I will be honest with you – I had never held an OPPO device before. In fact, until the Reno 15 5G box landed on my desk (together with a cable, charger and a transparent and useful case) I had never heard of them and barely knew how to pronounce the brand name of the Chinese manufacturer that turns out to be one of the largest in the world.
So I approached this review without prejudices and without prior knowledge. I simply wanted to know: Can a mid-range smartphone give me the experience of a flagship device?
Design: Where have I seen you before?
When I took the device out of the box, my first reaction was to blink twice. The Reno 15 5G draws clear design inspiration from the iPhone 16 Pro. The flat aluminum edges, the square camera module – everything feels very familiar (and not by accident at least 3 people asked me which iPhone it is).
The device is sold in Israel in white and blue (I received the blue one), and the back is made of matte glass that greatly reduces fingerprints. It weighs 197 grams – an impressive figure when you remember there is a giant battery inside, and it feels very comfortable in the hand. An important bonus: It comes with strict durability standards (IP68 and IP69), which means it can survive both immersion in water and high-pressure water jets.
Screen and sound: Bright, sharp and detects even wet hands
The screen here is a 6.59-inch AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate, protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 7i. The display is sharp, the colors are deep (it is great fun to watch series on it or just scroll through YouTube and TikTok), and the scrolling is smooth. The maximum brightness struggles a bit under strong direct sunlight compared to flagship devices, but for most daily uses it is definitely sufficient.
What surprised me the most is OPPO’s Splash Touch technology. The screen can detect touch even when it (or you) are wet, and it works great.
In the audio department, the device offers good stereo speakers. At normal sound (100%) the result is deep and clear, but do not be tempted by the software volume boost mode up to 300% that the device offers – it turns the sound harsh and hollow.
Performance, battery and interface: A workhorse, but not everything is perfect
Under the hood sits a Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 processor with 12GB RAM and 512GB storage. In terms of connectivity, it is equipped with everything needed: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4 and NFC. In daily use the device flies. For gaming enthusiasts – it will run games, but not on the highest settings.
However, not everything worked smoothly for me on the software side. The ColorOS 16 system is fast and equipped with many AI tools, but it also suffers from “excessive cleverness.” I found myself struggling with basic settings such as notification vibrations, which required manual entry into each app separately. This is unnecessary complication that can frustrate less technological users who simply want the phone to work “out of the box.” In addition, the device comes with quite a few pre-installed apps (bloatware) – more than 10 apps that are quite unnecessary and require manual deletion. At least OPPO promises 5 years of Android updates and 6 years of security updates, which is a fantastic figure.
The star of the whole story, at least in my opinion, is the battery. 6500mAh that easily provide around 8 hours of active screen time. I finished very busy days of use with 40 percent remaining. The included charger (80W) charges the device from 0 to 100% in about 45 minutes. The disadvantage? There is no wireless charging at all here, a compromise that is hard to swallow in a phone that costs almost NIS 3,000.
Cameras: Sharp in daylight, require patience at night
The camera array includes three rear cameras (main 50MP, telephoto 50MP, and wide 8MP) and a 50MP selfie camera. In daylight, the main camera produces excellent photos. The telephoto lens (7x optical zoom) is excellent for portrait shots and manages to separate the subject from the background in a natural way. The selfie camera is simply excellent, and its wide angle (100 degrees) is very useful.
The weak link is the wide lens (8MP), which suffers from a lack of detail and a moderate dynamic range, especially in low light. In addition, in night photography or in difficult lighting conditions, patience is required: The device often takes about 10 seconds to process the photo. If you open the gallery immediately after the click, the image will look grainy, and you will need to wait until the algorithm finishes its work.
The bottom line
The OPPO Reno 15 5G is a device that hits the mark exactly for a specific target audience. At NIS 2,899, it is perfect for users who want a battery that does not run out, excellent portrait and selfie cameras, and a premium design that attracts attention – without breaking a savings plan on a flagship device.
If you are willing to forgive the lack of wireless charging and invest a little time in setting up the system and deleting unnecessary apps on the first day, you will get a loyal companion that will last you a full day without effort.