Keeping this in mind, Oppo has launched Oppo F9 Pro with notch design and great battery backup. This handset comes with quick charging support. Oppo’s competitor company Xiaomi has launched Poco F1 in the budget of Rs 20,000-30,000. Is Oppo F9 Pro available in the market? Xiaomi Poco F1 Will it be able to compete with Oppo F9 Pro or not? Also, is Oppo F9 Pro a profitable deal for you or not? Let’s understand the answer to these two questions on the basis of specifications and price.
Design of Oppo F9 Pro
Oppo F9 Pro comes with three finishes. All three finishes come with multi-color and different patterns. We have Sunrise Red finish handset for review. You will see a diamond cut pattern on the back panel. You will see a similar pattern on the back panel of Twilight Blue variant as well. But on the upper part of the back panel of this model, you will see dark navy and in the lower part, you will see accumulation of light blue color. On the back panel of Starry Purple variant, two colors magenta-indigo have been used with gradient finish. The metallic finish of all three variants is very shiny. The back panel finish of Sunrise Red variant we had was shiny. It is not necessary that the diamond cut design on the back panel is always clearly visible.
The diamond cut design comes to the fore when the phone is held in the hand or when the light falls at the right place. In the retail box, you will find a transparent cover which is made of rubber. The notch design is given on the front panel. You will see the selfie camera in the notch. The company has named it Waterdrop. Oppo has very cleverly reduced the notch as per the design. The earpiece is given in the margin of the phone just above the front camera. You will see multi-color body all around behind the black margin. The border present at the top and bottom of the screen is very small, the company has claimed that the handset has a 90.8 percent screen-to-body ratio.
The phone weighs 169 grams, so it will not feel heavy to lift. However, you will have to stretch your thumb a little to reach all the corners of the phone. This Oppo handset is not capable of protecting from dust and water splashes. The power button is on the right side, the volume up and down button is on the left side and the fingerprint sensor is easily reached by the hand. We were surprised to see that the company has given a micro-USB port instead of a Type-C port in this handset. Let us tell you that this was necessary for Oppo’s VOOC charging. A 3.5 mm headphone jack and a single speaker are provided at the bottom of the phone. The SIM tray will be found on the left side of the phone, it has a slot for two nano SIMs and a card.
Oppo F9 Pro specifications and software
As we told you that Xiaomi Poco F1 has also been launched. Poco F1 will compete with Oppo F9 Pro in the market. Both the handsets are mid-range smartphones. After the launch of Poco F1, you may not like the hardware of F9 Pro. MediaTek Helio P60 octa-core processor has been used in Oppo F9 Pro. Let us tell you that Oppo has used this processor in the first handset of its new sub-brand Realme. Realme 1 ,Review) This processor comes with ARM Mali-G72 GPU. Oppo F9 Pro has been launched in 6 GB RAM / 64 GB variant.
Along with Oppo F9 Pro, the company also launched Oppo F9. In Oppo F9, the company has given 4 GB RAM instead of 6 GB RAM. This model is not available in the store at the moment, the company has also not revealed the date from which this model will be available in the store. The surprising thing is that there is a difference of Rs 4,000 in both the models of Oppo. The main feature of F9 Pro is the 3500 mAh battery and VOOC flash charge support. The charger uses such technology that protects the phone from heating. The weight of the charger and USB cable available in the retail box is heavier than the old accessories of Oppo. Oppo has claimed that this handset gives two hours of talk time backup after charging for five minutes.
Oppo has used LTPS LCD panel in this handset, due to which the battery consumption is less. F9 Pro has a 6.3 inch (1080×2340 pixels) display, its aspect ratio is 19.5: 9. For connectivity, this handset comes with WiFi 802.11ac, Bluetooth version 4.2, GPS and VoLTE support. The handset we have for review is equipped with July 2018 security patch. This handset of Oppo comes with Color OS 5.2 skin based on Android Oreo.
The size of the icons on the home screen is a bit bigger. On the left side of the first home screen of the handset is the smart assistant screen. Here you will see many app shortcuts like weather information, step tracking, events etc. If you drag it downwards, you will see the option of systemwide search. This is similar to the feature present in iOS. With the help of the floating panel, you will be able to easily access app shortcuts and screenshot tools. If you use it while watching a video, some apps will launch like floating windows.
