Shiko Msa
I’ve had the pleasure of spending a few weeks with the Oppo F7 phone and I must say I’m pleasantly surprised at quite a number of the phones capabilities, not to mention looks. I had a bright red piece, a colour that fits right into my preference. For some years there I’d been using dull black and grey phones and I’m glad for the vividness of this one.
The Oppo F7 is quite a beautiful handset with a glossy back cover that my pic above does not capture fully unfortunately. My only qualms is that it is quite a fingerprint magnet so one has to keep on wiping it. But that can be sorted with the gel case cover that comes free in the box. For those of us who prefer to use the phone as is and still don’t want to see fingerprint marks all the time, I guess we’d have to live with wiping the phone all the time. Yet it’s phone and I’m always on phone so this can be a bit unrealistic for me. Still that does not negate the fact that it is quite an eye catching premium looking device.
Design:
The phone has well rounded edges that along with the protective gel cover mentioned above make for quite some good grip. The volume buttons are on the left of the phone, and power and SIM/SD tray on the right. Most phones I’ve used have the volume and power buttons on the right and I’ve had to do some getting used to but that is not something I would complain much about. When you get used to the Oppo F7 the volume buttons positioning actually makes a lot of sense.
The phone has two nano SIM card slots and a dedicated micro SD card slot so you do not have to sacrifice one of the SIM slots for the SD card. Nice!
Cameras:
There is no denying the hold that selfies have taken on people and every fan wants a good selfie. The Oppo F7 has a 25Mp camera and this is bound to make many a selfie lover happy. Other than taking really refined photos due to AI assistance, the selfie camera also comes with a number of goofy filters which one can have fun with. It also has features like Panorama among other features and options, putting advanced photography into the hands of mobile phone users. The back camera is 16Mp with LED flash, and with features such as scene recognition that will automatically balance colour contrast, brightness and exposure due to inbuilt AI capabilities.
Battery:
The phone has a decent non removable 3400mAh that I found lasts me a whole day. Quite impressive considering I’m on phone almost throughout and my use varies from talk time to being online a lot. and I mean a lot! I’m not too big on video or gaming which would deplete battery faster but with time one would be able to determine their use vs battery life. All in all 3400 mAh is not a shabby battery except that it charges rather slowly in this day of fast charge.
Display:
I find the phone noticeably clear at 1080×2280 pixels resolution, and quite a pleasure to use and to watch stuff on. I know I said I’m not big on video but that does not mean I don’t use it at all and with a 6.2” display, its is quite sizeable and does not have me squinting to catch my favourite series on Netflix. Yes,among the first apps I download into any gadget that I lay my hands on it is Netflix :-D. I’m particularly notorious at catching up with movies, series and documentaries in bed and I’m not particularly keen on struggling to fit in a laptop or tab with me while all I want is to cover up and keep warm in this weather. So phone it is.
Storage:
With an internal memory of 64 GB expandable to 256GB and 4GB RAM, it is quite adequate to store my many photos and videos. It is also pretty fast with no lag and just perfect for my fast moving world. I’m on the move a lot and every so often I find myself needing to carry a few burning episodes of series with me and with this kind of storage, there is no struggle at all. As much as I do carry around stuff, 64GB is a lot and I’ve really not found myself needing to expand but its good to know that the option is there if I need it.
With a fingerprint scanner that is quite fast and facial recognition to boot, all that one decides to keep in the phone is safe in there.
Conclusion:
These days the customer wants things that will fit seamlessly into their lifestyles in terms of aesthetics, performance, storage and modern technology. Add to that some cute earplugs and free back cover and screen protector and the price tag of between 32,000 and 36,000/- does not seem too far fetched for a device as premium looking as the Oppo F7. Also at a weight of just 158g, one does not feel like its a burden to carry around.
I do hope Oppo will take into consideration the fingerprint magnet disadvantage in future though because for some of us neat freaks that is a real downer. Especially considering that we’re constantly moisturizing our hands, touching our hair and transferring oils onto the phone. Petty? I don’t think so.
I took a walk about with the Oppo 7 in Naivasha and here are some pics.
