Oppo Reno 12 Pro Review: Stylish Performer Packed with Useful AI Features

Oppo’s Reno series is all about attracting the youth with its fancy design and flagship-grade camera features. The company has brought unique design language with the Reno series in the past, and this time, it has added some new elements with the Oppo Reno 12 Pro. The handset comes with a price tag of Rs 36,999 for 12GB + 256GB and Rs 40,999 for 12GB + 512GB option. The latest smartphone from Oppo brings AI features to the masses, which makes it one of the few phones in the market to bring a balance of attractive design, useful AI features, and capable performance. However, the market dynamic is different this time.

We have players bringing some great products in this segment with a perfect blend of flagship-grade features and specifications. So, can the Oppo Reno 12 Pro stand out with its unique proposition? Let’s find out in this review.

Oppo Reno 12 Pro 5G Design: Slim and Sleek

• Dual-tone finish at the rear panel
• Weighs 181 grams
• Colours – Sunset Gold and Space Brown

The Oppo Reno series is all about sleek and beautiful design language, and the Reno 12 Pro is no different. The company claims that it has made the sleekest and sturdiest phone in the Reno series to date, although it is not a huge departure from the Reno design philosophy.

The Oppo Reno 12 Pro features a dual-tone texture on the rear panel.

You still get a sleek smartphone that gives a premium look and feel. The phone has two colour options: Sunset Gold and Space Brown. We got the latter for the review. The company has come up with a dual-tone finish with a blend of matte and glossy finish. The top half of the phone comes with a matte finish that offers a glittering effect. In contrast, the bottom half provides a glossy finish separated by a chic metallic ribbon running horizontally across the back of the smartphone.

The design of the Oppo Reno 12 Pro looks better than its predecessor, the Reno 11 Pro. The phone is slightly sleeker at 7.4mm compared to the 7.66mm Reno 11 Pro and is lightweight with just 181 grams.

The phone comes with a hybrid SIM slot that houses either two SIMs or one microSD card and one SIM

Most importantly, the Reno 12 Pro now has an IP65 rating, a feature not present in the predecessor. Not only this, the phone is also SGS certified with Premium Performance 5-star Multi-Scene protection, meaning that it can also witness accidental drops. Furthermore, the screen is protected with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection, also a first in the Reno series.

That said, having a sleek design with a glossy and matte finish also brings a common problem of getting a good grip, and you will feel a similar issue with this one. So, yeah, that SGS protection will surely come in handy! The good thing is that Oppo gives a soft TPU case in the box, which solves this problem but hides its beautiful design away.

Oppo Reno 12 Pro 5G Display: Crisp and Vibrant

• 6.7-inch Quad Curved Full HD+ AMOLED display
• 120Hz screen refresh rate
• Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection

The Oppo Reno 12 Pro has all the bells and whistles one would expect from a premium smartphone in this department. The AMOLED display offers a full HD+ resolution and a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate. The quad-curved screen provides sharp colours and a vibrant display that makes the whole content consumption memorable.

The Oppo Reno 12 Pro 5G offers a vivid 120Hz AMOLED display.

The handset also offers 1500nits of peak brightness, which makes it easier to read the screen, even under harsh sunlight. The viewing angles are good, and colour reproduction with deep black levels. While watching ‘Our Planet 2′ on Netflix, I noticed colours were true to the source. The colour also pops up well while watching ‘Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End’ on Crunchyroll.

You can also customise the display setting as Oppo gives you different options, including Vivid, Natural, Cinematic, and Brillant. A new Bedtime Mode also automatically adjusts the colour temperature to warmer tones after sunset. An Adaptive Tone also adjusts the colour temperature based on the ambient lighting.

You also get an in-display fingerprint sensor at the bottom, which is comfortable to reach. The sensor works flawlessly, and you can customise the animations by going to Settings > Wallpapers 7 style > Fingerprint animation.

