OPPO Reno12 F 5G Review – Mid-ranger with AI features.

Not too long after the release of the OPPO Reno12 series of phones in Malaysia, OPPO Malaysia quickly followed up with the release of the OPPO Reno12 F 5G phone. The OPPO Reno12 F 5G aims to bring the same AI features to the masses at an even more affordable price, and here is our review of the latest smartphone by OPPO.

The Packaging:

Arriving in a stylish light grey box with OPPO Reno12 F 5G lettering in black, the box contains the smartphone, a soft TPU protective case, a 45W charger and charging/data cable, a sim tool, and documentation—everything as expected.

The Phone Itself:

The unit we are reviewing is of the Amber Orange colourway, the other colour option being Olive Green. The Amber Orange gradients from bottom to top, with a flame-like design on the bottom half. This plastic-finished back is also fingerprint-resistant, with no signs of my fingerprint no matter where I press on the rear side of the phone.

The top of the rear side contains the circular module for the cameras and flash, which OPPO has named the Cosmos Ring Design. The camera module stands out against other models as it is super thin being only about 2mm. This makes the OPPO Reno12 F 5G feel thinner compared to other phones that have tall or thick camera module bumps.

The front is of flat glass with a pinhole selfie camera, a slit of the speaker for calls that doubles as the top stereo speaker, and an under-display fingerprint sensor. OPPO has made the screen with Splash Touch, where you can still touch and swipe the screen even when your hands and screen are wet.

The glass meets the very glossy sides in silver, with the top having a small speaker slot and noise-cancelling mic, power, and volume button on the right side, with a speaker slot, USB-C slot, mic and the sim tray all located in the bottom.

Specifications at a glance:

Display and Battery:

OPPO Reno12 F 5G has a 6.67-inch AMOLED display, with a peak brightness of 2,000 nits and 600 nits typical. The 1080×2400 pixel, 120 Hz screen is bright enough to use comfortably outdoors in daylight, though I would stick to gaming indoors to enjoy clear details and vibrant colours.

The 5,000 mAh battery can keep the juice on for a full day of mixed usage of social media and web surfing, moderate two hours of gaming, and chat apps. Topping the battery up with the 45W included charger from 15% to 100% takes about 55 minutes.

Gaming on OPPO Reno12 F 5G:

This is where things get interesting for the OPPO Reno12 F 5G, which is running on a MediaTek Dimensity 6300 6nm chipset. For context, the Dimensity 6000 range consists of CPU that is targeted to the entry mid-range smartphones with 5G capabilities. It is much lower than the flagship Dimensity 9300+, which offers a high-performance CPU and GPU and is designed for premium smartphones. So let’s see how the Mediatek Dimensity 6300 fares with the heavy demands of mobile gaming.

As usual, we start with Genshin Impact, at the Highest graphical setting and 60FPS. During load-in and in battles, the frames hovered in the low 10s to 20s, although it stabilised to mid-20s shortly. However, frame rates aren’t very stable in exploration, fluctuating between 20 to 28, which contributes to the stuttering.

And even when things were calmer, the frames never surpassed 30FPS no matter the scenarios, even at a standstill in a town. I had checked to ensure that it was set to 60FPS, as the frame rates stay at 30 and below, never exceeding it ever.

Lowering the graphics setting to Medium and Low, and 60FPS had the same effect, battles were in the lower 20s FPS while it was 30 FPS mostly during exploration or in town with not much action. Lowering it further to the Lowest, which was the actual settings recommended by the game, the game finally moved upwards towards the low 40s FPS in exploration. Battles at Lowest still buckles the frames to the low 20s FPS, so that’s that.

Moving on to the latest and hottest game from Hoyoverse, Zenless Zone Zero, yielded similar results. At the High, again the frames never went past 30FPS, regardless of what was set in the Settings. Domain battles had more stutters, and there are way more frame-rate dips when exploring ad when changing the viewpoint. And with Medium and Low set, the frames too never crept above 30, just as it was with Genshin Impact.

Given what was the performance results above, the recommended settings to use are setting the graphics to Medium and 30FPS. These are to ensure more stable and consistent frame rates and with better looking graphics than Low which results in a murkier background and lots of jagged edges.

Playing Genshin Impact and Zenless Zone Zero with both games set at Medium and 30FPS for two hours consumed a total of 30% charge. The lowering of the settings to Medium and 30FPS had the added advantage of lesser heat generated and the OPPO Reno12 F 5G is not that hot to the touch while gaming, which is helped further by the plastic back.

