Oppo's camera-centric F series has been growing fast since the
original F1
came out in January this year. We were surprised to see Oppo make haste
with a successor of the "Selfie Expert" but they seemed to have a
point. The
Oppo F1 Plus
was an all-inclusive upgrade: better CPU, more RAM, a bigger AMOLED
screen. Most-importantly though, it doubled the front cam resolution
with a 16MP front-facing camera.
So, the F-series tried to live up to that Selfie Expert moniker but
the upgrades fetched a hefty price. At around $400, the F1 Plus is in a
whole different league with tougher competition.
This is likely why we're having the pleasure of the Oppo F1s. It
brings the hardware down a notch - and closer to the original concept -
while making no compromise with the selfie experience, at least on paper
that is. It should theoretically appeal to the same demographic Oppo
was targeting with the original F1 - while taking into account the
intense price competition.
So, what are the main differences? For starters, Oppo went for a 5.5"
screen, like the F1 Plus, but it's a 720p IPS unit (like the original
F1). RAM is back at 3GB (down from 4GB in the Plus model) and storage is
set at 32GB. In terms of chipset, there is a downgrade of sorts,
although not so easy to spot. The MediaTek MT6750 uses the same true
octa-core Cortex-A53 configuration as the Helio P10 inside the F1 Plus,
only clocked at 1.5GHz. The Mali-T860MP2 is clocked-down as well. All
this, of course, for the sake of keeping the 16MP front-facing camera.
Oppo F1s
If you just happen to be well familiar with Oppo's lineup, then by
now, you have surely noticed that the F1s is strikingly similar to
another one of the company's recent models - the
A59.
In fact, the only difference between the pair seems to be the upgraded
front-facing camera with the striking similarity extending to the
exterior as well.
Oppo has stayed true to its design language: a metal body with subtly
rounded corners and chamfered edges, although not particularly grippy.
The body itself feels nice and uniform with a smooth finish all around,
which is definitely a compliment since it is not a unibody design. The
top and bottom bits of the back are actually plastic to not interfere
with reception. Speaking of the back, it is really clean and
decluttered.
The same can be said about the front as well. Nothing is really out
of place. Above the 5.5-inch screen, there are only the earpiece,
ambient light and proximity sensors and, on the left, the high-res 16MP
front camera. The latter is really understated and doesn't come with a
huge lens or a ring or anything else that commands attention, which is
generally the case with many other selfie-centric phones.
Below the screen, there is a rounded home button that integrates a
fingerprint reader, a pair of capacitive buttons on either side. These
are absolutely invisible when not backlit.
Speaking of the fingerprint reader, Oppo has really upped its game
this time around. The sensor is really accurate and blazing fast at 0.22
seconds per read, as rated by Oppo. However, the whole experience isn't
quite seamless as the fingerprint reader isn't always on. This means
you have to wake the phone up first and then unlock it. This might
actually be a conscious power-saving choice. If you simply make it a
habit of actually pressing the home button (to wake the phone up) before
touching it (scan to unlock), you won't even notice the missing
always-on.
Moving on to the guts of the Oppo F1s and the performance it
delivers. Oppo is gunning toward the upper end of the starter segment,
or the lower midrange. Depending on your point of view, the phone may
come across as very generous in some respects, or far from perfect in
others. Like most midrangers, it is all about finding the balance that
is right for you.
Our main concern with the F1s is the 720p display, which frankly is
only just enough on a 5.5-inch diagonal. But even with this handicap,
you have to look really hard to start noticing any sharpness issues.
Plus, we are willing to forgive Oppo on this point, considering it did
opt for a quality IPS panel. It offers nice and vivid colors, ample
brightness and good sunlight legibility. Also, 720p is easier on the GPU
during graphics intensive tasks.
Oppo F1s in the hand
The slightly under-clocked processor is another quite valid point for
concern. The Helio P10 doesn't really have a reputation as a good
performer and its MT7650 sibling has even less raw power. Our benchmarks
even show that the original Oppo F1, with its Snapdragon 616 SoC has an
edge over the F1s. Perhaps Oppo should have gone with Qualcomm again.
