Hands-On

OPPO Reno 2F: All about the camera

Power isn’t really its strong point

Published

October 23, 2019

MJ Jucutan

When OPPO killed the F series, we were introduced to the Reno earlier this year. A few months later, the Reno has been succeeded and in its lineup, an affordable version was launched, too.

Meet the Reno 2F. Earlier, rumors circulated about its price being too much for its specifications. Now that it has launched, let’s take a look at whether the price is really justified.

Here’s the Reno 2F in its full glory

The right side has the power button and card tray…

… while the left side has the volume rocker

The bottom houses a 3.5mm headphone jack, primary microphone, a USB-C port, and the phone’s speaker grilles

Its top accommodates the pop-up selfie camera and a secondary microphone

On the back, you can find the quad-camera setup along with the O circle up top and LED flash

OPPO ensured the Reno 2F — as part of the Reno lineup — speaks the Reno’s design language despite it being a toned-down version. It looks classy and premium, especially with its colors shifting when hit by light at a certain angle.

Power isn’t its strong point

On paper, the Reno 2F isn’t that promising. The Reno 2F prides itself with curved edges, a 6.5″ full-screen AMOLED display, and a Corning Gorilla Glass protection.

Taken out of the box, it runs ColorOS 6.1 based on Android 9 Pie. On the inside, it has an 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, similar to how most phones in the same price tag back their internals. Additionally, there’s a MicroSD slot that can handle up to 256GB of additional storage.

It’s also powered by MediaTek Helio P70 and runs a Mali-G72 MP3 graphics card. Furthermore, it boasts of a 4000mAh battery capable of 20W fast charging through VOOC Flash Charge 3.0. Moreover, the Reno 2F includes an under-display fingerprint scanner.

Processor alone, the Reno 2F is losing compared to its competitors and in the midrange bracket. But where the phone truly shines is its quad-camera setup.

All about storytelling

Nowadays, it’s important to have a camera that captures all the moments you encounter in life. We’ve built an age where storytelling is a must whenever we upload our content on social media. The Reno 2F may lack the power expected in its bracket, but it compensates with its cameras.

The Quad camera setup houses a 48-megapixel main camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera, a 2-megapixel monochrome camera, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. Its motorized pop-up camera accommodates a 16-megapixel single camera. The front and rear cameras are capable of Full HD video recording at 30fps.

Now while it sounds good reading about its camera setup, take a look at how these cameras really perform.

Decent shots, balanced colors

In daylight, the Reno 2F is excellent in capturing photos. Even in poor lighting conditions such as yellow lights found indoors, the Reno 2F processes it differently after you’ve taken a shot. It balances the color correctly, which might be difficult if you’re aiming for dramatic and colored shots. But then again, there are editing apps which you can use to get the look you’re going for.

But if there are cases where you’d rather see how accurately it balances the color, the photo above is exactly the way I saw it. A wall decor on top of bricks lit in all its purple glory. Compared to other cameras I’ve tested before, there’s always a cool or warm tint added after the photo was processed.

Even inside cafes and bars filled with too much yellow light that might make your photos look warm, the Reno 2F was able to minimize the tone so it looks aesthetically pleasing. And even in busy backgrounds, the Reno 2F created proper depth as seen in my Maple Vanilla Cold Brew. Of course, this was taken with just the auto mode because portrait mode sucks.

Portrait-perfect?

It took several tries to achieve a shot that satisfies me using the portrait mode. As someone who’s not a fan of portrait mode due to its imperfect cutting out skills, the Reno 2F created an excellent cutout, especially for a midrange phone. Of course, we still need more time to test its portrait mode and that’s for another story.

For now, I’m pleased with how smartphones are making an effort in perfecting the portrait mode. Until then, I’ll still be iffy about it.

Go closer

The Reno 2F’s 2x zoom is perfect when you don’t want to move closer to capture the shot you’re aiming for. Case in point: I love bicycles and benches, and I figured it’s going to be a pretty subject. I was carrying a heavy backpack, along with a tripod, which made me lazy to move around. Using the 2x zoom made it easier for me to capture my shot without exerting any effort.

Choose your perspective

We are blessed to have the three important modes in a smartphone on this price range. The Reno 2F lets you capture ultra wide angle shots, a regular shot in Auto mode, and take closer shots up to 5x zoom.

Beautiful in wide

Wide angles are my favorite, especially when I’m taking landscape and architectural photos. The Reno 2F’s ultra wide angle mode is fun to play around with.

Night mode vs Auto

Sitting (and feeling) like a king, I had this photo taken with a wide angle lens which uses an f/2.2 aperture. Curious to see if night modes are getting any better, I took a comparison photo with and without night mode.

If you take a look at the photos, I’d prefer auto if it meant I need to share the photo urgently with my friends and families. The photo taken with night mode is far from perfect, but it opens an avenue for editing and post-processing. When everything is lit, it’s the best time to tone it down, apply your aesthetics, and own the photo.

Toned-down selfies

Selfies are decent when it’s not in beauty mode. Using the auto mode, you get an accurate color balance on your selfie. Applying the portrait mode on your selfie to blur your background adds a green tint to your photo.

Beauty modes are here to stay, but you have an option to turn it off. OPPO boasts of having a smart skin tone recognition which adjusts your skin tone based on the ambient lighting. However, it’s not enough to convince me to use a feature that wipes away my face and makes me look like a doll.

Is this your GadgetMatch?

The OPPO Reno 2F is difficult to recommend, especially for buyers looking for a value smartphone. The only advantage of the Reno 2F is its powerful cameras that even I, a flagship lover, like.

