Oppo Reno11 Pro Review – Sleek Portrait Snapper

The latest addition to their camera-oriented Reno series, the new Reno11 Pro was launched alongside its more affordable sibling the Reno11 in Malaysia.

We got our hands on the Reno11 Pro for field testing at its recent regional launch in Malaysia and managed to put it through its paces in the last few weeks to see if its worth its lofty price tag. If you’re in the market for a camera-centric phone, take a gander at our Oppo Reno11 Pro review where we see if it’s worth your money!

Oppo Reno11 Pro review – Build and Design

The Oppo Reno11 Pro occupies a rather unique niche in terms of its intended mission role and price point as it prioritises good portraiture performance in its cameras along with the obligatory design and performance updates to keep it current though all this comes at a rather commanding RM2,499 price tag at launch.

In Malaysia, the phone comes in two possible colourways with a rather posh looking Pearl White that has a randomised pearlescent finish somewhat akin to the Huawei P60 Pro we tested awhile back and a more contemporary shiny Rock Grey finish. Our Oppo Reno11 Pro review unit is the latter colourway.

Aesthetically speaking, Oppo’s Rock Grey colourway is a speckled metallic grey finish that is featured prominently across its backplate. Unlike the usual mirrored finishes seen in many other competing phones, the speckled finish makes it look highly distinctive indeed and has the added benefit of effectively repelling fingerprints.

On closer inspection, the backplate looks fairly eye-catching on account of the Rock Grey speckled finish and the rather distinctive ovoid-shaped camera housing that is done up in chrome.

Unfortunately, the camera housing itself juts out quite prominently from the backplate, leading to it being somewhat asymmetrical when placed face-up on a table though Oppo has helpfully provided a soft silicone casing that helps address this issue to some degree.

Contrasting the backplate, the sides of our Oppo Reno11 Pro review sample are constructed of shiny aluminium. Unlike the fingerprint resistant backplate, the sides are prone to smudging and easily attract fingerprints aplenty.

The left and top side of the phone is otherwise unremarkable with the right hosting the traditional smartphone layout of a volume rocker and power button. The base of our Oppo 11 Pro review unit hosts a USB-C port for charging duties along with a grille for the mono speaker as well as a dual nano SIM card tray.

Up front is the main draw to the Oppo Reno11 Pro an impressively appointed 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with curved sides that meld into the frame and slim bezels all around that enable it to offer an impressive 93% screen-to-body ratio.

The display ticks all the boxes expected of a flagship-grade display and features a 120Hz refresh rate for smooth animations onscreen, full 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut support which makes it ideal for content creators as well as HDR10+ support for high dynamic range content. Interestingly  enough, they’ve also added a pre-applied screen protector too.

Bundled with our Oppo Reno11 Pro review sample is the aforementioned soft silicone casing done up in grey, the pre-applied screen protector, an 80W fast charger that supports their SuperVOOC fast charging protocols as well as its paired USB cable, a SIM eject pin and the usual warranty and quick start literature.

In terms of overall build and design, our Oppo Reno11 Pro review sample in Rock Grey does look suitably top-shelf at first blush with its curved AMOLED display, rounded corners and weighty heft though the variant with the Pearl White colourway looks even more premium. While the backplate is mostly made of polycarbonate, the luxurious tactility of the finish contributes to its premium appearance though it does not have IP68 dust or water resistance.

Oppo Reno11 Pro review – Specifications and Performance

Premium aesthetics aside, our Oppo Reno11 Pro review unit has hardware that is better than what would be expected of a midrange phone. Running under the hood is a Mediatek Dimensity 8200 octacore processor that first saw service in late 2022 and which has a performance envelope somewhere near the upper end of what is expected of a midrange phone. 

The Dimensity 8200 processor is built on a 4nm process with a primary Cortex A78 3.1GHz core, a trio of Cortex A78 cores clocked at 3.0Ghz and a quartet of Cortex A55 efficiency cores clocked at 2.0GHz. The chipset confers all the usual comforts expected of a premium phone with fast WiFi6 as well as 5G connectivity.  

Chipset aside, the Oppo Reno11 Pro is surprisingly well appointed in terms of hardware with a generous 12GB LPDDR5 RAM and a whopping 512GB of non-removable storage which exceeds what is offered by several leading flagship phones. The phone runs the latest Android 14 with Oppo’s own ColorOS 14 overlaying it. Here’s how it stacks up on paper:

Price	RM2,499
Display	6.7-inch AMOLED FHD+ (1080 x 2,412 pixels) , 120Hz, HDR10+, 950 nits peak brightness 100% DCI-P3
Processor	Mediatek Dimensity 8200
OS	Android 14 with ColorOS 14
Memory	12GB RAM / 512GB
Cameras	50MP F/1.8 w/ OIS, PDAF + 32MP F/2.0 PDAF w/ 2x optical zoom + 8MP F/2.2 ultra wide angle [rear] / 32MP F/2.4 w/ autofocus [front]
Battery	4,600mAh w/ 80W SuperVOOC wired fast charging
Size/Weight	162.4 x 74.1 x 7.6mm / 181g

Of note is that ColorOS has the ability to assign virtual RAM that they’ve dubbed as RAM Expansion in 4GB increments with up to 12GB of additional RAM assigned off the onboard storage. On paper, this allows users to enjoy a maximum of 12GB of physical RAM paired with 12GB of virtual RAM which is massive overkill for anything expected of an Android phone.

