Here is why the Oppo Reno 2 launch was a huge miss and a big setback for Oppo.

Any parent Knows too well the feeling I am having right now for Oppo, a smartphone brand based in China.
The feeling of seeing your child improve steadily in class; then one day..with no clear reasons, totally hates class work.
This is exactly what Oppo has put us through, with their latest launch that should have well never happened.
It first came as a tease that Oppo was about to launch the Oppo reno 2 with quad camera setup and 20 x zoom.
Apart from the shark fin pop up, details about other specs were scanty, and like any other tech enthusiasts, all we had to do was try and predict what we would probably expect from the launch.
Sure enough, we made some correct ones, for example I expected a 48 MP primary camera, and the reno 2 gave us just that.
Come 28th August and as promised, Oppo gave us the reno 2 in an event in new Delhi India.
The reno 2 even came with two siblings, the reno 2F and reno 2Z. This even made things look more worst.(will explain this later).
Apart from the processor and some other few specs that set the reno 2 well above it's siblings, the three phones share a number of specs.
All have a quad camera set up, 16 MP selfie camera, in-display fingerprint sensor and even equally battery capacities of 4,000 mAh with VOOC 3.0 fast charge support.

So, why was the launch a let down?
To understand this, let's go back a little.
Oppo is one of the greatest if not the greatest phone seller in it's own Country.
And in the recent past it had been making good strides in the international market as well.
When it launched the Oppo find x, it really showed that it could muscle with the big boys, and in order to be in a better competitive position it launched the reno series.
This was going to be Oppo's flagship series, with the best technology that any other high end phone it the world could offer, if not the best.
To proof itself further, Oppo has been launching a number of revolutionary smartphone technology, a move that has been on their favour till 28th August.
First it was the periscope camera technology, a smart way of introducing optical zoom to smartphone without compromising on the phone's slim design.
We saw this in the Oppo reno 5G, Oppo's first 5G smartphone, and the Oppo reno 10 x zoom.
Both phones offered up to 5x optical zoom and up to 10x hybrid zoom.
However, Huawei spoilt the party for them, as it became the first to offer a periscope zoom camera setup in a smartphone.
With the P30, Huawei gave us up to 5x optical zoom, 20x hybrid zoom and up to 50x digital zoom.
It was now clear that Oppo was facing stiff competition from it's own backyard, and looked determined to come out the winner.
We also expected such results especially with the current trade challenges facing Huawei.
At the MWC in, Oppo also introduced the first under-display selfie camera, a solution that would get rid of pop ups, waterdrops , punch holes and the likes.
And that was not all, they also gave us the Mesh talk technology, that could allow free secure calls without the need for a carrier network.
As we were still digesting these great news, Oppo were at it again, this time with a Waterfall screen display which could give up to 88 degrees of curved display, totally eliminating the screen bezels.

Since most of these announcements came close to the 10 x zoom launch, it was only natural that we expected at least some if not all to feature in the next Oppo phone, probably a reno.
Now here we are, with not one but 3 latest reno phones.
But I said all are just but a big disappointment and a total step back for Oppo.
Consider the following:
1.Is Oppo reno 2 really a camera phone?
First, why would we expect the reno 2 to be camera centric?
Because it is Oppo's first phone to feature a quad camera setup, and Oppo promised us a 20x zoom.
With the 10x zoom having a triple camera and 10 x zoom, we expected that this new phone would have better zooming capabilities, and would even outdo the P35.
But as it is, the 20x zoom is just 5x hybrid zoom and up to 20x digital zoom.
It is just like saying this phone allows you crop a picture up to 20 times. And that means you will loose the picture quality just like how it happens when you crop an image.
There is absolutely no optical zoom in the reno 2, and the 10x zoom is much better.
For the quad camera, Oppo just wanted to exploit customer's perception that many is better. But then, we already have a much better camera setup, the pentavalent camera of the Nokia pureview.
Any body that has used the pureview would tell you that the RAW picture of that phone are so amazing.
2.The wrong processor on the reno 2.
Since Oppo failed to bring out better optical zoom in the reno 2, they decided to add a consolation, and decided to go for the Snapdragon 730 G.
This is a games processor, with 25% better graphics rendering than the 730, hence a smoother game play.
But that dosn't mean it is better than the likes of Snapdragon 855.
Still in games, I wonder how this phone can compare with the likes of Red magic 3 with 8K video recording, 12 GB RAM and 5,000 mAh battery with up to 27 W fast charging.
That's a true game phone, and to proof itself even further it has an internal super cooling system that keeps you going for hours on end.
All these powered by the Snapdragon 855.
All that makes the reno 2 look odd in the gaming field, and clearly it will not shine here also.
What are wrong with the reno 2?

• No optical zoom.
• Wrong processor.
• Not even one of the many technology features that Oppo have been luring us with.

What do you think about this phone? Share your thoughts on the comments section below.