The Oppo Reno 14 5G Diwali Edition brings a premium design, improved performance, and useful AI features. But is it enough to survive in this price segment?
Oppo is one of the few brands available in the market that always launches special editions of its popular smartphones. In the past, we have seen multiple Reno smartphones receive a special edition, and now it is the turn of the Oppo Reno 14. The brand introduced a special Reno 14 Diwali Edition for its customers that celebrates the festive season with some interesting additions. The smartphone also features some decent features and specifications, including a 1.5K AMOLED display, MediaTek Dimensity 8350 processor, AI features, and more.
The handset is available at a price tag of Rs. 39,999 for the sole variant with 8GB RAM and 256GB of internal storage. The question here is: Can the Oppo Reno 14 5G Diwali Edition offer some value-for-money proposition in this price segment? Let's find out in this in-depth review.
The latest Reno 14 Diwali Edition sure gives a distinct look and feel compared to the rest of the Reno 14 series. First and most importantly, you will notice the new engraving on the rear panel, which changes colour when reaching a specific temperature (above 35-degree Celsuis exactly). The company calls it GlowShift technology, which is basically a heat-sensitive colour-changing technology. With this, the colour of the back panel changes from black to gold when you pour hot water on it (or run an Antutu benchmark).
The Oppo Reno 14 5G Diwali Edition comes with a special colour-sensitive back panel that changes to gold when it comes in contact with heat.
The colour shift is quite visible, and you can instantly see the beautiful engraving of a peacock, clouds, and more on the rear panel, which surely looks mesmerising and is a thing to flaunt in front of your friends. That said, the rear panel is also comfortable to hold, thanks to its matte-like finish, while the flat frame provides a confident grip. The company also ships a black cover with it, though it basically tames the beauty of the rear panel.
The volume buttons and power on/off buttons are comfortable to reach and offer a tactile response, which is a good thing. Interestingly, the phone comes with IP66, IP68 and IP69 ratings, which brings peace of mind during the monsoon or sudden rains.
Display is also one of the strongest suits of the device. The company features a 6.59-inch 1.5K AMOLED display with a resolution of 1256x2760 pixels. The display is one of the best you can get in this price segment, as the colours are vibrant and the text appears to be crisp.
The smartphone features a 6.59-inch 1.5K OLED display with 120Hz screen refresh rate.
It is also one of the best displays for those who love to binge-watch on their mobile screen. I watched a couple of web series and movies, and was satisfied with the colours they produced. In My Hero Academia Final Season, the colours were punchy with good dynamic range. On the other hand, while watching Wednesday Season 2, the blacks appear to be inky during the dark scenes.
You also get three different colour modes to customise the display to your own taste. These include Natural, Pro, and Vivid. The Natural mode delivers The Pro mode delivers true-to-source colours, but the Vivid mode makes the colours pop out. The handset also features a dynamic 120Hz screen refresh rate, ensuring a smooth scrolling experience.
The smartphone also features different colour modes to customise the display as per your own need.
The outdoor visibility is decent, and you will not face much trouble using it in a cafe or under normal sunlight. However, in harsh conditions, it might feel underwhelming. The device also features an in-display fingerprint sensor, which is fast and reliable. Coming to the speakers, it is decent at max, though at high volume, there is a tendency for a crackling sound.
The Oppo Reno 14 5G Diwali Edition comes with the latest ColorOS 15, which is based on the Android 15 operating system. The user interface is surely one of the most customisable ones available in the market, but also one of the most bloatware-ridden.
The Oppo Reno 14 5G Diwali Edition runs on Android 15 with ColorOS 15 on top of it.
There are some interesting features, like the File Dock feature, which helps to drag and drop files from one application to another. You can also customise almost everything, including themes, texts, icons, and more. But it is also one of the most bloatware you can get in a user interface. The number of pre-installed apps can be overwhelming for some, though most of them can be deleted. Then, you have the usual culprits—Hot Games and Hot Apps—that provide ads for different apps and games.
There is also Gemini, along with some interesting AI features. Apart from the usual suite of AI features like AI Summary, AI Speak, and more, you also get some cool AI features in the camera department. These include AI Recompose, AI Reflection Remover, AI Unblur, AI Clarity Enhancer, and more. Then there is the AI Studio, which allows you to turn your normal photo into social-media-ready photos with a plethora of filters and more.
