Oppo F5 Review: Premium Bezel-Less Design At Rock Bottom Costs And More

After much speculations, Oppo F5 has been unveiled and while we didn’t get the SD 660 SoC, the device still manages to woo as the slimmest smartphone from Oppo’s stable. In the current course of smartphone evolution, there are two things that companies are focusing on, providing a great multimedia experience with bezel-less displays and putting a priority on the front-facing cameras, and Oppo F5 is the greatest example of the same.

Oppo’s F-series has been the epitome of selfie-focused smartphones in the mid-budget segment and now with the launch of Oppo F5, the company is ready to make well-packaged smartphones, it’s bread and butter.

The successor of Oppo F3 has done away with a fingerprint scanner at the front in favor of the 6-inch virtually bezel-less 18:9 display while the said sensor now finds its place at the rear panel. As far as the design is concerned, it’s hard to come with any major flaws with the Oppo F5 as it is the culmination of all the leading design themes. It has a unimetal body design made out of 7000 series aluminum alloy, curved edges, a big screen with minimum bezels, all resulted in a sleek design.

But is it enough to take on the likes of Lenovo Z2 Plus, a lower-end LG Q6 with a bezel-less display, Moto G5S Plus and the Xiaomi A1, all of which feature some of the best spec-sheets in the segment? Let’s See!!

Oppo F5 Specifications

• 6-inch (2160 × 1080) 18:9 FHD+ edge-to-edge 2.5D curved glass display with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection, offering 402 ppi and 70.6% screen-to-body ratio.
• 2.5GHz Octa-Core MediaTek Helio P23 processor coupled with ARM Mali G71 MP2 800MHz GPU
• 4GB RAM and 32GB storage, 6GB RAM and 64GB internal storage, expandable up to 256GB via microSD
• Android 7.1 (Nougat) out of the box with ColorOS 3.2 on top.
• 16MP rear camera with f/1.8 aperture, PDAF, touch focus, HDR, face detection, Ultra HD mode, 2x digital zoom and LED flash.
• 20MP front-facing camera with 1/2.8″ sensor, f/2.0 aperture with wide-angle lens, Depth effect and Screen flash
• 3200mAh built-in battery with fast charging
• Dual SIM support and Fingerprint sensor at the rear
• Dedicated microSD port
• 3.5mm audio jack and FM Radio
• O-share file sharing technology with 100 times faster transfers than Bluetooth.
• Oppo F5 measures 156.5 x 76 x 7.5mm and Weighs 152g
• 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, GPS + GLONASS and micro USB support (not Type-C).

Oppo F5 Price And Availability

The Oppo F5 has been made available in the Philippines in Gold Black and colors for the 4GB RAM which is priced at 15990 Philippine Peso (Rs. 19,985 approx.). The 6GB/64GB storage version will only be available in Red color but its price has not been announced yet.

Pre-orders for the Oppo F5 have already begun and will be open until November 3rd while the smartphone goes on sale from 4th November in the Philippines.

Oppo F5’s Indian launch is scheduled on November 2nd and it will also be made available in Russia as well as some Southeast Asian markets like Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand in November.

The 6GB version of Oppo F5 and the F5 Youth will be launched later this year.

Oppo F5 Review

What we like about Oppo F5

• The overall appearance of this device is sleek and premium. With its curved edges, weight as well as comfortable button layout, it feels great in hand and easy to operate.

• The display crisp, colors pop just right and viewing angles are great. For outdoor usage, the Oppo F5 certainly is bright enough.

• The 20MP front-facing camera has to be the biggest highlight of Oppo F5 which comes with A.I. beauty recognition feature that scans 200 facial recognition spots in order to beautify a selfie shot and also offers bokeh effect. The front sensor also offers face unlock feature to unlock the phone.

• While the front camera doesn;t offer anything new, it still is one of the best single-sensor shooters, offering great pictures in indoor as well as outdoor conditions. While users will have to keep their hand steady for the perfect shot as there is no image stabilization feature, the Autofocus locks in quickly, even in dim environments.

• A dedicated microSD slot is a highly appreciated feature as Oppo F5 comes with just 32GB of internal storage.

• Despite the bigger display having the Always-On mode, the battery can still offer enough juice for a full day of heavy usage.

• As for its performance credentials, Helio P23 processor is one of the most acknowledged mid-range SoC by MediaTek and coupled with 4GB RAM and Mali G71 GPU, users will be able to satisfy their gaming urge and multitasking will be possible even with multiple heavy applications. As for frame drops and lags, Oppo F5 excels in preventing any hurdles in smooth operations.

• The software is a simple and clean approach to Android, which trades an app drawer for the multiple home screens while keeping simple icons, a stylish notification bar, and easily-to-operate control screens.

What we didn’t like about Oppo F5

• One of the major reasons behind the hype that Oppo F5 created before its launch was the availability of SD 660 SoC but we had to do with a MediaTek processor, which just simply can’t match the former’s credentials.

• There is no word on a possible Android Oreo update.

• Once again USB Type-C support has been ignored.

• Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) could have helped the rear camera compete with what the competition offers.

Verdict

Oppo F5 marks the beginning of the Chinese manufacturer’s new lineup of cheap yet effective mid-budget smartphones. And from what we see, it is the easiest-to-recommend device from Oppo’s stable in a very long time, if you can do with just a little-underpowered processor than Snapdragon 660.