Introduction
Oppo Renos come with a ton of varieties of alphanumeric soup attached as model monikers, but this newest one stands out - the Oppo Reno Ace. True to its name, the Ace packs top-end hardware, including a high refresh rate display, Qualcomm's latest Plus chip, and the fastest charging we've seen.
The Reno Ace shares a lot of its DNA with offers from sister brands - Realme X2 Pro and OnePlus 7T bits can be seen throughout the spec sheet. The display is one of them - a 6.5-inch notched AMOLED that runs at 90Hz is simply a sight to behold.
The Snapdragon 855+ chip is also a common trait of these three, and an extra 'plus' more powerful than the one you could have in the spring on the Oppo Reno 10x zoom, so the Ace one-ups the previous beefiest Reno.
What the OP doesn't have, and the Realme only almost has, is Reno's super-fast charging capability. A SuperVOOC 2.0 power brick can pump up to 65W of power to the Reno Ace, making overnight charging a concept of the past.
The Ace also has the cameras to go with its name, sort of - a triple-cam setup in the usual configuration of regular wide, ultra-wide, and short telephoto. Thanks to Oppo applying some moderation, the Ace does get out-aced in a few areas, though - it doesn't have the Realme X2 Pro's 64MP unit, with the Reno getting the 48MP Quad Bayer instead, and then there's no periscope zoom like you'd find on the Reno 10x zoom.
Oppo Reno Ace specs
- Body: 161x75.7x8.7mm, 200g; Gorilla Glass 6 front, GG5 back, aluminum frame; Psychedelic Purple, Starry Blue color schemes.
- Screen: 6.5" AMOLED, FullHD+ 1080x2400px, 20:9 aspect, 405ppi, 90Hz, HDR.
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+, octa-core CPU (1x2.96 GHz Kryo 485 & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 485 & 4x1.8 GHz Kryo 485); Adreno 640 (700MHz) GPU.
- Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM; UFS 3.0 storage, non-expandable.
- OS: Android 9 Pie, ColorOS 6.1.
- Cameras: Main: 48MP, 1/2.0" sensor size, 0.8µm pixel size; 26mm equivalent focal length, f/1.7 aperture, OIS, PDAF; Telephoto: 13MP, 1/3.4", 1.0µm, 52mm, f/2.4, 2x zoom; Ultra wide angle: 8MP, 1/3.2", 1.4µm, 13mm, f/2.2; Black and white: 2MP, 1/5", 1.75µm, f/2.4. Dual LED flash. Video recording: 2160p@60fps, 1080p@120fps.
- Selfie cam: 16MP, 1/3.1", 1.0µm, 26mm, f/2.0. 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 4,000mAh; SuperVOOC 2.0 65W proprietary fast charging. Power Delivery and QuickCharge compatible.
- Connectivity: Dual SIM; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; dual-band GPS; Bluetooth 5.0 + LE; NFC; FM radio; USB-C; 3.5mm jack.
- Misc: Under-display optical fingerprint scanner; stereo loudspeakers.
Mind you, there are no elevating mechanisms on the Reno Ace - not that all Renos had them, but six out eight did, while the Ace opts out. It opts in on the stereo speakers, which only two Renos before it had - a most welcome choice. We're also loving the fact that Oppo is sticking with the 3.5mm jack on the Renos. Let's see if there's something to plug into it, coming out of the box.
Oppo Reno Ace unboxing
The Oppo Reno Ace comes in what's become the standard box for the company's Reno series - it's an unusually tall package. Inside it, there's the phone, under a paper sleeve full of paperwork. Underneath, you'll find a soft transparent silicone case - nowhere as nice as the leather ones we got with the Reno 10x zoom and the Reno2, more in line with the Reno Z's.
Move the case out of the way, and you'll get to the good stuff - the 65-watt SuperVOOC charging brick. Together with the bundled cable, it provides the Reno Ace's extraordinarily fast charging speeds.
There are no headphones in the package, however, which is another apparent cost-saving development - all the Renos we had at the office (10x zoom, Reno Z, and Reno2) had headsets bundled, be they USB-C or 3.5mm. Well, not the Ace. To be fair, the Oppo online store in China does offer a set of earbuds as a 'gift' - what, they didn't fit in the box?
Design and 360-degree view
The Reno Ace is one good looking phone, that's for sure. Our review unit is the Interstellar blue colorway and it's a rich dark blue-green that goes darker towards the top. It changes hues continuously when you tilt the phone and shine light at it. It's as tough to capture in a photo, as it is captivating to look at.
