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Introduction
"Trendy" tends to get thrown around on today's mobile scene quite a lot. It is just one of those loose-fitting adjectives that, through overuse, has practically lost all meaning. Still, looking at the Oppo F5, we can't really think of any better way to describe the company's new "selfie expert".
It literally covers all the current trends: Trim bezels, ultra-wide aspect, AI-powered selfies, Apple-style face unlock and heavily iOS-inspired UI - all accounted for. All the while, concepts like a dual selfie setup have already been pushed to the side, just to stay in tune with the tone of the day.
We get it, being trendy and staying relevant is important, especially in an increasingly over-saturated market. The BBK Electronic Corporation really seems to take that idea to heart, as the Vivo V7+ and the OnePlus 5T can both testify, with their equally speedy adoptions on the trendy ultra-wide aspect ratio.
Oppo F5 key features:
- Body: Polycarbonate unibody
- Screen: 6.0" LTPS IPS LCD, 1080x2160px resolution (18:9)
- Chipset: Mediatek MT6763T Helio P23 chipset: octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU (8x2.5GHz); Mali-G71 MP2 GPU
- Memory: 4GB/6GB of RAM, 32GB/64GB of inbuilt storage, microSD slot
- OS: Android 7.1.1; Color OS 3.2
- Rear camera: 16MP f/1.8; PDAF; LED flash
- Front camera: 20MP, f/2.0, 1/2.8" sensor size, autofocus
- Battery: 3,200mAh
- Connectivity: LTE Cat.7 (300 Mbps/150 Mbps), Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, Micro USB
- Misc: Fingerprint sensor on the back, Face unlock
Main shortcomings
- No fast charging solution
- No NFC
- Older Micro USB port
Still, we can't really fault Oppo for adapting and surviving as best it can. With its FullHD panels, slick design, new software and camera features and revamped UI, it still offers great mid-range value in its own right.
But, that definitely doesn't mean we can't frown at the phone's polycarbonate unibody - a clear downgrade over its F3 predecessor. Or be a little saddened by the constant sharp shifts in design direction within the "selfie expert" family, as well as the overpowering ambition to copy Apple's every step as close as copyright laws allow and perhaps even beyond.
Oppo F5 in official photos
One things is for sure, there are a lot of new aspects of the Oppo F5 to explore. So, without further ado, join us on the following pages as we tour the handset and see exactly what has changed.
Retail box contents
As per usual, Oppo opted for sensible packaging on the F5. The phone comes in a plain white, yet sturdy two-piece box. It does feature Oppo logos on a couple of places, but is standard enough to be re-used for various models, keeping costs down. We've always been fans of such measures, since, overpaying for presentation does not really make that much sense.
The actual phone art and specs overview are printed out on a sleeve that slides on to the box. Inside, we find a standard layered layout. The F5 is seated securely in its own plastic tray, so no complaints there. All of the accessories are underneath and Oppo is pretty generous in this department.
Oppo F5 box contents
First, the basics - a wall charger and USB cable. We can't help but feel Oppo should have finally made the jump to Type-C this generation. Still, however, the microUSB remains the standard of choice. More disappointingly, though, the Oppo F5 lacks support for the company's excellent VOOC fast charging technology. Hence, you only get a basic 5V@2A wall charger in the box.
Oppo F5 in the hand
On a more positive note, Oppo did also throw in a nice white headset and a transparent plastic case.
Oppo F5 360-degree spin
It is hard not to notice the change in materials in the F5, despite Oppo's PR efforts to tip-toe around the fact. Opting for plastic, instead of the solid metal construction of the F3 pair might have been a necessary cost-saving measure. We can only imagine a new ultra-wide panel costs noticeably more, especially a sharp FullHD one.
Frankly, if this is the trade-off Oppo had to make, we won't complain too much. Even in the absence of metal, the F5 manages to impress with a nicely-curved unibody design and a smooth mat finish - great to the touch and pretty fingerprint-repellent. Plus, like we've always said, even in the age of glass and metal, there are still certain benefits to molding a phone from plastic. Dents, for one, are a non-issue. Polycarbonate also keeps the chassis light and accommodates wireless radio transmission nicely.
Even with its significantly taller display, the F5 manages to tip the scale at just 152 grams, which is almost exactly what the Oppo F3 weighs. We have to hand it to Oppo for slimming down the bezels and chins of the new design quite a bit. It's a really impressive look for a mid-ranger and one that results in a very compact 156.5 x 76 x 7.5 mm body on the F5.
This makes the additional height of the panel a bonus on top of what is essentially a 5.5-inch, 16:9 device footprint.
Hardware overview
Oppo really did put a lot of effort into crafting an impressive face for the new F5. We can only assume the company's engineers had plenty of experience refining the design, while also working on the Vivo V7+ and OnePlus 5T. Still, it's amazing to think that €320 or so can buy you so much screen and so little chin. Oppo didn't skimp on the panel resolution either, going for a fullHD one. But, more on that in the display section.
The Oppo F5 has impressively thin bezels
There is not much else around the front of the Oppo, besides display. The bottom chin is absolutely empty. Not even a notification LED, hidden away somewhere. On top, there is a single speaker, light and proximity sensors, as well as the now single selfie shooter.
