Oppo have been busy with the launch last year of the Oppo Find X8 Pro, and now we have been lucky to review the Oppo Reno 13 Pro, which retails from Currys for £649. This device is bringing the flagship features to a more affordable price point. This device is the upgrade of the Reno 12 Pro, which you can still buy for £499. If AI features are importan,t then read on in this review. 

First Impressions

It now has a premium construction with a metal frame, a higher-tier processor and a better camera. 

The main features of this phone include: 

  • Dimensity 8350 chip on board- perfect for gaming.
  • No more plastic frame, this model is constructed using aluminium and glass it feels premium and also comes with an IP69 rating.  
  • Just like the Find X8 Pro, the Reno 13 Pro is packed with AI tools to help with productivity and generative AI-powered image editing tools. 

Design

The Reno 13 Pro 5G comes with that aluminium frame and smooth glass back means the phone screams premium compared to the Reno 12. This upgrade means the device has a bit more weight, but that is a good thing. It means the phone feels confidence-inspiring. Something that you might say is the fact that the phone only comes in two colours, Graphite Grey and Plum Purple. Now we have the grey version, which looks professional but a little dull. I would have liked the white on my Find X8 Pro.

To be fair, you can make a bit more of a statement if you opt for the Plum Purple version. But it just doesn’t quite excite me the way the Y2K-ish metal ripples of last year’s model did.

The Reno 13 Pro has an iPhone-like construction, the rear glass panel is completely flat, and the front glass has the same quad micro curves. I like the micro curves on the screen, but it feels a little strange having curves on the front and a flat panel on the back. The front glass is made is Gorilla Glass 7i, which feels more of a sideways move on this device. 

This phone also comes with an IP69 rating for dust and water resistance. This phone can handle 2-meter depths and even has an underwater mode for taking photos. 

Display

The Reno 13 Pro has a 6.83-inch display, which makes it smaller than the iPhone 16 Pro Max but a little bigger than the larger Google Pixel 9 Pro XL. The Reno 23 Pro comes with a 1272 x 2800 resolution and a perfect 120Hz refresh rate that can be adjusted to a 60Hz refresh rate to save battery life. The screen is an OLED panel, so of course, you get deep and inky blacks and vibrant, accurate colours as standard. The screen peaks at 1200 nits brightness, which I found it enough, and even with the good weather this month, we never struggled to see the on-screen content. 

Battery life 

When it comes to battery life, you are in luck; this phone is packed with a 5800mAh battery inside, and this provides excellent battery life. If you use this phone with average use, including plenty of camera use, navigation, video streaming and hotspotting, you will finish the day with less than 50% remaining. If you are using more reservedly usage you should get two days of charge. 

The Reno 13 Pro, unfortunately, does not offer wireless charging but does benefit from 80W fast charging. You will have to purchase the SuperVOOC fast charger (UK Only) or simply use the USB-C cable provided.

Performance

The MediaTek Dimensity 8350 makes a big difference when playing games and it makes a big difference. When gaming it keeps up with the best, but it’s likely to be good enough for most general users. It was able to run graphically the highest graphics preset and maintain a constant 30fps, and that without needing to enable features like Game Boost. Moving to 60fps resulted in frame rates that weren’t consistent, jumping from 40fps to mid-50fps This makes it hard to get your timing right. 

When running normal tasks like browsing social media, editing images and navigating the operating system. This phone is always speedy when multitasking. When it comes to 512GB of storage as standard. Which is nice to have, at least it doesn’t feel like you’re sacrificing performance to get it.

Software

Just like the Find X8 Pro, the Reno 13 Pro runs using ColorOS 15, based on Android 15. Which is a questionable decision given the amount of bloated software on this device. It comes with the normal apps like booking.com and random games. This makes you question if you would spend £650 device, but you can remove the apps. It’s extremely customizable, packed with useful features, and most importantly, it’s super quick. 

This phone comes with a lot of Oppo’s marketing efforts centring around this phone’s AI capabilities, and there are plenty of features for a mid-range device. The feature I love is AI speak. It’ll take any webpage and read it aloud in a natural-sounding voice, which is very useful. Just like the Find X8 Pro, there is a clarity enhancer, reflection remover, blur remover and an object eraser. There’s also some more outlandish stuff like AI reimage which can turn your photos into generative AI artwork stuff, like AI reimage.

The object remover is the option that i found myself moving towards the most. The accuracy seems to be a lot better then some of its competition but there’s a caveat. The AI effects arent processed the device you need an internet connection to order to use them.

Camera review

Welcome to another camera segment by me, James @Lifesizephotography, as always, I take photos that reflect our everyday living and photos that are of the norm. I am a photographer and phonetographer, as you know, I have passed the phone to complete an impartial and honest review of how I feel that the camera functions and overall camera capabilities are.

I have been passed one of Oppo’s latest phones, the Oppo Reno 13 Pro, now Oppo, in my honest opinion, have been making some pretty good handsets of late with cameras that can give a majority of phones a good run for their money and this phone is no different. The camera is a triple lense that sits nicely in the back of the phone with the 2 main lenses sitting with a nice chrome effect surround, and the wide angle lense looking very discreet as well as the built in flash so its not to bold and too “in your face” to me the camera design does not compromise the phones aesthetics or looks in any way. 