The speakers of the OPPO Reno12 F 5G are of mixed frequency. The audio sounds clear and bright, but there is almost no bass. Soundtracks and sound effects can be heard clearly, but without bass, it lacks any punch and excitement. And while OPPO Reno12 F 5G has a unique feature where the max volume can be amplified further up by 300% with the Ultra Volume Mode, I would strongly advise against it as it causes distortions and makes it sound worse.

The Camera:

OPPO has equipped the OPPO Reno12 F 5G with not just three cameras, but also a slew of AI features to support them. The onboard cameras are a 50MP main camera, an 8MP ultra-wide camera, and a 2MP macro camera.

The 50-megapixel main camera captures detailed images in daylight, but it may struggle with dynamic highlights in darker areas. As the sun sets, image quality tends to degrade, resulting in noise and light blooms around light sources.

The ultra-wide camera fares no better, even in bright daylight. Being only an 8-megapixel, images lack details, are more blurry, and lacking in colour. Thankfully, the ultra-wide shots are free of edge distortions and don’t have the fisheye lens look.

AI in OPPO Reno12 F 5G cameras:

OPPO Reno12 F 5G fares better in Portrait mode, thanks much to AI Portrait. Taking shots in the Portrait mode enables the AI post-processing of images, cleverly detecting the main subject and then blurring the background. This usually results in convincing images with good background blur, also known as bokeh.

I used the term usually here, as there would be instances where the background blurring is overdone to the point of being unnatural and is evidence of over-processing. There would be when the AI would blur out the wrong areas of the subject.

Another AI feature that is very useful for those of us who love to take pictures while vacationing or street photographers is the AI Eraser 2.0. Now in its second generation, AI Eraser 2.0 helps to remove unwanted contents from the pictures taken with the OPPO Reno12 F 5G cameras, from people to objects.

When editing an image in the photo gallery, selecting the AI Eraser and using the Smart Lasso to outline the items or people you want to remove will prompt the AI to analyze the content and generate pixels to seamlessly replace the selected areas. Alternatively, let the AI seek out most of the people in the image to remove by just selecting Remove People.

As with any AI products out there currently, the results can be a hit or miss, and it could take several tries to get convincing results. Overall though, the results are mostly positive, with the AI able to convincingly remove content and generate the background fill. I look forward to what OPPO can do with their future versions AI Eraser tool with more machine learning over time.

OPPO Reno12 F 5G Software:

OPPO Reno12 F 5G runs ColorOS 14, based on Android 14. The good news here is that OPPO has committed to four years of OS updates and security patches, something that is rare as even mid-range models from other brands only offer two years of software support.

OPPO has also equipped the OPPO Reno12 F 5G with an impressive list of AI features in addition to the AI within the camera app, namely:

All these AI features will need an active internet connection to the servers to process and regenerate the data. understandable as the Mediatek Dimensity 6300 is not powerful enough to process these AI processes natively onboard.

As for the other OS stuff, OPPO Reno12 F 5G runs fairly well and smoothly and can keep many apps open at the same time with no signs of stuttering. OPPO Reno12 F 5G also included an RGB Halo Light ring around the camera module that pulsates whenever music is being played.

What I Liked About The OPPO Reno12 F 5G:

• AI Eraser 2.0 is GREAT! Removing unwanted photo-bombs is fun, and when it works it makes for better images.
• Many other AI features.
• Good looking phone.
• Very thin camera housing bump.
• Good OLED display.

What I Wished Was Better:

• Hit or miss nature of the regenerative AI.
• OIS doesn’t seem to be very effective.
• Pictures taken can be better, especially with landscape shots.
• Many bloatware installed.

Verdict:

Playing demanding games like Genshin Impact, Zenless Zone Zero, and Wuthering Waves with the OPPO Reno12 F 5G is possible but only by lowering the graphics settings and reducing the frame rate to ensure smooth gameplay.

While OPPO has packed the OPPO Reno12 F 5G with a variety of AI features, making it a standout despite its budget-friendly price. These AI enhancements improve the phone’s camera capabilities, optimize battery life, and boost overall system performance.

And kudos to OPPO for committing to four years of OS updates and security patches for the OPPO Reno12 F 5G. For the low asking price, the OPPO Reno12 F 5G is an excellent choice for those seeking an affordable yet feature-packed AI-capable smartphone.