OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G Review - Expensive mid-range with flagship-like design, battery, and camera performance
We've been using the OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G for quite some time, the company's most premium mid-ranger to date.
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G in Opal White with Iridescent Mermaid Design |
The new Reno14 Pro 5G comes with a 120Hz AMOLED screen, a Dimensity 8350 octa-core processor, 12GB RAM, 512GB storage, and a 5,800mAh battery with 80W fast charging.
The cameras at the back are a 50MP main camera, an 8MP ultra-wide camera, and a 50MP 5x telephoto camera with an LED flash. While in front is the 50MP selfie camera.
One of its key features includes the IP68/69 dust and water resistance, enabling the phone to access its "Underwater Camera mode".
In the Philippines, it is priced at only PHP 43,999 for the 12GB/512GB model.
In our unboxing, we were immediately impressed by the leap in AI and camera performance, but were surprised by its price tag. Now, here's our full review.
For our review part 1: OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G Unboxing, First Impressions, and Bohol Camera Samples
Multimedia Experience
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G's Flexible AMOLED screen |
In front is a 6.83-inch Flexible AMOLED screen with a 2800 x 1272 resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, and a 240Hz touch sampling rate. Again, it is Corning Gorilla Glass 7i protected. It shares the same panel as the Reno13 Pro 5G.
The panel is bright, at 600 nits typical and 1,200 nits peak brightness. This means it's readable under direct sunlight. The colours pop, while the text and fine details are crisp.
It supports 10 multi-touch points, making it good for multitasking or games that support multiple simultaneous touch inputs. It responds quickly and accurately to our taps and gestures.
The bezels around the panel area are symmetrical and are the thinnest bezels yet on the Reno series. On the top bezel is the super slim earpiece, while below it is the punch hole that houses the selfie camera.
The display exceeded our expectations
The display generally exceeded expectations thanks to its impressive brightness—so much so that they typically keep it at just 50 percent. The text and images also look sharp, and the refresh rate feels smooth and comfortable.
While it skips LTPO, the flexible OLED keeps the profile sleek without major compromises.
The phone is equipped with stereo speakers (top and bottom firing) for audio. Around the phone are microphones used for noise cancellation in calls and audio recording.
The sound from the speakers is always surprisingly loud, especially at 90 percent. What surprises us is that it maintains good sound quality until 80 percent. Distortion is apparent from 81 percent until its maximum. It can be pushed to 300 percent with minimal penalties, too.
The microphones do a good job of picking up sounds from a meter away, while the noise-cancellation for calls is good too.
Cameras
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G's Rear cameras |
The back features a 50MP f/1.8 main camera with OIS, a 50MP f/2.0 116-degree ultra-wide angle camera, and a 50MP f/2.8 3x telephoto camera, all accompanied by an LED flash. The main upgrade from the Reno13 Pro is the 8MP ultra-wide camera to the new 50MP ultra-wide camera.
Undeniably powerful camera hardware
The included modes of the stock camera app include Photo, Video, Portrait, Night, Pro, Hi-Res, Pano, Slo-Mo, Time-lapse, Dual-View Video, Sticker, Doc Scanner, and Underwater.
The Pro controls include EV (+-3), ISO (50-3200), Shutter speed (1/8,000-30 secs), Focus, and White Balance.
Added features include Aspect Ratio, Timer, Action Mode, Interval Shooting, and Live Photo.
The Portrait Mode can use the 1x, 2x, and 3.5x camera, and it comes with bokeh strength control (f/1.4-16), and Retouching (1-100).
In both the Photo, Portrait, and Video Modes, users can use preset filters. The Photo and Portrait modes are the Soft Light, Misty, Glowy, and Dreamy filters.
Unique to the Reno14 series is the new 4K Underwater mode. It allows users to take advantage of the freshwater resistance of the phone by turning off inputs with the touch screen, and allows users to capture both photos and video with the main camera using the power button and volume buttons. To turn off this feature, you need to press and hold the power key while in Underwater mode. It will then blast sound to flush the water out of the ports.
Rear Camera Samples
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G daylight 1x |
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G daylight 2x |
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G daylight 3.5x |
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G daylight 7x |
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G daylight ultra-wide |
The images from the ultra-wide, 1x, 2x, 3.5x, and 7x are good. Detail, color, and contrast are great. Because OPPO upgraded the ultra-wide to a 50MP shooter, the detail and sharpness of the ultra-wide are now on par with the rest of the cameras.
