Oppo unveils quad-camera Reno 2 range of phones

 Oppo has announced three new phones under the Reno 2 banner, following the original Reno release earlier this year. All three devices — the Reno 2, Reno 2 Z, and Reno 2 F — are launching in India first and have four rear-facing cameras in various configurations paired with processors of varying power.

The top-end Reno 2 actually isn’t as high-end as the previous flagship, the dubiously named but excellent Reno 10x Zoom — that phone remains the fastest Reno in the lineup with its Snapdragon 855 processor. The Reno 2, then, is more of a sequel to the original regular Reno, but it sits right at the top of what you can expect from a midrange phone.The Reno 2 has a Snapdragon 730 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. The screen is a 6.5-inch 20:9 1080p Dynamic AMOLED panel, suggesting it uses the same impressive technology as Samsung’s Galaxy S10 and Note 10, though we’ll have to see it in person to confirm whether it compares in terms of quality.

While a quad-camera array doesn’t necessarily signify a high-end phone these days — remember last week’s $140 Realme 5— the Reno 2’s looks to be pretty potent. It includes an 8-megapixel 16mm-equivalent wide-angle module, a 26mm-equivalent camera using Sony’s dominant 48-megapixel IMX586 sensor, a 13-megapixel camera with an 83mm-equivalent telephoto lens, and a 2-megapixel monochrome sensor. If you do the math on those focal lengths, it all adds up to a little more than 5x optical “zoom”, with software filling in the gaps between each lens.

And yes, the Reno 2 still has the bizarre but oddly cool “shark-fin” 16-megapixel pop-up selfie camera, which includes enough room for an LED flash. Or in this case, what Oppo describes as a “soft front light.”

The lower-end Reno 2 phones, the Reno 2 Z and Reno 2 F, have to make do with a “regular” vertically lifting pop-up selfie camera and an “atmosphere light.” They also compromise on the more conventional specs. The Z has a MediaTek Helio P90 processor, while the F drops down to a Helio P70 and includes an entry-level option with 6GB of RAM. Both phones use 6.5-inch 19.5:9 1080p OLED screens.

The Z and F both have quad-camera setups including a 48-megapixel main camera, an 8-megapixel wide-angle camera, a 2-megapixel monochrome lens, and a 2-megapixel portrait lens for depth information in lieu of the flagship Reno 2’s proper telephoto camera. The only difference between the Z and F is that the Z uses a Sony IMX586 sensor for the 48-megapixel camera while the F goes for Samsung’s cheaper GM1 module. Neither phone has optical image stabilization, unlike the Reno 2.

All three phones have USB-C, VOOC 3.0 flash charging, a headphone jack, a 4,000mAh battery, an optical in-display fingerprint sensor, and run Oppo’s ColorOS 6.1. The Reno 2 will sell for Rs. 36,990 (~$515) in India, while the 2Z is Rs. 29,990 (~$415), and both phones will be available next month. No word on Reno 2 F pricing just yet.