The cheapest member of the Reno12 series is finally here. Like its predecessors, the OPPO Reno12 F 5G wants to prioritize design, photography experience, and whatever highlight features its more expensive siblings have but at a lower price tag.
Today, we’ll see if this device is really worthy of the Reno branding and, more importantly, if it is worth your time and money. Let’s proceed to our OPPO Reno12 F 5G full review.
OPPO Reno12 F 5G Specs
- Android 14, ColorOS 14
- Dual SIM, Dual standby
- 6.67-inch FHD+ AMOLED display, 2400 x 1080 pixel resolution, ~395ppi
- 120Hz refresh rate, 2100-nits peak brightness
- Asahi Glass AGC DT-Star2
- 2.4GHz MediaTek Dimensity 6300 octa-core processor
- 8GB RAM
- Mali-G57 MC2 GPU
- 256GB internal storage, expandable via microSD
- 32-megapixel front camera
- 50-megapixel (f/1.8, PDAF, OIS) + 8-megapixel (ultra-wide) + 2-megapixel (macro) rear cameras, dual-LED flash
- Cosmos Ring
- Stereo speakers
- HSPA+, 4G LTE, 5G
- WiFI 6, dual-band
- Bluetooth 5.3
- GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, BDS
- NFC
- IR blaster
- USB-C
- Dimensions: 163.1 x 75.8 x 7.8mm
- Weight: 187g
- Colors: Amber Orange, Olive Green
- 5,000mAh non-removable battery, 45W SUPERVOOC charging
Design and Build Quality
The design of the OPPO Reno12 F 5G is very different from the Reno12 and Reno12 Pro. And honestly, it kinda feels like it belongs to a different line-up. The large, circular camera island looks more similar to the OPPO A3 series, which haven’t made its way to the Philippines (at least not yet).
But that doesn’t mean it looks bad. In fact, I really liked this circular camera island as it’s surprisingly flat with no camera bump. Plus, there’s a Halo Light feature within the bezels. It lights up when you receive notifications, charging, and more. We’ll talk more about it later.
The review unit we have is called Amber Orange inspired by PANTONE’s 2024 color of the year Peach Fuzz. It has a white and orange color gradient with an accent that looks like fur.
There are two color options available. The other one is called Olive Green, which lacks that fur-like accent.
Both models have a matte plastic finish on the back that eliminates fingerprint marks and smudges, so it stays clean even without a case.
It has a shiny, metal-like frame. Unlike the rear panel, this one is a fingerprint magnet, but that shouldn’t be noticeable.
The frame feels solid and well-built with no worrying flex when I tried a couple of light bend tests. There’s also a pre-applied screen protector and the case it came with looks unique and does a good job of protecting the cameras and the display.
Another interesting feature is the Reno12 F 5G lets users interact with the screen even if it’s wet, in addition to IP64 dust and water-resistance.
I liked how the flat frame provides a nice grip when watching content or taking pictures, albeit the sharp edges feel a little uncomfortable in the hands. It is also not the lightest phone around, weighing 187g, but it’s relatively thin at 7.76mm for the Amber Orange and 7.69mm for the Olive Green.
Taking a tour, we have the 6.67-inch FHD+ AMOLED screen in the front with an AGC DT-Star2 glass and a punch-hole for the 32-megapixel selfie camera. The bezels are fine, but not the thinnest we’ve seen in its price range.
Left side is clean, while the right has the volume controls and the lock/power switch. The physical buttons are tactile and clicky, but a weird resistance makes it a little harder to press than other phones we’ve tested in the past.
The top has a secondary speaker and microphone. At the bottom, we have a small SIM tray that houses two nano SIMs or one microSD card slot back-to-back. We also have the primary microphone here, the USB-C port, and the primary loudspeaker.
Overall, the OPPO Reno12 F 5G is nice in the eyes and feels well-built. I’m just not a fan of how uncomfortably boxy it is in the hands. But that seems to be the trend nowadays.
Display and Audio
The OPPO Reno12 F 5G has a 6.67-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a 2400 x 1080 pixel resolution, ~395ppi, 120Hz refresh rate, 21000-nit peak brightness, 100% DCI-P3 and sRGB coverage.
Display quality is fine, but nothing stellar. Sharpness is not an issue, the high refresh rate is felt, and the screen brightness is ample for comfortable viewing outdoors.
Widevine L1 is supported for HD streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, no fancy HDR or Dolby Atmos support though.
The stereo speakers have decent sound. The bass is audible, but the treble lacks a little oomph. It can get very loud, especially with the 300% volume boost mode, but the sound becomes a bit distorted. Even in the regular 100% maxed out volume, the sound can be a bit ear-tingling.