So what has Oppo put into the camera on this device, well, for a start its running on Android software so you have the main functions that we have now come to expect on phones, (more about this in a minute) but the phone itself holds an impressive 50MP main camera and a nicely weighted 8mp Ultra wide camera which gives some good shots with good clarity. The all-important selfie camera comes in at a whopping 50MP, also, which is highly impressive. Video recording is 4K running 30/60 frames per second (FPS) and 1080p at 30/60/120 FPS, which again is pretty impressive.

However, if you are recording videos at 4K it’s a bit of a battery drainer as it’s running in a much higher definition, and to be hones,t to the naked eye, you wouldn’t see much difference between 4k and 1080P and at 1080 your going to get more frames per second and use less battery. The Zoom on this camera is a colossal 120x zoom, yes, that’s right, 120x zoom, now that kind of zoom only comes on the high-end Samsung phones. 

So, what does this phone have in terms of usability? Well, it has the following: 

  • Main camera
  • Pro Mode
  • Video
  • Portrait
  • “More” in the more section you will find: night mode, high res, pano, slow mo, time lapse dual view video, underwater, sticker and document scanner.

These are pretty much the norm now on all phones. The underwater feature is that, a setting for taking photos underwater at a maximum depth of 2 meters and for no longer than 30 minutes, so this way you don’t damage the phone. 

Now using this phone was nice, the menu systems for the camera were sleek and was easy to swipe across to different phone settings with no lag whatso ever, swiping through was nice and simple and easy to use, the phone camera’s worked well and locked on to each photo with ease with the auto focus on cue and again no lag what so ever it was just a real easy experience, So now the important bit, what were the overall outcomes on the photos we shall now see. As always, I break this down into each section of the camera so you get a view of each setting on the camera. So let’s take a look.

So let’s start with my favourite camera setting: portrait. This phone delivers and delivers well on this setting. Now in the past, I have reviewed many phones, and this is very hit and miss, but once again, Oppo have nailed this, with its crisp focus and subtle blurs; they have got this on point.

Next up is Pano AKA Panorama: once again this feature delivers, when doing Pano is a ultra stretched out wide angle, this setting is great for coastlines, wide open spaces etc, again Oppo have done this justice you have a little line to follow to ensure your picture doesn’t go wonky donkey on you and it gives you a nice clean crisp finish. 

Photo Mode: This is where you’re going to take a majority of your phones photos works well with no lag on auto focusing on your chosen subject, The results for this are just epic and again pictures come out with beautiful colours, nice natural tones and a well balanced finish again Oppo have got this nailed and can not fault this at all. 

Pro Mode, now I am always in two minds about pro mode, and why all phones that run on android come with this setting, in essence its a DSLR in your pocket but with limited capabilities, when I test a phone especially a hand set such as this that gives amazing and epic results in its stand alone “Photo” setting I ask myself is there a need for pro setting when the default photo setting works so well.. Anyway, again a good result with a good finish with excellent colours and rich tones.

Another setting I always enjoy especially in nature photography is “Wide angle” now to get wide angle on this phone just go to the photo mode and pull the zoom as far back as you can and it goes to a 0.6, again wide angle is nailed on this phone 0.6 is enough to get you some great detail and get the image your looking for, on this phone its worked well and no faults at all. 

Zoom: Now as I said this phone has a 120x zoom now most phones you get a grainy image and a lot of camera shake, Now I am not sure what Oppo have done BUT every phone manufacture needs to sit up and take note of what Oppo have done the results are just out of this world with a very sharp finish and bloody bold a amazing for once I am speechless and this don’t happen often when critiquing a phone.

Now, last but not least, that all-important selfie: So Oppo have stuck a 50MP selfie camera on this device, and the picture quality and outcome show just that, now this is a phone that will take excellent selfies for your social media and capturing those epic night outs, the selfie camera will not let you down. 

So in conclusion, the camera on this phone is phenomenal and can and would give premium phones a bloody good run for their money, a lot of adverts you see now on TV and social media for the likes of Apple and Samsung are all based around the camera capabilities. Now, if Oppo did this with this handset and ran a mass media campaign highlighting its camera capabilities, I think they would flood the market and capture a massive fan database, disrupting the market. 

I have been reviewing camera’s for Oppo for a few years now and I have to say I don’t think I have ever had a bad word to say and that goes for this phone also, it just works everything is nice, everything is simple and every part of this gives you a big result, if you downloaded a photo editing app then with this phone your going to light up your socials and bring that inner phonetographer out in you. for me this is 5/5 all day long… Thanks for reading my camera segment, and please check out my instagram @lifesizephotography. See you folks on the next one.

Verdict

The Oppo Reno 13 Pro 5G is a great device in every department. The cameras are decent, the performance will not disappoint and a strong battery, plus it looks great. The inclusion of AI features here is a surprising inclusion considering the cost of the device. 

Overall, the Reno 13 Pro it’s a solid all-rounder that doesn’t fall short in any area. The build feels premium and the performance and software are solid, and the cameras do a respectable job. This device has its advantages, such as a robust AI offering for an affordable price tag. Other benefits include double the storage, a large battery and a more robust AI offering at the same price. The right one for you, as always, will depend on your needs.

Product Rating    

Design: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

Features: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

Performance: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

Battery Life: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

Value for Money: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

 

Overall ranking: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0 – 5.0 stars

The Oppo Reno 13 Pro is available for £649 from Currys 

Thanks for reading this review. Please continue to support us and check out our other reviews and follow us on Social media: Facebook, Instagram, and Linkedin Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter below.