Since there wasn't really any space for Oppo's typical home button/fingerprint reader combo, the F5 relies entirely on on-screen navigation. As for the biometric reader, it is moved to the back of the phone. Center-mounted and slightly elongated.
The reader is blazing-fast and very accurate. It is a perfectly reliable backup option if the trendy face recognition should fail for some reason.
Polycarbonate back
The back is pretty empty as well. We can get behind the shiny silver logo. The legal notice on the bottom - not so much. The 16MP main camera has a sizeable bump to it. It's not ideal, but the right case can smooth that out nicely. Plus, the F5's finish isn't particularly grippy, which is another reason to consider a case.
Slowly moving to the side bezels, we can't help but address the "antenna lines" stretching near the top and bottom of the phone. The quotes are no coincidence. These are merely accents since the plastic build of the F5 requires no such extra measures to accommodate radio communication.
Top and bottom of the phone
The top bezel of the Oppo F5 is completely empty, except for a tiny hole to house the noise-canceling microphone. The opposite side is quite a bit busier. The phone's sole speaker is positioned here. So is the micro USB port. We are also happy to see that no courageous decisions were made and the Oppo F5 still has a 3.5mm audio jack.
Left side
Nothing special on the left of the F5, just a lonely volume rocker. Just like the rest of the body, it appears to be plastic as well.
Right side
On the right - the power button, positioned quite conveniently. Next to it is a SIM and SD card tray and a pretty impressive one at that. It has three separate slots, so you don't have to choose between a second nano-SIM or a micro SD. The new MediaTek Helio P23 even has the ability to run both SIMs at 4G, LTE speeds.
Display
We already praised the Oppo F5 for its slim front bezels. The company's choice of a FullHD ultra-wide panel, over a cheaper 720p one is also appreciated. Granted, the F5 is far from the only option out there to ship with the trendy new aspect and 1080p resolution in the sub EUR 350 price group. There is the Huawei Mate 10 Lite, also the Honor 7X and the LG Q6.
So, there is no real exclusivity to Oppo's 6-inch, LTPS IPS LCD display. It is still a solid panel, though. With 402 ppi density, it looks perfectly sharp. On a pixel level, we find a standard RGB arrangement.
Performance-wise, it has excellent contrast, thanks to really deep backs and trumping most everything else in its price bracket, shy of the Super AMOLED Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro. It scores top marks in brightness as well.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0.351 | 551 | 1570 | |
| 0 | 539 | ∞ | |
| 0.401 | 519 | 1294 | |
| 0.289 | 515 | 1782 | |
| 0.343 | 509 | 1485 | |
| 0.364 | 484 | 1330 | |
| 0.322 | 484 | 1503 | |
| 0.214 | 462 | 2159 | |
| 0.364 | 449 | 1234 | |
| 0.38 | 439 | 1158 | |
| 0.46 | 424 | 922 | |
| 0.192 | 422 | 2198 | |
| 0 | 350 | ∞ | |
The Oppo F5 also has a max auto mode. In bright direct sunlight, its brightness can climb a bit higher still.
Sunlight legibility is also good. Nothing to phone home about, though.
Sunlight contrast ratio
- Apple iPhone X
5.013 - OnePlus 5T
4.789 - Samsung Galaxy S8
4.768 - Samsung Galaxy S8+
4.658 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
4.615 - Motorola Moto Z2 Play
4.459 - Oppo R11
4.454 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
4.439 - OnePlus 3
4.424 - Samsung Galaxy S7
4.376 - HTC One A9
4.274 - Samsung Galaxy Note7
4.247 - Samsung Galaxy A3
4.241 - Nokia 8
4.239 - Google Pixel 2 XL (pre-update)
4.234 - OnePlus 3T
4.232 - Google Pixel XL
4.164 - ZTE Axon 7
4.154 - Samsung Galaxy Note8
4.148 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
4.147 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)
4.124 - Huawei Mate 10 Pro (normal)
4.096 - Samsung Galaxy Note5
4.09 - Google Pixel 2 (pre-update)
4.023 - LG V30
4.022 - Huawei Nexus 6P
4.019 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
3.998 - OnePlus X
3.983 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
3.983 - Oppo R7s
3.964 - Apple iPhone 7
3.964 - Apple iPhone 8 (True Tone)
3.957 - Huawei P9 Plus
3.956 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
3.935 - Lenovo Moto Z
3.931 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
3.918 - OnePlus 5
3.914 - Samsung Galaxy C5
3.911 - Samsung Galaxy C7
3.896 - Samsung Galaxy A5
3.895 - Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
3.879 - Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
3.873 - Samsung Galaxy A8
3.859 - Sony Xperia XZs
3.818 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
3.817 - Motorola Moto X (2014)
3.816 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)
3.812 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
3.804 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
3.802 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
3.798 - LG V20 Max auto
3.798 - Sony Xperia XZ
3.795 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
3.789 - Apple iPhone 6s
3.783 - Meizu Pro 5
3.781 - Microsoft Lumia 650
3.772 - Xiaomi Mi 6
3.767 - Sony Xperia XZ1
3.765 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
3.756 - Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact
3.729 - Apple iPhone 8 Plus (True Tone)
3.725 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.709 - Vivo X5Pro
3.706 - Sony Xperia X Compact