There are two more color options, one standard, one limited edition. The standard one is dubbed Electroacoustic violet and is similar to what every Chinese maker has come up with in the past couple of years since Huawei started experimenting with gradients.The Gundam edition is mostly light gray with blue and red accents. Out of the regular colors we'd pick the Interstellar one in a heartbeat, though we'd understand if you prefer the Gundam edition.
The back is reasonably clean - we'd say a simple Oppo logo would have been enough, but the 'Deisgned for Reno' inscription isn't too obtrusive, so we'd give it a pass. The quad-cam assembly is placed in a joint bump that sticks out by a millimeter tops and has a polished metal surround. The main module is on top, accented by a green ring and a simple 48MP label. The dual LED flash didn't make it inside the cluster, so it's to the right, flush with the Gorilla Glass 5 sheet of the back panel.
The display side is protected by Gorilla Glass 6, Corning's latest. You wouldn't want to crack that glass and have the beautiful 90Hz 6.5-inch AMOLED ruined by a spider web, would you.
It's not a bezelless display, strictly speaking, but we do appreciate the fact that the frame is as thick on top as it is on the sides. There's a notch too to house the selfie cam - the Reno Ace doesn't employ an elevating module. Above the display you'll find a long mesh behind a portion of which there's the earpiece that also doubles as a second speaker. Midway betwen the selfie cam and the right corner, there's a barely visible window for the ambient light and proximity sensors.
Continuing the tour, let's see what you can find along the satin-finished aluminum frame. A lone power button is on the right, larger than most, with a green accent inside it - same green as the ring around the primary camera. High above it is the card slot which will take your choice of two nano SIMs or a nano SIM and microSD card.
On the right side of the phone are the two separate volume keys, the bottom edge of the volume down aligned with the bottom edge of the power button - we like attention to detail of this sort. All the buttons have particularly satisfying click action too.
Down on the bottom of the phone, the USB-C port is in the middle, the main loudspeaker to one side, the primary mic and the 3.5mm jack to the other. Another mic is placed on the top of the phone, for noise canceling and stereo audio recording purposes.
Power button and card slot on the right • Volume buttons on the left • Usual bits on the bottom
The Reno Ace measures 161x75.7x8.7mm and weighs in at a nice and round 200g. It's quite a dense package, particularly compared to the Reno 2 we have on had, which has mostly the same footprint and is 0.8mm thicker, but is 11g lighter. The Ace is a gram heavier than the Realme X2 Pro, though we won't be surprised if that's due to creative rounding up from the two marketing departments. The OnePlus 7T is, in fact, lighter at 189g, but it does have a smaller 3,800mAh battery, so it check sout.
The Reno Ace has a quietly premium feel, thanks to the all the heft, the soft touch of the frame and the reassuring click of the buttons. It'll attract fingerprints as much as the next glass-backed phone, and it'll be as slippery as any of its similarly built rivals. Having said that, the frosted OnePlus 7T will be even more difficult to hold securely, but maybe none of this matters if you keep your phone in a case.
6.5-inch HDR-capable AMOLED
The Oppo Reno Ace is equipped with a 6.5-inch display with a 1080x2400px resolution in a 20:9 aspect - that would be a 405ppi density. It's an HDR-capable AMOLED panel that supports a 90Hz refresh rate. A reasonable assumption would be that the display is shared between several models in the BBK portfolio of sister brands like the Realme X2 Pro and OnePlus 7T, even though the 7T lists it as 6.55 inches in diagonal.
The maximum brightness we measured on the Oppo Reno Ace was 717nits when exposing the phone to direct light with the auto brightness toggle engaged. The reading was 511nits when adjusting the slider manually. The numbers are relatively similar to the ones we got out of the other two phones we mentioned above, further reinforcing our suspicions it's the same exact panel. Regardless of that, the results are really great.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0 | 511 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 717 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 500 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 708 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 525 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 743 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 429 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 596 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 436 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 428 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 620 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 381 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 794 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 385 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 793 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 820 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 391 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 665 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 464 | ∞ | |
| 0.028 | 683 | 24393 | |
We're not quite as excited about the color accuracy, though it's not strictly bad. The Reno Ace has two separate controls that affect that - a Color Temperature Adjustment slider that goes from Cooler to Warmer with Default in the middle, and a Color Mode setting that can be either Vivid (targeting the DCI-P3 color space) or Gentle (for sRGB content).