This feature aside, ColorOS 14 is unfortunately replete with a ton of bloatware including Lazada, Shopee, Fineasy, booking.com and trip.com, Agoda and more. All of these erroneous additions can be deleted though the generous amount of storage provided on our Oppo Reno11 Pro review unit which makes this step unnecessary.

When put to the test, our Oppo Reno11 Pro review sample scored the following in synthetic benchmarks with RAM expansion set to the default 4GB and performance profile:

3D Mark Wild Life Extreme	1,743
3D Mark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited	1.729
3D Mark Wild Life	6,279
3D Mark  Wild Life Unlimited	6,518
Geekbench 6 Single core	1,140
Geekbench 6 Multi core	3,410
Geekbench 6 OpenCL	4.047
Geekbench 6 Vulkan	4,359
PC Mark Work 3.0	9,431
PC Mark Battery life	19 hours 26 min

Overall performance is excellent for a midrange phone, helped in part with the generous amount of RAM and storage available for smooth app switching. Synthetic benchmarks aside, the Dimensity 8200 acquits itself well and is highly power efficient while having enough performance to tackle most tasks.

Gaming on Call of Duty Mobile, Warzone and Genshin Impact were sorted out smoothly on default settings and even with extended gaming sessions, the phone did not cook off or get unbearably hot to the touch.

Where the Reno11 Pro excels is in terms of endurance as its Battery Health Engine algorithm makes the phone surprisingly efficient, enabling it to eke out every last bit of juice from its 4,600mAh battery. 

In the PCMark battery life test, it managed to last a whopping 19 hours and 26 minutes which is an impressive record for any phone – flagships included. With normal use involving a few minutes of phone calls, WiFi or data, light gaming and social media, it’s easily able to last close to a day and a half with a bit more left in the tank.

If you’re using the proprietary 80W SuperVOOC charger, the phone is able to get topped up from dead zero to full in about 40 minutes which is quite a feat even for a flagship-grade phone.

As displays go, our Oppo Reno11 Pro review sample did not disappoint with its 6.7-inch AMOLED 120Hz display serving up beautifully crisp and vivid imagery onscreen for movies and games alike befitting a flagship-grade phone.

The provision of 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut ensures lifelike colours and blacks were deep with colours looking true to life while screen brightness at maximum levels is adequate for use outdoors in daylight conditions. Perhaps the only quibble here is the mono speaker at the base of the phone which is serviceable for casual listening but understandably lacks sound staging and detail. 

Oppo Reno11 Pro review – Cameras

The Oppo Reno11 Pro comes with a rear triple camera array that hosts a primary 50MP F/1.8 camera using a large 1/1.56-inch Sony IMX890 sensor with optical image stabilisation, an 8MP F/2.2 ultra wide angle camera and a 32MP F/2.0 telephoto camera using a Sony IMX709 sensor with autofocus. Combined, this setup is capable of capturing up to 4K@30fps video at up to 10x digital zoom and stills at a lossless 2x zoom, 5x in-sensor zoom and up to 20x digital zoom. 

For video calls and selfies, our Oppo Reno11 Pro review sample hosts a front-facing 32MP F/2.4 selfie camera with auto focus which is somewhat of a rarity for front-facing cameras that is also capable of up to 4K@30fps video much like the rear triple camera array. 

To enhance camera performance, the Oppo Reno11 Pro features the HyperTone Image Engine co-developed with Hasselblad that improves image quality with improved detail and reduced digital artefacts and noise especially for portraiture and low light scenarios which was demonstrated by professional photographer Khairul Amin in a photo walk using the phone for invited guests.

When put to the test, the rear triple camera array acquitted itself well in daylight conditions from the main 50MP camera with good dynamic range while retaining good details and well saturated photos all the way out to about 2x zoom; beyond that at 5x zoom and beyond images get a bit soft but are still viewable.

While it does its best work in daylight conditions, the camera also does fairly well in low light too and shots at up to 2x zoom looked pleasing even in dim light when we tested it at a nearby resort.

Of note is its Portrait mode that works with the front 32MP selfie camera and rear telephoto camera array at 2X zoom with excellent rendition of skin tones and detail. What makes it stand out is its controlled use of ‘Beauty Mode’ especially for males that make it look relatively natural so that skin tones and crow’s feet are naturally smoothened out and facial features aren’t overly feminised unless you dial every setting to maximum that is.  

While it delivers great shots under most scenarios expected of a midrange camera phone, video isn’t its strong point and it does its best work in daylight conditions at 1080p@60fps video as it hosts electric image stabilisation to ensure steadier footage though low light video is modest at best. The phone’s ability to capture high resolution 4K@30fps video makes for decent videos though a steady hand is needed and like 1080p video capture, it works best in daylight conditions.

In general, the Oppo Reno11 Pro is a solid all-rounder with exceptional selfies and good photography performance under most general user scenarios and is otherwise a competent contender for the odd TikTok or YouTube video.

Oppo Reno11 Pro Review – Should you buy it?

The Oppo Reno11 Pro makes for a rather premium midrange camera-oriented phone that offers solid all-round performance, a flagship-grade 120Hz AMOLED display, exceptional battery life and good cameras for portraiture thanks to its HyperTone Image Engine.

It does not come cheap but the addition of the 80W SuperVOOC charger and free casing go some way to justifying its lofty price tag.

Oppo Reno11 Pro review unit courtesy of Oppo Malaysia. To purchase please visit https://www.oppo.com/my/smartphones/series-reno/reno11-pro/