OPPO F7 Unboxing, In-Depth Hands-On

The competition of selfie-centric smartphones is far from over as OPPO releases a new contender in the market. The OPPO F7 sports a 25MP front camera with an A.I Beautification 2.0, MediaTek Helio P60 chipset, and 4GB RAM, but is that all it has to offer? Check out our unboxing and initial hands-on of the device below.

OPPO changed the design on the F7 as compared with the F5 series. It has now adopted the notch design that has been trending nowadays. Aside from that, the back panel looks like it’s made of glass but it’s actually a multi-coated polycarbonate material that still looks premium and elegant.

On the front is a 6.23-inch screen that is covered by Corning Gorilla Glass 5, except for the notch. The notch of the F7 contains the 25MP front camera with AI Beautification 2.0 and the call speaker. OPPO maintains the in-display navigation buttons to maintain slim bezels at the bottom of the device.

On the right, we have the power button along with the dual-SIM (nano) and dedicated microSD cards tray.

Found on the left is the lone volume rocker.

Placed at the top is the noise-canceling microphone.

The bottom part contains the loudspeaker, micro-USB port, main microphone, and 3.5mm audio port that seem to be cramped. We are disappointed that it has a micro-USB port rather than the USB Type-C one.

Lastly, the back panel contains the 16MP rear camera with LED flash and the fingerprint scanner.

The F7 feels solid yet very light in the hands. We didn’t have any problems holding the device as it provides good grip. What we didn’t like, however, is that the entire device is a huge fingerprint and smudge magnet. The box does include a jelly case though, so you might want to use this right away.

The F7’s display has a Full HD+ screen resolution (2280 x 1080px) with a 19:9 aspect ratio, which equates to 405ppi. Quality is crisp, while color accuracy and viewing angles are good.

As for its cameras, it features HDR, Panorama, Watermark, Depth effect, screen flash, and filters. Aside from the usual beautification features, they have now added an AR sticker and Vivid mode for users to play with. The 25MP front camera features AI Beautification 2.0, which the company says that uses 296 facial position spots, compared to the first version’s 200.

We are quite impressed with the front camera as the photos have good details, and colors pop. Using the AI beautification mode makes the face look a lot cleaner and smoother. It’s also adjustable, with a manual beauty mode that ranges from 1-6.

The 16MP rear shooter doesn’t disappoint as well as it is able to focus and adjust exposure quickly and accurately in auto mode. The photos it produces are clear and detailed.

Powering the F7 is a MediaTek Helio P60 processor paired with a Mali-G72 MP3 GPU and 4GB of RAM. Overall, it’s very responsive and smooth. We also tested its overall performance in benchmarking applications and it yielded a score which is impressive for a mid-range device. It even scored higher than the Vivo V9.

• AnTuTu v7 – 138,758
• Geekbench 4.2 – 1,522 (Single-Core), 5,841 (Multi-Core)
• 3D Mark – 1,086 (SSE – OpenGL ES 3.1), 940 (SSE – Vulkan)
• PC Mark – 7,985 (Work 2.0)

We didn’t encounter any problems running regular tasks like launching our favorite social apps, connecting to the internet, or watching movies. Playing games like PUBG mobile is smooth and has little to no stutters at medium settings which is a good indication that it can be used as a gaming smartphone. We also notice that it heats up when playing games or taking photos or videos for extended periods but not to the point of overheating.

The device runs on Android 8.1 Oreo skinned with ColorOS 5.0. We like the clean look of the UI, and navigation was never confusing or complicated. Pre-installed apps include WPS office, Google apps, Phone Manager, Facebook, and Instagram. The expandable 64GB storage should be enough for those need to install or store plenty of apps and files.

The OPPO F7 will launch on April 19 for Php17,990 for the 4GB RAM and 64GB storage variant. Pre-order will be from April 12 to 20, 2018, in all OPPO authorized resellers. Those who pre-order will get a free Olike Magic Music Lamp. Do note that the pre-order will require a Php1,000 deposit. Pre-ordered OPPO F7 units can be claimed on April 21 to 22 and will come with a special freebie.

We’re now working on our full review so if you have questions, let us know in the comments below.

OPPO F7 specs:
6.23-inch FHD+ (2280 x 1080) 19:9 LTPS IPS display, 405ppi
4 x 2.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A73 + 4 x 2.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A53
Corning Gorilla Glass 5
MediaTek Helio P60 chipset
Mali-G72 MP3 GPU
4GB/6GB RAM
64GB/128GB storage
Expandable via microSD up to 256GB (dedicated slot)
16MP f/1.8 rear camera
25MP f/2.0 AI front camera
Dual-SIM
4G LTE
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth 4.2
GPS w/ A-GPS
Fingerprint scanner
MicroUSB
USB-OTG
Color OS 5.0 (Android 8.1 Oreo)
3,400mAh battery
156 x 75.3 x 7.8mm
158g
Solar Red, Moonlight Silver, Diamond Black