Hardware and Performance
The OPPO Reno12 F 5G is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 6300 octa-core processor, with Mali-G47 MC2 GPU, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of of expandable storage.
OPPO Reno12 F Benchmark Scores
Day-to-day performance was satisfactory for most use cases. I was able to multitask fine, take pictures, scroll on social media feeds, and make calls with no issues. However, we’ve tested phones that felt smoother than this.
Now, onto gaming. First, we tested Genshin Impact, the most demanding title on this set. Under the Lowest settings, which were set by default, I managed to play comfortably with no noticeable frame drops or lags. However, the image quality is obviously bad.
PUBG Mobile ran fine under Balanced/Ultra, but not the smoothest, unlike Call of Duty Mobile on Medium/High. Farlight84 also had no problems under Balanced/High, but the frame rates are a bit shaky at times.
Mobile Legends was incredibly smooth under Ultra/Super, as well as Asphalt Legends Unite using High Quality settings.
Without a doubt, the Reno12 F was definitely not meant for gaming, but it’s good enough in case you decide to actually play with it.
| Game | Graphics Settings |
| Call of Duty: Mobile | • Graphics Quality: Medium • Frame Rate: High |
| Farlight84 | • Graphics Quality: Balanced • Frame Rate: High |
| PUBG Mobile | • Graphics Quality: Balanced • Frame Rate: Ultra |
| Genshin Impact | • Graphics Quality: Lowest (Default) |
| Mobile Legends: Bang Bang | • Graphics Quality: Ultra • Frame Rate: Super • HD Mode: On |
| Asphalt Legends Unite | • Visual Quality: High Quality |
Software and User Interface
Like its siblings, the new OPPO Reno12 F 5G runs on Android 14-based ColorOS 14.0.1. As we’ve always said, ColorOS is one of our favorites as it has tons of nice features while maintaining a clean and comprehensible interface.
First, let’s take a look at one of its unique features, the Breathing Light. The physical light is nice to the eyes and cleanly surrounds the camera. I just wish it was slightly brighter.
It lights up when you’re charging, have incoming calls, and notifications from any app of your choosing, blinks to the tune of the music if you’re playing one, and when you’re launching a game. You can schedule when it will light up and choose between eight different colors per function.
The light was pretty responsive. I didn’t miss notifications even if the phone was upside-down as the light was there to notify us. The blinking when playing music is also in sync, which is a cool party trick.
I also liked OPPO’s take on a Dynamic Island-like feature. Instead of surrounding the punch-hole, the live notification widget is on the top left, which you can press and hold to expand. Although, it’s important to note that it only works in a limited number of apps like the timer and voice recording as of writing.
Now, let’s check out OPPO’s AI features. There’s the AI Speak, which will read articles and other long documents for you. You can choose between male and female voices and control the playback. The speaking voice is very clean and realistic, and you can even close the source material, do something else and it will continue playing.
If you want faster answers from long articles, you can try the AI Summary, which provides a bullet-point summarization so you can easily catch the important details. You can access these features via the Smart Tool Bar from the right side of the screen (you can enable it in the settings). Remember that the said AI tools will only be available in content they are applicable for.
AI Recording Summary is a nice feature that will literally create a transcript of a voice recording from the built-in voice recorder. Simply tap the Summarize button on the recording playback, wait for it to finish (you can close the app while waiting), and you’re good to go.
The recording only supports English, Hindi, Spanish, Italian, and Simplified or Traditional Chinese for now. Transcription looks pretty accurate and can even input which person was speaking. But if you’re using it on formal meetings and other important recordings, and you’re tasked to create the minutes, it’s ideal to still jot down notes just to be safe.
AI Writer is a good feature that lets you create social media captions in a snap. AI can analyze the image you want to post and incorporate it into the final caption.
AI LinkBoost is also included, which ensures you have mobile connectivity even if you’re in moving vehicles, underground parking, entering and exiting parking lots, and more. Plus, it improves GPS positioning even in busy streets with tall buildings.
BeaconLink is another interesting feature, which lets you call people even if you don’t have internet or cellular signal as long as they are nearby. It does this via Bluetooth.
Of course, AI is widely used in photography. There’s the AI Eraser 2.0 that lets you remove people or objects in your shot automatically, using Smart lasso, or by painting over it. The effect works really well in our tests.
AI Smart Image Matting 2.0 lets you cut out people and pets from photos, put them in your Story, and add emojis, stickers, and different backgrounds. The cutout works well, as long as the image is not too tricky with tons of elements.
There’s also AI Studio, OPPO’s AI image generator. You can add your selfie and choose from different personas available on the app. The effect looks clean and believable. You can even use the effect with two people.
