How Well Can You Game On An Oppo Reno14 F? Gaming Review

Oppo has launched its latest refresh of the Reno series, its mid-tier and flagship-beater range of smartphones. While the new Reno14 series is catering towards the chic socialites, at least that’s what the marketing approach they have with these is going for, what if you’d like to play mobile games on these?

We’ve put the Oppo Reno14 F, the least powerful of the available three variants, to the test in various popular games. Here’s what we have found out.

(Disclaimer: This gaming review is solely focused on testing gaming performance and experience of the Oppo Reno14 F. The conclusion and score may not match the opinions of tech and gadget outlets that holistically test and judge the device.)

Hardware

There are three variants of the Oppo Reno14 series of phones released in Malaysia, with three different price points and performance. In order of ascending price, it goes from Reno14 F, Reno14 and Reno14 Pro.

The review is based on the Reno14 F. The Xbox Series S of the Reno14 series, to use gamer parlance (with the Reno14 Pro being, well the PS5 Pro. The Reno14 is the baseline PS5 and Xbox Series X). Here’s the full specs of the review unit we tested:

• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1






• RAM: 8GB






• Storage: 256GB






• Display: 6.57″ AMOLED 2372×1080 120Hz refresh






• Battery: 6000mAh (45W SUPERVOOC charging)






• Price: RM 1,399

As rectangular slabs that most phones in this price range (RM1,000-RM2,000) tends to be, the Oppo Reno14 F is unassumingly pretty. In the right lighting, the colour, Luminous Green for this particular review unit, glimmers in a way that gives off a iridescent sheen. It’s an absolute fingerprint magnet and feels unsafe to not be brandished naked, like most phones are, but at least Oppo is gracious enough to include a phone cover. That said, transparent phone cover is somehow is just as much of a fingerprint magnet, and mutes most of the colour (it’ll just be an unassuming black slab from the front, and in a low-lit room the colour becomes severely muted).

The Reno14 F feels rather dense and weighty despite only weighting 180g. In the hands, it feels much more solid to my old daily driver, a Samsung Galaxy A32 (which is 4g heavier). Picking this phone up feels much heavier than a PS5 DualSense controller (280g). It’s denser, more concentrated weight. You’ll feel this chonky slab when it’s in your trouser pocket, it’s the good kind of heaviness. While we didn’t test out the robustness of the device, Oppo claims to incorporate drop and impact protection. The plating gives the Reno14 F some of its sturdiness, and it results in having a good hand feel, perfect for long gaming sessions.

The large camera lenses do protrude a bit, though with default cover it’ll sit flush with the cover. So the covered Reno14 F does become slightly thicker.

There’s only a USB-C slot, no microSD slot or a 3.5mm audio jack, most modern phones have depreciate support for them for better or worse. At least the built-in speaker sounds booming loud. Even if the one obvious speaker next to the USB-C port is slight covered, the sound coming off the phone isn’t as muffled.

As far as the feel of the phone in the hands, the Oppo Reno14 F feels solid. This mid-ranger feels like you’re getting bang for buck, which is what you want from a phone of this price point, where the users are more budget-conscious.

Software

Oppo’s ColorOS will feel rather alien if you’ve been using an Android phone with close-to-stock UI. ColorOS is all gesture-based, no navigation buttons by default, and really, really tries to emulate the iOS experience. Some folks would like that, others would jump immediately and download their custom launcher of choice.

The Oppo Reno14 F has the full suite of Google apps pre-installed, and quite the number of bloaty apps that you probably will uninstall or at least hide them. It’ll take some time before you can make the device truly yours.

Interestingly, the Oppo Reno14 F comes with a software overlay that’ll trigger on opening a game. The GameToolkit is an overlay menu with a whole suite of features to enhance your gaming experience, as well as tools that’s useful for gamers. From screen-recording to a call disabler. And from a temperature and FPS monitor to a setting to adjust touch-screen and graphics performance. It’s pretty comprehensive, and I’m mighty impressed with the offering here. Though I have not used more modern phones or gaming phones since 2022, so this could be just standard practice on most phones of this level of performance for all I know.

The GameToolkit overlay also can save up highlight reels automatically like it’s Nvidia Shadowplay on PC. But of course, the proprietary feature only works with very limited titles. Two, in fact, only for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and PUBG Mobile.

