Oppo F3 Review: This Could Have Been A Clear Winner

Oppo F3 has been launched in India bearing a price tag of Rs 19,999 and trust us when we say this, Oppo is undoubtedly the best Chinese smartphone manufacturer that has been coming up with a host of launches considering the demand in the Indian market.

The holler was sounded with the introduction of F1 Plus model that witnessed a great success and then we recently got the Oppo F3 Plus with a non-tiring hardware and exceptional multimedia experience. There were only two problems with that device, first, it was way too big for the majority of buyers and the second one was its price tag of Rs 30,990.

However, fast forward to the present, here is a smaller Oppo F3 that directly jumped from the Rs 30,000 segment to the sub-Rs 20,000 segment. The mantra that Oppo has followed here is, stick to the USP and opt for cost cutting in the most obvious department.

But how much better this update is and whether Oppo F3 be able to recreate the magic, just like its big brother? Let’s see.

Oppo F3 Specifications

• 5.5-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) In-Cell TFT display with 2.5D curved glass, Corning Glass 5 protection and 401ppi
• 1.5GHz octa-core MediaTek MT6750T6 SoC coupled with Mali-T860 GPU
• 4GB RAM and 64GB of Internal Storage, expandable up to 128GB via microSD
• Android 6.0 Marshmallow with ColorOS 3.0 UI on top
• Dual Selfie Camera (16MP+8MP) with f/2.0 aperture and double view wide-angle (120-degree wide-angle lens allowing 105-degree field-of-view group selfies) sensor.
• 13MP camera at the rear with f/2.0 aperture, PDAF, and LED Flash
• 3200mAh non-removable battery with quick charge support
• Fingerprint scanner embedded in home button and Hybrid Dual SIM (Nano + Nano)
• Oppo F3 measures 153.3×75.3×7.3 mm and weighs 153 grams
• 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth v4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz and 5GHz), GPS/ A-GPS, Micro-USB and 3.5mm audio jack.
• Other features: Beautify 4.0 app, Screen Flash, Selfie Panorama and Palm Shutter.

What’s good in Oppo F3

• The smartphone comes with the same camera setup that was seen in Oppo F3 Plus and that is the biggest USP for this new offering.
• Although there is no metal unibody design, it feels as premium as was expected from a smartphone in this segment.
• 5.5-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) In-Cell TFT offer great visibility in outdoor conditions and great details with ample of colors.

What we miss in Oppo F3

• MediaTek MT6750T6 SoC should have been replaced with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 635 processor at least. Despite the 4GB RAM and Mali-T860 GPU, Oppo F3 can never be a performance centric smartphone.
• No Android 7.0 Nougat
• Front flash could have been a welcomed feature, however, there are a host of beautification features to cover this up.

Verdict

Oppo F3 has definitely filled the gap between smaller and camera-centric premium mid-budget smartphones. However, when it comes to the competition, there are a host of smartphones such as Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, Moto G5 Plus and Lenovo Z2 Plus, but when it comes to selfie experience, Oppo F3 is the best that there is, with a price tag of Rs 19,999.

In short, it’s not an all-rounder but is one hell of a camera-centric phone with decent hardware for light users.