Oppo Reno 12 Pro 5G AI Features: Useful in Long Run

With added support from Google Gemini, the handset brings several AI-powered features that are fun to use. To start with productivity features, we have an AI Writer that recommends AI-generated captions or text for your social media posts. You can give prompts to set the tone of your post with relevant hashtags. It can also compile a mail for you.

Then there is AI Summary, which helps you summarise articles on the browser in pointers. The feature is helpful for those who just have bullet points and a list of the story and want to read the full article. On the other hand, AI Speak reads text smoothly, which means you can actually turn any article or text on the browser into an audiobook. However, both features only worked on the browser (Chrome and the default one). I would love to see this feature coming to other apps so you can also get a summary of the PDF files and emails.

The Oppo Reno 12 Pro also comes with an AI Recording Summary. This feature summarises the recorded meeting, interview or voice notes. The feature is available in the Recording app. More importantly, you can copy the summary to the Notes app. The company says it supports speech-to-text conversion in Hindi and English, with a maximum of 45,000 characters. More languages will be available in the future.

Oppo Reno 12 Pro 5G AI Eraser 2.0 removes people from the background.

Coming to the camera-centric features, we have the AI Eraser 2.0 tool, which removes background distractions. You get three options to choose from, including Smart Lasso, Paint Over, and Remove People. The feature is particularly useful when removing people from the background. However, I noticed that removing big objects like cars was not that great.

Another interesting feature to mention here is AI Studio. This uses generative AI to transform yourself into anything. You can be a cowboy or an intergalactic alien. This feature is really fun to use, in my opinion.

Oppo Reno 12 Pro 5G Software: Still Needs Improvement

• Android 14-based ColorOS 14
• 3 years of OS upgrade
• Good level of customisation

Coming to the software, the Oppo Reno 12 Pro runs on ColorOS 14 and brings an interesting set of features. The noticeable one is the File Dock feature. The feature is available in the smart sidebar and lets you drag and drop items from one application to another. First, one needs to drag an item, like an image or video file, from one app to the File Dock. Once done, you can easily drop it to any supported application. This is useful, especially when you want to drag and drop an item from Gallery to WhatsApp or email.

The phone runs on ColorOS 14, which is based on Android 14 OS

Apart from this, the OS also brings a lot of customisation options to personalise it to one’s taste. So, you can change themes, texts, text sizes, icons, icon sizes, and more. The global search bar is also there, which acts as a one-stop destination to search for anything. However, it is not as fast as you would expect it to be.

Then there is Smart Touch, which allows you to take screenshots with a three-finger swipe-down gesture. Interestingly, you can also extract text or images from the screenshot and save them to File Dock or simply copy them.

That said, the user interface still comes with a lot of bloatware. The usual suspects are the Hot Games and Hot Apps, which recommend different apps and games. You also have FinShell Pay and other first-party apps that you simply cannot delete. Then, there are multiple third-party apps that spoil the whole mood (thankfully, you can delete them).

Oppo Reno 12 Pro 5G Performance: Good for Daily Usage

• MediaTek Dimensity 7300-Energy SoC
• 12GB LPDDR4X RAM / Up to 512GB UFS 3.1 storage
• Virtual RAM expansion up to 12GB

This is where things get interesting. The Oppo Reno 12 Pro is loaded with the latest MediaTek Dimensity 7300-Energy SoC, an upgraded version of the Dimensity 7050 processor made especially for the Reno series. The new chipset promises around 25 percent improvement in efficiency compared to its predecessor.

The handset is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 7300-Energy SoC

I did run some of the benchmarks, and you can check them out in the table below, along with the competition.

The performance was good enough for everyday use, and I hardly noticed any lag or stuttering. Moreover, the phone was able to handle heavy multitasking as well. However, considering the price tag, the chipset does not justify the price. For instance, we have CMF Phone 1, which has almost the same chipset but is half its price.