Out of the box the Reno Ace comes with Default on the slider and Vivid on the color mode. In that state we got a 3.9 average deltaE with a 9.5 maximum when examining color swatches against their DCI-P3 targets. In Default/Gentle we were looking at a 3.7 average deltaE and the same 9.5 maximum, only for sRGB targets. The main issue in both cases is the strong shift to blue in the white swatch (that 9.5 maximum) and the grayscale (generally around 8). The Warmest setting on the slider does alleviate that, reigning in the whites to a deltaE around 5 and a very good average of 2.8 - both for the Vivid mode and P3 targets, and the Gentle mode and sRGB targets.
The Reno Ace's display is HDR capable and we did watch a bunch of HDR videos on YouTube on in. Much like the vivo NEX 3 5G, however, the Reno Ace didn't trigger Netflix to run in HDR. Oh, well.
Oppo Reno Ace battery life
The Oppo Reno Ace has a 4,000mAh battery at its disposal, pretty much a standard capacity for this combination of display size and chipset. The Realme X2 Pro has the same capacity, while the OnePlus 7T's cell is a bit smaller at 3,800mAh. The Xiaomi Mi 9 Pro, which looks like a solid competitor, but we haven't seen yet in person, has the same 4,000mAh capacity too. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S10+ has 100mAh on top of the Ace's capacity, and the Huawei Mate 30 Pro is the most loaded at 4,500mAh.
The Reno Ace, um... aced our battery tests, posting a particularly impressive endurance in video playback, to the tune of 21 full hours. That's better than the OnePlus 7T's 18 hours and the Realme X2 Pro's 17:23h result - apparently, the Reno Ace has further optimizations not available to these other two? Anyway, the S10+'s otherwise not-too-shabby 14:53h result pales in comparison.
The Reno Ace lasted us 12:11hrs in our web browsing test, where it does fall a little short of the 7T's 12:51h, while the Realme X2 Pro takes the BBK Wi-Fi endurance crown with its 13:40h result. Still, the Ace inches ahead of the S10+ (11:49h).
At a little over 30 hours of call time, the Reno Ace outlasts all of these - an hour more than the 7T, 3 hours more than the X2 Pro and 6+ hours on top of the Galaxy. For anyone still concerned about voice call longevity, that is.
In the end, the Reno Ace gets an overall Endurance rating of 99 hours - we'd call that excellent. We tested it at 90Hz only (the forced always-on 90Hz, as opposed to the auto mode) since we figured the minor differences we observed on the 7T between 90Hz and 60Hz modes weren't enough to warrant two tests yet again.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSer App. The endurance rating above denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Oppo Reno Ace for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so that our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritty. You can check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
One of the best bits about the Oppo Reno Ace is its charging speed. The bundled 65-watt adapter got us to a full charge from flat in just 28 minutes. That's 2 minutes faster than what Oppo promise, and a 2-minute advantage over the 50W unit supplied with the Realme X2 Pro, which also overdelivered. Those 2 minutes are mostly meaningless, admittedly, but who's got the fastest charging? The Reno Ace does.
As for heat, the phone does warm up in the process and the battery temperature goes as high as around 39 degrees, which isn't quite as much as what it reports under heavy load - like continuous gaming for example, when it goes past 46 degrees.
Loudspeaker
The Oppo Reno Ace has a stereo speaker configuration - a rather common one where there's a main, more powerful primary speaker ported on the bottom with the earpiece acting as the other channel in the stereo pair. The bottom one handles the low end of the spectrum for both channels, while each end gets the respective mids and highs. When the phone's in portrait, the earpiece defaults to the left channel, but it switches to match the landscape orientation you're holding the device in.
The Reno Ace is among the louder devices we've tested, easily placing in the 'Excellent' category in our three-pronged test. It sounds clean at full volume and has nicely balanced output across the frequency range - overall, a great showing.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
| 67.1 | 71.1 | 81.2 | Very Good | |
| 69.6 | 71.2 | 79.2 | Very Good | |
| 69.7 | 74.7 | 79.3 | Very Good | |
| 71.3 | 74.3 | 79.7 | Very Good | |
| 70.6 | 74.8 | 81.2 | Very Good | |
| 68.4 | 73.7 | 86.3 | Excellent | |
| 74.4 | 74.2 | 83.6 | Excellent | |
| 79.8 | 75.9 | 87.0 | Excellent | |
| 80.1 | 78.1 | 88.1 | Excellent | |
| 90.4 | 75.3 | 82.4 | Excellent | |
| 79.8 | 77.4 | 91.6 | Excellent | |
| 82.9 | 75.8 | 91.0 | Excellent | |
Audio quality
The Oppo Reno Ace delivered the expected perfectly accurate audio output with an external amplifier, while also maintaining above average volume levels.
