Oppo R7 Plus packs a giant 4,100mAh battery in a 6-inch display (hands-on)
If size matters, then Oppo's supersized version of its R7 smartphone looks set to impress.
Step aside, Samsung Galaxy Note 5; Chinese manufacturer Oppo wants in on the phablet action with its 6-inch phone, the R7 Plus. While it doesn't quite share similar features apart from the size, the Android-powered R7 Plus does have a few tricks up its metal sleeves.
For one, the phone's clad in aircraft grade aluminum, comes with a fingerprint sensor and has a giant 4,100mAh battery that should last you a long time. Priced at S$699 in Singapore -- this converts to around $495, £320 approximately -- it's just AU$599 in Australia. Oppo usually retails its phones through its online stores to the US and other markets, so you can probably order it online when it becomes available.
Design and features
If you found the look of the Oppo R7 Plus familiar, it's because the company took its R7 phone and supersized it. The R7 Plus shares a similar metal body made of magnesium-aluminum alloy -- typically aircraft-grade metal -- that gives it a luxurious feel.
There are, however, a few tweaks to the design -- the camera has been shifted toward the top center of the phone, while a fingerprint sensor has also been added just below that. Oppo has also swapped the placement of the volume keys and power buttons -- on the R7, the volume keys are on the right, with the power button on the left, but this is reversed on the R7 Plus.
The phone is 7.8mm thick.
Interestingly, Oppo is touting the 6-inch display as one of its key features -- the company says the phone has an 80 percent screen-to-body ratio, and the display looks like it's about to spill over the edges. It'll be interesting to see if the R7 Plus will have issues with the fleshy bits of the palm touching the display and causing touchscreen problems.
One very noticeable change is the lack of touch-sensitive menu keys, which are normally found on Oppo phones, and this is intentional. Oppo says the larger display means having software keys won't interfere with the user experience, as there's plenty of room even with them.
There are no physical touch keys on this phone.
Hardware and software
Powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 615 64-bit octa-core processor, the R7 Plus also packs 3GB of RAM, 32GB of onboard storage and a special dual-SIM slot that lets you use one of the slots as a microSD card. Other specs include a 4,100mAh battery that supports fast charging -- it takes 30 minutes with Oppo's custom charger to hit 75 percent charge.
The 13-megapixel camera of the phone comes with an LED flash, autofocus and laser focus. It also uses a RGBW sensor from Sony, the IMX 278, which adds a white pixel to the usual red, green and blue layout for better low-light shots. We'll be testing this in our review to see if this works. The front camera sports 8 megapixels and can also take full-HD videos.
A closer look at the 13-megapixel camera, the laser-assist focus and the fingerprint sensor.
While the screen is large, Oppo doesn't seem to have customized its Android-based operating system to take advantage of the screen real eastate. Icons look big and take up way too much space. Something a little sleeker would have been ideal, in my opinion -- Samsung seems to have done well with how its UI looks on the Note 5 -- it uses the display space a lot better with smaller icons and having more apps displayed on the home screen.
Other software features include a wide variety of camera features, including an UltraHD mode that lets you take 50-megapixel shots (this isn't new, it was already available on older phones such as the Find 7) and a reverse GIF mode that lets you, you guessed it, create and reverse a GIF.
Outlook
Oppo certainly has a good-looking phone, but like most other Chinese manufacturers apart from the big names such as Xiaomi or Huawei (to name a few), brand recognition isn't quite out there. This means most of us won't really give this phone a chance, despite its solid build quality and design. And Oppo's relatively expensive price (compared to its Chinese competition) will put off the bargain hunters and those who can afford the phone will likely look toward more recognized brands such as Samsung, which has good phones in that range as well.