In terms of gaming, the phone performed well. Trying out the Call of Duty: Mobile (CODM), the phone provided lag-free gameplay with the default graphics settings of High frame rate and Very High graphic quality. Moreover, with the Max graphics and Max frame rate, the phone delivered a smooth experience. While playing the Asphalt 8: Legends game, the phone delivered a smooth gameplay experience with 60fps mode and High graphics settings.

The phone also comes with a stereo speaker, meaning that the earpiece acts as a secondary speaker. The audio quality is fair, if not great, and you can crank up the volume up to 300 percent with Ultra Volume Mode. Although the mode makes the sound feel much louder, the cost of quality is high.

The phone also comes with BeaconLink, which enhances the Bluetooth uplink capabilities by up to 300 percent. This also allows for device-to-device voice calls over Bluetooth within a range of 30 meters. With this, you can easily talk to other BeaconLink-supported devices via Bluetooth without needing any wireless or cellular connection.

Oppo Reno 12 Pro 5G Cameras: Delivers as Promised

• Rear: 50-megapixel Sony LYT600 sensor + 8-megapixel ultra-wide Sony IMX355 + 50-megapixel telephoto camera with Samsung S5KJN5
• Front: 50-megapixel Samsung S5KJN5 sensor

The cameras are the biggest highlights of any Reno series smartphone, and the same is true with this one. The 50-megapixel primary sensor clicks some sharp images with true-to-source colours and a balanced dynamic range. The photos were consistent with vibrant colours and high contrast.

Oppo Reno 12 Pro 5G daylight camera samples. Top to bottom: 2X digital crop, primary camera, ultra-wide camera. (tap images to expand)

The indoor photos resulted in a softer touch. Still, the details were there, and the algorithm did a good job suppressing unwanted noises in the images.

Oppo Reno 12 Pro indoor camera samples. Top to bottom: primary camera, 5X digital crop, 2X digital crop. (tap images to expand)

On the other hand, the telephoto lens also delivered good results in daylight, though you can see a slight shift of white balance compared to the primary sensor. The digital 5X samples also delivered good results, though the details were slightly missing.

Oppo Reno 12 Pro 5G low-light camera samples

Cut to low light, the phone again does a good job. The photos taken under low light conditions fetched some incredible shots with the primary sensor with an ample amount of detail and sharpness. However, the same cannot be said for the 5X shots and wide-angle shots.

Oppo Reno 12 Pro 5G selfie camera samples

The selfie camera also does an excellent job in both daylight and low-light conditions. The Portrait mode brings a natural bokeh effect, though the edge detection was slightly off in some cases. The video capabilities are decent enough for sharing on social media.

Oppo Reno 12 Pro 5G Battery: Decent Enough

• 5,000mAh battery
• 80W SuperVOOC fast charging support

The battery on the Oppo Reno 12 Pro has improved. During the battery loop test, the phone lasted 23 hours and 45 minutes on a single charge. The handset gets charged 56 per cent in 15 minutes and completes the charge in just 40 minutes with the help of 80W fast charging support.

In real-life usage, the phone lasted a full day with still some battery percentage. The usage included checking work emails, listening to music on Apple Music, playing CODM for a few MP matches, and clicking some selfies. This is surely an improvement over the Reno 11 Pro battery life.

Oppo Reno 12 Pro 5G Verdict

The handset brings some interesting set of features at this price point.

At a starting price of Rs 36,999, the Oppo Reno 12 Pro seems to deliver what it promises. The handset comes with a sleek and slim design language, but it’s the AI features that make it stand out from the crowd. The AI Speak and AI Summary are going to be my favourites when it comes to daily use. The cameras are versatile and deliver good results in different lighting conditions. At the same time, the performance is decent enough for a daily driver.

However, the company will surely get some heat from the competition. Compared to Realme GT 6T, Iqoo Neo 9 Pro (Review), OnePlus 12R (Review), and Xiaomi 14 Civi (Review), the phone does seem to feel a bit weak, especially with the choice of chipset Oppo has gone with its latest handset. That said, if you are looking for a sleek smartphone and want to test some AI features, you can consider the Oppo Reno 12 Pro.