GeekBench 3 (multi-core)
Higher is better
-
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
4537
-
Huawei Honor 5c
3933
-
Huawei P9 Lite
3799
-
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
3695
-
LG Nexus 5X
3527
-
Xiaomi Mi 4c
3321
-
Oppo F1 Plus
3242
-
Xiaomi Mi 4s
3147
-
Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
3061
-
Huawei Honor 5X
3053
-
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
3039
-
Oppo F1
3014
-
Oppo F1s
2967
-
Xiaomi Redmi 3
2842
-
Asus Zenfone Max
1550
GeekBench 3 (single-core)
Higher is better
-
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
1543
-
Xiaomi Mi 4s
1254
-
Huawei P9 Lite
899
-
Huawei Honor 5c
898
-
Oppo F1 Plus
857
-
Oppo F1s
706
-
Huawei Honor 5X
705
-
Asus Zenfone Max
493
GPU performance isn't really all that better. The Mali-T860MP2 inside
the MT6750 has apparently been under-clocked as well. This is clearly
evident in that it does worse at off-screen rendering than the F1 Plus,
which should have an identical graphics solution. The only saving grace
here seems to be the 720p resolution, which makes for some more
respectable on-screen frame rates.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
-
LG Nexus 5X
16
-
Xiaomi Mi 4c
15
-
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
14
-
Xiaomi Mi 4s
13
-
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
8.5
-
Huawei P9 Lite
7.8
-
Huawei Honor 5c
7.8
-
Oppo F1 Plus
7
-
Oppo F1
5.8
-
Xiaomi Redmi 3
5.8
-
Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
5.7
-
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
5.7
-
Huawei Honor 5X
5.6
-
Oppo F1s
5.1
-
Asus Zenfone Max
1.8
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
-
LG Nexus 5X
17
-
Xiaomi Mi 4c
15
-
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
14
-
Xiaomi Mi 4s
12
-
Xiaomi Redmi 3
12
-
Oppo F1
11
-
Oppo F1s
10
-
Huawei P9 Lite
8.3
-
Huawei Honor 5c
8.3
-
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
7.9
-
Oppo F1 Plus
7
-
Huawei Honor 5X
6.1
-
Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
5.7
-
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
5.7
-
Asus Zenfone Max
3.9
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
-
LG Nexus 5X
11
-
Xiaomi Mi 4c
10
-
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
9
-
Xiaomi Mi 4s
8.1
-
Huawei P9 Lite
4.6
-
Huawei Honor 5c
4.5
-
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
4
-
Oppo F1 Plus
3.3
-
Oppo F1s
2.4
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
-
LG Nexus 5X
11
-
Xiaomi Mi 4c
9.7
-
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
9
-
Xiaomi Mi 4s
7.9
-
Oppo F1s
6
-
Huawei P9 Lite
4.9
-
Huawei Honor 5c
4.8
-
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
3.9
-
Oppo F1 Plus
3.3
Software doesn't really help the performance either. While generally
quite user-friendly with its iOS-inspired approach to Android, Oppo's
Color OS doesn't have a reputation for being remarkably optimized. The
V3.0.0.i ROM in the Oppo F1s is still based on Android 5.1 Lollipop
meaning you don't get any of Google's more recent platform improvements,
like runtime permissions or the battery-friendly Dozing feature.
However, you might not miss those particular two all that much, since
Color OS does offer alternatives of its own. You can't really
micro-manage permissions, but you can get notifications when an app
wants access to something more sensitive and there is an excellent level
of notification control on a per-app basis. As for process management,
it is really powerful indeed. You can easily limit the background
activity of almost every third-party app and save on battery, just be
careful with messengers.
Notification and process management
The Settings menu offers access to quite a few other options as well.
Quiet time is a great feature to have built in. Gestures are also
really well executed. You get a full-featured system, including
screen-off and custom ones.
