Oppo F7 Review – Has it been rendered obsolete by Realme 1?

When it comes to phones under 15,000 INR, you will see OEMs competing at razor-thin margins and trying to outdo, or at least, match up to Xiaomi offerings on paper. The chaos gradually ebbs away as you move beyond the 20K barrier but so do the number of available options.

The Oppo F7 tries to be that offline alternative which goes beyond the ordinary, is new and trendy, and can convince people who buy from brick and mortar stores to perhaps look beyond dry-specs and stretch their margins beyond mostly monotonous affordable phones.

Then there is the selfie angle too. After all, that’s the first testing stage for a significant number of consumers out there and a feature that users value and ask for. And Oppo F7 promises to not let you down on this front.

But, how well does the Helio P60 perform? Can Oppo F7 outclass rivals with dual cameras?

We will try and look beyond the obvious and answer all such Oppo F7 related questions in our full review that follows.

Editors Note: We have the Oppo F7 Black Diamond Edition with 4GB RAM and 64GB Storage variant with us for this review.

Also Read: 10 things to know before buying OnePlus 6

OPPO F7 Specifications

Oppo F7 Design and Build

There isn’t anything particularly wrong with the way Oppo F7 looks. The phone checks the usual boxes. There is an immersive 18:9 19:9 display, a notch, glass body, and ours has the appealing Diamond cut pattern on the back.

However, somehow all doesn’t add up. The phone feels chunky and uninspiring. And it’s always dirty. Dirt and grime easily slip through the bundled case and the plastic screen protector on the screen don’t have a befitting oleophobic coating which makes it extremely prone to smudges.

• The Oppo F7 diligently follows the latest design trends. There is glass on rear and a 19:9 notch-screen on the front. The side frame running along the edges is plastic, though.
• The phone looks fine but feels a bit clunky in hands.
• The fingerprint sensor and other buttons are easily accessible.
• The Audio Jack and Speaker grill are placed at the bottom.
• The bundled case cover has flaps for micro USB port and audio jack and they can be a tad inconvenient.

Oppo F7 Display

The Oppo F7 has a 6-inch screen with Full HD+ resolution. The display is reasonably sharp and pleasant contrast. Outdoor legibility is fine too. This isn’t a display that will blow your socks off, but then again it isn’t the one that will annoy you either.

You can customize color temperature of the screen from within display settings. You can zoom YouTube videos to fit entire 19:9 screen. That is to say, just as in iPhone X, your video will be cropped to full screen and the notch-strip won’t be blacked out, resulting in an intrusive cutout on the side edge.

On the other hand, ‘Quick Apps’ add handy shortcuts for up to three apps to the unused part of the notch-strip in gaming and video apps.

• The display quality is reasonable. Outdoor visibility is good.
• The display is protected by Gorilla Glass 5. There is a factory installed screen protector on the display but looks like it doesn’t have smudge resistant oleophobic coating.
• You can zoom out YouTube videos to cover full screen. The notch strip isn’t blacked out when you zoom videos. Your videos will have an intrusive cutout on one edge.

Oppo F7 Camera

The Oppo F7 primarily focuses on the front camera. The selfie camera has an aggressive beautify mode and that’s powered by AI. The images we clicked with Beautify mode on looked too artificial for our liking, but perhaps it is likely that quite a few users might actually find these tweaks useful.

Once we turned off the beautify mode, the selfie quality was very good. The front camera can capture ample details even in low-lighting and the selfie experience is at par with the best you get in this class.

The shots clicked from rear cameras are hit or miss (mostly misses). Images turn out oversaturated and oversharpened. The details are poor when you zoom in. The portrait mode doesn’t work for objects, and the camera struggles to focus on close objects. Overall, the rear camera performance is inconsistent and disappointing.

• The rear camera proved to be disappointing. It struggles to focus in low light and the dynamic range is quite limited as well.
• Details are poor and images feel over sharpened.
• The portrait mode for the rear camera doesn’t work for objects.
• The Oppo F7 selfie camera is quite good in terms of performance.
• We find the AI beautification a bit excessive and preferred to keep it off. Your taste and preferences may differ.
• The software powered portrait mode isn’t very reliable.

Oppo F7 Performance and Software

The Helio P60 proved to be an excellent performer. The 12nm-based chipset is capable enough of delivering smooth gaming and day-to-day experience and you don’t need to be apprehensive about the chip coming from MediaTek camp. We have the base 4GB RAM variant with us and we are quite happy with the performance-price equation.

It must also be mentioned, that you can get the same performance hardware with Oppo Realme 1 for just half the price you’d pay for the F7. The Colong OS running on the phone is based on latest Android 8.1 Oreo and has plenty of extras and customization options. However, we didn’t quite like the software interface.

You can’t swipe away notifications, there is bloatware you can’t disable, and the UI design could have been better. Further, Oppo borrowing heavily from iOS leaves a sour taste too.

Also Read: 13 Best Oppo F7 Hidden Features, Useful Tips, and Tricks

• The Helio P60 works surprisingly well. We had no performance issues on the phone.
• The software is based on Android 8.1 Oreo, but the Color OS interface isn’t much to our liking.
• The fingerprint sensor and face unlock are extremely fast.
• Oppo F7 supports dual SIM dual VoLTE. We didn’t face any issue with call quality.

Oppo F7 Battery and Audio

The 3400mAh battery on the phone can comfortably last for more than a day. Fast charging isn’t supported but the bundled charger can top it up pretty quick. Overall, you don’t need to worry about battery backup with Oppo F7.

The loudspeaker at the bottom is loud and clear. Audio quality via headphones is very good too.

• The battery backup is excellent. You can use power saving modes to extend your mileage as well.
• Fast charging isn’t supported.
• Audio output quality is good. Bundled headphones are average at best.

Oppo F7 Review – Should you buy it?

The Oppo F7 does several things right and covers all the basics, but still doesn’t feel quite complete. Besides, the Realme 1 offers most of what is good with the Oppo F7 at a significantly lower price point. The camera performance is what should have given F7 a clear-cut edge, but that isn’t the case.

The only advantages Oppo F7 has over Realme 1 is its selfie camera. And perhaps the notch, if that is something you appreciate.