Oppo has announced the latest phone in its increasingly diversified Reno range of flagship phones, the Reno Ace. This one is in many ways the most high-end entry yet, although that depends on how you feel about notches.
Spec-wise, this device is very similar to sister company OnePlus’ excellent new 7T. There’s a Snapdragon 855 Plus processor, a 20:9 6.5-inch 1080p display with a small waterdrop notch and a 90Hz refresh rate, and a camera system built around Sony’s ubiquitous 48-megapixel IMX586 sensor.
The Reno Ace gains an extra fourth camera with a monochrome sensor, however, and comes with up to 12GB of RAM. The Reno 10x Zoom, with its notchless display, “shark fin” pop-up selfie camera, and periscope telephoto lens, could still be considered the top-end Reno if you’d value its features over the faster processor and screen in the Ace.
The Ace’s truly unique feature is its breakthrough fast charging. Oppo was already the leader here with its Lamborghini-edition Find X, but the Reno Ace’s 65W SuperVOOC steps it up further. The phone’s 4,000mAh dual-cell battery can be charged from 0 to 100 percent in 30 minutes, according to Oppo, allowing for two hours of usage from just a five-minute charge.
Xiaomi and Vivo have both shown off faster ways to charge a 4,000mAh battery, but neither have actually shipped products that make use of the tech. Oppo also says the Reno Ace’s 65W charger is the smallest on the market thanks to GaN technology.
We’ll have to test those claims for ourselves, of course. The Reno Ace does also support both USB-C Power Delivery and Qualcomm’s Quick Charge at 18W for times when you don’t have Oppo’s proprietary charger and cable, which is good news given that Google now mandates standard fast-charge tech for all Android phones.
The Reno Ace is coming to China first and starts at 2,999 yuan (~$420) for 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, or 3,799 yuan (~$530) for 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. In between those options is a wild Mobile Suit Gundam special edition with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for 3,599 yuan ($505), which is obviously the one to go for.