It costs 10 stars to generate an image and OPPO is giving you 5,000 free stars when you create an account with the app. In case you manage to use all of them, you can earn 10 stars a day by tapping “Check In” on the app. More ways to earn stars will be announced in the future.
Those are the AI-related features to test out if you ever decide to get the OPPO Reno12 F 5G. AI features are clearly more than just a novelty as they have legitimate use cases. But that still varies from to person, though.
Cameras
The OPPO Reno12 F 5G comes with a 50-megapixel main camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide, and a 2-megapixel macro lens. A 32-megapixel selfie-snapper is on the front.
Daylight shots from the 50-megapixel main camera look decent but leaves a lot of room for improvement. Details look a little smudgy, color reproduction is a bit off, and it struggles to handle dynamic range in a bunch of shots.
Low-light shots could also be better. Noise and grains are very prominent and the details are poor. The contrast is also bland, but the colors look surprisingly passable.
The main camera is also capable of digital zooms of 2x, all the way to 10x. Considering how terrible the 1x shots already are, I was not expecting much from this. As you can see above, there’s already a substantial drop in quality at 2x.
You can also see how it struggles to handle dynamic range in these sample shots below.
The 8-megapixel ultra-wide lens takes surprisingly clean photos. I feel the colors and dynamic range look slightly better in some shots, which means it has problems with consistency. Sharpness is good considering the sensor that it has and the barrel distortion, while noticeable, is not too harsh.
Not a lot of people will have a use for the 2-megapixel macro camera, but at least it’s more useful than having a depth sensor. Image quality is fine, but what I appreciate is how very close the minimum shooting distance is.
Finally, we have the 32-megapixel selfie camera on the front. It takes nice photos with ample lighting. Sharpness is also on-point and skin tones look accurate. Just make sure you disable the face beauty mode as it could mess up the details and make your skin look pale for some reason.
The on-display fill light also did a good job of lighting up our faces even when it was completely dark. This looked better than traditional flash.
Unlike OPPO’s other more expensive phones, the cameras on the OPPO Reno12 F 5G are a little disappointing. Hopefully, a software update can still help improve it.
Battery and Charging
The OPPO Reno12 F 5G comes with a 5,000mAh battery like everyone else, and is paired with a 45W fast charger. Battery life is good and reliable, but not spectacular.
In PCMark’s synthetic battery test, it lasted for 15 hours and 2 minutes, which is slightly higher than the average score we get of 14 hours. In a real-world test, it lasted for 11 hours and 20 minutes in our 1080p YouTube Video Loop Test, which we ran until the battery went from 100% to 1%. The average score we get on this one is about 17 hours.
With those scores, you should be able to get a whole day of light to moderate use with the Reno12 F 5G. Of course, that still depends on the usage and could be less if you’re binge-watching a whole TV season in one seating.
In case you need to top up your battery, the speedy 45W SUPERVOOC charging provides a 21% charge in 15 minutes. A full charge only takes 1 hour and 25 minutes. See our full rest below:
- 15mins: 0-21%
- 30mins: 42%
- 45mins: 63%
- 1hr: 78%
- 1hr 15mins: 93%
- 1hr 25mins: FULL
Verdict
So, is the OPPO Reno12 F 5G a worthy member of the Reno series? Yes, but we have some reservations. One of the key things we liked about the Reno12 and Reno12 Pro is their cameras, an area where this device fell short. It also lags behind the competition in terms of performance and we’re not a big fan of the speakers when it reaches loud volumes.
Still, the device has a few redeeming qualities. We found its AI tools useful instead of just being a novelty. The design is attractive and the construction is sturdy, the display is vibrant and smooth, and it has one of the most polished interfaces out there.
Of course, there’s also the reliable battery life paired with a fast charger and, of course, that cool Breathing Light feature.
If you just want a dependable daily driver for staying connected with friends, families, and colleagues, then the Reno12 F 5G is worth considering. But if you have high demands for performance, gaming, and photography, then this is not it.
OPPO Reno12 F 5G pricing and availability in the Philippines
The OPPO Reno12 F 5G has an SRP of Php18,999 in the Philippines. It’s available for pre-order on OPPO Physical stores until August 30 with a bunch of freebies. It will then be available on Lazada on the 20th and Shopee and TikTok Shop on the 27th.
OPPO is also offering it at Home Credit at 0% interest, Globe Postpaid plans, and soon on Smart Signature Plans.
Pros
- Attractive, well-built design
- Smooth, vibrant 120Hz AMOLED display
- Clever Breathing Light feature
- Useful AI tools
- Reliable battery life, speedy 45W charging
Cons
- Distorted speakers under high volume
- Subpar performance
- Mediocre image quality