There is a 120x hybrid zoom, but we only recommend using it in daylight.
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| Close-up shot food |
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| Main camera close-up |
With close-up images, the areas that are in focus are sharp while the out-of-focus areas have a nice fall-off. The color and contrast are great, too. White balance leans slightly to warmer tones.
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G indoor 1x |
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G indoor 2x |
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G indoor 3.5x |
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G indoor 7x |
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G indoor ultra-wide |
Indoors, the images from the 1x, 2x, 3.5x, 7x, and ultra-wide are sharp and detailed with vibrant color. But we did notice that the sky through the window is overexposed. The cameras did their job to keep the indoors well-exposed.
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G Portrait 2x |
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G Portrait 3.5x |
For portraits, the Reno14 Pro 5G offers a choice between 1x, 2x, and 3.5x, allowing users to apply filters and artificial bokeh. The bokeh is slightly less pleasing than what we find on the Find X8, offering great edge detection while maintaining a near-natural swirl effect. The edge detection is near flawless, too.
Soft lighting is a nice addition for those who want a misty, dreamy, or glowy effect on their images.
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G indoor 1x |
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G indoor 2x |
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G indoor 3.5x |
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G indoor 7x |
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G indoor ultra-wide |
For low light, the camera app automatically runs Night Mode-like shots. The 1x, 2x, 3.5x, and ultra-wide-angle shots are impressive. Color, contrast, detail, and sharpness are all good with minimal noise, too.
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| Rear camera 1x main camera low light |
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G's Night Mode |
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G's new flash dramatically changes the result of the image |
The new AI Flash dramatically changes the look and feel of the portrait mode shots, too!
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G burst shot |
Burst shooting on the Reno14 Pro 5G is the same as the one on the Find X8 and Reno13 Pro 5G; it saves all shots in one file. Once you view the file in the Photo app, a burst icon appears on the top right.
Once tapped, it will display all the shots to the user. The user can then choose which shots to export. The above image is the shot the camera app picked as the best shot. What impressed us is that it managed to maintain the quality even in low light. This allowed us to take our favorite night shots in Bohol during the fire dance performance and the fireworks.
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| Underwater mode Photo |
Next is the underwater photo mode. The new underwater mode produced significantly better photos than the previous generation. The clarity and sharpness are dramatically more usable.
Overall, the rear camera has produced consistently great images. Now that the ultra-wide has been upgraded to a 50MP camera, the images are consistent in color, contrast, sharpness, and resolution.
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G's Selfie Camera |
The 50MP f/2.0 selfie camera is on the punch hole on the display.
Camera modes include Photo, Video, Portrait, Panorama, Night mode, and Dual View.
Selfie Camera Samples
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G daylight selfie |
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G Selfie Portrait |
Like with the portrait mode bokeh of the rear cameras, the edge detection is great. But the bokeh looks a little artificial. Otherwise, the image has vibrant color and good contrast. The subject is kept tack sharp, too.
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G Selfie indoors |
Indoor selfies are the same as daylight selfies. It never disappoints, even with the slight increase in grain or noise. The green cast is nearly gone in this one.
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G Selfie lowlight |
In low light, the selfie looks good even though some grain was introduced. Softness is apparent from the noise reduction. Color and contrast also took a hit, but it is manageable. Light sources were overexposed as well.
Overall, the front cameras produced great indoor and daylight selfies. Our only nitpick is that color, sharpness, and bright areas (light sources) are overexposed.
The rear and front cameras can record up to 4K at 60fps with Dolby Vision. The footage is sharp and vibrant in color. The noise is noticeable in some areas. Stabilization is decent. Not the best. If you want to reduce micro jitters, there is an Ultra Steady mode that records up to 1080 at 60fps but crops the field of view.
The rear and front camera video capability of the Reno14 Pro 5G is good.
Performance
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G's AnTuTu, GeekBench, and 3DMark results |
Inside the OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G are the 4nm MediaTek Dimensity 8450 octa-core processor, ARM G720 MC7 GPU, 12GB LPDDR5X RAM, and 512GB UFS 3.1 storage. It is cooled by an innovative AI Nano Dual-Drive Cooling System. It is made of a nano-fluid ultra-thin Vapor Chamber (VC) for rapid SoC heat dissipation. It also incorporates aerospace-grade ultra-conductive graphite across the screen and frame.
