Oppo Reno14 Pro Review – Well-Rounded Premium Mid-Range Phone

Oppo has already deployed the Reno14 series in Malaysia just after their Reno13 series was launched earlier in January. They issued us their Pro model for field testing and after taking it for a whirl, here’s our Oppo Reno 14 Pro review here we share if it’s worth the money.

Oppo Reno14 Pro Review – Build and Design

Oppo has maintained a relentless pace when it comes to launching their Reno series phones. Barely a few months after launching the Reno13 series earlier this year, Oppo has rolled out their new Reno14 series in Malaysia. Consisting of the top of the line Reno14 Pro, the mainline Reno14 and the entry-level Reno14 F, the new line-up offers the customary hardware updates and several additional features.

The direct successor to the earlier Oppo Reno13 Pro, the Oppo Reno14 Pro bears similar aesthetics and even has a similarly sized 6.83-inch 1.5K 120Hz AMOLED display up front but is slightly heavier, has an upgraded Dimensity 8450 chipset, has a slightly larger 6,200mAh battery and has an upgraded ultrawide angle camera.

Aesthetically speaking, our Oppo Reno14 Pro review sample comes in what they refer to as a shade of Opal White that works out to a pearlescent white finish that also repels fingerprints nicely. Closer inspection also reveals a series of reflective striations on the back that resemble a fish tail that Oppo refers to as an Iridescent Mermaid design. While it does look quite fetching especially when viewed under direct sunlight, the overall design doesn’t differ much from its predecessor.

Housed in a square housing in the corner is a triple camera system that uses three 50MP cameras – a primary with optical image stabilisation, another with 3.5x optical zoom and also with OIS and an ultrawide angle with autofocus. 

The base of the phone features a USB-C port that supports 80W SUPERVOOC wired charging and also has a SIM card tray and a speaker grille. Another corresponding speaker grille is placed near the top edge of the display. While the left and top of the Reno14 Pro is unremarkable, the right side has a power button and volume rocker.

Up front,  our Oppo Reno14 Pro review unit has a 6.83-inch AMOLED display that is otherwise similar to the older Reno13 Pro and has 1.6mm thin bezels, 1,272 x 2,800 pixels resolution as well as a 120Hz refresh rate and 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut. The display also has the added benefit of having a Splash Touch and Glove mode that allows for normal usage even when the display is wet and when the user is wearing gloves.

Overall build quality is solid and the phone has an IP66, IP68 and IP69 rating for dust and water resistance which is impressive for its price point. The phone is also built tough with Corning Gorilla Glass 7i on the front display and a specially engineered frame made of aerospace-grade aluminium with internal cushioning and voids around critical components to better absorb impacts.

Oppo has also added in a fairly generous array of extra accessories including a free casing, an 80W SUPERVOOC charger with its corresponding USB-C cable, a pre-applied screen protector and the usual SIM eject pin and warranty paperwork.

This time around, Oppo is also expanding the accessories available with their devices. Optionally, Oppo is also offering several other accessories that complement the phone including a 22.5W Magnetic Ring Power Bank (RM149) that has an integrated USB-C cable, 10,000mAh of power and a MagSafe mount that can latch on to compatible casings.

@hitechcentury We unbox and give the new Oppo Reno14 Pro a quick field test to suss out what makes it special! #opporeno14series #unboxing #fyp #techtok #sembanggadget #camera #hitechcentury #malaysia ♬ In Love With You – BLVKSHP

Another rather unusual accessory that Oppo is also providing is an optional Oppo Crossbody Lanyard Cable (RM99) that supports SUPERVOOC wired fast charging and which has an a 1.3m long, thick braided capable with retractable USB-C ports on each end that could easily double as a lanyard.

Oppo Reno14 Pro Review – Performance and Benchmarks

For Malaysia, Oppo only offers one configuration of the phone for sale in either Opal White or Titanium Grey colourways. In terms of hardware, our Oppo Reno14 Pro review unit comes with a midrange MediaTek Dimensity 8450 processor that offers slightly improved performance over the earlier Reno13 Pro and its Dimensity 8350 chipset. 

This is paired with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM that can be further augmented with up to 12GB of virtual RAM off the 512GB UFS 2.1 storage. If you’re short on storage, you can reduce the amount of virtual RAM allocated in 4GB increments or disable it entirely. Here’s a summary of its specifications:

 

Price	RM2,999
Display	6.83-inch AMOLED, 2,800 x 1,272 pixels, 120Hz refresh rate, 1,200 nits high brightness mode, 100% DCI-P3, HDR10+
Processor	MediaTek Dimensity 8450
OS	Android 15 w/ ColorOS 15
Memory	12GB LPDDR5X RAM w/ 512GB UFS 3.1 storage
Cameras	50MP f/1.8 w/OIS + 50MP f/2.8 telephoto w/ 3.5x zoom and OIS + 50MP f/2.0 ultrawide with autofocus [rear] / 50MP f/2.0 w/ autofocus [front]
Battery	6,200mAh w/ 80W SUPERVOOC wired charging and 50W AIRVOOC wireless charging
Size/Weight	163.35×76.98×7.58mm / 201g

Running under the hood is Android 15 overlaid with Oppo’s own Color OS 15 overlay. As with previous versions of Color OS, the phone is full of bloatware including a slew of apps that you’d likely never need or use up to and including Oppo’s own app store which heavily overlaps what the Google Play Store offers. Fortunately, most of this can be deleted but it’s still an irksome addition to the phone that takes up storage space. 

