[European, 5G launch] Oppo Reno goes official w/ 10x hybrid zoom lens, shark fin pop-up selfie camera, no notch

Damien Wilde | Apr 10 2019 - 5:43 am PT

Oppo has unveiled its first true flagship device since the launch of its interesting Find X in the form of the previously leaked Oppo Reno.

The device includes one hell of a spec sheet, an almost all-screen build and a 5x hybrid telephoto zoom lens — akin to that of the Huawei P30 Pro — as part of the rear camera setup. As leaks had already shown, the Oppo Reno has an incredibly odd shark fin angular pop-up selfie camera to enable the device to forgo the notch in favor of almost all display.

[Update 04/24]: After the European launch event for the Oppo Reno, we have some updated details including EU/UK pricing and availability.

The Reno 5G will also become one of the very first 5G-capable phones to go on sale within Europe. Oppo has worked with UK carrier EE to bring 5G to the market. This partnership will see the OEM and telecom brand’s first widely available 5G handset.

Oppo has also partnered with streaming service Shadow to enhance the 5G gaming experience on the gaming-rig-free streaming platform. This should result in superior online gaming performance for subscribers to Shadow.

The standard Oppo Reno will ship for €499. Those interested in picking the Reno up won’t have long to wait, as the device will be available from 10th May 2019. The Reno 10x Zoom Edition with start at €799 while the Reno 5G will start at €899 launch exclusively with EE later this summer.

It differs from the Find X by sliding only from within the side bezels — rather than the entire top bezel sliding — and is most definitely one of the most striking solutions to the notch in recent years. That pop-up camera includes a flash and a solitary front-facing lens. It’s worth noting that it doesn’t include any fancy 3D face scanning or unlocking technology.

The Reno will come in two distinct flavors: a bog-standard Reno and the more desirable Reno 10x Zoom Edition. The Reno will come with a 6.4-inch OLED FHD+ display, is powered by the Snapdragon 710 chipset, 6 or 8GB RAM and has 256GB of microSD expandable storage. A relatively large 3,700mAh battery will provide the juice needed — which can be charged via 18W rapid charging.

Now the Reno 10x Zoom Edition has much more powerful internal specifications match that of the rest of the industry flagships. That means you’ll find the Snapdragon 855 chipset, 6 or 8GB of RAM, up to 256GB of internal microSD expandable storage and a sizable 4,065mAh battery. That battery supports the Super VOOC 3.0 fast-charging too. Both models also include an in-display fingerprint reader as standard.

Focusing on the cameras for a second, the standard Reno comes with that front-facing pop-up option, but only has dual rear cameras. The Reno 10x Zoom Edition adds a further 10x optical telephoto zoom lens that uses hardware rather than software to achieve precise zoomed-in images. It will be interesting to see how it fairs against the recently released Huawei P30 Pro, which has a 5x telephoto zoom lens, but 10x hybrid zoom.

There will be four color options to choose from, with an aqua, black, pink, and purple model all being available for the standard Reno. Meanwhile, the Reno 10x Zoom Edition will only be available in aqua and black As for pricing, the standard Reno will start at around $450 for the base model, the Oppo Reno Zoom Edition will start at $600 for the 6GB/128GB option. For the top-tier 8GB/256GB model, you’re looking at around $710.

Official global pricing is expected to be announced at the European launch event for the Reno in Zurich on April 24.