If camera is a priority especially when you love uploading in social media to death, then you might want to give this phone a try. Either way, you can just get a mirrorless camera if photography is all you care about.

For those interested to buy this smartphone, it’s priced at PhP 19,990 (US$ 389). It’s available in two colors: Sky White and Lake Green. The Reno 2F is now available in OPPO stores nationwide.

Hands-On

OPPO Reno15 F 5G hands-on

More question marks than exclamation points?

Published

March 6, 2026

Manila Connoisseur

The OPPO Reno15 Series 5G made its way to the Philippines last month, and reception has been pretty great so far.

With a powerful camera package, AI, and a slew of upgrades, there’s a lot to love and not much negative to say. But that’s with both the standard and Pro models.

On the other hand, with the Reno15 F 5G — the series’ supposed budget-friendly “lite” variant —there were more question marks than exclamation points.

I attack this piece once more from a consumer standpoint: shelling out PhP 23,000 to PhP 26,000 for a midrange smartphone that feels and performs like it’s a few notches below its segment doesn’t sound too pleasant.

Performance

With a Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 processor, the OPPO Reno15 F performs pretty much like any sub PhP 20,000 mid-ranger. It’s acceptable, but does not punch above its weight as expected.

No major hiccups for light and casual usage. But performance struggles a lot for demanding video games.

It also heats up significantly just 10 minutes into a title like Honkai: Star Rail. This is a stark contrast to the marketed 25℃ and up to 10 hours straight of smooth gameplay.

Although, the experience was still enjoyable with several wins and MVP runs in Call of Duty Mobile. It only means the F variant remains a more camera-centric phone rather than an a hard-hitting all-arounder.

As with other devices, the 7000mAh battery with 80W SUPERVOOC is a strong suit. You’re fueled from dawn ’til dusk, with much to spare. Recharging takes a breeze, too.

Display

The OPPO Reno15 F has a 6.57-inch 120Hz display, with a 92.8% screen-to-body ratio. At least, that allows you to focus on content on the screen.

Content leans more towards the cooler tone, so you’ll have to adjust it manually if you want a warmer or more vivid look.

The 397ppi pixel density is fine to ensure sharper visuals, while the 1400 nits peak brightness is helpful outdoors.

Camera

The device’s 50MP main camera captures decent quality. The color science leans on being natural anew, without being too dull nor washed out. You can pull off smooth portraits too.

I hardly used the phone for stills as I focused on videos, but here are some samples, on the occasions I was able to take the handset with me:

The 50MP front camera is an intriguing add-on, as it is capable of up to 4K video and a wide 100° field of view.

What this does is it essentially removes the need to flip your phone for the popular “0.5” shots. And the quality doesn’t get compromised given the pixel count.

Here are some selfies from different focal lengths:

To its credit, filming with the back camera at 60fps does look and feel smooth, although it can be improved.

Same with the front camera; and the zoom range can be switched from 0.6 to 2x without cutting the recording.

Although, it’s still best to use a selfie stick or small tripod if you’re just after talking head videos.

Speaking of which, here are a few I’ve made with just this device:

@manilaconnoisseur

Naka 99 pesos pala ‘yung large Golden Milk Tea ni @highlandscoffeeph until February 28! Oolong base, cream, and okay pala ang chickpeas as sinker along with red jelly. #highlandscoffee #goldenmilktea #oolongmilktea #freeupsize

♬ Kìa Bóng Dáng Ai – Pháo

@manilaconnoisseur

Laging sold out ‘yung fun run? Try The Conqueror Virtual Challenges. Stay motivated in your running era, make every run count, and get cool medals after every completed challenge. You can even get a free run or discounted bundles! @theconquerorchallenges #virtualrun #funrun #runningera #staymotivated

♬ original sound – Manila Connoisseur – Manila Connoisseur

But for travel and on-the-go captures, as OPPO markets for the series in general, even the Reno15 F can cover a lot of background along with your or your groups’ faces.

Make no mistake, there are some useful AI editing features here. In particular, AI Portrait Glow gives your raw capture an effect to make it look it was taken with flash.

I do not recall the device heating up as well when taking many photos or videos, so you can say it’s more optimized for that task rather than gaming.

Connectivity issues

Meanwhile, AI LinkBoost 3.0, as in the case of the OPPO A6 Pro, doesn’t seem to punch above its weight either.

Once, I also played Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and the session opened to a jittery start despite being on Wi-Fi and having a stable connection. I don’t know what triggered this.

Design, feel

We got the Aurora Blue variant which does kind of resemble the northern lights when you tilt the phone a certain way and when light hits its back panel.

View this post on Instagram

The cursive “Reno” on the large, protruding camera island gives it more style.

However, it’s all just aesthetics. On the downside, the phone is all sorts of slippery.

I couldn’t hold it properly without think of it slipping away from my hands; nor could I put it on my lap with confidence.

So I guess it’s good that it has structural integrity and waterproofing, because you’ll need that.

oplus_16

The 6.57-inch body does have a good balance between being too compact and too large, like ultras and pro maxes.

It has a squarish body and has already adapted to the premium, aluminum frame look from the sides.

Is this your GadgetMatch?

Sadly, the OPPO Reno15 F 5G is a Swipe Left unlike its bigger, more capable siblings. There are plenty of plus points for the camera package but take that away, and I don’t see much difference between the Reno15 F and something like the A6 Pro.

Granted, the asking price of this phone will drop significantly in a few months. But throw in a little more, and you’ve got a legitimate mid-ranger that’s more on the premium side rather than the cheap end of the spectrum.