Oppo F7

Selfie-expert Oppo F7 arrives in the market with an improved front camera putting their flagship feature right up with other top-end products. Priced at Rs. 18,247, this mid-range selfie-centric marvel is ready to get into a head-on battle with its budget competitors. While it may not look like a potent upgrade, Oppo F7 comes with a better camera and processor than its predecessor. Plus, it is loaded with features that would be a delight for selfie enthusiasts. Oppo F7 is set to land in the hands of the selfie-crazed crowd.

Oppo F7 Price in India

Oppo F7 price in India for the base variant starts from Rs. 19,450 on Amazon India on the 16th of July. There is one more variant with 6GB of RAM and 125GB internal storage, however, the latest pricing for which is unknown currently. The colour options include Diamond Black, Moonlight Silver and Solar Red. F7 performs excellently well when it comes to the display and cameras. So that’s two big boxes ticked for most smartphone buyers. This smartphone is in direct competition with the F7, has a better design and cleaner UI. At this price, Oppo F7 is far from perfection and can be considered to be your next buy only for camera and display.

Oppo F7 is lightweight at just 158g.  However, it doesn’t look premium, like the older F5 did. The problem occurs with the phone trying to give a glossy shine to the plastic back, an attempt to look like the high-end premium glass backs. However, it backfires, and the back attracts too much fingerprint smudges. It is still handy and is not vulnerable to scratches since it comes with Gorilla Glass 5 on the screen. At the back, the fingerprint sensor is easy to reach and is snappy. It has a new face unlock, recognising 128 points on the registered face and it works fast too. It comes with a headphone jack, but there is a lack of Type-C USB port, something most modern flagships are going for.

Oppo F7 has a 6.23-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1080×2280 and a 19:9 aspect ratio. However, it is a notched phone which might be problematic for some users. The display has a small chin and does not curve at the sides as most flagship phones do. The large screen that it comes with does not make the phone ergonomic. However, the colours are bright and vibrant offering an immersive experience. It has a good viewing angle and adequate sunlight legibility. The crispness of the display is quite good for a phone in this range.

Oppo F7 has the recent MediaTek Helio P60 octa-core chipset backing it up paired with a 4GB RAM and a 64GB storage space. It is the same processor used in flagship set, Oppo R15. For proper graphics processing, it partners with the integrated Mali-G72 MP3 graphics processor. One of the significant improvements of this processor is that it has a dedicated AI processing logic which provides a more secure facial recognition and real-time HDR. These are present in Oppo F7 and works quite well. It turns out that P60 can be more powerful than the competing and more popular Snapdragon 626 and 636 chipsets. Benchmark scores place it at 135,279 points while 626 capped at 68,849 (Moto Z2 Play) and 636 went to 112,649 (Redmi Note 5 Pro).

Oppo F series prides itself on their selfie camera. Oppo F7 has a front camera of 25-megapixel with an f/2.0 aperture. It is also loaded with features like the AI Beauty and Sensor HDR capabilities. AI Beauty is only attached to the front camera functionality, and the algorithms are put to use to judge the amount of beautification needed on a particular subject. It works well and does not get too aggressive, though it can get inaccurate sometimes. The Sensor HDR shows you a preview of the final shot before it is taken. It works splendidly without any noticeable shutter lag. In daylight, the camera captures enough details and produces bright selfies.

Low-light, however, suffers a bit, but the screen flash comes to the rescue and helps to get you good selfies without much noise. Depth mode is also effective with decent edge detection. The rear 16MP camera has an f/1.8 aperture and captures accurate details, under adequate light. Focusing is snappy though it might drop speed in low-light situations.

Distant shots and night shots can lose definition. Video capturing goes up to 1080p max, and therefore, it does not support 4K. There is no electronic stabilisation so hand shakes can be visible, even under lighted situations.

Oppo F7 has a non-removable 3400mAh. It possesses a decent amount of power in comparison to the Vivo V9 battery. It can easily chug through a day and a half with moderate use, and while heavy use may drain the battery, it can still last for a day. However, F7 does not support VOOC flash charging. Charging is slow and half an hour of charge gives you 23% from bone dry 0%.

Oppo F7 is a value for money phone. It is a great upgrade over F5 regarding battery and performance. However, the aesthetics make it a poor looker, especially against the premium looks of the F-series phones. The selfie camera, however, is one the best in the price range, along with the decent additions to it. Between Vivo V9 and this, Oppo F7 is a clear winner. However, Moto X comes with the same features, a moderate battery but waterproofing – making it a better bargain.