Oppo's R7S takes some cues from the iPhone 6S Plus (hands-on)
With it's 5.5-inch screen, metal frame and rose gold option, Oppo's R7S appears to be the company's take on Apple's phablet.
Oppo hasn't yet found the level of success that fellow Chinese smartphone makers Xiaomi and Huawei have, but it hopes to change that with its R7 stable of midrange phones. Following the May release of the Oppo R7 and R7 Plus, the Dongguan-based company is now readying the series' latest iteration: the R7S.
Bearing a resemblance to Apple's iPhone 6S range, the 5.5-inch phone is clad in metal and exudes a luxurious feel. Under its hood is a set of mid-tier parts, including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor. The R7S will be more costly than most Chinese smartphones, retailing for S$599 in Singapore, which converts to around $425 or £280. In Australia, the R7s is AU$529.
Besides Singapore, the R7S will hit Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand before November's end, and will be sold on Oppo's online store for European and US customers in December. Australia will have the device in mid-January.
Design
The R7S is definitely a looker. Clad in metal, it comes in gold, silver and rose gold (i.e. pink) variants. While the device isn't as much of an iPhone lookalike as HTC's One A9, there are certainly some design choices that are reminiscent of Apple's premium range. The placement of the volume and power buttons, as well as the camera and speakers, is all iPhone-esque, and even the R7S' default wallpaper is similar to the Milky Way wallpaper found in iOS 8.
The Oppo R7S' design that will be familiar to anyone who has used an iPhone 6S or 6S Plus.
All that aside, it's still hard to not be impressed with the R7S' build quality. It's slim at 6.95mm, weighs just 155 grams (5.5 ounces) and feels solid feel. The unoriginal design may be a disappointment, but from my brief time with the phone it seems as though Oppo has at least nailed the execution.
Hardware and software
Though it's a midrange phone, the R7S has respectable specs. It's powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 615, comes with 4GB of RAM, 32GB of onboard storage and an embedded 3,070mAh battery.
The 5.5-inch AMOLED display is full HD at 1,920x1,080 pixels, and Gorilla Glass 4 helps protect it from scratches. The rear camera is 13 megapixels, and takes pictures in line with what you'd expect from a mid-tier phone -- though it'll need more in-depth testing to find out how it holds up under lowlight situations.
The Oppo R7S sports a rear 13-megapixel camera.
The handset has two micro-SIM slots for dual-SIM use, though one of them can double up as a microSD card slot for expandable storage. The international model will support 4G LTE networks such as EE and Three in the UK, as well as Telstra, Optus and Vodafone in Australia. It's expected to support AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon in the US.
Like Xiaomi's MIUI or Samsung's TouchWiz, Oppo has its own take on Android, called Color OS 2.1, which is based on Android 5.1 Lollipop. It chucks all your apps onto your home screens, like they are on the iPhone and iPad, rather than keeping them in a separate drawer. The company also claims the OS has been optimized to launch apps faster, but we're yet to test that out.
Outlook
Oppo has a good-looking phone on its hands, but it will face intense competition in the market from cheaper Chinese competitors, such as Xiaomi's newly announced Redmi Note 3. On the other end of the spectrum, the OnePlus 2 is priced similarly to the R7S but comes with better hardware.
We'll be working on our review of this phone, so check back for that later.
Despite its strong build quality and good looks, the Oppo R7S is a little expensive when compared to similar offerings from its competitors.