Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G House of the Dragon Limited Edition First Impressions: Same Phone, Fancy Packaging

In order to release special edition smartphones, manufacturers frequently collaborate with movie studios, TV networks, and even anime producers. They usually make minor changes to the physical design of the phone, user interface (UI), packaging, and occasionally even the hardware of a phone in order to appeal to fans of a particular franchise.

This time, Oppo has partnered with the HBO show House of The Dragon for a special edition of its Reno 8 Pro 5G (Review) smartphone. It's been quite some time since the Reno 8 Pro was released, so this move might interest some buyers, especially those that are fans of the TV show. We managed to get our hands on the Reno 8 Pro 5G House of The Dragon Limited Edition and we'll tell you whether spending Rs. 45,999 on a phone that launched six months ago is still worthwhile.

The Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G House of The Dragon Limited Edition comes in a sizeable black box with a dragon-scale-inspired texture and the dragon logo embossed in gold at the top. Opening the flap reveals a knotted scroll tucked neatly within a compartment along with a 'House of the Dragon X Oppo' insignia. The scroll contains information about the box's contents in a style reminiscent of the TV show.

The bundled scroll that ships with the Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G special edition

The box with all of its contents can then be pulled out using the provided loop. This Limited Edition phone comes with a glittering gold dragon egg, a HOTD-themed phone ring, a dragon-shaped SIM eject tool, a keychain with the house sigil, and a protective case with a leather back that is modelled after the Balerion dragon and bears the dragon logo inscribed in gold.

We also have a inner compartment that contains the standard Reno 8 Pro retail package. The device you get in the HOTD Special Edition box is an Oppo Reno 8 Pro in Glazed Black with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

A few of the House of the Dragon themed accessories in the box

The smartphone boasts of a glossy glass back that easily attracts fingerprints and an aluminium frame with chamfered sides. At 183g in weight and 7.34mm thickness, this is a sleek device. In our review, we noted that the MediaTek Dimensity 8100-Max SoC used by the Oppo Reno 8 Pro can perform routine operations quickly and without lag. The smartphone has a 6.7-inch 120Hz AMOLED screen with HDR, which is great to work with because it looks sharp and has brilliant colours.

The Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G has a 32-megapixel Sony IMX709 sensor for the front camera. On the back, you get an 8-megapixel ultra wide-angle camera, a 2-megapixel macro camera, and a 50-megapixel primary camera with a Sony IMX766 sensor.

With moderate use, the 4,500mAh battery should last the entire day; nevertheless, if you ever feel that it is insufficient, the 80W fast charging should be helpful

As we noted in our review of the Oppo Reno 8 Pro 5G when it first launched, this phone is fairly capable. One thing to keep in mind is that there are no other channels through which you can purchase this limited edition smartphone; it is only available through Flipkart.

Considering that the Oppo Reno 8 Pro House of The Dragon Limited Edition retails for the same price as the standard edition, I don't think fans of the show should hesitate to choose it over the vanilla version. However, I was a little disappointed to see no cosmetic changes given to the phone itself or even UI customisations, as we've seen in the past from other manufacturers.

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