OPPO F3 Review

Dual front camera setup, performance oriented processor and premium build. These were the ingredients chosen to create a perfect selfie smartphone and thus was born the OPPO F3. The synonym of selfies a.k.a OPPO F3 is rather a downsized version of the previously launched F3 Plus, striking out the suffix in addition.

Keeping up with the trend, the company had a good run with its selfie-centric smartphones starting from OPPO F1 and F1 Plus. While more companies concentrate online, OPPO is one company which also gives importance to offline, which in turn has helped them gained an edge. The OPPO F3 comes in Rose Gold color with a price tag of Rs. 19,990 exclusively on Flipkart online as well as offline stores. So how is OPPO F3 overall? Check out the full review.

Unboxing

We unboxed the OPPO F3 recently. Do check it out.

Box Contents

  • OPPO F3 smartphone in Gold color
  • Headset with microphone
  • 2-pin charger (5V-2A)
  • Micro USB cable
  • Clear protective case
  • SIM ejector tool
  • Quick start guide and warranty information

Display, Design, and Hardware

The OPPO F3 sports a 5.5-inch 1080p 2.5D curved glass display. The display is bright, vivid and color reproductions are good as well. Due to glossy display, it tends to reflect a lot when you come directly under the sunlight. Sometimes you might need to wipe the display as it attracts fingerprints. Additionally, the touch response is good and also it comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for protection that prevents scratches.

OPPO is following its design language since F1 and it’s evident in this device as well. The OPPO F3 looks similar to that of F3 Plus with metal unibody design and plastic rims on the sides. While the back panel is made up of metal, the top and bottom part which is separated with thin Chrome line is made up of plastic. Just like other OPPO F-series smartphones, the look of the F3 is top notch with brilliant attention to detail. Moreover, the mobile feels good to hold and offers a comfortable grip ergonomically.

Moving on to the hardware, at the front there is a 16MP front-facing camera with 76.4-degree wide-angle lens, 1/3.1-inch sensor, f/2.0 aperture and secondary 8MP front camera with 120-degree wide-angle lens. An earpiece and usual set of proximity and ambient light sensors are also present next to the front camera. There is a physical home button beneath the display that is baked with a fingerprint sensor to quickly unlock the phone that can also detect your finger even if it is moist. On the left side, it houses a volume rocker button, and on to the right, we have the power button and Dual SIM and microSD slot.

Unlike other smartphones, the OPPO F3 offers a dedicated SIM slot and MicroSD card slot to make the most out of both. Up top, we have nothing except the secondary microphone and at the bottom, there is a 3.5mm audio headphone jack, microphone, micro USB and loudspeaker grills.

Turning back, we have metal unibody design as we mentioned above along with a 13MP rear camera with dual-tone LED Flash, along with the branding at the center. This phone is so sleek and compact, measuring around 153.29×75.24×7.3mm and weighs 153g.

Software, UI, and Apps

The OPPO F3 is shipped with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with Color OS 3.0 on top. It’s is disappointing to see almost-outdated Android Marshmallow in the era of Nougat. Just like other Chinese UI’s, the Color OS doesn’t come with app drawer and looks more of iOS interface. Users can arrange their apps on the home screen as per their preference and also group them into folders. This shouldn’t be a problem as it offers butter smooth performance without any lag or hangs.

Users can launch camera app from the lock screen as well. The drop-down notification bar has several toggles, a shortcut for settings and lets you to adjust the brightness using the slider. When you swipe right on the notification panel, it will take you to the page where you can access all the notifications.

Under the settings menu, this phone offers several gestures, including double tap to turn on the screen, Draw O to access the camera, Draw V to turn on the flashlight and much more. This gestures can be performed both when the screen is on and off. It also comes with the so-called ColorOS Comfort Display, that filters out the blue light and softens the glare, which in turn reduces eye strain during usage at night. Additionally, it also offers you the three options — Low, Medium and High level to adjust the level of blue light filter.

 

Furthermore, there are built-in tools available to free up the storage, free RAM and optimize the performance as well. It also has a virus scanner that protects the device from malicious software and files. There is also a ‘Do not disturb’ mode similar to other Android phones running Android Marshmallow. In addition to the usual set of Google and utility apps, it comes preloaded with third-party apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon. You can also uninstall the app if you don’t need it.

 

Out of 64GB of inbuilt memory, the user will get around a generous 51.5GB for file storage. In fact, you can expand your memory through MicroSD card slot as well. And out of 4GB of RAM, the user will get around 2.27GB of free space on first boot.