Headphones took their toll on stereo separation and added some intermodulation distortion, plus they dropped the volume to below average. Not a bad performance overall, but certainly not one worth writing home about.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.03, -0.06 | -92.0 | 92.7 | 0.0013 | 0.0073 | -93.3 | |
| +0.48, -0.06 | -90.7 | 91.8 | 0.0067 | 0.313 | -50.5 | |
| +0.03, -0.06 | -91.3 | 91.8 | 0.0011 | 0.0077 | -92.5 | |
| +0.21, -0.34 | -90.3 | 91.4 | 0.0066 | 0.297 | -51.5 | |
| +0.02, -0.13 | -94.0 | 94.0 | 0.0013 | 0.0081 | -93.6 | |
| +0.18, -0.11 | -85.6 | 84.8 | 0.0062 | 0.108 | -52.6 | |
| +0.02, -0.02 | -93.0 | 92.8 | 0.0012 | 0.007 | -89.4 | |
| +0.25, -0.30 | -91.8 | 91.7 | 0.0045 | 0.312 | -57.3 | |
| +0.04, -0.02 | -90.5 | 90.4 | 0.0014 | 0.013 | -93.0 | |
| +0.14, -0.23 | -90.4 | 90.3 | 0.0046 | 0.211 | -47.0 | |
| +0.03, -0.04 | -92.2 | 92.0 | 0.0015 | 0.0079 | -92.7 | |
| +0.06, -0.03 | -91.9 | 91.7 | 0.0020 | 0.037 | -77.0 |
Oppo Reno Ace frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
Android Pie with Color 6.1
The Reno Ace runs on Android 9 with the in-house ColorOS 6.1 on top. We'd have liked to see Android 10 at this point in time on a phone of the Ace's caliber, but Oppo's apparently not ready ColorOS-ing that just yet.
Unlike the Realme X2 Pro, which has a dark mode that themes up the interface and most apps in a deep gray, the Reno Ace only has the classic white ColorOS look, for the time being at least.
During the initial setup the phone offers you go try gesture navigation and we feel like this is the way to go in late 2019, but if you're old-school you can opt for the classic three-button navigation.
There are two types of gestures too, and we're liking the 'Swipe Gestures from Both Sides' variety better. Quick inward swipes from the sides envoke the 'Back' action, but there's a nice twist too - swipe in and hold, and that's a shortcut to the previously used app so you an switch back and forth between two. To get to the task switcher, you swipe up from the bottom and hold.
The other gesture implementation is with swipes from the bottom only with designated areas that act as back and recent tasks, or with 'Simple gestures' that deny you the 'Back' action.
Navigation options galore
The Color OS lets you enable an always-on clock and has the usual homescreens with a widget pane - a rather standard affair.
You can use both fingerprint and face recognition for screen unlock, with the under-display optical fingerprint scanner taking priority. It's plenty fast to the point where it doesn't make a difference when compared to a capacitive one. There's also Face Unlock which isn't quite as secure as it only uses the selfie cam as opposed to some form of 3D mapping. It's still very quick, can be set to require an open eye, and you can have it bypass the lockscreen altogether.
Always-on clock • Biometrics and security
Okay, back inside the phone, Color OS has gained an app drawer option since version 6. You can switch between it and and the default all-homescreen design in the launcher settings.
Homescreen • Folder view • Launcher settings • App drawer
The notification shade features notifications, quick toggles, and a brightness scrubber and has a modern flat look. The task switcher is akin to Apple's, though it has an End All button. And split screen is available for all compatible apps.
Notifications • Toggles • Task Switcher • Split screen • Split screen
Clone apps and file safe functions are on board, as well as real-time translation thanks to an improved voice assistant.
There is a Phone Manager quite similar to what Huawei and Xiaomi have on their phones under the same name. It handles memory cleaner functions, app permissions and encryption, and virus scanning.
Game Space allows you to handpick which notifications pass through when you are playing games and you don't want to be interrupted. There are also different performance modes and an option to lock the brightness only for certain games.
