PHONE CAMERAS HAVE CONQUERED THE NIGHT

It's official; I now see no reason whatsoever to buy a camera.

Unless you're a professional photographer shooting pictures for magazines or billboards, why would you spend the money on a camera (and decent cameras cost a lot of money) when you can get a phone that delivers all the shots you need? Even in the dark...

Especially when you can pick up that phone for around $1000 and it'll do 5G too...

The OPPO Reno4 5G is one of the new class of phones offering most of the flagship features at a more affordable mid-tier price.

If you're done with those overrated, glass-backed handsets that basically mean you're risking a cracked phone front and back, the Reno4 will be right up your street. The "Reno Glow" finish on the back cover looks and feels a bit like frosted glass but it's much lighter and far less susceptible to fingerprints... and in Galactic Blue as pictured above, it's just damn pretty. There's a prismatic shimmering across the back highlighted beautifully by the coloured metal rails around the edges.

Alternatively, you could go with Space Black but seriously... why would you?

What's more, my review device arrived with the coolest case I've ever seen - designed by local artist, Chippy. If you're quick, you might be able to snatch one from the OPPO website - Natasha Vermeulen has created one too.

But there's a lot more to the Reno4 than just good looks. The rear-facing Ultra Clear Triple LDAF camera is one of the less obtrusive camera modules around right now but it certainly has plenty of tricks up its sleeve. There's a top-notch 48MP Sony IMX586 for the main shooter, teamed with an 8MP ultra wide camera and a 2MP mono lens.

I'll start by saying I'm impressed by the wide-angle shots - hardly any distortion at the edges with good detail and contrast. Of course, OPPO's marketing around the Reno range is all about low-light shooting - most camera's will do a good job outside in golden sunshine but when the lights go out things can get noisy, blurry and just plain bad pretty fast - not with the Reno4 though. Even without using Night Mode, the pictures are colourful and sharp. Night Mode slows things down a bit but if you have a second or two the wait is worth well worth it - really good pics even in very dark locations.

The selfie-cam rises to the late-night shooting task too. Great selfies are just my minimum expectation from any OPPO phone - they've built their brand on it - but the Reno4's combination of 32MP main sensor and 2MP dedicated bokeh lens really does provide some absolute crackers. You can also use Night Mode for selfies and the handset will brighten the whole screen to work as a flash if required. I took selfies in my wardrobe with the door closed and they still came out clear and colourful. I then had to explain what I was doing in there.

Unfortunately, because the front-facing camera is a double-lens array, the cutout is a bit bigger than I'd prefer in an otherwise lovely 6.4-inch OLED display. At least that cutout is in the top left corner which becomes bottom left when watching full-screen content in landscape - probably the least intrusive position on the screen.

If what you're watching is your own video, it'll look more professional than ever thanks to OPPO's miraculous Ultra Steady Video 3.0 - which works both front and rear. OPPO's definitely thrown the kitchen sink at video quality, developing features like Laser Detection Auto Focus and its Ultra Night Video Algorithm.

None of this is going to be any use if there isn't the processing power to make it all happen. I've used a few phones this year with plenty of fancy photo features but if everything freezes or crashes when you're changing picture modes, what's the point? Not an issue for the Reno4. Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865G CPU, combined with an Adreno 620 GPU, 8GB of RAM and a respectable 128GB of internal storage keep this handset singing along. It's smooth and fast to use - especially in High-Performance mode.

I was a bit worried about switching to High-Performance because when you do, the Reno4 warns of extra battery drain. I needn't have worried - battery life on the Reno4 is standout, using High Performance or not. This is thanks to the 4000mAh dual-cell setup which coasts through even the longest day of heavy use without breaking a sweat. OPPO has also developed quite the fast-charging reputation and you'll find a 65W SuperVOOC charger in the box. Yes, a charger included in the box - what's more - a genuinely fast charger. How quaint.

You get earbuds and a case too, adding even more value to what's already looking like a fanatastic buy. This is one of those phones I've found so easy to use; it runs well, has great battery life and totally over-delivers in the photography department - especially at night.

Don't forget to check out those artist-designed cases too, very cute.

Click here for more information on the OPPO Reno4 5G.

PERFECT FOR MY POCKET

The gap between what your average punter needs from a phone and what manufacturers end up putting in their devices seems to be growing all the time.

Sure, we all want a handset that looks great and runs well but how often are we really going to use that 100x zoom or shoot an 8K video?