Oppo Reno 14 5G Diwali Edition is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8350 processor, which was also present in the Reno 13 Pro smartphone. The chipset is basically a slight upgrade to the Dimensity 8300 processor and claims to offer slightly better gaming and overall performance. I ran some of the synthetic benchmarks on this device, and you can check it out below.
| Benchmark | Oppo Reno 14 Diwali Edition | Poco F7 | OnePlus Nord 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| AnTuTu v10 | 980058 | 18,90,333 | 14,41,357 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 | 14458 | 14,970 | 18,777 |
| Geekbench 6 Single Core | 1324 | 1,990 | 18,777 |
| Geekbench 6 Multi Core | 4056 | 6,147 | 1,974 |
| 3DM Slingshot Extreme OpenGL | NA | NA | 4,929 |
| 3DM Slingshot | NA | NA | Maxed Out |
| 3DM Wild Life | Maxed Out | Maxed Out | Maxed Out |
| 3DM Wild Life Unlimited | 11041 | 18,437 | Maxed Out |
| GFXBench T-Rex | 60 | 120 | 11,843 |
| GFXBench Manhattan 3.1 | 60 | 115 | 92 |
| GFXBench Car Chase | 60 | 66 | 92 |
In everyday use, the phone runs smoothly and fluidly. The phone is responsive and delivers a quick performance. There will be no lag or stuttering while scrolling Reels, watching YouTube videos, or heavy multitasking. However, compared to the other models in the similar price segment, the performance can feel underwhelming. We have strong performers like the Realme GT 7T, the OnePlus Nord 5, the iQOO Neo 10, and more that deliver much better performance compared to this one.
The smartphone is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8350 processor.
The Reno 14 can handle games to some extent. I played Call of Duty: Mobile with Very High visuals and the highest frame rates, and I averaged 60 fps throughout the game. The phone handled the load smoothly while playing Genshin Impact at High Graphics and 30fps. However, during extended gaming sessions, I noticed that the thermal management was not that great as the phone did heat up quite a bit. This was also visible while I ran a couple of benchmarks.
The Reno 14 Diwali Edition features a 6,000mAh battery and offers 80W fast charging support. The phone can deliver more than one day of battery backup with moderate usage. However, with heavy usage, you can accept that the device will last the full day with some battery juice left at the end of the day. In the HD battery loop test, the phone lasted 30 hours and 20 minutes. The charging speeds are also quite decent. With the 80W fast charger provided by the company, the phone charged 36 percent in 15 minutes, 70 percent in 30 minutes, and 100 percent in 57 minutes.
The latest smartphone from Oppo is loaded with an interesting camera setup, which does a decent job in both daylight and low-light conditions.
Oppo Reno 14 5G Diwali Edition daylight camera samples taken from primary sensor.
The handset captures some sharp images in broad daylight with the primary sensor. The photos offered decent contrast and dynamic range. However, you will notice slightly warmer colour tones with the primary sensor, which was quite odd.
Oppo Reno 14 5G Diwali Edition daylight camera samples taken using telephoto sensor. (Tap to view)
The telephoto lens, on the other hand, does a good job of capturing the details. The images look sharp, and the sensor is able to handle the dynamic range well. The colours were close to the source in most of the scenarios. The portraits taken from the telephoto lens offered a natural bokeh effect, though I noticed that in some cases the algorithm was a bit aggressive to boost the colours and skin tones.
Oppo Reno 14 5G Diwali Edition daylight camera samples using ultra-wide-angle lens. (Tap to View)
The ultrawide angle was a letdown. The images were soft and lacked dynamic range during the testing.
Oppo Reno 14 5G Diwali Edition low-light camera samples taken using primary sensor. (Tap to View)
Coming to the low-light performance, the phone was able to capture some decent photos with minimal noise. However, I did notice that the processing tends to oversharpen the images in some scenarios, which makes them lose their details.
Oppo Reno 14 5G Diwali Edition low-light camera samples taken with telephoto lens. (Tap to View)
The photos taken with the telephoto lens delivered some good results. The details were decent and colours looked natural. Moreover, I found out that in some cases the phone was oversharpening the images.
Oppo Reno 14 5G Diwali Edition low-light camera samples taken with ultra-wide-angle lens. (Tap to View)
However, the ultra-wide-angle lens was disappointing as well. Most of the pictures came out to be softly focused, and the image quality was not up to the mark.
Oppo Reno 14 5G Diwali Edition selfie camera samples. (Tap to View)
Coming to the selfie performance, the handset does a good job of handling skin tones and colours. The portraits came out to be good as well, and the edge detection was good. In low light conditions as well, the phone captured some decent selfies, though in cases where the light was low, you could see some grain and noise.
To conclude, the Oppo Reno 14 5G Diwali Edition is a decent smartphone for the price. The smartphone comes with a premium design language, and the special edition sure stands out from the crowd. The heat-sensitive panel is sure to be the star of the show, and gold accents add charm to the device. The handset also comes with a good display, which offers vibrant colours and inky blacks. The camera performance is decent, if not great, while the selfies came out to be good in various conditions.
The handset is backed up a 6,000mAh battery and offers 80W fast charging support.
However, the smartphone also comes with a fair share of limitations, and the performance is one of them. At a time when most of the competition in this price bracket offer much better performance, the device does feel a bit underwhelmed. Moreover, the bloatware present on the smartphone can be borderline irritating. That being said, if you are looking for a premium and good-looking smartphone that can capture good photos, then you can surely consider this one.
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