OPPO F7 Youth Review - Powerful Performance FOR LESS
More than a month ago, OPPO Philippines shocked the local smartphone scene when they launched the F7 Youth.
Why and how? It's the most affordable smartphone in the land with the beastly 64-bit MediaTek Helio P60 octa-core processor.
It is the very same chipset found on its higher-end brother, the impressive OPPO F7.
Now, let's see if it is worth all the hype. After almost one month of using the OPPO F7 Youth, here's our full review!
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| The affordable mid-range phone to beat? Let's see! |
Why and how? It's the most affordable smartphone in the land with the beastly 64-bit MediaTek Helio P60 octa-core processor.
It is the very same chipset found on its higher-end brother, the impressive OPPO F7.
Now, let's see if it is worth all the hype. After almost one month of using the OPPO F7 Youth, here's our full review!
For our review part 1: OPPO F7 Youth Unboxing and First Impressions
Display Quality
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| Big and sharp 18:9 screen |
Compared with the regular OPPO F7 with 6.23-inch 19:9 display, the F7 Youth only has a 6-inch 18:9 panel.
But, that is still impressive for the price. The 18:9 screen aspect ratio is still taller and wider than the 16:9 old standard last year. The top and bottom bezels are also considered as small. It is still immersive for us.
Moreover, the resolution is at FHD+ 2160 x 1080 at 402 pixels per inch. It is just 3 pixels per inch shy versus the 405 ppi of the regular F7.
The picture quality of this display is also quite good. It has good accurate colors and nice contrast. Viewing angles are more than decent as well.
Our only gripe it its sunlight legibility. The screen is not bright enough even at max brightness to be visible for outdoor use.
On the software side, it still has the color temperature changer and Night Mode with black and white feature for less eye strain.
It also has 10 points of multitouch for accurate typing and screen touch.
But, that is still impressive for the price. The 18:9 screen aspect ratio is still taller and wider than the 16:9 old standard last year. The top and bottom bezels are also considered as small. It is still immersive for us.
Moreover, the resolution is at FHD+ 2160 x 1080 at 402 pixels per inch. It is just 3 pixels per inch shy versus the 405 ppi of the regular F7.
The picture quality of this display is also quite good. It has good accurate colors and nice contrast. Viewing angles are more than decent as well.
Our only gripe it its sunlight legibility. The screen is not bright enough even at max brightness to be visible for outdoor use.
On the software side, it still has the color temperature changer and Night Mode with black and white feature for less eye strain.
It also has 10 points of multitouch for accurate typing and screen touch.
Audio Quality
Below, the F7 Youth has a single speaker. Interestingly, it can produce tinny bass response unlike the almost zero bass of other phone speakers. It can also produce a bit warmer type of sound signature versus the brighter output of the regular F7.
Vocals and highs are also clear enough with decent separation and extension. Soundstage won't be that wide though. It isn't as loud as its bigger brother too.
This handset still has a 3.5 mm headphone jack slot. So, we still tested its wired audio headphone performance.
By default, it has OPPO's "Real Original Sound Technology" on. From memory, it is better than when we first tried it with the F5. It sounded fuller (but the bass is not overpowering) and more natural versus the F5. It isn't that bright anymore. It doesn't have the artificial soundstage as well. This is actually the first time that I liked this audio software technology of OPPO.
But, if you do not need the extra bass of OPPO's audio technology, you can always switch it off.
For calls, the performance is decent as expected. It can record stereo audio with respectable quality. Just don't expect it to be have the 3D-like effect and zero noise.
Vocals and highs are also clear enough with decent separation and extension. Soundstage won't be that wide though. It isn't as loud as its bigger brother too.
This handset still has a 3.5 mm headphone jack slot. So, we still tested its wired audio headphone performance.
By default, it has OPPO's "Real Original Sound Technology" on. From memory, it is better than when we first tried it with the F5. It sounded fuller (but the bass is not overpowering) and more natural versus the F5. It isn't that bright anymore. It doesn't have the artificial soundstage as well. This is actually the first time that I liked this audio software technology of OPPO.
But, if you do not need the extra bass of OPPO's audio technology, you can always switch it off.
For calls, the performance is decent as expected. It can record stereo audio with respectable quality. Just don't expect it to be have the 3D-like effect and zero noise.
Battery Life
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| Good battery score |
The battery performance of the F7 Youth with 3,410mAh capacity is quite good. It clocked 10 hours and 1 minute at PC Mark's battery test.
It can last for more than a day on a single charge!
It is almost an hour lower than what we got with the regular F7 with similar battery capacity though. But in real life, the battery life of this device is just as good as the F7.
Our actual daily usage proved that it can last for a day and a half on just a single charge. On our heavy usage with occasional calls and a lot of social media use, it lasted for 10 hours in total. For straight gaming or watching videos expect it to last around 8 hours straight.
Then as expected, this phone has a built-in "Power Saving" mode found in the battery settings. It will close the background apps automatically and lower the screen brightness.
Charging time is also decent in speed. It can fully charge the device at around 2 hours using the 2A stock charger from 0 to 100 percent.
