The OPPO F5 signifies the brand’s venture into the 18:9 screen race. With a large 6-inch Full HD display, a powerful octa-core processor from MediaTek, and a new AI-supported beautification technology, it once again aims to redefine the selfie-centric smartphone.
Design and Build Quality
The OPPO F5 is truly a huge step-up compared to its predecessors. The huge 6-inch 18:9 display leaves almost no room for bezels and gives you more to enjoy your content, while keeping the overall footprint to a minimum.
The phone itself feels well-made, and is easy to handle with one-hand despite its size. Hold it cautiously though, as the back panel tends to slip off easily.
The camera module protrudes, which might cause issues when playing games that require the phone to be flat on the ground with continuous tapping on the screen.
The F5 sticks to the triple slot tray, while oddly, they still opted for the standard microUSB port instead of a reversible one (probably to save costs?).
As far as vividness is concerned, the 6-inch Full HD+ display doesn’t disappoint. Colors are rich and text is sharp. There’s just one thing though, the screen looks dim, even when the brightness level is set to max. This makes it difficult to use the phone in broad daylight.
The phone we used for testing was an engineering sample, so this may no longer be the case with the retail units.
Camera
The 16MP rear camera manages to take good scenery shots with excellent details and on point color accuracy.
It’s also capable of 2X optical zoom, which is even more impressive when you look at how much detail it’s able to capture.
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The 20MP front camera uses AI Beautification technology to optimize itself for your face. It does a good job of removing blemishes, and the bokeh effect seems to be more refined.
Software
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The F5 runs on ColorOS 3.2 on top of Android 7.1.1 Nougat. With this new UI comes some very noticeable changes. All the switches to toggle Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and other features are now located at control center, which can be displayed by swiping up from the bottom of the screen.
Some icons have also been re-designed to a minimalistic look. Even the settings page has been given a fresh new look.
You can also unlock the OPPO F5 using facial recognition, which works well and works fast.
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There’s a new feature called game acceleration, which optimizes the display settings for optimal gaming performance. It also lets you block notifications and hide the on-screen buttons to prevent mistouches. It looks promising, but we’ll see during our full review.
Initial Verdict
The OPPO F5 is shaping up to be a very promising device, thanks to a combination of good looks, and seemingly capable hardware. The camera also seems to have improved a lot, with a better implentation of portrait mode.
ColorOS has also undergone a makeover, and I quite like how it turned out. The minimalist approach works well here, and the addition of new features such as Game Acceleration, and being able to unlock the phone with facial recognition are good signs of how the brand has moved forward.
We’ll be doing a full review of the F5, to see how it performs in everyday tasks and gaming, as well to find out how powerful the new processor is, how the camera performs in low light conditions, and whether it can take you through a whole day’s work without having to recharge. Most of all, we’ll try to find out if this phone is worth the price tag they put on it.
Emman has been writing technical and feature articles since 2010. Prior to this, he became one of the instructors at Asia Pacific College in 2008, and eventually landed a job as Business Analyst and Technical Writer at Integrated Open Source Solutions for almost 3 years.