3.694 - Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
3.688 - Apple iPhone SE
3.681 - Huawei Mate 9
3.68 - Samsung Galaxy A7
3.679 - Meizu PRO 6
3.659 - BlackBerry Priv
3.645 - Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra
3.597 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
3.588 - LG G6
3.556 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
3.53 - Motorola Moto Z Play
3.526 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
3.523 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
3.523 - Acer Jade Primo
3.521 - Microsoft Lumia 950
3.512 - Oppo R7 Plus
3.499 - nubia Z11
3.466 - Huawei P10 Plus
3.456 - HTC U Ultra
3.453 - Samsung Galaxy J7
3.422 - Meizu MX5
3.416 - LG V20
3.402 - Huawei P10
3.379 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
3.378 - Oppo R9s
3.352 - Honor 8 Pro
3.341 - Oppo R7
3.32 - Lenovo P2
3.316 - Honor 9
3.289 - Xiaomi Mi 5s
3.276 - Nokia 5
3.261 - Nokia 6 (Chinese version)
3.244 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
3.238 - Samsung Galaxy J2
3.235 - Sony Xperia X Performance
3.234 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
3.228 - Motorola Moto X Play
3.222 - Oppo F3 Plus
3.218 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
3.206 - Huawei P9
3.195 - Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
3.19 - ZTE Nubia Z17
3.159 - Lenovo Vibe Shot
3.113 - Motorola Moto X Force
3.105 - LG Nexus 5X
3.092 - HTC U11
3.089 - Huawei Mate S
3.073 - Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
3.065 - Sony Xperia XA1
3.012 - Sony Xperia L1
2.994 - Sony Xperia X
2.989 - Huawei P10 Lite
2.974 - Samsung Galaxy Note
2.97 - Sony Xperia Z1
2.95 - Huawei Mate 8
2.949 - Xiaomi Redmi 4
2.92 - Xiaomi Redmi 3S
2.913 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
2.906 - LG G5
2.905 - HTC One S
2.901 - Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
2.893 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
2.884 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium (sRGB)
2.877 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
2.877 - Sony Xperia Z5
2.876 - Nokia 3
2.871 - Microsoft Lumia 550
2.851 - Lenovo Moto M
2.813 - Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
2.803 - Sony Xperia Z5 compact
2.784 - Meizu MX6
2.751 - LG V10
2.744 - Huawei Mate 10 (normal)
2.742 - Xiaomi Redmi 3
2.735 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
2.714 - Meizu M5
2.71 - Sony Xperia M5
2.69 - Xiaomi Mi A1
2.689 - Huawei P9 Lite
2.679 - Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
2.679 - vivo V7+
2.671 - Vivo V3Max
2.659 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
2.658 - Oppo F5
2.653 - Doogee Mix
2.642 - Xiaomi Mi 4i
2.641 - Xiaomi Redmi 4a
2.635 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Standard)
2.616 - Sony Xperia XA
2.609 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus
2.582 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
2.582 - Meizu M5s
2.58 - Xiaomi Mi 4c
2.574 - LeEco Le Max 2
2.567 - Microsoft Lumia 640
2.563 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
2.563 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
2.561 - Motorola Moto G 4G
2.546 - Lenovo Moto G4
2.544 - Lenovo K6 Note
2.544 - Oppo F1
2.528 - Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
2.525 - Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
2.506 - Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
2.503 - Oppo F1s
2.481 - Motorola Moto G
2.477 - Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
2.473 - Huawei G8
2.471 - Huawei nova
2.467 - Lenovo Vibe K5
2.459 - Meizu m3 max
2.447 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Auto)
2.417 - HTC 10 evo
2.407 - Huawei Honor 7
2.406 - Sony Xperia E5
2.386 - ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
2.382 - HTC 10
2.378 - Oppo F3
2.376 - vivo V5 Plus
2.371 - Meizu m1 note
2.362 - Huawei nova plus
2.329 - Razer Phone
2.328 - HTC One E9+
2.305 - Alcatel One Touch Hero
2.272 - Apple iPhone 4S
2.269 - Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
2.254 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
2.253 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
2.249 - Sony Xperia C4 Dual
2.235 - Xiaomi Mi Note
2.234 - Motorola Moto G (2014)
2.233 - LG Nexus 5
2.228 - Huawei P8
2.196 - Meizu M5 Note
2.189 - Huawei Honor 6
2.169 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
2.166 - OnePlus Two
2.165 - HTC One X
2.158 - LG Aka
2.145 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (X20)
2.145 - Archos 50 Diamond
2.134 - Xiaomi Redmi Note
2.119 - Xiaomi Mi 4S
2.095 - Acer Liquid X2
2.084 - Huawei P8lite
2.078 - vivo V5
2.059 - Moto G 3rd gen max manual
2.026 - Xiaomi Mi 3
2.001 - Xiaomi Mi Max
1.996 - Sony Xperia E4g
1.972 - OnePlus One
1.961 - Meizu m3 note
1.923 - BlackBerry Leap
1.892 - Meizu m2 note
1.892 - HTC Butterfly
1.873 - Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
1.772 - ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
1.759 - Sony Xperia U
1.758 - Asus Zenfone Selfie
1.68 - Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
1.675 - ZTE Nubia Z9
1.659 - Jolla Jolla
1.605 - Motorola Moto E
1.545 - Sony Xperia M
1.473 - Sony Xperia L
1.351 - HTC Desire C
1.3 - Sony Xperia C
1.283 - Meizu MX
1.221 - Sony Xperia E
1.215
Good color accuracy readings put the final touches, in what is shaping up to be a really solid phone display. While we have definitely seen better, an average deltaE of 5 and a maximum of 9.4 are still very good scores.
