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity. Overall, if your main priorities are a compact design, elite battery life, and gorgeous photos, this phone absolutely hits a home run.

The Deal Breakers

For all its beauty and endurance, the Reno16 5G makes one compromise that will leave mobile gamers feeling a bit left out in the cold. The Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chip inside handles daily multitasking, scrolling, and streaming beautifully, but it stumbles when you push it with graphic-heavy games. If you try to run intense 3D titles at maximum settings, you will experience noticeable frame drops. So gaming is a no-no here. but you can get away with light gaming titles. 

Additionally, the ColorOS 16 software comes pre-loaded with annoying bloatware apps that you have to spend your first 15 minutes uninstalling. Bloatware is really a pain but yep it has to be done. There are guides and resources out there to help. 

And lastly, there is the price tag; launching around £699 / €799 / Rs. 61,999, it faces incredibly stiff competition from rivals offering flagship-grade chips for the same money. My overall impression of the downsides is that while power users and hardcore gamers should probably look elsewhere, everyday users likely won’t mind trading raw processing power for unmatched battery life and comfort.

The Alternatives

The Final Verdict

The Reno16 5G from Oppo comes as an all-rounder smartphone with a impressive build, great design, and an even crazier battery life, making this its main best feature compared to other smartphones out there in its class. The OLED display looks impressive, and the stereo speakers are also the best as it delivers impressive quality sound. Let’s not forget the impressive camera which produces amazing photos and selfies.

However, this high priced mid-ranger does come with a few stumbling blocks such as offering the least performance in its class, and creating less-than-impressive video recordings. As a result it’s hard to recommend it to any who wants a budget smartphone because its not a budget phone, whereas it’s not a phone to recommend users who like gaming either.

I’d say wait till the price drops on this one, or focus on the alternative listed here. They’re the better performers overall along with other features. So if you want a smartphone that looks great, takes great pictures, and will last longer than any other phones without needing a charge, the Oppo Reno16 5G is your best choice. 

Now then, it’s you turn. If you like this Oppo Reno16 5G review, or have any questions let me know in the comments section below. And if you like what you see, and what you’re hearing, then CLICK HERE NOW, to find out more on this great smartphone. So what are you going to do next? 😀