In synthetic benchmarks, we got the following:

 

3D Mark Steel Nomad Light	1,471
3D Mark Steel Nomad Light Unlimited	1,430
3D Mark Solar Bay	6,471
3D Mark Solar Bay Unlimited	6,424
3D Mark Wild Life Extreme	3,718
3D Mark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited	3,624
Geekbench 6 Single Core	1,628
Geekbench 6 Multi Core	6,468
Geekbench 6 OpenCL	11,797
Geekbench 6 Vulkan	12,345
Geekbench 6 AI (CPU)	2,614(Quanticised)
Geekbench 6 AI (GPU)	1,209(Quanticised)
PCMark Work 3.0	18,794
PCMark Battery Life	11 hours 58 minutes

We were not able to test the Reno14 Pro’s predecessor, the Reno13 Pro but we did manage to test the Reno13 which uses the same Dimensity 8350 processor. When compared side by side, the newer Dimensity 8450 does offer markedly improved performance in single, multicore and graphics performance save for one odd respect. 

 In practical usage scenarios, the Reno14 Pro with its Mediatek 8450 chipset offered a decent blend of performance and endurance. Despite having a larger battery than the older Reno13 Pro, our Oppo Reno14 Pro review sample had lower but still reasonable battery life at 11 hours and 58 minutes. 

In practical usage, the phone performs well in day to day usage and was comfortably able to last a day of normal use with a combination of WiFi and data, a few minutes worth of phone calls, liberal usage of Whatsapp and Facebook as well as an episode or two of Squid Game season 3 on the commute home. With the bundled charger, the phone was able to get a full charge in 50 minutes.

With 12GB of physical RAM and 12GB of virtual RAM, the phone was able to swap between apps and tasks easily and most of the usual games like Genshin Impact and Call of Duty Mobile were playable at default settings.

In extended use, the Reno14 Pro manages heat relatively well and even after several hours of gaming on Genshin Impact, the phone was warm but still wieldable. In the Steel Nomad Light stress test, the phone enjoyed a relatively high 83.5% stability rate and fair best and lowest loop scores with 1,464 points and 1,222 points respectively. Temperatures were well managed, maxing out at 40°C. This is an impressive improvement over the Dimensity 8350’s performance which ran hotter and was also less stable to boot. 

Most important of all though is that the phone features a Gemini AI assistant that you can summon by holding down the power button and a ‘circle to search’ feature that lets you Google search things if you hold down the power button. You also get a smattering of Oppo’s own AI-powered features like their Mind Space that lets you save on-screen content by simply swiping upwards with three fingers onscreen and have it summarised and archived for later perusal.

The AMOLED display on our Oppo Reno14 Pro review sample did a decent job with fair brightness for daylight scenarios and good colour rendition while its paired stereo speakers offered surprisingly good volume though with the ability to be cranked to maximum without distortion though bass was middling at best. 

Over the course of our test period, the phone held up well in day to day tasks bar the baffling amount of bloatware. According to Oppo, the phone has five years of OS and security updates which is a fair duration of time though it isn’t the longest in the market.

Oppo Reno14 Pro Review – Cameras

This time around, the Oppo Reno14 Pro features a triple rear camera array with a 50MP f/1.8 main camera that has OIS, a secondary 50MP f/2.0 ultra wide angle camera with autofocus and a 50MP f/2.8 telephoto camera with 3.5x zoom. In terms of capabilities, the phone is able to offer snaps at up to 3.5x lossless zoom and up to 120x digital zoom as well as up to 4K@60fps video at up to 18x digital zoom. 

For selfies the front camera uses a 50MP f/2.0 camera that also has autofocus and the ability to capture stills and up to 4K@60fps video. 

Building on its predecessor’s capabilities, the phone has an UnderWater Photography mode that allows it to function in fresh water to about 2 meters depth for about 30 minutes, allowing for use in swimming pools and the like though it isn’t given as much marketing emphasis this time around.

Instead, the Reno14 Pro pushes a number of AI-powered features that are akin to something seen on competing flagship phones such as an AI Recompose that intelligently crops and adjusts images for a professional look, an AI Perfect Shot that corrects group shots by ensuring everyone’s eyes are open after the fact and their perpetually popular AI Eraser that removes unwanted parts of a photo like passerby on demand.

When tested, our Oppo Reno14 Pro review sample was a capable performer in both daylight and low light scenarios with good dynamic range, slightly oversaturated colour rendition and great detail out to 3.5x zoom for stills.

From there, shots start losing detail and the 120x digital zoom is capable of capturing the broad strokes of a subject like a building but isn’t going to be replacing paparazzi anytime soon as shots of detailed objects like a no smoking sign and people resemble an oil painting. To be fair, few other phones are capable of this level of digital zoom, let alone featuring an all-50MP camera array that also has an OIS-equipped telephoto camera at this price range.

Videos are decent at 4K@60fps, delivering good detail and judder-free footage in both daylight and indoors though the camera struggles to lock on to subjects in especially dimly lit scenarios such as when we tried to focus on a roller skater zipping along in a sparsely lit skating rink. The front selfie camera does the job with pleasing skin tones and can take advantage of Oppo’s toolkit of AI features to tweak shots to taste.

In general, the front and rear cameras for the Oppo Reno14 Pro are generally competent though they don’t break any new ground.

Should you buy the Oppo Reno14 Pro?

The Oppo Reno14 Pro is a surprisingly well-rounded midrange phone that has it where it counts with a durable, water-resistant chassis, a decent set of front and rear cameras as well as a modest price tag that is unchanged from its predecessor. 

Unfortunately, there’s few changes bar a modest spec bump which makes it less compelling as an upgrade for those who already own the earlier Oppo Reno13 Pro but it is otherwise a midrange decent all rounder at a modest price tag.

Oppo Reno14 Pro review sample courtesy of Oppo Malaysia. To purchase please visit https://www.oppo.com/my/product/oppo-reno14-pro-5g.P.P1100219