OPPO Reno5 5G Design

The OPPO Reno5 5G ticks all the checkmarks for contemporary smartphone design. You have a polycarbonate chassis that is about 7.9mm thick and weighing about 172g done up in a reflective shade of black that they’ve dubbed Moonlight Black.

OPPO’s mastery of faux finishes is on full display here and at first blush, the phone looks like it’s made of glass and metal. When held in your hand though, its plasticky nature is apparent but is made primarily of polycarbonate is a good thing as it also makes it more resilient to drops and scratches. While it’s aesthetically pleasing, the shiny finish is also a fingerprint magnet.

Up front, you have one of OPPO’s best AMOLED displays currently available with extremely thin side and top bezels, a slightly thicker bottom chin, and a tiny punch hole for the 32MP selfie camera in the corner. The Reno5 5G’s touchscreen is better than the mainstream schlock out there as it has a 90Hz refresh rate while the addition of an under-glass fingerprint reader is a welcome bonus.

Overall build quality is sturdy and competent but the phone doesn’t break any new ground in terms of design.

OPPO Reno5 5G and Reno5 Pro 5G differences

When compared side by side, the Reno 5G for Malaysia has a slightly smaller 6.4-inch FHD+ AMOLED versus the larger and curved 6.5-inch FHD+ AMOLED touchscreen in the Reno 5G Pro.

Other differences include a different chipset, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G versus the Density 1000+ from MediaTek in the Reno 5G Pro as well as having less storage and less RAM.

The cheaper Reno5 5G packs just 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage while the Reno5 Pro 5G has 12GB RAM and 256GB of storage. Both phones lack microSD card slots so you’re stuck with what you have.

Both Reno5 series phones have the same rear quad camera and selfie camera setups, roughly similar battery sizes, and 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 fast charging though the Reno5 Pro 5G edges out with the addition of WiFi 6 support.

Configurations typically vary slightly between regions but for Malaysia, you’re looking at paying N210,859 for the Reno5 Pro 5G which has a larger better quality display, more RAM, more storage, and WiFi 6 support.

The Reno5 5G is a good deal cheaper at N210,859 though this is still higher than what a midrange phone costs and is just shy of flagship phone territory.