There are many options in the Settings app. If you want, you can use the on-screen navigation buttons or gestures. There are many gestures and shortcuts in the phone. Smart driving mode will block notifications and calls, but you have to activate it by going into the settings. Or this feature will work even when your phone is connected to the car’s Bluetooth. Oppo F9 Pro has a face unlock feature, but to use this feature, you first have to click on the power button on the side of the phone. This will turn on your phone’s screen, after this, pull the screen from the bottom to the top, doing this will start the front camera. After doing this, the phone will scan your face with the help of the front camera. You will also find a theme store in the phone, some free themes and wallpapers are given in it.
Oppo F9 Pro performance and battery life
The F9 Pro has a 6.3-inch display that comes with full HD+ resolution. The colors of the screen are bright and vibrant, and the viewing angles are also good. We did not face any problem while using the phone outdoors. Due to the notch design and curved borders, when watching videos in full screen, it felt like it was slightly cropping the video. The built-in speaker is not very good, this is because the sound is muffled. No matter how many times we listened to music, we did not enjoy it.
Oppo F9 Pro scored 137,739 on AnTuTu, 1,348 in Geekbench single-core test and 5,305 in multi-core test. The graphics score was quite disappointing, this is because the handset scored 1,078 in 3DMark Slingshot Extreme scene. There was no problem while playing games with low or say light graphics, but there was some problem while running a game with powerful graphics like Asphalt 9: Legends. The UI and menus seemed very slow while working. The experience was better after playing PUBG. This game ran without any hang and we did not face any problem. We noticed that the upper rear part starts heating up after loading a powerful game. If you are fond of playing games with latest and powerful graphics, then this handset will not prove to be a great option for you.
Camera of Oppo F9
Oppo’s camera app is very similar to the iOS app. Apart from standard photo and video, you will find time lapse, slow-motion, portrait, sticker, pano and expert mode in the main mode ribbon at the bottom. Portrait mode was seen repeatedly bringing us away from our subject and sometimes bringing us closer. You will get more lighting effects in the camera app than mild filters. In the standard photo mode, you will get options for beautification, filter and aspect ratio with Google Lens integration. Depth effect can be created with the front camera, but the picture will not look real or natural. Beautification mode will be pre-set on AI. Photos taken at home were not impressive. In daylight, we found that the camera app focuses quickly on any object or person.
Everything in the pictures we took was clearly visible and the colour scheme was correct. The camera app takes a few seconds to differentiate between the foreground and background in portrait mode. But we could see the effect on the screen and then decide when to click the picture. The focus is not as accurate at night as it is during daylight. If you take a picture of a person walking, the picture looks blurry. Most of the pictures we took had adequate light. The pictures are fine when viewed on the phone but do not look good when viewed in full size.
Oppo is known for its selfie camera, but in this case we did not find the front camera of Oppo F9 Pro that impressive. When taking pictures with the front camera, the face is not sharp and the objects in the background are not captured properly. Edge detection works properly. Selfies taken at night looked grainy. When recording videos with the rear camera, you will get two options 720p and 1080p. We saw the focus auto-focusing on its own many times. The camera of Oppo F9 Pro has disappointed us.
Our verdict
The Oppo F9 Pro reminds us of the year 2000 when companies like Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and others used to launch their handsets with imaginative designs. Nowadays, there are very few companies that take risks by changing the color, pattern, shape and material of the phone. If this red and purple phone lives up to your expectations, then you can definitely buy it. The battery life of the Oppo F9 Pro is good and our overall experience was decent. The camera of the phone is average. But this handset may not prove to be a great option. We only liked the metal body, weatherproofing and video stabilization at this price. Our biggest question is whether customers prefer to buy a handset by giving more priority to design over performance. The Oppo F9 is priced Rs 4,000 less than the F9 Pro in India. This handset can prove to be a value for money handset, this is because users are satisfied with 4 GB of RAM instead of 6 GB.