In 2017, Oppo wants to reach more customers with the new F3 series. The company aims to attract selfie lovers through F3 Plus. Oppo F3 Plus is the first smartphone to have a dual front camera. Like the Vivo V5 Plus (Review), the second camera is not used for depth of field. Instead, the Oppo F3 Plus has a wide-angle lens for group selfies.
Oppo has generally been exciting people to buy in the Rs 20,000 segment. So it may be a bit difficult to buy F3 Plus for Rs 30,000? But does it justify its high price? let’s find out
Oppo F3 Plus design and build
Oppo has always done a good job in terms of design and the same is true with the F3 Plus. The metal unibody feels sturdy and its rounded edges make the phone easy to hold. Despite the soft-touch finish, we never felt the phone slipping during use. Soft gold color attracts. A 6-inch display occupies the front portion of the phone. Just like the Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro, it’s impossible to use it with one hand without the risk of the phone falling as well. The company has tried to do something different by giving an antenna band on the rear. Perhaps the reason for this is to look different from the competitors. With a weight of 185 grams, this phone feels a bit heavy and due to its 6 inch display, it is not easy to keep it in the pocket. The good thing is that Oppo has managed to keep its phone thin.
The fingerprint sensor works fast to unlock the device. And like before, you can also unlock apps and files with it. The phone has backlit capacitive buttons for navigation. There are dual front cameras and sensors on the top. The buttons on the side are a bit difficult to reach. Headphone socket, speaker and micro-USB port are provided at the bottom. There is a SIM tray above the power button. This phone comes with hybrid SIM slot.
The Full HD resolution makes images and text look sharp and the viewing angles are good. However, the colors are over saturated and sometimes look too bright. Touch response is also good and there is Gorilla Glass 5 to protect the display. But the absence of Type-C connector in the phone is a bit disappointing.
Overall, we have no complaints about the design and finish of the phone. Due to its size this phone is not the easiest to use. The absence of USB Type-C on the phone is disappointing, especially considering that this is an upper mid-range 2017 smartphone. In the box you get a headset, ear tips, a silicone case, instructions, a SIM ejector, a USB cable, and a power adapter, which is Oppo’s VOCC Flash Charge Mini standard. A screen protector already comes installed in the phone.
Oppo F3 Plus specification and feature
F3 Plus has Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor and 4 GB RAM. Inbuilt storage is 64 GB. Storage can be expanded via microSD card (up to 256 GB). This specification is very amazing. The benchmark numbers may not be as good as those found in smartphones with Snapdragon 821 processors, such as the similarly priced OnePlus 3T.
The F3 Plus got great figures in the benchmarks. Talking about other specifications, common sensors like Dual Band Wi-Fi B/G/N/AC, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, USB-OTG and Gyroscope will be available. The phone has features like FM radio and NFC.
The phone has features like F Radio and NFC which some people may like very much. The presence of Android Marshmallow based Color OS 3.0 instead of Nougat in the phone is disappointing. However, the phone has Google Assistant and the custom skin also looks polished and new. The phone also has Google Assistant and it works well on the phone. Apart from this, not much has changed in ColorOS compared to the previous phone. We also saw this OS in Oppo A57 during the review. The interface and icons have an iOS-like feel but aren’t exact replicas of other phones by Chinese manufacturers. Most system apps like Gallery and Camera can be accessed by going to the main Settings app.
Google Suite, Facebook, Instagram and WPS Office come pre-installed in the phone. Oppo also has its own app store for those who don’t want to sign in to the Play Store.
oppo f3 plus performance
ColorOS is well optimized, the general performance and specifications of the phone are very good. Apps load faster. There are also additional features like a theme store and motion gestures. Due to One Handed Mode, F3 Plus can be used with one hand. The performance is very good and there was no problem while multitasking and playing 3D games on the phone. RAM remains free all the time and the phone never hangs. 4G network has always worked well for us and VoLTE support also works well. There was no problem in call quality in the phone during our review. The top and sides of the phone become hot while charging and downloading apps or files. The phone gets hot during regular use.
The advantage of the larger screen in the F3 Plus is visible during video playback. The audio quality from the speaker is also not very bad. The bundled handset is a bit small but the Dirac audio helps.
The secondary front camera is provided for practical use and it works well. Instead of using the depth-of-field trick like the Vivo V5 Plus, the F3 Plus’s 8-megapixel sensor is designed for a wider field of view. With this, a gruff selfie can be taken with many people in one frame. Photos taken in good lighting come with detail but there is a fish-eye effect. The secondary front camera aperture is F/2.4 which is not enough to capture noise free shots.
On the other hand, the 16-megapixel front camera gives good pictures even in low light and the credit for this goes to the aperture F/2.0. You can easily switch between the two cameras with an icon near the shutter button. The screen flash comes in handy at night and we liked that it adjusts automatically.
Apart from doing well with both the front cameras, Oppo has also done a good job with the rear camera. The phone has a 16-megapixel sensor but it comes with dual PDAF and aperture F/1.7. The rest of the camera specifications are similar to those of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Moto G5 Plus. The wide aperture helps in reducing noise and taking bright shots in low light. But the performance is a far cry from the Samsung Galaxy S7.
Macro shots taken in low light are good. But the texture is not very sharp. Photos look good without zooming. Video recording up to 4K is possible and the quality is good. However, we had problems with focus. However, stabilization can also be used.
The features in the camera app are a bit less but all the apps required are available. There is Expert Mode, Filter, Panorama and Timelapse Video for manual control. Focus speed is good and we did not face any problem of it slowing down even in low light.
The 4000 mAh battery lasts a whole day with normal use. The battery lasted us 17 hours and 12 minutes in our HD video loop test. This phone comes with VOCC Flash Charge Mini technology for faster battery charging.
our decision
With a price tag of Rs 30,990, Oppo has managed to offer a more premium device than what it usually offers with its smartphones. The F3 Plus faces tough competition from the OnePlus 3T and Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017). Apart from this, it also competes with LG G5 which is priced at Rs 32,000.
You get a lot for the price in the F3 Plus. It is a device that comes with a good build and stylish look. The phone has a sharp display, excellent battery life, powerful processor and good cameras.
The absence of NFC and FM radio in the phone is disappointing. Apart from this, the oversaturated colors of the display are also a bit disappointing. But, we found the biggest drawback of the phone not coming with Android Nougat. Because now Android O has also been announced.
However, with this price we believe that at least the user should get proper support for the software for two years. The Oppo F3 Plus is a great option for those looking for a high-performance phone that can also take good selfies. Some people may be disappointed by the price of the phone, but if Oppo starts providing software updates on time, the F3 Plus is not a bad option.