Our actual daily usage proved that it can last for a day and a half on just a single charge. On our heavy usage with occasional calls and a lot of social media use, it lasted for 10 hours in total. For straight gaming or watching videos expect it to last around 8 hours straight.
Then as expected, this phone has a built-in "Power Saving" mode found in the battery settings. It will close the background apps automatically and lower the screen brightness.
Charging time is also decent in speed. It can fully charge the device at around 2 hours using the 2A stock charger from 0 to 100 percent.
Camera
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| 13MP at the back |
The F7 Youth features a 13MP f/2.2 shooter at the back. It is accompanied with a PDAF focus and single LED flash.
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| Camera UI |
As expected, it has most of the usual modes found on an OPPO smartphone. The HDR is easy to reach, the cute stickers are there, and it has a background blur function (depth effect) for bokeh shots. We also noticed that it has the super vivid mode which make your shots more vibrant the usual.
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| Expert mode |
It also has an expert mode. It has manual adjustments for WB (white balance), EV (-3 to +3), ISO (100 to 3200), shutter (1/8000 to 16 seconds), and focus.
OPPO also claimed that it can automatically detect up to 16 scenes in real-time. But unlike other devices, you won't see a small icon for scene detection.
The F7 Youth has one of the better performing cameras at this price point. It has respectable focus speed and shutter speed.
The output is also mostly nice and sharp. The vivid mode is fun to use as expected. It will add some saturation and make your photos a bit warmer in tone. For us, it is more of a good thing rather than a bad thing.
It also has a depth effect feature can provide nice looking bokeh shots even if it doesn't have a dual camera setup.
By default, the colors are mostly balanced. Dynamic range is good for daylight and even some indoor shots.
We just had few shots with blown out skies. Lowlight shots are not that consistent as well. Expect loss of details and lesser dynamic range in those scenes.
Don't get us wrong though. Its lowlight performance is still better than most at this price point.
It also has a pro camera mode and bright enough flash that could help you in taking lowlight snaps.
On the front, it only has an 8MP f/2.2 sensor w/ screen flash. But, it still has OPPO's A.I. Beauty Recognition 2.0 technology. It also has AR stickers, depth effect, and super vivid mode.
The A.I. Beauty Recognition 2.0 tech can detect up to 296 positioning spots which would enhance your facial features.
Quality-wise, do not expect it to be as sharp and detailed compared with the 25MP snapper of the F7. However, it is still one of the better selfie shooters at this price point. It can also produce vibrant and good looking snaps in daylight.
The face beauty mode won't over beautify your selfies or groufies too.
The screen flash is also strong enough to make you look good even in lowlight.
The performance is alike with the regular OPPO F7 since it has the same 2.0GHz 64-bit Helio P60 octa-core processor with dual-core A.I. chip, Mali-G72 MP3 GPU, 4GB RAM, and 64GB storage.
What does that mean? The OPPO F7 Youth is technically the speediest smartphone at this price point yet.
At AnTuTu, it got a score of 140K. At Geekbench, it recorded 5.7K of multi-core score. The performance of its processor is comparable (or better) even to some PHP 20K phones. It even has large 64GB of expandable storage for your apps, games, and other files.
As a result, we nearly never had an issue while using it. Its performance is comparable to some 2017 high-end device. It can load most of your apps with ease, do multitasking smoothly, and play even heavy games on max settings. The likes of PUBG and NBA 2K18 are quite smooth even at high settings.
Thermal management is really good as expected from a new generation 12 nm based MediaTek SoC. It gets warm, but far from hot. The heat from it is actually even lesser than the Nokia 7 Plus with Snapdragon 660 chipset.
On the software part, it is running on Android 8.1 Oreo w/ ColorsOS 5.0 skin. It's a heavily skinned Android version, but for the better for us. It doesn't look that iOS inspired unlike the previous version of the ColorOS skin.
Like what we mentioned in our F7 review, it looks cleaner than ever. It also has easier to reach functions. The quick shortcut settings is back on its original swipe down position.
This device also has most of the ColorOS 5.0 skin functions like the OPPO share, assistive ball shortcuts gestures, power saving mode, and screen recording. It also has a phone manager where you can optimize your phone when needed.
The OPPO F7 Youth also has face unlock. It's probably the fastest at this price point. However, it has no fingerprint scanner. It is not much of an issue for me, but it would have made this phone the perfect device for the price if it has the fingerprint scanner.
Telephony and connectivity is great as well. It has strong GSM signal most of the time. Doing calls and SMS is easy. WiFi works, Bluetooth is stable, and GPS is quite good of locating your current position. It also has 700MHz LTE Cat 7 support for better indoor 4G connectivity.
OTG also works (you can switch on and off in the settings) and it has gyroscope for AR and VR apps.
Pros - Stylish design, 18:9 screen, best performance for the price yet, good battery life, respectable cameras, speedy/accurate face unlock, affordable price tag
Cons - A bit prone to fingerprint smudges, screen brightness is not strong, no fingerprint scanner, no LED notification
As a whole, it is a solid phone. The lack of a fingerprint scanner and the other few weaknesses mentioned above are forgivable.
