Oppo F7 review

Introduction

Selfies are an inevitable part of our lives and they have prevailed over the skeptics into a bright, if not predominant future. Oppo was among the first makers to helm the niche with the Selfie Expert F series. And now the company is the first ever to offer a stunning 25MP selfie camera with the new Oppo F7.

But the Oppo F7 is not all about selfies, it also tries to keep up with every new trend, pretty successfully at that. Notched screen - check. Catchy paint jobs - check. Bright aperture on the main 16MP camera - check.

Just like the R15, the F7 employs the Helio P60 chip, which we already saw in action and left us with nothing but positive impressions. But the F7 is not as flashy as its R sibling - it's made of plastic, it lacks a dual-camera setup, and the blazing-fast VOOC charging is missing too.

Then again, the Oppo F7 wasn't meant to be a top-tier device, but an all-rounder priced quite attractively. And it sure looks like Oppo did a fine job of picking the R15's essence and putting it to work cost-effectively on the F7.

Oppo F7 specs

• Body: Plastic back and frame, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 front
• Display: 6.23-inch IPS LCD, 1080x2280px, 405ppi
• OS: Android 8.1 Oreo with ColorOS 5.0 on top
• Chipset: Mediatek Helio P60, 4x2.0 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4x2.0 GHz Cortex-A53, octa-core CPU, Mali-G72 MP3 GPU, 4 or 6 GB RAM
• Storage: 64 or 128 GB internal with microSD hybrid (SIM2) expansion slot
• Rear Camera: 16MP, f/1.8, PDAF, LED flash
• Video recording: 1080p@30 fps;
• Front Camera: 25MP, f/2.0, 1080p video recording
• Connectivity: Dual SIM, Dual 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 4.2, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, A-GPS/GLONASS, FM radio, microUSB 2.0
• Battery: 3,400mAh non-removable, Regular Charge 5V/2A
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (rear-mounted)

The only letdown is probably the plastic body, not that it's bad, but because even the cheapest of the Redmi phone is now made of metal. The eye-catching paint jobs will make up for that, and the price for sure, too.

Now, let's pop that Oppo F7 out of the box and see what's inside.

Unboxing the Oppo F7

Oppo never disappoints with its retail bundles and the F7's is no different. The Selfie Expert comes packed in a regular box containing a 10W wall plug, a microUSB cable, and an EarPods-like headset. There is also a transparent rubber case for some extra protection.

The Oppo F7 might come with a pre-applied screen protector, which is one extra step over the already durable Gorilla Glass 5 screen glass it has. Still, we appreciate the effort and we know many people will do, too.