OPPO F1s Review: A Stylish Performer

The F1s is OPPO’s latest addition to its family of selfie-centric smartphones. Nicknamed as the Selfie Expert, it promises to deliver stunning selfies courtesy of its 16MP front facing camera. But is this phone just about that? How is it as performer for day to day use? For gaming? Let’s find out in this full review.

Design and Build Quality

The OPPO F1s is an elegant looking and well-made device. Its stylish curves and metal frame gives you that premium feel and sense of quality that you won’t find on some of the other devices in its price range. The phone feels solid and sturdy as well.

Front

• 5.5-inch display with Gorilla Glass 4 protection
• 16MP front facing camera
• LED notification light, and other sensors
• A physical home button which is also a fingerprint scanner
• Capacitive (and illuminated) back and recent apps buttons

Back

• 13MP Camera with LED flash

Left Side

• Volume rocker

Right Side

• Power button
• Triple slot tray for 2 Nano SIM Cards and a Micro SD Card

Display Quality

This is one of the areas where the F1s actually shines. The 5.5-inch display was bright and so vivid that I forgot it was a 720p display. It’s one of the best that I’ve seen on a smartphone. Oh and visibility in direct sunlight is good so as viewing angles as well. OPPO has done a good job in this department.

Performance

The F1s has an MT6750 Octa-core processor coupled with 3GB of RAM. This processing package isn’t the fastest in the mid-range category. But its still capable of handling day to day tasks with ease. Browsing the web, social media, and even some casual gaming on the side are handled with no problems.

The phone handled a casual game, DJ Max Technika Q with no issues. Take it up a notch to a graphics intensive game such as Asphalt 8. And you’d still get a decent experience when playing at the highest setting.

The F1s comes also with 32GB of storage expandable via MicroSD card. The good thing about this phone is that it uses a triple slot tray. This means that you can use two 4G Nano SIM cards in conjunction with a Micro SD card. It has most of the usual slew of sensors, and a Fingerprint scanner which works quite well too.

Camera 

The highlight of the OPPO F1s is its 16MP front camera, and you know what? it was good. Even in low light situations, selfies came out as some of the best i’ve seen. Its shutter is quite fast too.

The 13MP rear camera also performed well in good lighting. Pictures had a good amount of contrast and detail. In low light, the results were less than stellar, as pictures started to lose quality and look grainy, but still okay.

The front camera interface is simple and easy to use. It also provides some nifty features. There are filters and the ability to create GIFs by recording a short video. There’s also palm/voice activated capture. Expert mode, allows you to tweak specific elements such as ISO and White Balance.

Sound Quality

Plug in a good pair of headphones on this thing, and you’ll be taken to another world. The sound quality from the headphone jack was so good I actually forgot i was using a phone. If i had to describe how it actually sounded, it was like listening to a live concert. The speakers are also well built, as even on high volume the clarity is still exceptional and bass is evident.

Software

The F1s runs OPPO’s proprietary skin, ColorOS 3.0 on top of Android 5.1 Lollipop. Apart from the missing app drawer, this take on Android doesn’t shy that much away from stock, and that’s a good thing.  The UI actually looks pretty solid and navigation was as smooth as it can be. Another good thing is that it doesn’t have any bloatware to begin with, so rest assured that the apps you get are the ones which are useful. Then there’s Security Center, wherein you can set which apps will start when you turn the phone on,  encrypt apps so that they’ll need a password whenever opened, and scan your phone for viruses as well. They’ve also included Eye Protection display mode which filters out the blue light to create a display that’s gentle to the eyes, and it actually seems to work.

Battery Life
The 3075mAh non-removable battery isn’t the biggest one that you can find. But it can get you through a day of light to moderate usage, and still have enough energy for half of the next day. Even without fast charging, the charging time wasn’t really bad. I was able to get from 10% to 88% in less than 2 hours.

Verdict
For what it brings to the table, the OPPO F1s is a great device to have. A good display, a stellar front facing camera, superior build and sound quality, great UI, good battery life, and stunning looks. The underpowered processing package may not appeal to some. For the casual users, even some gamers, and selfie lovers out there however, this phone is going to be a treat.