The Oppo Reno6 is an accessible smartphone with a price tag of around 500 euros. But is it enough for Oppo to gain a foothold in the Dutch market?
Oppo Reno6
Recommended retail price from € 499,-
Colors black, blue
OS Android 11 (Color OS)
Screen 6.4 inch amoled (2400×1080, 90 hertz)
Processor 2.4GHz (MediaTek Dimension 9000)
RAM 8GB
Storage 128 GB (not expandable)
Battery 4,300mAh
Camera 64. 8.2 megapixel (rear), 32 megapixel (front)
Connectivity 5G, Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi, GPS, NFC
Format 15.7 x 7.2 x 0.8 cm
Weight 182 grams
Other USB-c (65 watt fast charger)
Website www.oppo.com/nl
6 Score 60 
- Pros
- Screen
- Build quality
- Negatives
- ColorOS and support
- Copied design
- No audio port
- Price quality
Oppo has been trying to gain market share for years, but success is not yet forthcoming. In fact. Added together with sister brands OnePlus and Realme, the share remains stuck at marginal values. So there is a world to win, to increase the brand awareness and to promote the Reno6. And Oppo does that by focusing all marketing attention on the portrait mode for videos. The announcement therefore left me in despair. Why should this be so exciting? When a week later Apple announced the iPhone 13 series and announced something similar, I got it. Would there be an Oppo mole at Apple? That does not matter. In any case, it distracts from the point: Oppo is very much involved with Apple. The Chinese brand is no longer subtle in imitating everything that makes the American company great on the European market. Not only the earphones, but also the smartphones are no longer subtly copied.
In the shadow of Apple
The Oppo Reno6 is very similar to the iPhone 12 (and iPhone 13). The smartphone has the same metal edge, is exactly the same width, the same round finish and also a glass back. Just not water resistant. During the test period, the iPhone 13 was also on the test bench and it happened several times a day that I picked up the wrong smartphone. That as a smartphone brand that is trying to prove itself, you cheat on the competition to take over good qualities. Fine. But this is copying. How do you want to make a brand stand out when your smartphones (and earphones) are so much in the shadow of Apple?
The Oppo Reno6 series comes in two versions. This regular Reno6 and the Oppo Reno6 Pro, which costs about 300 euros more, which has a more powerful Snapdragon chipset, larger screen and more camera options. However, the regular Reno6 is a lot more accessible priced with a price tag of 480 euros. Yet Oppo bets far too high with this price, because what you get in return is not in line.
ColorOS is full of ads
The Oppo Reno6 runs on Android 11, with the ColorOS skin. Oppo thinks the skin is so good that even OnePlus smartphones will eventually run the skin. But that ColorOS. That’s a mess. You have to like the visual style, but the fact that many apps are still badly aligned looks sloppy. Also, the amount of bloatware is unprecedented. Apart from the unnecessary apps from Oppo, such as Phone Manager, there is also a lot of advertising. I counted ten apps, including apps from dubious tech companies Facebook, TikTok and Amazon.
The support policy is also not sufficient: two years of Android version updates and three years of security updates.
Cameras
The Reno6 also falls remarkably short in the camera area. The three cameras on the back give you the option to take regular, zoom and wide-angle photos. While there’s nothing to fault with the regular camera, Oppo might as well have omitted the other lenses. The 8 megapixel wide-angle camera shows distorted photos and the two megapixel zoom lens is really nothing to use. The resolution is much too low and the brightness is very below par. Oppo also knows that, otherwise the company would not have hidden the macro functionality deep in the settings. Zoom in according to the buttons in the camera app, zoom in on the regular lens (1x, 3x, 5x and 10x).
Computing power / screen / battery
In the other areas, Oppo knows to bring what you can expect. You get an excellent AMOLED screen, which scores well in terms of brightness, color reproduction, resolution (Full-HD) and refresh rate (90 hertz). Below the screen you will find a fingerprint scanner.
Everything is fine in terms of computing power. The MediaTek chipset (which also supports 5G) does well in the benchmarks. In addition, you get 8GB of RAM, with extra RAM being freed up by using 3GB of storage memory. Of the 128GB of available storage, you have about 100GB free for your own apps, photos, videos, etc.
The battery life is also okay. The 4,300 mAh battery lasts a little longer than a day. If you are economical and, for example, use a 60 hertz screen refresh rate and 4G, one and a half to two days should be feasible. You cannot charge the Reno6 wirelessly, but it is possible to charge quickly via the USB-C port. You can charge about thirty percent battery power within half an hour.
Alternatives to the Oppo Reno6
Although the Oppo Reno6 in itself is a decent smartphone, it is put on the market for a much too high recommended price. This makes you better off with alternatives such as the Pixel 4a 5G or Samsung Galaxy A72 and Samsung Galaxy A52 5G for more value for money. In a lower price range you can also look at the Nord series from OnePlus: comparable smartphones that cost less.
Conclusion: Buy Oppo Reno6?
The Oppo Reno6 falls short in too many areas to stand out and justify its price. The design has been copied from Apple, the software and support are not good enough and two of the three rear cameras are unnecessary. The build quality, battery life, computing power and screen are sufficient, which makes the Reno6 as a total picture a solid, but above all mediocre smartphone.
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