Even with a monster battery, the Oppo Reno 15 F doesn’t do enough to stand out from the crowd.
These days, you don’t need to pay top dollar for an Android flagship in order to get a great handset. Mid-range competition is very tough in the $500 to $1,000 bracket, producing some impressive all-rounders.
Enter the $679 Oppo Reno 15 F, taking a decent price jump from the last $599 Reno F model, but still considerably cheaper than the last $899 standard Reno. While it strikes a balance on price, the Reno 15 F really struggles to hit the sweet spot in terms of features and performance.
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Oppo Reno 15 F first impressions
With a 6.57-inch display, the Oppo Reno 15 F stands reasonably tall but not so wide as to be unmanageable. It sticks with Oppo’s move away from slightly bevelled edges and curved screens, in favour of a more utilitarian flat-edge aluminium frame which could easily be mistaken for an Apple iPhone.
Oppo can be a bit hit-and-miss when it comes to bringing its smartphone ranges and variants to Australia, so there’s some explaining to do. For example, the Reno 14 range completely bypassed us, so the Reno 15 F is actually the local successor to the Reno 13 F.
To make things more complicated, Oppo’s Australian Reno 15 lineup has changed compared to previous years, so it’s difficult to make direct comparisons.
The standard Reno 15 isn’t coming to Australia, but the 15 F has shrunk, so it’s roughly the same size as the old standard Reno 13. At the same time, the Reno 15 Pro has also shrunk to make way for the new 6.78-inch 15 Pro Max, which we won’t see locally.
All of that aside, the Oppo Reno 15 F’s design is by-the-numbers, with the power button on the right sitting comfortably under your thumb, or left index finger for southpaws, and the volume buttons above. The fingerprint reader is built into the screen, lighting up as soon as you pick up the handset to make it easy to find, but personally, I’d rather it be built into the power button.
There’s no sign of the Apple-esque extra buttons adorning the Oppo Find X9 Pro, such as the touch-sensitive Quick Button for launching the camera on the right, or a customisable Action button on the left.
The Reno 15 F comes in a choice of two colours, an understated matte Twilight Black and a more striking Aurora Blue (pictured), with a rear etched texture which shimmers like the northern lights. In return, the Aurora Blue model is a fraction thicker and heavier.
Across the bottom of the handset, you’ll find a USB-C port and SIM card slot, supporting dual nano-SIM, eSIM and a microSD. There’s no sign of an old-school 3.5 mm audio jack.
Fire up the Reno 15 F, and you’re presented with a decent 2372×1080-pixel AMOLED display (leaving Australian OLED-lovers regretting that we don’t get the standard Reno 15).
The screen offers 10-bit colour with a 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut, along with up to 120 Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling. It delivers a peak brightness of 600 nits indoors and 1,200 nits outdoors.
That’s way down from 1,800 nits outdoors on the Reno 15 Pro, also meaning the 15 F doesn’t let you enjoy Netflix with the benefit of HDR 10+, for extra detail in the brightest highlights and deepest shadows.
Flip the handset over, and you’ll find a triple lens rear camera array, with the same specs as the old Reno 13 F.
There’s a 50 MP five-piece lens main shooter with the benefit of optical image stabilisation. Alongside is an 8 MP ultrawide and a 2 MP macro, which might disappoint those hoping instead for a telephoto lens like on the 15 Pro. To be fair, a telephoto lens with optical zoom isn’t common at this price point.
Around the front, you’ve got an upgraded 50 MP ultrawide selfie camera, opting for a punch-hole design rather than relying on a notch.