Camera

Coming to the USP, the OPPO F3 flaunts a 16MP front-facing camera with 76.4-degree wide-angle lens, 1/3.1-inch sensor, f/2.0 aperture and secondary 8MP front camera with 120-degree wide-angle lens. On the rear it is taken care by 13 MP rear camera with dual-tone LED Flash, PDAF, 1/3-inch sensor, 1.12um pixel size, f/2.2 aperture.

The camera UI is indeed pretty neat and minimal with a toggle for front and rear camera, Shutter button, gallery, dual camera mode (when switched to front camera) and different mode that includes, Beauty, Panorama, Time-Lapse, and video. On top, you can access features like HDR, flash, and different modes (Normal, Ultra HD, Gorgeous Color filters, GIF, Double Exposure, Expert Mode).

Talking about the front, it has a dual camera module that allows you to take either selfies or group selfies. The primary 16MP camera allows you to take individual selfies and undoubtedly, the results are brilliant with lots of detailing and good color reproduction. Beauty mode is the cherry on the cake, that takes the selfie into a different league by correcting your skin tone. Unlike Vivo V5 Plus, which offers a depth of field on its secondary camera, OPPO opted for a wide-angle lens with 120-degree field of view, making it more special for those who clicks group selfies often. The photos taken with the dual camera is unsurprisingly good. Also, there is ‘Bokeh mode’ that blur out the background and keeps you in focus. It’s worth mentioning that this option works only on regular selfie camera.

The performance of the rear camera is good under ordinary daylight conditions. HDR shots are good with good dynamic range and macro shots are good with fast autofocus. But, the camera tends to give up during the low light conditions with noise on the image.

Another exceptional feature about OPPO F3 is that, the ability to capture photos in ‘RAW file format’. All you need to do is to tap the square icon on the top right corner -> Select Expert Mode -> You will have various parameters including ‘RAW’ at the last. Now tap on RAW once and choose ‘Save’ to store this picture in RAW format (.dng) on your phone.

Unfortunately, you cannot view the RAW file on your phone, as you need a dedicated software like Photoshop on your PC to do this.

Here are the sample photos were taken with OPPO F3 (Click the image to view the full resolution sample)

Fingerprint sensor

 

The OPPO F3 has a fingerprint sensor on the front just below the display. To be honest, the placement of the fingerprint sensor is perfect, since it’s where your thumb finger rests on it every time. The home button is not clickable instead it will give you a haptic feedback. As usual, the fingerprint sensor is quick to unlock the phone immediately when you place your finger on it. The fingerprint scanner is an active one and you don’t need to wake up every time to unlock the phone. Apart from unlocking, you can also use the fingerprint scanner for App encryption and to keep your important files safe.

Calling, Messaging, and Connectivity

 

It has its own dialing app offering an access to contacts at the bottom. It has a Touchpad for OPPO keyboard by default and it’s pretty good to use as well. If you want you can also change the keyboard too. The Earpiece volume is loud enough to hear even when you are in the noisy environment.

 

The phone supports all the 4G LTE bands in India and features VoLTE option as well, which means you can use Reliance Jio calling out of the box. It has WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS and also has USB OTG support to connect pen drive and other accessories.

Performance

The OPPO F3 comes powered by Octa-Core MediaTek MT6750T 64-bit processor clocked at 1.5GHz with Mali T860 as GPU taking care of graphic department. Performance is good without any stutter or lag during our casual usage. We also tried several games including Asphalt, Clash of Clans, Subway Surfers, and the graphics were good, however, we experienced frame drops at certain points, but not often. Multitasking was also smooth, thanks to 4GB RAM!

Battery

 

The OPPO F3 comes juiced with 3200mAh battery on board. However, it is disappointing to see that the phone doesn’t have VOOC Charging Technology. Having said that, the OPPO F3 offers amazing battery life. On a full charge, it easily lasts for a day with heavy usage including, 4G calls, gaming, browsing and of course the selfies. It also has a low power mode that extends the phone usage time by cutting down the apps, reducing brightness and lock screen time and other connectivity options.

Conclusion

On the whole OPPO F3 is one of the real contenders in the mid-range segment offering a good blend of performance, looks, and selfies. In an attempt of imitating its bigger brother, OPPO F3 do manage to deliver what it has to, but with few compromises. If you are looking out for a camera-centric smartphone, with a selfie as your main focus, blindly turn towards OPPO F3, otherwise, there are lots of options.

Pros

  • Dual Selfie Camera
  • Build quality
  • Dedicated SIM and MicroSD card slot

Cons

  • Lacks VOOC fast charging
  • Android 6.0 Marshmallow


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