In the Indian smartphone market space, the price range of Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 is not as cutthroat, but it is dominated by a few excellent devices like the Redmi K20 Pro or the OnePlus Nord, that offer stellar performance and a good value for money proposition.?
Amidst this, offerings from Samsung like the M51 is trying hard to make its mark and now, these efforts are going to get more difficult with the entry of Oppo¡¯s F17 Pro. Starting at a price point of Rs 22,900. We got to play with Oppo¡¯s F17 Pro for a while and here¡¯s what we like and disliked about this cool new smartphone.?
While most of us are tired of seeing the blue gradient glass sandwich backs on phones, Oppo F17 Pro¡¯s implementation surely seems fresh with a two-tone glass back split into two parts. The purple-ish blue hue on an all matte polycarbonate back surely looks and feels premium and adds some character to the monotonous aesthetic choice.?
Oppo F17 Pro features a 6.4-inch OLED panel with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels. The OLED panel isn¡¯t the best by any means, however, it does get extremely bright which is a boon when you¡¯re outdoors.?
The display also gets fairly vibrant that makes the movie and show watching experience even more mesmerizing.?
Under the hood, the F17 Pro is packing MediaTek¡¯s Helio P95 CPU, paired with 8GB of RAM and PowerVR GM9446. Even though it's not the fastest CPU around the block, the device is no slouch. Whether it¡¯s gaming or multitasking, the phone ran butter smooth without any jitters and lag, although don't expect to run the games on the highest settings.
Moreover, the 4015mAh battery is more than enough to end the day with at least 30-40 percent battery to spare. Additionally, the included VOOC charging charges the device to 100 percent in less than an hour which isn¡¯t as fast as WARP Charging but still works just fine.?
One of the cool things Oppo has been doing with its phones is that it has retained the headphone jack. Not just that, it also includes a pair of headphones in the box.?
Sure, many might not find this to be a big deal, but for people who don¡¯t want to spend more on a pair of headphones, it¡¯s a cool inclusion.?
When it comes to Chinese Android skins, Oppo¡¯s ColorOS is in my opinion one of the most cluttered. It comes with a bunch of bloatware and heavy customization that might appeal to some, but for someone like me who likes stock Android, it meant there was a steep learning curve. Even though I eventually managed to get used to it, it¡¯s not a skin I¡¯d want to switch to forever.
One of the strongest weapons in the F17 Pro¡¯s arsenal is its set of cameras.?
? We¡¯re looking at a 48-megapixel primary shooter with an f/1.8 aperture, followed by another 8-megapixel ultra-wide shooter with an f/2.2 aperture followed by two depth sensors. It sure seems odd to have two depth sensors for a rear camera.???
The camera was able to capture decent colours however, when you tried to zoom in, you could notice that the camera wasn¡¯t as sharp as you¡¯d want it to be -- something that's even more noticeable with the wide-angle shooter.?
At the front, you get two cameras -- a 16-megapixel primary shooter and a secondary 2-megapixel depth sensor. While the primary camera performed well, I would have loved to see an ultra-wide-angle shooter instead of the depth sensor -- but yes, I get it some people would love the depth sensor over the ultra-wide-angle's absence, so it's based on what you prefer.?
It tried to create artificial bokeh, but the results were similar to the ones camera software tries to whip up. Another thing to highlight is the fact that the second camera results in a bigger punch hole in the display, which really isn¡¯t worth it.
Oppo F17 Pro tries to do a lot but manages to get at least the basics right. Sure the camera implementation could have been a lot better and the screen is locked to 60Hz, it manages to fill the gaps by offering decent performance for the price.?
Technically, you could still buy a year old Redmi K20 Pro and get way better performance at a similar price point or push your budget to get OnePlus Nord. However, if you want the latest phone on the market and can¡¯t budge your budget, Oppo F17 Pro is surely worth considering.