Oppo Reno 15 F specifications and price
| Display size | 6.57-inch |
| Display resolution | 2372×1080 pixel, 397 ppi |
| Display technology | AMOLED Corning Gorilla Glass 120 Hz max refresh rate 240 Hz max touch sampling rate 10-bit colour, 100% DCI-P3 600 nits brightness, 1400 nits high brightness mode |
| Bands | 2G GSM 3G WCDMA 4G LTE FDD/TDD 5G Sub-6 |
| Chipset | 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 Mobile Platform |
| GPU | Adreno 710@676MHz |
| Rear cameras | Wide angle: 50MP; f/1.8; FOV 79°; 5P lens; AF supported; Supports 2-axis OIS |
| Ultra-wide angle: 8MP; f/2.2; FOV 112°; 5P lens | |
| Macro: 2MP; f/2.4; FOV 89°; 3P lens | |
| Front camera | 50MP; f/2.0; FOV 100°; 5P lens; AF supported |
| RAM | 8 GB LPDDR4X |
| Onboard storage | 256 GB UFS 3.1 |
| microSD slot | microSDXC |
| SIM | Dual Nano-SIM and eSIM |
| Charging | USB-C Supports (Max): 80W SUPERVOOC Compatible with: 67W and below SUPERVOOC, 55W PPS, 13.5W PD, 13.5W QC |
| Battery | 6500 mAh / 25.48 Wh |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.1, Low Energy SBC, AAC, LDAC, aptX, aptX HD codecs |
| Operating system | ColorOS 16 (based on Android 16) |
| Security | Fingerprint reader, Facial recognition |
| Ruggedness | IP69 rating for water and dust resistance |
| Dimensions | 158.18 x 74.93 x 8.14 mm (Twilight Black) 158.18 x 74.93 x 8.27 mm (Aurora Blue) |
| Weight | 189g (Twilight Black) 196g (Aurora Blue) |
| Colours | Twilight Black, Aurora Blue |
| Price | $679 RRP |
| Warranty | 2 years |
| Official website | Oppo Australia |
Features
The Oppo Reno 15 F runs Android 16, customised as usual with Oppo’s own ColorOS UI, which bears more than a passing resemblance to Apple’s iOS.
As is the trend, the ColorOS comes with plenty of AI-powered features, primarily around multimedia editing and the smart assistant. Oppo also strives to play nicely with Apple devices, such as AirDrop-like functionality, which kicks in when you place it alongside an iPhone.
The handset will receive five major Android OS updates and six years of security patches, which is good these days for a mid-range handset, even if it falls short of the seven years promised for the Samsung and Google flagships.
When it comes to connectivity, it’s a sub-6 5G handset, but it lags behind the times with Bluetooth 5.1 and Wi-Fi 5.
Under the bonnet is an ageing mid-range 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 Mobile Platform, also carried over from the old Reno 13 F. It’s accompanied by stock standard 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of onboard storage.
Powering all this is a massive 6500 mAh battery, which has long been a standout feature of the Reno F variants. As a result, the Reno 15 F should easily go 36 hours before recharging, perhaps longer if you nurse it.
When you do need a top-up, the handset can take advantage of SUPERVOOC wired fast charging, using the supplied bulky AC charger, but not wireless charging.
Quality
Geekbench 6 results are disappointing considering the price tag, at 935 single-core, 2,745 multi-core and 1,537 GPU (OpenCL). It’s enough for day-to-day tasks, but is outgunned by the similarly priced Samsung Galaxy A56 and Motorola Edge 60 Fusion.
| Phone | CPU single-core | CPU multi-core | GPU |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple iPhone 16e | 2,679 | 6,144 | 23,732 |
| Oppo Reno 15 Pro | 1,555 | 6,330 | 11,828 |
| Xiaomi Poco F6 | 1,899 | 4,734 | 8,762 |
| Google Pixel 9a | 1,716 | 3,895 | 8,011 |
| Samsung Galaxy A56 | 1,364 | 3,898 | 6,539 |
| Samsung Galaxy A55 | 1,153 | 3,428 | 3,086 |
| Motorola Edge 60 Fusion | 1,050 | 3,014 | 2,581 |
| Motorola Edge 50 Fusion | 1,016 | 2,937 | 1,802 |
| Oppo Reno 15 F | 935 | 2,745 | 1,537 |
When it comes to photography, the 50 MP main shooter produces run-of-the-mill results, looking reasonably detailed but a bit dull.
Likewise with the selfie camera, which struggles to pick up finer lines of a 50-something face, even when the default retouching isn’t too over-the-top.
Meanwhile, the 2 MP macro lens is very disappointing, and it takes a lot of work to get even mediocre shots. Move the phone any closer, and it looks worse.
Who is the Oppo Reno 15 F for?
Fantastic battery life aside, there’s not much to help the Oppo Reno 15 F stand out from the competition. The lack of firepower compared to rivals is to be expected from Oppo, but it fails to balance this out with the great camera quality that you might expect from the Reno range.
The post Oppo Reno 15 F review: A mid-range battler that powers on appeared first on GadgetGuy.
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