The F5's color pallet is actually pretty balanced overall. The biggest variance seems to come from the whites, which all have a distinct blue tint to them. Unfortunately, due to the lack of any color modes of white point tuning options, you are pretty much stuck with these colder tones on the F5.
Battery Life
The Oppo F5 packs a decently sized 3,200 mAh battery, just like its F3 predecessor. It is not a battery beast, by any means, but to reiterate a previous point, the new plastic body has allowed Oppo to keep weight down at 152 grams, even with the same battery capacity and a larger display.
Also, we went into the battery test segment with high hopes for any potential endurance improvements by the new MediaTek Helio P23 chip. Still, we can't realistically expect an amazing difference over the Helio P20, since both are based on the same 16nm TSMC fabrication process.
As expected, the numbers show the new Helio P23 is just as frugal as its older sibling when it comes to battery life. It scored a great endurance rating of 91 hours, with good scores across the board. Well, video playback could use use some extra optimization. But other than that, a very good score.
Also, one that falls in line well with expectation. For instance, the Sony Xperia XA1 Plus leveraged its Helio P20 chipset and 3,420 mAh nattery well enough to score a 102 hour endurance rating. The slight bump in battery capacity mostly went towards improving standby performance. All the on-screen tests, as well as the call one come really close to what we measured on the Oppo, so a nice consistent and impressive showing from MediaTek's 16nm mid-range chips overall.
Charging on the F5 is limited to a simple 5V@2A current. Just like with the F3, VOOC was apparently way out of budget. It is definitely missed, though, since Oppo's fast charging solution remains one of the best on the market.
With its bundled 5V@2A charger, the Oppo F5 goes from 0% to 49% in half an hour. Not bad.
Connectivity
While the new Helio P23 comes really close to the older P20 in CPU terms, it does offer a few notable improvements in the connectivity department. With it, MediaTek wants to somewhat bridge the gap between its higher-end solutions, lithe the Helio X30 and the mid-range, by providing some meaningful network improvements.
The Helio P23 supports Dual 4G LTE and DSDS (Dual SIM, Dual standby) on both its slots, but also Dual VoLTE/ViLTE. That means both SIM cards can take advantage of high bandwidth data transfer and crisp audio calls. Given the proper PR and exposure, this could serve as a major selling point for the Oppo F5, especially in markets with a 4G-only infrastructure.
As far as specific numbers go, the Helio P23 is rated at Cat.6 LTE, with a theoretical maximum of 300 Mbps down. You also get 20Mz + 20Mz carrier aggregation. According to our findings, there are actually two variants of the Oppo F5. One has a total of 12 LTE bands and four HSPDA ones, while the other has 9 and 3, respectively.
On the local side of things, the Oppo F5 has Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2 and LE profiles. There are also a GPS and an FM radio receiver. No NFC, though. The microUSB port does support OTG (you do have to toggle it in the settings), but is only capable of USB 2.0 transfer speeds.
Oppo ColorOS 3.2
The Oppo F5 runs ColorOS 3.2, based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat. Oppo's own UI team has never really been subtle about its aspirations and "creative inspiration" in the face of Apple and iOS. A little while back ColorOS 3.1 really took this to almost lawsuit-worthy levels and things are no different with the fresh new 3.2 release.
To be fair though, styling aside, Oppo has been introducing interesting new features in its ROM, like WeChat payments via fingerprints, a dedicated night mode, and more refined UX. The level of customization runs deep within the ROM, making it far off from the standard Google-developed mobile experience. Units sold outside of China still come with the full Google suite, which has resulted in having a few apps with similar functionality - one by Oppo, and another one by Google.
The OS isn't the most bloated, but we wouldn't call it a "clean installation" either. It comes pre-loaded with social networking apps, a document editor, and few minor-footprint apps.
As already mentioned, the user interface is heavily iOS-inspired. There's no app drawer on the default launcher. Instead, every app you install gets dumped onto the homescreen.
The homescreen houses all installed apps
The Oppo F5 relies entirely on on-screen navigation. You can rearrange those, as you see fit.
Navigation keys and gestures
The Lockscreen features a constantly changing slideshow of images. You can subscribe to several different channels (e.g. photos of nature or cars or others) or provide your own imagery. The set of photos will be updated periodically, but only over a Wi-Fi connection, so it doesn't eat into your mobile data plan.
Lockscreen settings • Subscribing to different photo streams • The lockscreen • The lockscreen
Once you set up the fingerprint reader, you might not be seeing much of the lock screen anyway. Unlike some previous Oppo implementations, this time the back-mounted reader is always on.
It is also blazing fast and very reliable. It can secure more than the lockscreen - the phone can encrypt individual files or even whole apps, and make them accessible only with the correct fingerprint (or a Pattern lock as a fallback).
Setting up the fingerprint reader
But using fingerprints is so 2016. And since we are copying Apple anyway, enter Face Unlock. Or rather, dust off and revitalize an old Android feature that never quite worked right and was thus pushed to the side.
However, this is about as far as the bashing should go regarding Oppo's Face Unlock. Not only do we have no doubt that every smaller Android manufacturer and their aunt will be trying to implement similar solutions in a month or so, but Oppo's works surprisingly well.
It only works with a picture of your face, instead of a complicated 3d mesh, but is actually pretty reliable and managed to work regardless of hats, glasses and other accessories. It even copes well enough in a dimly lit room.
Face Unlock settings
You do need to press the power button for the selfie cam to start looking. It is not the fastest system we have seen either, taking around 300 ms in good light and 800 ms in dark environments to unlock, according to the manufacturer. Still, subjectively, the whole process only takes a split second. You get to catch a glimpse of your lockscreen and disillusion any iPhone X wielding bystanders at least a little bit.
The wallpaper on the homescreen doesn't change like the lockscreen wallpaper does, but you can still spruce up the place with Themes. The Theme Store features whole themes and just wallpapers, sorted into categories (including free and paid ones). Themes change the icon pack, the lockscreen wallpaper, and even the system font.
Wallpapers • Themes
The notification shade features only notifications and nothing else. In what we can only perceive as a poor effort to copy iOS, ColorOS opted out of the simple and natural swipe right to dismiss gesture. Instead notification can only be swiped left to reveal a pair of button, one of which is delete.
Notification shade
Nuisances aside, you do get a few options for the status and notification bars to play around with. Also, ColorOS has a pretty in-depth notification permission and management system that differentiates notification areas and goes all the way down to a per-app level.
Notification and status bar settings • Manage notifications
You can also set-up Quiet Time for notifications and calls. There is a full on auto power on and off scheduler as well, but oddly enough, it is in a whole separate menu, called Additional Features. This is far from the only instance of scattered and disorderly settings in ColorOS. But more on that in a bit.
Quiet time • Timing Power On/Off
The toggles, brightness bar, music controls, Oppo Quick Share, and various app shortcuts are all placed in a Control Center-like second shade, which you pull up from the bottom. Yes, it's like iOS through and through.
The Toggles pop up from the bottom
Unlike iOS, though, you do get some rearrangement and customization options from Oppo's Control Center. Still, the whole setup is highly unintuitive to most Android users.
Toggle management
ColorOS is pretty big on the management side of things as a whole. Besides notifications, you can also manage some interesting permissions, like which apps get to spawn floating windows and paint over the rest of the UI.
There is also a clone apps feature, but only a handful of messengers are supported. The same goes for game acceleration, which detects what it deems as games on its own, with no possible way for external control.
Floating windows management • Clone Apps • Game Acceleration
One of the ColorOS highlights is the Screen-off gestures. They are simple commands done on a black screen - O to start the camera, V for the flashlight, several symbols to control the music player and a few custom options.
Gestures
These are surprisingly customizable as well. So, if you have the muscle memory for it, some pretty impressive setups are possible.
There is a Phone Manager quite similar to what Huawei and Xiaomi have with the same name. It handles memory cleaner functions, app permissions and encryption, and virus scan, among other things.
Phone Manager
Most of these are shortcuts to the respective features within settings. And while we applaud Oppo for at least trying to bring some order in its menu chaos, it hasn't really done a good job. For instance, the privacy and permissions section of the app is missing quite a few entries from the respective Security settings menu. An odd organizational choice for sure.
Security settings
Some of these include a nifty dedicated Kid space, complete with an app whitelist, cellular toggle and even a duration timer for when you want to utilize the Oppo F5 as a digital pacifier. There is also permanent call and message blocking (separate from the quiet time one) and even a system to protect from known pseudo base stations. First time we've seen such a thing, but it sounds good.
Interestingly enough, there are no battery and energy saving settings in the Phone Manager either. You have to go into the Battery section in the main settings menu for those. Other than not being convenient to reach, these are actually pretty nifty.
Battery and power saving settings
You can toggle a power saver mode from here, but also dive into individual apps and allow, disallow or limit their respective background activities. For the most part, ColorOS manages these intelligently enough so as not to kill your IM, but it is still a good idea to double check for some less popular or critical apps, since by default, most background activity gets axed.
Last, but not least, ColorOS 3.2 has split screen support. Unfortunately, it only works with a relatively small number of apps. When it does work, though, it is pretty functional.
Split Screen
Performance
The Oppo F5 is the first phone to come through the office, equipped with MediaTek's new MT6763T Helio P23 chipset. Back in the communication section of the review, we established the main goal with the P23 was to provide advanced network features for a mass market, rather than any meaningful performance bump over the older Helio P20.
Since both chips are based on the same 16nm manufacturing process and use a total of eight Cortex-A53 cores (4 @ 2.3GHz and 4 @ 1.6GHz), this should definitely be true for CPU performance. We are sure that most if not all synthetic tests would gladly back us up on this claim, but the Oppo F5 refused to run GeekBench at all.
However, in the meantime, we do have Basemark OS for a pure CPU performance assessment. We opted for the older BaseMark OS II version, since the newer one seems to have some issues with the new Helio P23 chipset for some reason.
Basemark OS II
Higher is better
- Oppo F3 Plus
2349 - Xiaomi Mi A1
1392 - vivo V7+
1367 - Sony Xperia XA1
1367 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
1290 - Oppo F5
1286 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
1235 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
1172 - Oppo F3
1018 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
978
We can clearly see the P23 performs on par with the P20, as represented by the Sony Xperia XA1. We can also see that MediaTek's new solution is thus also on par with the Snapdragon 625 in pure number-crunching power. Battery efficiency is a whole other story, though. The new Snapdragon 450, as seen in the Vivo V7+ also appears to be in the same ballpark.
Moving on to a more compound benchmark, like AnTuTu, we can clearly see the Oppo F5 holding its ground well. Ours is the 4GB RAM, plus 32GB storage version and judging by the results, both modules seem to be nice and snappy.
AnTuTu 6
Higher is better
- Oppo F3 Plus
91458 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
85162 - Xiaomi Mi Max
74488 - Moto G5S Plus
64554 - Oppo F5
63889 - Xiaomi Mi A1
61762 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
61616 - Sony Xperia XA1
60707 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
58068 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
57996 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
57902 - vivo V7+
57791 - Oppo F3
53008 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
47920 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
47495 - LG Q6
37276
GPU performance on the Oppo F5 provides a more interesting case study. Unlike the Helio P20, with its Mali-T880 MP2 @ 900 MHz GPU, the new Helio P23 packs a Mali-G71MP2 @ 770 MHz. On a pure hardware level, it is a more powerful chip, even at the slower clock rate.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
17
15
15
11
9.9
9.9
9.8
9.8
9.6
9.3
9
7.1
6.8
6.5
5.8
5.1
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Sony Xperia XA1
19 - Oppo F3 Plus
17 - vivo V7+
17 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
15 - Xiaomi Mi Max
15 - Oppo F5
11 - Moto G5S Plus
10 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
9.9 - Xiaomi Mi A1
9.7 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
9.7 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
8.9 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
7 - Oppo F3
6.8 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
6.1 - LG Q6
5.3 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
5.1
Naturally, the Oppo F3 performs better in off-screen rendering than the Sony Xperia XA1 or the Samsung Galaxy J7 Max, with their P20 chips. However, the real question here is how well that translates to on-screen performance gains, since the Oppo F5 has more pixels than a typical 16:9, FullHD phone to push data to - 1080 x 2160, to be precise.
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Oppo F3 Plus
10 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
9.5 - Xiaomi Mi Max
9.4 - Oppo F5
7.1 - Xiaomi Mi A1
6.4 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
6.4 - Moto G5S Plus
6.4 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
6.2 - Sony Xperia XA1
6.2 - vivo V7+
6.1 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
5.8 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
4.6 - Oppo F3
4.5 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
3.8 - LG Q6
3.8 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
3.3
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Sony Xperia XA1
15 - vivo V7+
13 - Oppo F3 Plus
11 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
9.4 - Xiaomi Mi Max
9.4 - Oppo F5
6.8 - Moto G5S Plus
6.8 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
6.4 - Xiaomi Mi A1
6.3 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
6.2 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
6.2 - Oppo F3
4.5 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
4.5 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
3.6 - LG Q6
3.5 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
3.3
This effectively shrinks the difference between the two mentioned P20 phones and the Oppo F5 in most on-screen scenarios. This is especially true with more intensive graphic loads.
GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Oppo F3 Plus
6 - Xiaomi Mi Max
5.5 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
5.4 - Oppo F5
4.2 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
4 - Sony Xperia XA1
3.7 - Xiaomi Mi A1
3.5 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
3.5 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
3.4 - Moto G5S Plus
3.4 - vivo V7+
3.3 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
2.6 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
2.5 - Oppo F3
2.4 - LG Q6
2.1 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
1.9
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Sony Xperia XA1
7.9 - vivo V7+
6.6 - Oppo F3 Plus
6 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
5.4 - Xiaomi Mi Max
5.4 - Oppo F5
4 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
4 - Moto G5S Plus
3.8 - Xiaomi Mi A1
3.5 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
3.5 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
3.4 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
2.5 - Oppo F3
2.4 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
2.4 - LG Q6
1.9 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
1.9
It is also worth noting that Oppo has included an option to handle 18:9 aspect ratio on unoptimized apps as well. You can go in the settings and choose which apps get forced into the new aspect. Or rather, which get left alone, since "ON" is the default state.
Some apps can misbehave significantly when forced to 18:9, or their performance can drop. It is worth to keep that in mind.
Basemark X
Higher is better
- Oppo F3 Plus
16695 - Xiaomi Mi Max
15487 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
13666 - Moto G5S Plus
10488 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
10482 - Xiaomi Mi A1
10472 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
10446 - vivo V7+
9955 - Sony Xperia XA1
9714 - Oppo F5
9205 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
9034 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
7516 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
7004 - LG Q6
6179 - Oppo F3
6148 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
5497
Basemark X provides a more conservative approximation for any potential Mali-G71MP2 graphics gains on the F5. While Basemark ES 3.1 is a bit more liberal in its evaluation.
Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
287 - Oppo F3 Plus
261 - Oppo F5
251 - Xiaomi Mi Max
238 - Sony Xperia XA1
191 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
187 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
138 - Moto G5S Plus
137 - Xiaomi Mi A1
136 - vivo V7+
131 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
119 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
100 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
93 - LG Q6
82
All things considered, the Oppo F5 and its shiny new Helio P23 chipset have more than enough power to chew through average daily tasks without even breaking a sweat. The ColorOS UI runs smooth and there are no noticeable hiccups in gaming performance either.
Just like all recent ultra-wide devices on the market, though, you do have to be mindful of app behaviour and adjust the aspect settings accordingly.
Telephony
The phone app is simple but functional. The dialer supports smart dial, or you can go into the Contacts tab for a more extensive search. You can block numbers from calling you, a handy way to screen unwanted calls. You need to head to the Settings menu for more options.
Dialer • Smart dial • Contacts
Like we mentioned earlier, the Oppo F5 comes with advanced dual SIM functionality and VoLTE support on both SIM slots.
Messaging
Oppo's messaging app is equally simplistic and straight-forward to use. Conversations are separated out into threads and there is MMS and rich multimedia attachment support. The usual affair.
Messaging app
Text input is handled by TouchPal - a custom version, specifically tailored for Oppo. It is still the free version though, so premium benefits are going to cost you extra.
TouchPal for Oppo
Even so, there is hardly anything missing from the app. You can customize pretty much every visual aspect for the keyboard. There are nifty themes. Predictive input and multi-language support.
Loudspeaker
The Oppo F5 only has a single bottom-firing speaker. It is not particularly loud and only scored an "Average" mark in our tests.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
| 67.1 | 66.2 | 68.1 | Average | |
| 62.3 | 69.8 | 70.0 | Average | |
| 63.1 | 68.7 | 70.4 | Average | |
| 66.4 | 71.5 | 65.0 | Average | |
| 63.5 | 70.8 | 71.5 | Average | |
| 64.2 | 67.2 | 76.9 | Good | |
| 63.1 | 70.9 | 82.5 | Good | |
| 67.3 | 70.3 | 81.5 | Very Good | |
| 68.0 | 69.9 | 82.3 | Very Good | |
| 78.4 | 71.7 | 79.2 | Excellent | |
| 74.0 | 73.9 | 90.4 | Excellent |
Output quality is about average as well. Distortion creeps in quite rapidly as you ramp up the volume.
App package
The Oppo R11 has the complete Google package, but it brings its own alternatives to many of them. We already saw several, like the Theme Store, Phone and Messages. It's time to meet the others.
The Weather app seems similarly borrowed from Apple. It pulls data from AccuWeather and manages to fit plenty of information on a single screen.
Weather app
The clock app follows the same while color scheme as well.
Clock app
Interestingly enough, however, the sound recorder, compass and calculator are all colored in black, grey, with red and orange tints. It is stylish, but not exactly in keeping with the rest off the UI.
Recorder • Recorder *Compass • Calculator
Oppo has pre-installed the free version of WPS Office. It can create Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files and it offers a nice selection of templates to give you a flying start. Note that some templates are paid, and you'll occasionally see banners for the premium version of the app.
WPS Office
The Files app is pretty self-explanatory, although it does come with a few nifty advanced features. The File safe option allows you to lock certain files with a fingerprint/pattern for safe keeping. There is also native ZIP support.
Files app
There's an option to move files without a cable - the phone creates a Wi-Fi hotspot, and you connect to it over FTP. That's a techy solution that can be cool, but it may turn some people off - cloud storage integration would have been simpler.
The Backup and Restore app has an extra feature that's not found in its name - it can clone phones, simplifying the transfer from your old device. For backups, it will make a copy of System data, Applications, and Personal data.
The Backup and Restore app can also move your data to a new phone
Gallery
The Gallery app is fairly simple. It defaults to showing your camera roll sorted by date. Alternatively, you can browse images by folder, including a special "Recently deleted" folder, which will save accidentally deleted photos. Remember that you can encrypt files, but there's no way to do it directly from the gallery.
An iOS-like gallery • Browsing by folders is the only option • Viewing an image
The app does offer a feature to quickly build a collage out of several selected photos. You can also edit individual photos with the usual crop and filter tools, and doodle free-hand too.
Editing photos
Slightly more advanced features can blur part of the image (to simulate shallow depth of field), or you can pixelate areas to censor a part of the image or just for artistic effect.