Stable performance, but not the fastest for the price
During the AnTuTu test, the phone's temperature increased by 7.5 degrees (from the Reno13 Pro 5G's 9.7 degrees) while the Silicon Carbon battery lost 7 percent power.
In the more intensive 3D Mark Wild Life Extreme, the Reno14 5G managed to score 4,010 overall with an average frame rate of 24.01.
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| AI Benchmark, GeekBench AI, and CPDT benchmark results |
In GeekBench AI, it scored 1,855 in single precision, 1,839 in half-precision, and 2,788 in the quantized score. The internal storage got 926.58 MB/s in sequential read speeds and 635.37 MB/s in sequential write speeds.
OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G benchmarks:
- AnTuTu - 1,569,209 (from Reno13 Pro 5G's 1,346,122)
- Geekbench 6 - 1,602 (single-core), 6,275 (multi-core)
- 3DMark Wild Life Extreme - 4,010overall score, 24.01 average FPS
- CPDT - 926.58 MB/s sequential read speeds and 635.37 MB/s sequential write speeds
- AI Bench - 5,213
- GeekBench AI - 1,707 single precision, 1,690 half-precision, 2,943 quantized score
The OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G scores in AnTuTu and Geekbench offer 10 to 15 percent improvement over the Reno13 Pro 5G, and the scores are within the range of what is expected in its price range. However, there are better-performing smartphones with a similar price point. The new 4nm CPU and GPU performance offer decent sustained performance.
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G's Genshin Impact Graphics |
Our takeaway is that when playing games, the Reno14 Pro 5G performs noticeably better in demanding games such as Genshin Impact because of the better SoC and the better cooling. We were getting stable and faster frame rates when comparing to the Reno13 Pro 5G.
Like the previous generation, the phone unlocked the medium graphics settings. This is expected with premium mid-range smartphones, but like we mentioned above, the frames are faster and more consistent when compared to the previous generation because of the better heat management and because of the new AI HyperBoost 2.0, which the brand advertises as smarter resource control for faster frame rates.
In our experience, the phone can handle the majority of tasks like navigating through the OS, opening apps, web surfing, and social media without struggling.
The phone has an optical In-Display fingerprint sensor and face unlock for security. The initial setup and subsequent uses are quick, and it detects our biometrics instantaneously. It works even if your finger is a little sweaty.
The face unlock only struggles when the camera is dirty. The screen brightens up when used in the dark. It detects the face and unlocks the phone super fast, too.
Regarding connectivity, we have the following: WiFi 6E, 5G, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.4 LE, NFC, OTG, GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, and dual nano SIM.
Connections are usually stable for WiFi, and we get 4 to 5 bars of mobile data signal most of the time.
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G's PC Mark Battery Benchmark and Battery usage while on Performance Mode |
Inside the phone is a large 5,800 mAh Silicon Carbon battery. In our usual PCMark Battery Benchmark, it lasted for 10 hours and 56 minutes in performance mode. What is even more impressive is that we were consistently ending a 12-hour day with 20 percent battery, even when in High Performance mode all day. This includes being connected to WiFi and 5G networks constantly.
The battery charges via USB-C with the 80W wall charger, which charges the phone 100 percent in under 60 minutes.
It does not have wireless charging. I hope OPPO adds wireless charging in the next generation.
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| Android 15-based ColorOS 15 |
It is running on ColorOS 15 based on Android 15, which we first saw on the Find X8 and Reno13 Series. It builds on the previous generations' visuals and features by polishing them while making them more accessible for less tech-savvy people. In fact, it takes the best features, UI elements, and ease-of-use from other brands and integrates them into ColorOS. So much so that when used side-by-side with an iPhone, there would be barely any struggle switching between the two.
Pre-installed is the updated AI Studio app, where users can select from a gallery of pre-selected generated designs. They can then upload their own photos to generate photos of themselves that are based on both their photos and the preselected generated design. Currently, it costs 10 stars per press of the generate button. They even added new art styles
Other AI features include the updated AI Editor 2.0. It is an image editing suite in the Photos app. Users can select 4K Enhance Clarity, AI Eraser, Unblur, and Remove Reflections. A new feature is AI Recompose, which uses AI to intelligently scan the photo and reframe it to a better composition.