So maybe you can save a few bucks by forgetting the flagships and perusing what's available mid-tier. Trouble is, some of the compromises made to save a few hundred are often the few features you liked best.

Tricky...

 

I was a fan the second I picked it up, so I guess the name is appropriate. The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE (Fan Edition) is my kind of phone.

It's light, for starters, primarily due the the matte-finish, metallic-looking rear casing - I assume it's polycarbonate of some kind but it still has a premium sheen to it. In New Zealand the current colour choices are Cloud Navy (as pictured), Cloud Lavender, Cloud Mint and Cloud Red. Fantastic to see some genuinely different options for a change - especially red. I can't understand why there aren't more red phones out there, given it's most normal people's favourite colour. Right? Pity I got stuck with the blue one. Oh well.

In fact, I'd better point out the review unit I'm using is actually the 5G version which isn't on sale here yet. That means it has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 CPU, as opposed to the Exynos 990 chip in the Kiwi models. In theory the performance from both chips isn't massively different and the point is, the original S20 flagship devices from earlier in the year have the same chips. 

That doesn't automatically mean the S20 FE runs at the same, high-end level - not quite. It only has 6GB of RAM installed as opposed to 12GB in the S20 Ultra. This is more than enough for most tasks but I have noticed things can get a bit laggy when launching resource-heavy apps like the camera. Generally speaking it sails along pretty smoothly, downloading, streaming, browsing... I'm not much of a mobile gamer but I've been told the device actually does a perfectly good job thanks mostly, once again, to the high-end Adreno GPU.

That's the thing with the S20 FE - most of the places you expect Samsung to have skimped, they simply haven't. While other phone makers lose things like IP68 water and dust resistance the moment they need to save a buck, the FE is still toilet-proof. Many other flagships still don't do wireless charging. This $1099 phone does - even reverse wireless charging ("Wireless Powershare") for accessories like Samsung's earbuds and smartwatches.

Oh, and yes, there is a charger included in the box! How old school.

The battery is big - 4500mAh - without being so big it adds excessive bulk and weight to the device. This guarantees enough charge to coast through even the longest days.

The screen is where Samsung has cut corners... but not many. Physically, you'll immediately notice the 6.5inch Super AMOLED display is flat - no curvy edges here like its more expensive predecessors. However, there may be more positives than negatives to this, especially given the screen is still outstanding and still capable of that magic 120Hz refresh rate ensuring super smooth scrolling and response. A flat screen is a lot cheaper to replace and lately I've had issues using some apps with on-screen controls that stretch right to the edge of the display. Those problems disappear on this phone.

I really feel like there's a bit of an "Emperor's New Clothes" moment going on right now in the smart phone market. We thought we needed that shiny glass back because the phone-makers told us it was a premium feature. Yet in practice, glass breaks and attracts endless smudges and fingerprints. We were also convinced curved screens were the best thing ever... but why? Swapping out features like these definitely appeals to me and presumably the other Samsung fans this handset is being marketed to.

Obviously, not every compromise is an improvement. While you still get a triple-lens rear shooter on the FE, there's no question it's not quite the camera quality we've seen from the very top of  this year's S20 and Note 20 ranges. You get 12MP ultra-wide and wide-angle lenses combined with an 8MP telephoto sensor. This means very good long and wide-angle pics, ideal for outdoor use. Samsung has also stepped up its low light performance, something many brands seem to be emphasising right now. Close-up shots is where it all falls down a bit though - you tend to get clearer shots by zooming in from a distance, not ideal. As I've mentioned, using the camera is where the FE seems most underpowered RAM-wise, possibly because the app still offers high-end features like Single Take - Samsung's multiple-shots-in-one option - to make sure you capture the perfect shot. Ironic if the app takes too long to launch and you miss it. Don't worry, the finished pics are generally fabulous, it just takes a while to swap between camera modes when you're taking them.

The 32MP selfie cam is great though, peeping through the tiniest cutout in the centre-top of the display.

Samsung's recent flagships have done an excellent job of providing decent stereo sound reproduction by using the top ear-piece as the left-hand speaker. This is another feature that usually goes west the moment you cut costs. Yet this is another feature the FE still has.

That's the main message here; this really is a phone with most of the useful bits and without much of the silly stuff you don't really care about. At $1099, it's certainly at the upper end of the "mid-range" market but with so many flagship features on board, it's undoubtedly the best value-for-money phone we've seen this year. And it comes in red! What more can you ask for?

Click here for more information and pricing on the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE.