Oppo R11s review: A midrange phone with a fantastic camera

Oppo was one of the biggest phone manufacturers of 2017, and the R11s makes it easy to see why. 

8.1

Oppo R11s

The Good

The dual cameras take pretty good photos, even in low light. Battery life is great, and the 6-inch display is bright and vivid.

The Bad

Oppo's custom take on Android borrows too much from iOS and doesn't feel as polished. The price is higher than most midrange phones.

The Bottom Line

The Oppo R11s is a great midrange phone with a brilliant camera and fantastic battery life.

For a midrange phone, the R11s packs plenty of goodies, including a fantastic camera and well-made hardware that feels good in the hands. The phone's definitely worth the AU$659 ($505 and £365 converted) that is, if you haven't already spent your hard-earned cash on the earlier R11 . Unfortunately, the phone isn't planned to go on sale in the US or the UK, but it's also on sale in Singapore for S$699.

The R11s, a phone that only debuted six months after the R11, is a much better phone all around than even its already impressive predecessor. The 6-inch 18:9 display is bigger. The camera is just as good, and even better at certain types of shots. It sports a slim metal body and there's a little groove at the bottom of the phone where the speaker and Micro-USB port are tucked in.

Both the 16MP and 20MP cameras work in a way unlike conventional dual-camera designs. In most dual camera phones , one camera acts as a monochrome or telephoto lens and the phone selects the secondary lens when desired, such as when there isn't much light or when you want to zoom in on something. The R11s handles this differently by automatically selecting the best camera for the job. And when it comes to low-light situations, the 20-megapixel sensor fires up for better images.

Check out the gallery below for our test shots.

Oppo R11s camera test shots

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If there's one thing that really holds the phone back, it's Oppo's misguided attempt to copy the iPhone. The user interface feels like iOS 10, right down to a control center that appears when you swipe up from the bottom. To be frank, I prefer the control center that appears on most Android phones when you swipe down from the top. It's a lot cleaner, and I never accidentally bring it up while trying to use the home button. The iOS control center works because it has a physical Home button, but the R11s doesn't.

I suppose it's no secret that plenty of Chinese phone makers take a lot of inspiration from Apple's iOS, but Oppo's version feels like a pale imitation. While you can copy the look and some aspects of the design, such as the camera app's user interface, it doesn't feel natural. It's like slapping a Ferrari engine into a Tesla, it should work, but probably wouldn't feel right.

Packing a midrange Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor, performance is decent -- you'll be able to play 3D-intensive games such as Asphalt 8 or Vainglory with a smooth framerate, but other more powerful phones will run them better. Battery life is great, though. The phone lasted 18 hours, 12 minutes in my video loop test.

I wasn't expecting the R11s to be as good as it is, given my previous experience with Oppo devices which tend to ape the iPhone 's looks but deliver a subpar user experience and less than fantastic camera performance. The R11s however has managed to redeem the brand. There's still much to be said about its iOS copycat Android skin, but I'll take the good with the bad.