our opinion on the brilliant smartphone

Oppo continues its return to Europe by marketing the Oppo Reno 12 FS 5G. Behind this name hides a smartphone whose price and characteristics place it between entry and mid-range. Enough to appeal to people who are at least demanding, but have a limited budget? Answer in this test.

Please note, the model launched outside our borders is called Oppo Reno 12 F. In France, it therefore gains an S and is offered with a unique configuration 12 GB of RAM + 512 GB of storage. For its return to the old continent, about a year after leaving, the Chinese manufacturer could have adopted a slightly clearer strategy, but let’s move on. Note also that if we tested the 5G version here, a 4G version also exists.

Oppo’s main objective with the Reno 12 F 5G is clear: to offer a terminal with a sufficiently solid technical sheet while remaining around the psychological bar of €350. Another objective seems to emerge: to offer some functionalities. not very original to stand out from the fierce competition embodied by Xiaomi, Honor and other Realme.

Design: the illusion of premium for a pleasant result

Tested in its quite attractive amber orange dress whose flame effect is more sober than it looks, the Oppo Reno 12 FS 5G immediately stands out with its photo block. Quite classic at first glance, this round island equipped with three sensors and flash, however, offers a ring (called Halo Light) capable of illuminating according to different situations.

Although very gadgety – especially if, like us, your smartphone spends 90% of the time lying on its back – this element is nice and allows the phone to stand out a little from the crowd. This ring, more discreet than Nothing’s Glyphe system, can light up (but not really light up in the dark) when charging, receiving calls or notifications and when playing music. A few options exist to personalize the experience, but, once again, don’t expect a real purchase argument, rather a nice bonus.

For the rest, on the edge Oppo has retained a shiny metal-style plastic to give, with some success despite fingerprints, the illusion of high-end. There are classic power and volume buttons and a USB-C socket. No jack, while the fingerprint reader is located under the screen. In short, a classic for 2024. Note that the whole thing is IP64 certified, and therefore resistant to dust and water.

Screen: a luminous solution (to correct colors)

Unsurprisingly, we will not ask the screen of an entry-level/mid-range smartphone to match the screen performance of a very high-end one. Especially since this Oppo Reno 12 FS, whose OLED panel could not be more classic in this segment – 6.67 inches with an FHD + resolution of 2400 x 1080 for 394 ppi with a maximum refresh rate of 120 Hz — is not doing so badly.

Firstly, on the brightness side. Because if on paper our test indicates a peak at 905 cd/m², below our usual Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro for example, in practice, we preferred the brightness offered by Oppo. This is a little less aggressive in the dark, and very satisfactory in normal conditions or in direct sunlight.

On the color side, however, the Delta E 2000 measured is high (4.24), the fault in particular of reds, pinks and oranges that are not very faithful. To find optimal fidelity, we advise you to opt for Natural mode and not Vivid.

Performance: the main thing is assured

Let’s move on to the inside of the smartphone. This is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 6300 SoC supported by 8 GB of RAM (software expandable to reach up to 16 GB with 256 GB storage) and a Mali-G57 MC2 GPU.

In fact, even if it is possible to find better elsewhere, we do not have much to complain about this proposal. In the case of classic use, thanks in particular to its reasonable overlay, the Oppo Reno 12 FS has always been fluid. For demanding games, on the other hand, like Genshin Impact, you will have to make visual sacrifices to benefit from sufficient fluidity (around 30 frames per second).

We will also note that this device is a very good student in terms of heating, the latter being very contained.p

For those who are wondering, WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5.3 (with support for SBC, AAC, aptX, LDAC codecs) or even NFC are there. This is therefore the minimum service on WiFi.

Audio: it saturates

Concerning the sound, the maximum volume of this Oppo is very comfortable, but this comes at the cost of clearly audible saturation and fairly weak bass.

The manufacturer also offers Holo Audio, a tool designed to balance the experience when the user listens to several sound sources at the same time (music, video game, call, etc.). In fact, it’s difficult to really hear the difference with or without.

Photo: correct for its price

On the back, Oppo has been reasonable since the main sensor is “only” 50 Mpx (f/1.8) when some equivalent terminals go up to 200. It is accompanied by an ultra-wide-angle sensor of 8 Mpx (f/2.2) and a 2 Mpx macro camera. The manufacturer is a little more generous on the front, since the sensor for selfies goes up to 32 Mpx (f/2.4).

In practice, despite this low number of megapixels, the Oppo Reno 12 FS comes out with honors in all formats. A little struggling in low light when it comes to details and dark areas, in more favorable conditions the result is well worth the price of the smartphone. Unsurprisingly, you will not want to zoom too much in your shots which quickly lose definition, while with its 10x digital magnification the result obviously does not equal a device with a telephoto Lens or optical stabilization. Same thing at night, since the dedicated mode improves things a little without working a miracle.

Note that portrait mode can be a little too aggressive, sometimes adding a little too much blur in the background or even on the subject. Other welcome modes and tools (macro, panoramic, retouching, QR code reader, Google Lens, text scanner, time-lapse, etc.) are included. The average person should be fine with the photography side of things, but the most demanding might want to look elsewhere.

Regarding video, unsurprisingly, there is no question of going beyond 1080p at 60 frames per second. The result is, however, completely satisfactory and Oppo even offers a nice tool, Dual-View, for filming with the back and front sensors simultaneously.

Software: colorOS good without being perfect

At the time of this test, the Oppo Reno 12 FS is running Android 14 with the ColorOS overlay. The manufacturer promised that it would be updated to Android 16, with three years of security patches. A light promise that we nevertheless consider sufficient for this price range. Especially since ColorOS is an overlay which, if it remains quite classic, turns out to be rather effective and complete.

If there is a dose of bloatware (preinstalled applications) that is difficult to avoid, fortunately it can be uninstalled.

Among the original software features offered, let us note in particular BeaconLink which allows you to make calls via Bluetooth to nearby people in the event of no network (as long as it is an Oppo phone). The customizable smart sidebar is also very useful for quickly accessing features and files. Same thing for the bar dedicated to video games which allows you to personalize your experience a little.

The AI ​​is obviously there, although timidly (for the moment?). We will especially note a magic eraser tool that is quite effective in the gallery for erasing or replacing elements in your photos. Note that certain features offered by Oppo (summary or voice reading of a long text for example) are currently reserved for the English language. Additionally, for functional tools (like IA Studio to create images using artificial intelligence) it may be necessary to log in to an Oppo account first. See you, perhaps, with the next update for a real revolution via AI.

Still, overall, ColorOS is pleasant and clear to navigate. Its interface offers quite a few little “tricks” to make the user’s life easier, from settings to the UI itself, without intruding too much on the pure Android experience. A good student who offers a good balance, therefore.

Autonomy

In terms of autonomy, the Oppo Reno 12 FS 5G is also a fairly good student which is placed in the high average. With our test protocol, its 5,000 mAh battery lasts about the same as that of the Nothing Phone (2a), or a little more than 24 hours.

A satisfactory result, both on paper and in practice (where it can even last a day and a half), for the vast majority of uses. Same thing for fast charging (tested with an Anker 45W power supply, since there is no power supply in the box): allow 78 minutes for a full charge and 23% in just 10 minutes of charging. Enough to never run dry unless you are really dizzy or in the middle of a desert.

Price of Oppo Reno 12 FS 5G

The Oppo Reno 12 FS 5G is offered at €349 in amber orange or olive green.

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