Strengthen your selfie game: Oppo's R9 and R9 Plus phones boast 16-megapixel front cameras
The Chinese phone maker's latest flagship phones take a few stylistic notes from Apple's iPhone playbook.
They may bear a striking resemblance to Apple's iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, but it'd be unfair to call Oppo's newly announced R9 and R9 Plus smartphones simple clones.
Focusing on selfie enthusiasts, both devices come equipped with a 16-megapixel front camera. Many companies have built smartphones around their selfie-taking abilities, such as Asus' ZenFone Selfie and HTC's Desire Eye, but a front camera with this many megapixels is an impressive first.
In fact, the R9's 13-megapixel rear camera is smaller than its front shooter. The R9 Plus is even Steven with its snappers: both of its cameras capture at 16 megapixels. The Plus is a reference to its 6-inch display, half an inch bigger than the R9's screen.
Oppo R9 specs:
- 5.5-inch full HD 1,920x1,080-pixel AMOLED display
- Octa-core 2GHz Mediatek Helio P10 chipset
- 4GB RAM, 64GB of storage
- Dual SIM slots, one of which can be used as a microSD slot to expand storage up to 128GB
- 2,850mAh battery
The R9 and R9 Plus' similarities with Apple's iPhones don't end with the hardware. Their ColorOS 3 software has evidently has taken inspiration from Apple's iOS 9 operating system too. Disappointingly, ColorOS 3 is based on the older Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, not the latest version, 6.0 Marshmallow.
The phones will go on sale in China soon, with global availability due sometime next month. International pricing isn't yet available, but the R9 has been priced at 2,799 yuan, which converts roughly to $430 and£300. The R9 Plus will cost 3,299 yuan -- that's about $510 or £350. In Australia, the R9 will retail for AU$599 and the R9 Plus for $699.
For that midrange price you'll get some premium features, such as a front fingerprint sensor and VOOC Flash Charge, which Oppo claims enables the phones' batteries to be charged to 75 percent in 30 minutes. Both the R9 and R9 Plus pack fairly large batteries, too.
Oppo R9 Plus specs:
- 6-inch Full HD 1,920x1,080-pixel AMOLED display
- Octa-core 1.8GHz Snapdragon 652 processor
- 4GB RAM, up to 128GB of storage
- Dual-SIM slots, up to 128GB of expandable storage
- 4,120mAh battery
While the specs look solid and the price reasonable, Oppo has major competition from fellow Chinese vendor Xiaomi. The company has turned many heads with its newly announced Mi 5, which features the mighty Snapdragon 820 processor, the same chip used to power this year's hottest Android phones, Samsung's Galaxy S7 and LG's G5. The Mi 5 will cost $415, £295 or AU$575 -- slightly less than the Oppo R9.