OPPO F7 is the company’s newest selfie-centric smartphone. It packs a 25-megapixel front camera that has a better use of AI and the smartphone has a bigger 6.23-inch FHD+ notched display with a 19:9 display aspect ratio. The OPPO F7 also runs on the latest and powerful Helio P60 Octa-Core Processor. Interested? Check out our review of the OPPO F7 below.

Design and Hardware

The OPPO F7 still has the same design DNA of the OPPO F5 but of course, it has some new improvements and also a better design and feel. The smartphone still has a handy design thanks to its curves on the sides and also its non-slippery feel of the glossy glass-like back.

Another thing to notice about the smartphone is its weight. The OPPO F7 is really lightweight and the one that we got for review is the red one which has a striking and vivid color, really eye-catching.

The smartphone still uses a Micro USB for its port and thankfully, the headphone jack is still present on the smartphone. The speaker grill is also placed at the side of the Micro USB port, however, the speaker quality of the OPPO F7 isn’t loud as I expected.

The smartphone also packs a triple card tray that lets you use two sim cards and a microSD card simultaneously. In my usage, I didn’t have any problems when it comes to connectivity and browsing the web, however, the smartphone doesn’t have 4G+ but don’t worry, 4G is still fine and fast.

The Fingerprint scanner of the smartphone is still placed at the back of the smartphone and yes, it was swift and I really had no problems using it and the face unlock of the smartphone was really fast and it works really well except at dark conditions which is understandable. But still, the face unlock of the smartphone is superior compared to most Android midrange smartphones. Oh and yes, the face unlock of the smartphone still worked well even at low light conditions.

Display

Smartphone manufacturers have shifted to creating notched displays on their smartphones this year and one of them is the OPPO F7.  The smartphone features a small notch at the top which is smaller than the iPhone X and it now has a bigger 6.23-inch display with 19:9 display aspect ratio.

At first, I thought notches are bad on smartphones but actually, it isn’t as bad as I expected as it gives a certain space for the notification bar. Again, it’s all about the implementation and execution of the notch on the smartphone. On the OPPO F7, unfortunately, you can’t turn off the notch on the display of the smartphone however, you’ll be able to turn it off on some apps and games that are crucial not to have a notch blocking its content.

The display of the smartphone isn’t bad. I actually liked the colors and viewing angles of the smartphone. However, the smartphone’s display isn’t as bright as expected but still, the smartphone is very usable even at outdoors. There’s a small chin on the display on the smartphone but it isn’t really annoying for me. However, I wished that they could create a chinless display smartphone soon.

Battery Life

The OPPO F7 got a 3400mAh of battery. Despite its large capacity, the smartphone does feel light. I tested this smartphone at PC Mark and we got a work 2.0 battery life of 9 hours and 1 minute. I was satisfied with it as the smartphone was able to last a single work day. But when you’re into gaming, you might want to bring a powerbank with you always.

Software

The OPPO F7 is now running on Android 8.1 Oreo with the latest Color OS 5.0. There have been some changes on the Color OS as most of the functions and features can now be accessed by swiping down from the top as the swipe up from the bottom is now gone on the smartphone.

The thing that I really appreciate with the OPPO F7 is that the smartphone has a good implementation for the notch. All of the apps and games that I’ve played on the smartphone were really well. They played on full screen and it is optimized for a display with a notch.

In case the application or the game that you want to run on the OPPO F7 isn’t optimized for a notch display, it’s actually just fine because you can turn off the notch on different applications that can be found on the app info.

However, you can’t totally turn off the notch on the smartphone so yeah, you’really stuck with the notched display whether you hate it or now. But again, the OPPO F7 actually has a good implementation for the notch as most applications and games ran just well on the smartphone and the notch doesn’t really block most of the content.

If you’re a gamer, the OPPO F7 now has built-in screen recording. Actually, there’s a shortcut button for the recording by just swiping on the notch of the smartphone. Pretty useful application when you want to record on different games or applications.

Performance

The OPPO F7 is powered by an Helio P60 processor with Mali-G72 MP3 GPU along with 4GB of RAM.  The Helio P60 is currently the most powerful chipset from MediaTek and it is probably my most favorite chipset of all MediaTek smartphones. Why? Because I was satisfied with its thermals and the smartphone does have a really good performance.

How good? Well, the smartphone can run PUBG Mobile at high settings but I would recommend to set it at medium settings for better framerates and the smartphone scored 139285 in Antutu which proves that the smartphone is a monster in terms of performance and in gaming.

Heating? It’s not a problem on the OPPO F7. The smartphone warms up fast when playing games but it doesn’t get to the point that the smartphone is really hot which is really great for a smartphone with a power like this.

Camera

The OPPO F7 has a 25-megapixel selfie camera with a 16-megapixel rear camera. Unfortunately, there’s no dual lens camera here for better bokeh shots or a wide angle lens. So you’re still stuck with a single lens camera but it still performs well. The OPPO F7 does have a decent selfie camera and the dedicated HDR sensor on its selfie really works on the smartphone.

The rear camera of the OPPO F7 works well even you’re in low-light condition. The smartphone now has a f/1.8 aperture that offers better bokeh when taking photos and also brighter photos in low-light. While the 25-megapixel selfie camera of the smartphone has an aperture of f/2.0. Check out the photos that I took using the OPPO F7 below.

As you can see, the cameras of the OPPO F7 perform well whether you’re in low light condition or not. The Super Vivid mode is also helpful when taking photos of some sceneries and some objects. The AI works well on the smartphone as the OPPO F7 can really detect the objects and sceneries and then it gives the best settings for the shot. The selfie camera of the smartphone is noticeably better than my iPhone 8 Plus at night. We tried using the OPPO F7 for taking photos at a concert and I was shocked that the OPPO F7 was better and brighter.

But sometimes I notice that some of the shots have missing colors and a little bit soft. It’s a hit and miss but most of the time, the camera of the smartphone is really well.

Verdict

The OPPO F7 is the best smartphone that the company has ever released in the Philippines. The smartphone has a lot of competitors including the ASUS Zenfone 5 and the Vivo V9 but the OPPO F7 has a 25-megapixel front camera with AI that performs really well and a MediaTek Helios P60 Processor that’s really powerful. The design and aesthetics of the smartphone don’t disappoint me too as this one is beautiful. The rear camera of the smartphone might be a hit and miss sometimes but overall, it was pretty well.

Overall, the smartphone is really great for its price. The OPPO F7 is not just for selfies but also for gaming as the Helio P60 processor and its software inside is really good. The rear camera of the smartphone performed even better than I expected.

The OPPO F7 will be available for Php17,990 and it will come in Moonlight Silver and Solar Red