The F1s also offers an interesting feature that allows you to map a
certain fingerprint to a given action, like calling a number or
launching an app. Put all of this together and you can really create a
unique and elaborate scheme of operation shortcuts, provided you can
memorize them all.
Custom fingerprint shortcuts
Oppo has carried the iOS approach over to Settings as well. Most of
the bundled apps have their preferences laid out here, rather than
inside the app itself. This does get a little confusing, especially for
apps like Camera and Video, which end up having options both inside and
outside the app.
iOS style settings layout
Other than that, what you get out of the system UI is pretty clean
and straightforward. The lockscreen comes with a single camera shortcut,
but is never really boring if you opt to use Oppo's magazine feature.
It allows you to subscribe to themes and enjoy high-quality images on
the lockscreen.
Clean lockscreen • Magazine feature
The main interface itself is flat and colorful. You don't really get
an app drawer, so you just have to make do with homescreen panes and
folders. The notification shade is very clean as well with quick toggles
conveniently placed one swipe away to the right.
Overall, the UI and all core apps work very smoothly despite the less
than stellar hardware. This goes for the camera app as well. It offers a
clean experience and yet manages to squeeze quite a few interesting
modes and little tweaks to play with. However, we do feel the need to
point out the lack of organization yet again. Some shooting modes, like
Time Lapse, Beauty mode and Panorama get quick access shortcuts
alongside the main photo and video modes (the latter has a dedicated
viewfinder, which is always a plus). However, other things like Ultra HD
mode, which stitches stills together to up the resolution, Double
Exposure mode, GIF animation creator, as well as all the filters and the
Expert mode are in a whole different menu. Also, there is no clear
indication of resolution or aspect ratio, so you are never exactly sure
when the camera is cropping.
Polished camera interface
We do have to point out though that the manual controls cover more
than just the basics - exposure compensation, ISO, Shutter speed, Manual
focus and even RAW support.
What about quality, how good does the new "Selfie Expert" deliver
where it promises the most? Well, in one word, acceptable. Nothing
really special to note. The level of detail by the primary shooter isn't
really all that impressive, neither is the dynamic range. The camera
also often struggles with exposure and can't seem to make up its mind in
subsequent shots. Edge to edge sharpness could've been better as well.
HDR OFF • HDR ON • HDR OFF • HDR ON
As for the positives, HDR mode seems to work quite well. The shift in
exposition can be seen in the shots below taken a seconds apart under
the same conditions.
HDR OFF • HDR OFF • HDR ON
As for selfie shots, well the 16MP shooter definitely holds its own.
Detail is ample and shots look really sharp, perhaps even sharper than
the 13MP main shooter. The experience should satisfy even the most
demanding social-savvy users.
Selfie samples
Oppo does advertise a new Beautify algorithm in the F1s and it does
subjectively look sort of better than previous iterations, but the level
of weird in the end results is still a bit too high for us. All samples
were taken with a medium amount of "rosyness" in case you were
wondering.
Beautify OFF • Beautify on medium • Beautify on high
All things considered, our initial impression of the Oppo F1s is that
it's the result of Oppo finally making up its mind about what the
F-series should be like. It may seem a little weird at first that it
mixes together features of the two preceding models. The F1s has a
screen as big as the F1 Plus' but at the resolution of the original F1.
It's less powerful than the Plus - but obviously not as expensive
either.
If we accept that performance isn't really the selling point here and
rather focus on the selfie experience instead, then the F1s clearly
merits the "Selfie Expert" title more than the original.
As of now, the settings look much like the current Google Now
Launcher’s settings with a chance that there will be a different set of
options in the final version. Other differences in the launcher include
new, updated folder icons, which look like you are viewing them through a
telescope or portal (any Portal players out there).
The On5 Pro is the smaller of the two with a 5.0-inch 720p display.
It runs on the Exynos 3 Quad chipset and packs an 8 megapixel camera on
the back and a 5 megapixel camera on the front. Powering it is a sizable
2600mAh battery.