There's an in-house Gallery app with a pretty feature rich editor. A basic music player is also available but it lacks any sort of settings like an equalizer, so you're better off using a different one. The File manager is reasonably capable, though.
Clone apps • Phone manager • Phone manager • Game Space • Gallery • Files
Synthetic benchmarks
The Oppo Reno Ace packs the latest Snapdragon 855+, Qualcomm's fall refresh on its top end chipset for 2019. As such, the Reno Ace is among the most powerful phones available. It exists in three RAM and storage (all UFS 3.0) versions - 8/128GB, 8/256GB, and 12/256GB and we have the medium spec for review.
Running the usual set of benchmarks, we're witnessing that Oppo's dialed things down a little. In single-core GeekBench, the Reno Ace is posting scores on par with the Pixel 4 XL and its Snapdragon 855, though the Ace does beat the Realme X2 Pro in this discipline. Most other current phones deliver higher scores here, with the Mate 30 Pro, OnePlus 7T and Galaxy Note10+ outperforming it by 20 to 30 percent.
GeekBench 5 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
1334 - Samsung Galaxy Note10+
822 - OnePlus 7T
788 - Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
779 - vivo NEX 3
747 - LG G8X ThinQ
746 - Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
736 - Oppo Reno Ace
637 - Google Pixel 4 XL
628 - Realme X2 Pro
589
The Reno Ace catches up in the multi-core portion of the benchmark, where it matches the S855+ vivo NEX 3 5G, though the 7T and Mate 30 Pro are still ahead.
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
3544 - Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
2972 - OnePlus 7T
2932 - vivo NEX 3
2794 - LG G8X ThinQ
2763 - Oppo Reno Ace
2745 - Realme X2 Pro
2602 - Google Pixel 4 XL
2514 - Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
2396 - Samsung Galaxy Note10+
2300
Moving on to Antutu, the Reno Ace outscores the Pixel 4 XL (small victories), but loses to the and the Mate 30 Pro and vivo NEX 3 5G, and the Realme X2 Pro (which the Reno did outperform in GeekBench).
AnTuTu 8
Higher is better
- vivo NEX 3
497858 - Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
483239 - Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
468595 - Realme X2 Pro
467653 - Oppo Reno Ace
434063 - Google Pixel 4 XL
403267
Graphics performance is middle of the road, with the Reno Ace narrowly beating the X2 Pro in 3DMark, though falling short of the Reno 10x zoom's numbers. The vivo NEX 3 5G is the one to beat here, short of the all-out gaming-focused ROG Phone II.
3DMark SSE 3.1 Unlimited
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
6814 - vivo NEX 3
6757 - Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
6475 - Google Pixel 4 XL
6441 - Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
6322 - Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
6282 - Oppo Reno 10x zoom
6052 - Oppo Reno Ace
5847 - Realme X2 Pro
5792 - Sony Xperia 1
5792 - Samsung Galaxy Note10+
5287 - Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
4850 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
4632
Things are more level in GFXBench where there's little to separate the Reno from its competitors, and, well, little to separate them from each other when it comes to raw performance offscreen.
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
120 - OnePlus 7T
79 - Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
78 - Realme X2 Pro
78 - Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
76 - vivo NEX 3
74 - Oppo Reno Ace
72 - Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
71 - Sony Xperia 1
71 - Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
71 - LG G8X ThinQ
70 - Google Pixel 4 XL
69 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
69 - Samsung Galaxy Note10+
68 - Oppo Reno 10x zoom
67
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
68 - Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
60 - OnePlus 7T
59 - vivo NEX 3
58 - LG G8X ThinQ
58 - Realme X2 Pro
57 - Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
57 - Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
57 - Oppo Reno 10x zoom
57 - Oppo Reno Ace
56 - Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
56 - Sony Xperia 1
55 - Samsung Galaxy Note10+
38 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
37 - Google Pixel 4 XL
34
GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
67 - OnePlus 7T
48 - Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
47 - Realme X2 Pro
47 - vivo NEX 3
44 - Oppo Reno Ace
44 - Samsung Galaxy Note10+
43 - Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
42 - Sony Xperia 1
42 - Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
42 - LG G8X ThinQ
42 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
42 - Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
42 - Google Pixel 4 XL
41 - Oppo Reno 10x zoom
40
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
57 - OnePlus 7T
41 - Asus ROG Phone II (120Hz)
40 - LG G8X ThinQ
38 - vivo NEX 3
37 - Realme X2 Pro
37 - Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
36 - Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
36 - Oppo Reno Ace
35 - Oppo Reno 10x zoom
35 - Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
34 - Sony Xperia 1
33 - Samsung Galaxy Note10+
24 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
23 - Google Pixel 4 XL
21
All in all, the Reno Ace performs to a high standard, though Oppo's chosen to reign in that powerful chipset a little and limit its potential. All is well, however, and the phone does put out flagship-grade numbers, just not record-setting ones. It only warms up moderately after repeated benchmarks runs and while it does throttle a bit, it's not huge offender in this respect.
