Review: Oppo R7 Plus Blows Away Its Competition But...
Oppo R7 Plus at Rs 29,990 completely makes sense, but there are a few cons as well.
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When Oppo recently launched the Oppo R7 Lite and the R7 Plus in India, we thought they were atrocious.
Especially the Oppo R7 Plus that was priced at Rs 29,990 and wasn’t anything great to look at. But, as we started using the phone, we were reminded to never judge a book by its cover.
It’s not another Chinese phone here to ride on the high tide of smartphones in India. Oppo’s made something special. Yes, it does lack in a few areas but which smartphone doesn’t?
Key Highlights: Oppo R7 Plus
- Display: 6-Inch Full-HD AMOLED Display
- Processor: 1.5GHz Qualcomm MSM8939 Octa-Core
- RAM: 3GB
- Rear Camera: 13MP With Dual LED Flash
- Front Camera: 8MP
- Battery: 4100MAh Li-Po Non-Removable
- Price: Rs 29,990
What’s Good?
The Oppo R7 Plus looks like a chocolate bar, but the magnesium unibody is very refined. The feel of the phone once it’s in your hands is premium and up there with the likes of Samsung and HTC.
The 6-inch 1080p Super AMOLED display merges nicely with the shell and appeals to the overall design of this phone. The display is also bright, non-reflective and has a near perfect colour reproduction.
We don’t know how useful the ‘Free Curves’ design language that Oppo has put in this phone is, but it definitely looks appealing.
The phone comes loaded with a 1.5GHz Qualcomm MSM8939 Octa-Core processor backed by 3GB of RAM. If you take its competitors into consideration, nobody offers that amount of RAM and that’s why this smartphone promises performance. Its competitors like the Samsung Galaxy A8 and HTC E9+ are also performers, but this one has that extra peppiness that makes it stand out of the crowd.
The Color OS on top of Android Lollipop doesn’t interfere with the user experience of the Oppo R7 Plus.
Another plus point here is that it’s a Dual-SIM 4G smartphone that makes it future proof.
The camera on the Oppo R7 Plus is also pretty impressive with an easy-to-use app interface and the 13-megapixel Sony IMX278 sensor ensures detailed pictures every time. Low light image quality is also decent and for selfies, the 8-megapixel OmniVison OV8858 sensor is more that enough.
The Oppo R7 Plus comes loaded with a 4100 mAh battery that lasted us for a day and a half easily with moderate to heavy usage. The phone also supports VOOC fast charging technology by Oppo that is super fast and efficient.
What’s Bad?
At 192 grams, it is a heavy phone and can feel a little clunky at times. The Touch Access fingerprint scanner is just okay – it has a mind of its own and is not that efficient.
The Oppo R7 Plus supports 32GB SD card support, but its competitors offer more expandable memory. Also, the SD card slot doubles up as the slot for your second SIM card.
So, users are left with an option of using it as a dual-SIM smartphone or a single SIM phone with expandable memory.
Oppo in India suffers from brand perception and that’s something you might consider if you are a brand conscious person. Also, there aren’t many service centers for Oppo in India and getting things repaired can be a bit of a task.
Why Buy It?
At Rs 29,990, the Oppo R7 Plus is an amazing smartphone if you’re looking to break away from the usual suspects in this price range.
Yes, the Moto X Style, the Samsung Galaxy A8 and the HTC E9+ offer that brand value, but the Oppo R7 Plus proves performance can be delivered in the simplest looking device.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)