Still, the breadth of options available is impressive nonetheless. Being able to silently launch games, adjust touch screen responsiveness and performance, even a “pro gamer mode” where you can enable the phone to run at its maximum potential at the cost of shorter battery life. It’s all neat, well-thought out additions that any gamer would find useful.

Gaming Performance

For the review, we’ve put Oppo Reno14 F to the test in a mix of popular mobile games in Malaysia as well asa 3D titles with heavy graphics demand.

One thing we observed the Oppo Reno14 F is how toasty it can feel in the hands. Oppo claims that the Reno14 series phones would only get as warm as at 43 degrees Celsius, and it is true based on our testing. But also, 43 degrees is not something we’d argue as “manageable” temperature. My thumbs feel numb from the heat of binging 2 hours of Racing Master.

If the phone’s running at a hot 43 deg in a cool environment—in an airconditioned room or during a long ride in the KTMB train, for example—that operating temperature would be fine. Welcomed, even. Think about other places in the world where the ambient temperature of 15 degrees or so. In those scenarios, the Reno14 F is a nice hand warmer. But here in Malaysia? Yeah, prolonged gaming interfacing on a 40-degree touchscreen will singe your thumb eventually. It’s as bad sensation as using a gaming laptop keyboard for high-end gaming, not exactly ideal.

It’s no deal breaker by any means. Most of these higher-end mobile games support controllers anyway, so you can circumvent that by just connecting one. But it’s something to note of.

Remarkably, the Reno14 F punches above its weight at times. A few games would auto-suggest to run on the highest settings. It can’t maintain consistent FPS at most of the highest settings, though, it still hitches and stutters on occasion. But it can run that high of a framerate at times.

Racing Master runs a smooth 60FPS until you load into a night or raining track which has it stuttering in the mid-30s, framerate-wise. If you disregard the warnings, Zenless Zone Zero is playable at 60FPS though expect to see a frame occasionally. The GPU of this 3-year-old processor is the bottleneck more often than not. But if you’re comfortable playing at 30 FPS, most games run like a breeze.

If all you play are the big-hitters of mobile games in the region, phone’s solid. PUBG Mobile hits 60FPS without a sweat, and shouldn’t get too toasty in the hands either. Titles that don’t require rapid button presses including Umamusume: Pretty Derby and Girls Frontline 2 Exilium plays well on the Reno14 F.

The OLED screen the Reno14 F comes with is excellent. It’s bright without glaring the eyes. And it’s clear to see from a wide range of angles when the scren’s all dimmed. And of course, you won’t see the display ripple if you touch the screen too hard like an LCD-based display would. It’s easy on the eyes if you’re playing in low-light rooms, or even in the dark. Not that it’s recommended to do so, but it would likely harm your vision less should you do so.

Games are smart enough to solve the punch-hole front camera predicament, you’d barely see the black dot on the screen anyway as the decent screen real estate will take up most of your attention anyway.

Outside of the one caveat of the phone’s operating temperature on some high-end games, the Oppo Reno14 F is surprisingly solid for not only a mid-ranger, but for being the weakest of the Reno14 phones. You can just about run the most demanding of mobile games with at least at a playable 30FPS on low settings. We’d like to think its more beefier variants can cut their mustard in gaming just as well, if not better.

Value

The Oppo Reno14 F retails at RM12,99 in Malaysia, putting htis in the lower mid-range pricing territory. For what you’re payuing for, it’s a solid phone. It has modern software and features (if you’re into the odd AI craze, then yes the phone makes use of AI features for its camera), and is good enough to run the latest games at decent enough performance.

If we were to compare the old Samsung Galaxy A32 from 2022, it’s a huge leap in performance for a phone in this price range (the A32 struggles to run Genshin Impact at launch).

Verdict

The Oppo Reno14 F doesn’t scream “gamer” when compared to other brands, but that’s what’s so great about it. It’s a sleeper. It’s for those who don’t like the gamer aesthetic but still like to dabble with the hobby. And if you’re into the more elegant poise the phone and brand exudes, well, what better way to unassumingly do your dailies than with a phone like the Reno14.

You might consider the Reno14 F’s more powerful variants if you want better performance, but at this price point the Reno14 F is already serves well to run the most played mobile games with ease and fluidity.

Review unit provided by Oppo Malaysia.