Build / Design - 4
Display - 4
Audio - 4
Battery - 4.25
Camera - 4.25
Performance - 4.75
Average - 4.208 / 5
OPPO also claimed that it can automatically detect up to 16 scenes in real-time. But unlike other devices, you won't see a small icon for scene detection.
The F7 Youth has one of the better performing cameras at this price point. It has respectable focus speed and shutter speed.
The output is also mostly nice and sharp. The vivid mode is fun to use as expected. It will add some saturation and make your photos a bit warmer in tone. For us, it is more of a good thing rather than a bad thing.
It also has a depth effect feature can provide nice looking bokeh shots even if it doesn't have a dual camera setup.
By default, the colors are mostly balanced. Dynamic range is good for daylight and even some indoor shots.
We just had few shots with blown out skies. Lowlight shots are not that consistent as well. Expect loss of details and lesser dynamic range in those scenes.
Don't get us wrong though. Its lowlight performance is still better than most at this price point.
It also has a pro camera mode and bright enough flash that could help you in taking lowlight snaps.
Rear Camera Samples
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| Vivid mode daylight |
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| Daylight auto 1 |
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| Daylight auto 2 |
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| Close-up 1 |
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| Close-up 2 |
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| Indoor dim 1 |
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| Indoor dim 2x zoom |
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| Lowlight 1 |
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| Lowlight 2 |
On the front, it only has an 8MP f/2.2 sensor w/ screen flash. But, it still has OPPO's A.I. Beauty Recognition 2.0 technology. It also has AR stickers, depth effect, and super vivid mode.
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| Selfie cam UI |
The A.I. Beauty Recognition 2.0 tech can detect up to 296 positioning spots which would enhance your facial features.
Quality-wise, do not expect it to be as sharp and detailed compared with the 25MP snapper of the F7. However, it is still one of the better selfie shooters at this price point. It can also produce vibrant and good looking snaps in daylight.
The face beauty mode won't over beautify your selfies or groufies too.
The screen flash is also strong enough to make you look good even in lowlight.
Video Samples
Performance
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| Powerful performance! |
The performance is alike with the regular OPPO F7 since it has the same 2.0GHz 64-bit Helio P60 octa-core processor with dual-core A.I. chip, Mali-G72 MP3 GPU, 4GB RAM, and 64GB storage.
The F7 Youth is the speediest under PHP 14K phone yet!
What does that mean? The OPPO F7 Youth is technically the speediest smartphone at this price point yet.
At AnTuTu, it got a score of 140K. At Geekbench, it recorded 5.7K of multi-core score. The performance of its processor is comparable (or better) even to some PHP 20K phones. It even has large 64GB of expandable storage for your apps, games, and other files.
As a result, we nearly never had an issue while using it. Its performance is comparable to some 2017 high-end device. It can load most of your apps with ease, do multitasking smoothly, and play even heavy games on max settings. The likes of PUBG and NBA 2K18 are quite smooth even at high settings.
Thermal management is really good as expected from a new generation 12 nm based MediaTek SoC. It gets warm, but far from hot. The heat from it is actually even lesser than the Nokia 7 Plus with Snapdragon 660 chipset.
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| The UI |
On the software part, it is running on Android 8.1 Oreo w/ ColorsOS 5.0 skin. It's a heavily skinned Android version, but for the better for us. It doesn't look that iOS inspired unlike the previous version of the ColorOS skin.
Like what we mentioned in our F7 review, it looks cleaner than ever. It also has easier to reach functions. The quick shortcut settings is back on its original swipe down position.
This device also has most of the ColorOS 5.0 skin functions like the OPPO share, assistive ball shortcuts gestures, power saving mode, and screen recording. It also has a phone manager where you can optimize your phone when needed.
The OPPO F7 Youth also has face unlock. It's probably the fastest at this price point. However, it has no fingerprint scanner. It is not much of an issue for me, but it would have made this phone the perfect device for the price if it has the fingerprint scanner.
Telephony and connectivity is great as well. It has strong GSM signal most of the time. Doing calls and SMS is easy. WiFi works, Bluetooth is stable, and GPS is quite good of locating your current position. It also has 700MHz LTE Cat 7 support for better indoor 4G connectivity.
OTG also works (you can switch on and off in the settings) and it has gyroscope for AR and VR apps.
Pros - Stylish design, 18:9 screen, best performance for the price yet, good battery life, respectable cameras, speedy/accurate face unlock, affordable price tag
Cons - A bit prone to fingerprint smudges, screen brightness is not strong, no fingerprint scanner, no LED notification
Verdict
The OPPO F7 Youth is BEAST for the price. It can provide the powerful performance found on more expensive phones for less. It also has stylish design, good battery performance, nice cameras, and speedy face unlock tech.As a whole, it is a solid phone. The lack of a fingerprint scanner and the other few weaknesses mentioned above are forgivable.
Build / Design - 4
Display - 4
Audio - 4
Battery - 4.25
Camera - 4.25
Performance - 4.75
Average - 4.208 / 5
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