OPPO F7 Unboxing and First Impressions

OPPO has a new selfie-focused smartphone, the OPPO F7. But it is more than just your usual selfie phone. On paper, it is a BEAST!

The new mid-range phone to beat?

Coming from its predecessor, the impressive OPPO F5, the OPPO F7 is so much better. It has a sexier looking glossy sandwiched glass-like polycarbonate construction, bigger notched display, better cameras, and the latest version of Android.

Moreover, it has a much faster processor inside, MediaTek's very impressive 64-bit Helio P60 octa-core processor. It is built under the 12 nm FinFET process, 70 percent faster than the Helio P23 (another capable mid-range chip) and has up to 12 percent overall power savings.

It also has a multi-core APU (A.I.) with deep learning and the Mali-G72 MP3 GPU for heavy gaming.

Promising? Let's check it out!

OPPO F7 Specs

Display: 6.23-inch FHD+ LTPS IPS 2280 x 1080 resolution w/ 2.5D curved glass and Gorilla Glass 5 protection at 405 ppi

CPU: 2.0GHz 64-bit Helio P60 octa-core processor with dual-core A.I.

GPU: Mali-G72 MP3

RAM: 4GB

ROM: 64GB expandable via microSD card slot up to 256GB (dedicated)

Main Camera: 16MP f/1.8 w/ PDAF and LED flash

Selfie Camera: 25MP f/2.0 Sony IMX576 w/ A.I. Beauty Recognition 2.0 and screen flash

Battery: 3,400mAh w/ 2A charger

OS: Android 8.1 Oreo w/ ColorsOS 5.0

Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 3G, 4G 700MHz LTE w/ VoLTE, Bluetooth 4.2, A2DP, LE, OTG, GPS, A-GPS, dual SIM

Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic

Others: Fingerprint sensor, facial recognition, Dirac HD audio, dual mic, Colors: diamond black, solar red, moonlight silver

Dimensions: 156 x 75.3 x 7.8 mm

Weight: 158 g

Price: PHP 17,990 (PHP 14,990 sale price)

Disclaimer: OPPO is an advertiser of this website, but rest is assured that it won't influence this review.

Unboxing / Accessories

What's inside the box

The OPPO F5 arrived with the usual OPPO box with the big print of the phone model on top. It still has the usual 2A USB wall charger, USB to micro USB cable, earphones with microphone, silicon clear case, pre-installed screen protector, SIM ejector tool, and paper documents.

Build Quality / Design

Sleek glossy acrylic at the back

A step-up coming from the F5? For us it is a yes! The build is still made out of polycarbonate material, but it now has a sexy looking glass-like glossy acrylic at the back. It is well machined in general.

Sleek glossy acrylic at the back!

On top, OPPO F7's 6.23-inch big screen has a layer of Gorilla Glass 5 protection. Kudos to OPPO for that. Why? Most of its competitors at this price point failed to add that extra layer of protection to the screens of their phones.

Mic on top

Speaker, micro USB port, mic, and headphone jack below

Volume rocker at left

Power button and triple slot tray at right

Triple slots

In terms of design, the F7 feels and looks like a premium mid-ranger handset. The glossy acrylic at the back reminds us of the higher-end smartphones, the notch in front is less noticable and annoying than the iPhone X, and it has a nice metallic paint finish on the sides. It is quite prone to fingerprint smudges though.

The black plastic material which protects the sides of the screen made it a bit thicker than the F5. It also has a small camera hump at the back if you won't use the included case in the package.

Thanks to its 19:9 screen aspect ratio and 88 percent screen-to-body ratio, the phone looks way smaller for its big 6.23-inch screen size. The body size of the OPPO F7 is comparable to traditional smartphones with 5.5-inch screen.

It also has all the usual ports and buttons including the 3.5 mm headphone jack. It is still not on USB Type-C with reversible charging and fast charging support though.

Initial findings

Beastly benchmark scores for the price!

1. Again, the OPPO F7 has one of the most attractive design for the price. The screen is big and sharp. It is also quite bright. The notch is smaller than the iPhone X. But, you can't hide it like what Huawei did with the P20 phones.

2. The processor that OPPO used on the F7 is promising! The 2.0GHz 64-bit Helio P60 octa-core processor with Mali-G72 MP3 GPU is crazy fast for the price.

It has the highest benchmark score versus all the phones we tested under PHP 18K. The score is even higher than the PHP 33K Galaxy A8+ of Samsung.

Gaming is breeze even on high settings on NBA 2K18 and PUBG Mobile. OPPO even paired it with ample 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. The 3,400mAh battery is long lasting so far.

3. OPPO's new ColorsOS 5.0 skin based on Android 8.1 Oreo is cleaner than ever. It is still iOS inspired, but it doesn't have the weird swipe up for shortcuts anymore. I personally like it better though.

4. At the back, it still has a 16MP f/1.8 sensor w/ PDAF and LED flash. But, I personally like its shooting speed and dynamic range slightly better than the OPPO F5.

It also has scene detection that can automatically detect sunset, grass, indoor, food, sky, snow, night, dog, portrait, baby, firework, beach, scenery, text, cat, stage light.

The 25MP front-facing camera with A.I. is one of the best we ever tested. It looks more natural and better ever.

According to OPPO, its A.I. Beauty Recognition 2.0 technology will learn beautification preferences based on edits made on your photo album images. It'll automatically create similar adjustments to your photos.

It even has real-time High Dynamic Range (HDR) and AR cute stickers.

5. The F7 has no LED notification. But, it has OTG, speedy fingerprint scanner, face unlock with 128 recognition points, and FM Radio.

Related: OPPO F7: First Camera Samples

As of the moment

The OPPO F7 is a formidable mid-ranger! The design is gorgeous, the cameras are better than ever, the 25MP A.I. selfie camera is promising, and it has the BEST PROCESSOR for the price.

For our review: OPPO F7 Review - MediaTek Mid-range Monster!