Reno4 Z, a fair price for a top phone
The Oppo Reno4 Z 5G is a big phone with a large screen but is relatively thin at 8.1mm and weighs 184g.
You no longer have to spend flagship prices to get a 5G smartphone thanks to the release of devices like the Oppo Reno4 Z 5G. This relatively inexpensive handset offers a lot of premium features including a large 6.57-inch IPS display with 120Hz refresh rate for a super-smooth user experience along with dual front cameras and a quad-rear camera setup.
The Reno4 Z is a big phone with a large screen but is relatively thin at 8.1mm and weighs 184g, which is light when compared to the iPhone 11 Pro Max, which weighs 226g with similar dimensions. The front screen uses Gorilla Glass 3 and has a pill-shaped cutout for the dual front-facing cameras. Despite the IPS display rather than OLED, bezels are reasonably thin although the bottom is bigger than the sides.
The back looks like glass but is actually plastic with a stylish metallic finish underneath that reflects a dark navy colour although the official colour of my review device is Ink Black. The only thing I don’t love about the back is that it’s a fingerprint magnet. To be fair though, the Reno4 Z does come with a nice transparent silicone case along with a pre-installed screen protector.
On the left side is the volume up and down buttons and the SIM tray. On the right, there’s a combi power button and fingerprint sensor. The latter works reliably and fast but there’s also fast, but less secure face unlock feature which uses the front selfie camera.
On the bottom is a mono-speaker which sounds decent but a stereo setup would have been nice. However, you do get a 3.5mm headphone jack and what’s more, you also get a set of wired headphones in the box.
The 6.57-inch display has a resolution of 2400 x 1080px with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. The higher refresh rate does make everything feel faster, but while scrolling through social feeds and web pages, I did notice small stutters now and again, something you don’t see on flagship devices, even ones with slower 90Hz displays. This isn’t a big deal and is more down to the mid-range MediaTek Dimensity 800 5G, which in everyday use feels zippy.
Overall, the display is one of the better IPS LCD displays I’ve seen this year and most users will be more than happy with its performance. It is nice and bright with decent contrast and punchy colours that don’t look oversaturated and viewing angles are excellent.
The camera system on the Oppo Reno4 Z’s is a quad setup but only two user-selectable. The main camera has a 12MP sensor with an f/1.7 aperture lens. The second has an 8MP sensor with an f/2.2 ultrawide lens. In the camera app, you can shoot 2x and 5x but these use the extra lenses to produce the additional information to create a hybrid digital zoom with a maximum digital zoom of 10x. One of the extra lenses is also used for depth sensing.
The front selfie camera is 16MP with an f/2.4 aperture lens which produces excellent results with good detail. The second camera is used for depth sensing duties and I really like the way Oppo doesn’t overdo Portrait mode. It does a good job of isolating the subject from the background without making it look like a cardboard cutout.
The camera app is responsive and shooting modes include a decent Night mode, Manual mode as well as video modes for Slow-motion and Timelapse.
Photos taken with the main camera in good light are excellent although the ultrawide lens isn’t as sharp as the main shooter. There’s no optical image stabilisation which can cause motion blur in lower lighting.
Expert mode offers a good selection of choices and I was able to get impressive results while using the phone on a tripod.
The Reno 4 Z can capture video up to 4K 30FPS and 1080p up to 30fps. No OIS isn’t ideal although you do get electronic image stabilisation which isn’t all that effective.
The MediaTek Dimensity 800 5G powered Reno4 Z 5G comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage which is more than plenty for most users but there’s no SD card slot — who uses them anymore? You also don’t get any dust or waterproof rating.
The 4,000mAh battery is more than enough to get you through a decent day's load and the supplied 18W charging is fast providing a quick top-up when required. There’s no wireless charging which is not surprising considering the more expensive Oppo Reno4 Pro 5G doesn’t have it either.
The Oppo Reno 4 Z 5G is a strong performer overall with 5G support for future-proofing. It has decent storage, a nice big display with a fast refresh rate and more than enough power under the hood for fast action gaming or multitasking app switching. The strange camera system is a solid performer, especially considering the price and this is one of the better-looking mid-range smartphones to hit Irish shores this year.
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