Three cams as it should be, no 64MP one though
The Reno Ace has a triple-plus-one camera setup on its back - what's become the customary ensemble of a moderately wide main camera, an ultra wide angle one and a short telephoto is augmented by a dedicated black and white camera. We expected the Ace to be more similar to its Realme and OnePlus cousins, and while some of the numbers do check out, it's a mashup that's entirely the Ace's own.
The primary cam uses a 48MP 1/2" Quad Bayer sensor, so it's missing the Realme X2 Pro's higher-res (and physically larger) 64MP unit. It's not quite the same as the OnePlus 7T's 48MP module if you fully believe the specs - Oppo lists the lens aperture at f/1.7 vs. the 7T's f/1.6. Other than that, the it has the same 26mm equivalent and is stabilized.
The telephoto is a 13MP unit, so it's probably like the Realme X2 Pro, although again the aperture would have you doubt that a little - it's f/2.4 on the Ace, and f/2.5 on the X2 Pro. This minuscule difference aside, it seems identical - a 1/3.4" sensor with 1.0µm pixels and PDAF. The OnePlus 7T's is probably an entirely different - it is 12MP after all.
Then there's the ultra wide. An 8MP 1/3.2" sensor with 1.4µm pixels sits behind an f/2.2 aperture lens that Oppo says covers a 116-degree field of view. Compare that to the Realme X2 Pro's 115 degrees. Hmm.
Which brings us to the one cam the Reno has and these other two don't - the 2MP black and white one. It's a small 1/5" sensor with big individual pixels at 1.75µm, placed behind an f/2.4 aperture lens.
For selfies, the Reno Ace has a 16MP shooter with a 1/3.1" sensor and 1.0µm pixels. The lens has a 26mm equivalent and an f/2.0 aperture.
The camera app on the Oppo Reno Ace should be familiar to anyone who's seen a phone running ColorOS and yes, that includes the Realmes and not just the Oppos. It offers AI scene recognition - you'll see a small icon when a scene is successfully recognized, and the software will tweak all settings accordingly.
The app has three major modes - Photo, Portrait, and Video - and you can swipe between those. The Dazzle Color toggle is on the other end, accompanied by the HDR and flash settings. The ultra-wide-angle camera has its own direct toggle next to the Dazzle Color, but you can also access it via the zoom shortcuts - they are 10x, 6x, 2x, 1x, and ultra-wide.
There is also a hamburger menu with a few more shooting modes - Expert (manual settings), Pano, Time-lapse, Slow-mo, and Night Mode. The latter is a handheld long-exposure mode for low-light photos. You may have noticed there's no access to the 2MP cam anywhere - from what we gather, it's only used for depth detection in portrait mode and not really for taking photos.
In the Expert mode you get to tweak exposure (ISO in the 100-6400 range and shutter speed in the 1/8000s-16s range), white balance (by light temperature, but no presets), manual focus (in arbitrary 0 to 1 units with 0 being close focus and 1 being infinity) and exposure compensation (-2EV to +2EV in 1/6EV increments).
Camera app
Daylight image quality
The Reno Ace's daylight images turn out quite alright. At the default 12MP setting there's a ton of detail, which is nice, but we're also seeing more noise than we'd like, which isn't ideal. Dynamic range is good, but not spectacular and you'd be loosing some data in the tonal extremes. We have no complaints about color rendition with the Ace's photos having just the right amount of punch without straying from reality.
Daylight samples, main camera
48MP images have a soft-ish, upscaled look to them, and the Ace is one of those phones that don't really benefit from shooting full-res, good light or otherwise. No wonder then that the setting is buried in the menu as opposed to being readily accessible in the viewfinder or as a mode.
Daylight samples, main camera, 48MP mode
The telephoto camera on the Ace is pretty good producing nicely detailed, if ever so slightly soft images. We'd also argue that the telephoto has superior noise performance to the main camera. It does have a slightly different color reproduction and its photos have a bit of a green tint when compared to the primary cam, but it's not so much as to be an issue.
