The first thing that caught my attention when I first held the OPPO Reno12 5G in my hand was how lightweight and handy it is. I am a lover of lightweight and handy smartphones, so it is only natural that I notice such things.
Checking the specs sheet, it says this phone weighs just 177g and is only 7.6mm thin. Many phones in this price range weigh much closer to 200g (and above) and are often over 8mm in width.
The Reno12’s slim profile and lightweight are impressive considering that it has a 5000mAh battery. The frame and back panel being plastic help with that, of course. But it makes it all the more compressive, considering that it is IP65 dust and splash proof. That’s assuring should you need to use it in a drizzle or should it get splashed with water.
The Reno12 has an infrared port (and I am glad, because that is making a big comeback in smartphones). Seeing it up with our home LG TV was a breeze and it works without issues.
The OPPO Reno12 5G has a pair of stereo speakers and they impressed me. I tried out my favourite tracks on the phone and compared the output with output from three other mid-rangers lying around here at MobilityArena, and the Reno12’s stereo speakers topped them all, in terms of quality. Both bass and treble sounds came out more accurately. The audio really sounds impressive.
AI Recording Summary
The AI Recording Summary feature works really well. It flawlessly summarised an audio recording of a short talk that I gave.
AI Eraser 2.0
The Reno12’s camera and Photos album come with the new AI Eraser 2.0 feature. As the name suggests, it is an AI tool that helps you remove specific people or objects from any photo you take. It offers three ways to go about it – you can circle the person or object, you can paint or brush over the person or object, and you can use the Remove people option to automatically identify, highlight and remove unwanted people.
I gave it a spin with a few photos that I took and got good results. AI Eraser works like Magic Eraser in Google Photos, but it is more versatile and, from my experience with it, it can get you better results.
Splash Touch
Have you ever had your hands wet and so were unable to use your phone at the time? Splash Touch is OPPO ‘s answer to that problem. Thanks to this feature built I to the screen, I was able to scroll and tap and use the screen normally even with wet hands. Speaking of which, the 6.7-inch screen is also protected with Corning’s Gorilla Glass 7i. This means it should be harder to scratch or break the Reno12’s screen.
It is an AMOLED display and it is sharp, clear, and rich. On the whole, the display is a joy to use in every condition we put it through.
Performance
How well does the OPPO Reno12 5G perform in day-to-day use? It runs smoothly for every task we threw at it. If you are interested in performance benchmarks, I put it through Geekbench 6 and it came out with the following results:
- Single-core: 517
- Multi-core: 2032
Charging the OPPO Reno12 5G
The Reno12 5G is equipped with 80W fast charging which is advertised as capable of charging the phone from zero to 47% in 18 minutes, and from zero to 100% in 46 minutes. We ran our charging test to see if the Reno12 lives up to the claim. It came very close.
In our charging test, we ran down the battery to 1% and then plugged the phone to a wall socket using the supplied 80W SuperVOOC charger. The battery went from 1% to 46% in 20 minutes, and didn’t fill up completely until the timer clocked 51 minutes. Not bad at all. Those are impressive figures.
The phone did not warm up during charging, but the charger developed some warmth. Nothing out of place; fast chargers tend to warm up a little when in use.
Software Updates
OPPO Reno12 5G hit the market with ColorOS 14 based on Android 14. If you are concerned about software updates, you can expect two years of major Android OS updated and three years of security patches.
Verdict
The Reno12 5G is a solid mid-range smartphone that offers a range of interesting and useful features for those looking to get creative with photos and communications. It is also a well-built device that we enjoy holding and using. I heartily recommend it to those looking to buy an all-round mid-ranger.