Gadgets Philippines – May 2017

20 MAY 2017 http://www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

DESIGN

The overall aesthetic of the phone feels a bit

same-y. The design team decided to keep as

much of the F1s DNA as they could. Not that

there’s anything wrong with that: the F1s was a

nice-looking phone; but a completely new phone

would definitely need a nip and a tuck or two to

distinguish it from the predecessor.

The silhouette of the phone is sleek, and looks

even sexier with the gold finish (also available in

black) and the six bands that go around the back

all the way to the sides. It is a very thin phone,

but an ill-placed bevel separating the metal and

glass elements (which may have been put there

to make it look nicer from the front) makes it look

thicker than it actually is.

If there’s one thing you can’t fault Oppo with,

however, it would be the build quality which is

excellent as always. It does feel like a premium

phone, but with a not-so premium price tag.

HARDWARE

As advertised, the piece de resistance of the F3

Plus is its dual-lens selfie camera setup. The main

lens is 16 MP for super detailed self-portraits,

while a secondary 8 MP wide-angle lens is for

taking selfies with more subjects (hence the word

“groufie”).

Built around the selfie camera is an octa-core

machine running on a Qualcomm MSM8976 Pro

Snapdragon 653 with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB

of on-board storage expandable up to 256 GB

through a microSD slot.

To supplement the front-facing camera, the rear

camera has a new custom-built 1/2.8-inch IMX398

sensor designed with Sony Semiconductor

Solutions Corporation which has a wide aperture

of f/1.7 for better photos even in dim conditions.

Extra features include a static fingerprint sensor

instead of a regular home button. If you try this

phone out, you’ll be duped into pressing hard on

that sensor thinking at some point it will depress

and click. It also has a dual-tone LED flash for the

camera, a huge 4000 mAh battery that has a fast-

charge guarantee via Oppo’s proprietary VOOC

charging technology.

At launch, the folks at Oppo announced that it

is proven to be faster than other quick charge

technologies out there. However,

upon testing it out, the VOOC-

charging F3 Plus took more than an

hour to charge. It still tops up faster

than most phones out there with a micro

USB port. There is nothing wrong with the

charger, it is just the limitations of the micro

USB in comparison to, say, the USB-C.

That being said, you are getting a lot of phone for

the price, and it is a really good phone for daily

use and can handle multitasking with ease.

USER EXPERIENCE

The F3 Plus is an everyday phone. It’s able to

handle my needs from leisure to work without

a hangup. I want to note how clean Oppo’s

operating system is. Sure it is based on an older

Android version, but it has a stable build without

the clutter of other custom operating systems. It

can handle my constant shifting between different

productivity applications that are on standby. The

F3 Plus is also able to do some gaming in between

and no matter what I throw at the phone, the

battery has a steady drain that would last me the

whole day of continuous use.

In terms of its primary features, however, the F3

Plus comes out as a lifestyle phone. If you are one

who loves to take photos and share them on social

media, the camera interface has special functions

that support it like double exposure, beautify and

bokeh effects, among others.

VALUE

At PHP 23,990 the F3 Plus is on the low end of the

high end range when it comes to price, but

specifications-wise you are getting a lot back

for the money you shell out. It’s a nice everyday

phone that feels very premium, and Oppo has

proven that a premium phone doesn’t have to

equate to a premium price point.

Oppo F3

Plus

BottomLINE

If you want a decently-priced phone

with good specs and love taking photos

of or with friends and family (basically a

can-do smartphone), the F3 Plus is the

smartphone of choice.

Reviewed by Robby Vaflor

SPECIfICAtIoNS:

Display: 6.0-inch IPS LCD touchscreen at 1920 x 1080

full HD resolution

Corning Gorilla Glass 5 screen protection

Processor: Qualcomm MSM8976 Pro Snapdragon

653 chipset

Octa-core (4x1.95 GHz Cortex-A72 & 4x1.44 GHz

Cortex-A53)

GPU: Adreno 510

Platform: Oppo ColorOS 3.0 built on Android OS v6.0

Marshmallow

Memory: 64 GB internal storage

Storage expandable up to 256 GB with microSD/

4 GB RAM

Camera: 16 MP f/1.7 rear camera with phase

detection autofocus, OIS, and dual-tone LED flash/

16 MP f/2.0 and 8 MP wide angle dual-lens front-

facing camera/

Video quality up to 2160p at 30 fps

Features: Front-mounted static fingerprint sensor

Oppo VOOC fast charging technology

Dual SIM support (microSD uses second SIM slot)

Battery: 4000 mAh

microUSB v2.0

What’s Hot:

• Wide-angle “groufie” lens


• Long battery life


• Solid build quality

What’s Not:

• Still looks and feels like the F1s


• VOOC isn’t really “VOOC-ing”

Oppo won a huge chunk of the already saturated Asian

market with its selfie-centric product development,

running with it ever since. The F3 Plus is the company’s

upgrade to the highly popular F1s. I got my hands on

one to see if the new tech upgrades warrant an entirely

new-generation phone model.

GADGETSLAB