Daylight samples, telephoto camera
The Ace's ultra wide angle cam gets the job done even if it doesn't really excel. We're liking the distortion correction which makes for straight lines all the way to the corners without much of the softness typically associated with the process. This camera does tend to overexpose, and is not a particular fan of colors making for somewhat lifeless reproduction. Detail is decent, nothing more. A most welcome feature that sets this one apart from most is autofocus - with the Ace's ultra wide cam you can actually focus on a nearby subject drawing the viewer to it, much what utlra wides are meant to do.
Daylight samples, ultra wide angle camera
Low-light image quality
The Reno Ace does a competent job in low light too, taking really nice shots in the regular Photo mode. Dynamic range is good, there isn't a loss in saturation and, while noisy, photos do have a lot of detail.
Low-light samples, main camera, Photo mode
Night mode makes for livelier images, with noticeably brighter shadows, and better preserved highlights around light sources. On a per-pixel level you'd be looking at a softer and more plasticky rendition of detail, but we're mostly okay with the trade-offs.
Low-light samples, main camera, Night mode
The ultra wide angle cam does okay in the dark, as long as you compare it to the other ultra wides only. The images are noisy and there's a prevalent softness in the shadow areas, but where there is light, there's also a decent amount of detail being recorded. It struggled with dynamic range in bright light, so that doesn't magically improve in the dark either. It does expose reasonably well - all too often we've seen ultra wides fail at getting enough light.
Low-light samples, ultra wide angle camera, Photo mode
Night mode fixes up the tonal extremes, leaving you with a bit more detail in the highlights and shadows. Noise is replaced by some of that characteristic night mode watercolor effect, but it's within reason. The warmer light sources are rendered noticeably cooler, which is probably a good thing - they did look a bit too yellow otherwise.
Low-light samples, ultra wide angle camera, Night mode
As with most smartphone telephotos, the one on the Reno Ace isn't always working at night when you hit the 2x button - the phone will switch to the main camera below a certain light threshold which you have no control over. Also, that choice will vary between Photo and Night mode, but not always -for example the first scene below was captured with the telephoto cam in Photo mode, but the main one in Night mode, while in the third scene the telephoto module was used in both modes.
In any case, the output isn't bad, it's mostly on par with what you can expect from other phones' telephotos. The Night mode shots look really nice at fit to screen magnifications, and depending on just how dark it was, you may even like the rendition on a per-pixel level.
Low-light samples, telephoto camera, Photo mode
Low-light samples, telephoto camera, Night mode
Portraits
The Reno Ace's portraits are among the best ones we've seen. Subject isolation is excellent, and aside from particularly messy hair against a contrasting background, you'd get very convincing separation. The default level of blur (60/100) is a bit conservative, further helping the natural look.
Portrait samples, people
Portrait mode works on non-human subjects as well, where it delivers similarly excellent results. Even the baby spruce shot can fool you if you're not looking at 1:1 magnification.
Portrait samples, stuff
Selfies
The Reno Ace takes good-looking selfies too. It captures a lot of detail, though depending on the light and ISO, the HDR processing might rob you of some of it and result in somewhat softer images. In any case you can count on accurate skin tones, and generally nice colors. Dynamic range is more than decent too, particularly for a selfie camera.
Selfie samples
Portraits are once again really convincing, even though you only have a single camera on the front - apparently Oppo's cracked some AI magic for subject detection and separation. Mind you, these will come out at 8MP, as opposed to the native 16MP.
Selfie portraits
Video recording
The Oppo Reno Ace records video all the way up to 4K resolution at 60fps with its main cam - like a true flagship. And in the same no-compromise fashion, it also offers electronic stabilization in 4K60 as well. We must admit, it's pretty capable indeed.
Footage out of the Reno Ace's main camera is very competently stabilized, from 1080p/30fps to 4K/60fps. The processing irons out shake like there isn't any and handles pans nicely too. If for whatever reason you find that insufficient, there's the Ultra Steady mode, which defaults to 1080p/60fps and smooths things out further, at the cost of an additional crop.
The ultra wide angle cam's videos do benefit from the stabilization, but we witnessed some unpleasant artifacts and jello effect in the middle of the frame, though it could be our specific scene that triggers it.
Meanwhile, the telephoto cam offers similarly good stabilization as the main one, with the only minor caveat that it tends to drift slightly when you're done panning. Better shooting technique will alleviate that, we should probably take some filming courses already.