AI Eraser has also gotten noticeably better at not only detecting background distractions or humans but at generating fill when erasing them. It is smarter and faster than the previous version found on the Reno13 Series.
The same can be said for Remove reflections. It does not totally remove the reflections, but it does minimize them to the point where you have to be looking for the reflections to actually see them.
It is only a matter of time until they get even better.
It also comes with Google Gemini and Circle to search, which comes with Android 15.
We also can not forget one of our favorite features from the Reno13 Series, which also comes in the new Reno14 Pro 5G. And that is the Touch to Share with iPhone. ColorOS 15 introduces a feature that can effortlessly transfer files with a single NFC tap between a Reno13 5G and an iPhone or iPad. The iOS user just needs to install the O+ Connect app, and seamless transfer can now occur between operating systems. This bridges OPPO's devices to the Apple ecosystem. We hope that OPPO will develop this even further.
Pros - Eye-catching and slim design, premium build materials, IP66/68/69, stable and faster frame rates in gaming, good photo and video, long-lasting battery life, fast 80W charging, cross-OS features in ColorOS 15, dramatically better AI features
Cons - SoC performance is good, but competition is stronger, pricey, a bit heavy
OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G Specs
Display: 6.83-inch Corning Gorilla Glass 7i protected Flexible AMOLED screen w/ 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, FHD+ 2800 x 1272 resolution at 450 ppi
CPU: 3.35GHz 4nm MediaTek Dimensity 8450 octa-core processor
GPU: Mali-G720 MP7
RAM: 12GB LPDDR5X
ROM: 512GB UFS 3.1
Back Camera: 50MP f/1.8 w/ AF, OIS + 50MP f/2.0 ultra-wide-angle + 50MP f/2.8 3.5x Telephoto Camera w/ OIS + LED flash
Selfie Camera: 50MP f/2.0
Battery: 6,200mAh w/ 80W SUPERVOOC, 50W AIRVOOC
OS: Android 15 w/ ColorOS 15
Connectivity: WiFi 6E 2 x 2 MIMO, 5G SA/NSA, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.4 LE (SBS, AAC, aptX HD, LDAC, LHDC5.0), OTG, NFC, GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS, dual SIM (nano)
Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic
Others: In-Display fingerprint sensor, IP68/69 dust and water resistance, stereo speakers, 3x microphones, AI X-axis linear motor, Multi-Cooling System, USB-C, Colors: Opal White, Titanium Grey
Dimensions: 163.35 x 76.98 x 7.58 mm
Weight: 201 g
Price: PHP 47,999
Verdict
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| OPPO Reno14 Pro 5G Box inclusions |
We are happy with the design, build, cameras, performance, and battery of the Reno14 Pro 5G. But, like the previous generation mode, at what cost? If you can find it on sale, it may be a better deal.
The Reno14 Pro 5G is made of a solid metal frame and glass panels. It is slim yet hefty with an eye-catching Butterfly design. One of the prettiest premium mid-range phones yet. However, after a long day of holding the phone, we feel the weight.
The Dimensity 8450, Mali-G720 MP7 GPU, LPDDR5X, and UFS 3.1 storage offer fast, reliable, and cool performance. It managed to offer better overall performance while keeping cooler than the previous generation. However, there are similarly priced phones with more powerful SoCs.
Its cameras perform consistently well with vibrant colors and deep contrast. The images are sharp and detailed across all selfie, 1x, 2x, 3.5x, 7x, and ultra-wide cameras.
The new Underwater mode is dramatically better, but it is still limited by how bright the environment is.
Ultimately, we love the Reno14 Pro 5G, but OPPO increased the price from the previous generation. The phone is great, and it is pricey. However, if we look at the market landscape, the majority of the flagship phones of today are priced higher as well. So the devices have gone up a segment, too.
Ultimately, what makes the Reno14 5G stand out is its build, design, software, camera, and battery performance.
What do you guys think?
Build/Design - 4.5
Multimedia Experience - 4.25
Cameras - 4.5
Performance - 4.25
Average - 4.375/5
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