You may have picked up on it above already - the Reno Ace's 1080p and 4K videos differ dramatically in their color reproduction. While 1080p is warm and oversaturated, 4K is more restrained and true to life. That holds true for both the main and the telephoto camera and for 30fps and 60fps alike.
4K footage does pack a lot of detail, with no discernible difference between 30fps and 60fps. Both are equally noisy too, which isn't particularly great. Videos are nice and contrasty, and dynamic range is pretty good.
That last comment doesn't really apply to 1080p/30fps capture which gets an entirely different tone curve alongside the color boost and is way too contrasty with shadow and highlight subtleties suffering. 1080/60 isn't quite as dramatic, though it too has some more pop on top of the 4K rendition.
4K footage out of the telephoto cam really isn't 4K - it's straight up upscaled. Zoomed in 1080p/30fps videos are particularly nice with really natural processing and detail rendition, and nicely broad dynamic range. 1080p/60fps is more processed and contrasty here, in... contrast... to the main cam's 30fps vs. 60fps peculiarities.
The ultra wide angle cam tops out at 1080p/30fps. It's passable - dynamic range isn't stellar and there's noise, but we don't really hold ultra wides to an ultra high standard.
Competition
The Oppo Reno Ace is for sale only in China at this point with a retail price of CNY 3,199 for the base 8/128GB version or €410/$455 pre-tax. Factor in VAT to the tune of ~20% if you were to import one, and you're looking at some €500/$550, or €580/$650 for the top-spec 12GB/256GB version. While the base price does make it very good value, almost a bargain even, it's not without capable competitors at a similar price point.
The Realme X2 Pro is one of the most prominent alternatives, this one set to go for sale in Europe through official channels in the coming weeks, starting at €400 for a base 6GB/64GB configuration. You'd want to step up to an 8GB/128GB version to get the UFS 3.0 storage, thus matching the Reno Ace's base storage at €50 less. Going the Realme route, you'd be sacrificing the microSD slot, but gaining a larger and higher-res primary cam (64MP/16MP vs. 48MP/12MP). And that's about it - very closely related these two, and performing similarly.
Then there's another cousin of the two, the globally available OnePlus 7T. This one will run you €600/$600 for an 8GB/128GB trim level, so it's the most expensive if you're to get one in Europe, but also the only one you can buy in the States. Price and logistics aside, the OP7T will get you a better ultra wide-angle cam than the Ace and Android 10 with stockish-looking OxygenOS on top. The Ace counters with a microSD slot and much faster charging (28mins vs. 76mins does make a difference).
Realme X2 Pro • OnePlus 7T
Of course, phones do exist outside of the BBK group of brands. For example, a Galaxy S10+ may be more expensive at full retail, but Galaxies do come with heavy carrier subsidies throughout the world, which you can't really say of the above three. An S10+ will give you a superior display in terms of color, brightness, and resolution (but no 90Hz, though), dust and water protection, and the overall Samsung experience. The Ace does deliver better battery life and faster charging, and, well, those 90Hz.
Then there's the Xiaomi Mi 9 Pro, which we haven't seen sadly but it appears to be a worthy alternative. Same Snapdragon as the Reno Ace, a 6.39-inch AMOLED (not 90Hz though), comprehensive camera system, 4,000mAh battery and Android 10 - the Mi 9 Pro ticks a lot of the right boxes.
Samsung Galaxy S10+ • Xiaomi Mi 9 Pro
Verdict
The Oppo Reno Ace is a really exciting phone that does most things right and does so at a reasonable price. Speaking on the merits only, it's easy to recommend thanks to a great screen, long battery life and all-around good cameras.
It's not widely available, however, and for all its goodness, it's hard to justify going through the trouble of acquiring one. Mainly when there are very similar alternatives coming from the factories next door, through official channels. The OnePlus 7T and Realme X2 Pro seem like more sensible choices if you're in the West - the money will be going to BBK anyway.
Pros
- Attractive design, high quality materials and build.
- 90Hz display is super smooth, and also plenty bright (not very accurate, though).
- Battery life is excellent and the 28 minutes to a full charge are unmatched.
- Loud and high-quality sound of the stereo speakers.
- Versatile triple camera, good image quality in good and low light.
- Very convincing portrait modes front and back.
- Superbly competent stabilization all the way to 4K60.
Cons
- Noisy stills and video when looking up close.
- Benchmark performance on the low end of the spectrum for the hardware.
- Limited regional availability.
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