Video player
Oppo does offer a default video player as part of ColorOS. However, it is really bare-bones. There is no subtitle support, no fancy pop-out hover windows, not even a repeat button. All you get is a time line scrapper and the option to lock input controls.
Video app
Codec and file format support is not that extensive either. You will likely be better off downloading one of the popular options on the Play Store.
Music player with Dirac Real HD Sound
The ColorOS music player (like the gallery) has a clear iOS aesthetic and is fairly simple in operation. You can browse the local music library by track, artist or album and that's about it. You can mark songs as favorite to make them easier to find. Lyrics can be displayed, but they must be embedded into the file itself; the player will not fetch them from the Internet. The same goes for ID3 tags and album art.
ColorOS music player
The one more advanced setting is Dirac's Real HD Sound. It's an equalizer with multiple presets and three sliders for manual tuning - Bass, Baritone and Treble. This works with headphones only.
Dirac Real HD Sound is the player's equalizer
Last, but not least, the Oppo F5 also has an FM radio on board. Like the calculator, recorder and compass, we mentioned earlier, it is also styled in a grey/orange pallet.
Radio app
It gets the job done, but also lacks any special features. There is no RDS and no recording.
Audio output is good
With an active external amplifier the clarity of the Oppo F5 audio output is top notch, while volume is nicely high.
Plugging in a pair of headphones introduces a little extra intermodulation distortion and a moderate hike in stereo crosstalk. Volume drops a bit too so now it’s only average, but overall this is a pretty decent showing by the mid-ranger.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.06, -0.08 | -93.5 | 93.3 | 0.0020 | 0.0071 | -93.2 | |
| +0.64, -0.07 | -89.3 | 91.3 | 0.0093 | 0.361 | -52.0 | |
| +0.01, -0.03 | -92.7 | 92.7 | 0.0029 | 0.021 | -92.4 | |
| +0.31, -0.08 | -90.1 | 90.7 | 0.0076 | 0.219 | -71.9 | |
| +0.01, -0.03 | -92.8 | 92.8 | 0.0032 | 0.031 | -92.3 | |
| +0.23, -0.15 | -92.1 | 91.8 | 0.013 | 0.223 | -77.3 | |
| +0.05, -0.28 | -91.9 | 92.2 | 0.0037 | 0.051 | -90.3 | |
| +0.18, -0.05 | -91.0 | 91.6 | 0.019 | 0.230 | -57.9 | |
| +0.04, -0.02 | -88.2 | 88.6 | 0.011 | 0.021 | -84.3 | |
| +0.13, -0.05 | -87.4 | 87.7 | 0.014 | 0.084 | -75.9 | |
| +0.09, -0.03 | -93.7 | 93.5 | 0.0055 | 0.0099 | -93.5 | |
| +0.52, -0.19 | -87.6 | 88.6 | 0.0081 | 0.396 | -51.7 | |
| +0.04, -0.01 | -93.3 | 95.0 | 0.0018 | 0.0075 | -93.3 | |
| +0.15, -0.02 | -92.6 | 94.2 | 0.0023 | 0.100 | -63.9 |
Oppo F5 frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
16MP shooter
In keeping with the trends, just like many other manufacturers, Oppo's lineup has been shifting towards dual-camera setups at a steady pace. It is almost surprising to see a camera-centric, well, to be fair, selfie-centric offer, like the F5 ship with a sole 16MP main camera.
Now, it should be noted, that this is not a complaint in itself. We have seen single camera setups perform spectacularly in the past and we've also witnessed our fair share of sub-par dual setups. It is more of an observation.
On paper, it looks like a decent enough camera - a 16MP sensor, positioned behind a decently bright f/1.8 lens. PDAF is also part of the mix. However, other than that, there is no OIS or EIS, for that matter. And just like the F3, the newer Oppo F5 is only limited to 1080p video recording.
The camera interface has borrowed a lot from the iOS app. Most settings are on the left, while different modes can be selected on the right next to the shutter key. Strangely, the left-hand side also has a few additional modes that didn't find a spot in the right carousel.
Main camera UI
The lack of a second camera has also prompted the omission of a portrait mode from the F5. There are a few settings, including location tagging and guidelines, separated out in their own menu in the phone's settings. There is a total lack of any clear resolution control for stills. All you get is a choice of aspects, between the standard 4:3 one, 1:1 and 16:9. They are not even labeled as such, but rather: "Standard", "Square" and "Full Screen". It's not clear which aspect ratio is native to the sensor, and how choosing any of the other affects the resolution of the images.
Filters • Watermarks
There are some filters and watermarks to play around with, but nothing too special. On a more positive note, HDR does have an Auto setting. Detection works pretty well, so no complaints there. The flash also has a "Fill Light" setting, which simply keeps it on all the time - convenient for certain situations.
HDR • Flash
Expert mode is available for those seeking more manual controls. It comes with a handy horizon level and can change most settings on the primary camera (this mode doesn't work on the selfie cam). The shutter speed control lacks fine adjustment, good mostly for very low-light shooting - it starts at 1/800s and increments at full stops to a maximum of 16s. Manual focus adjustment is present as well.
Expert mode
Separating out part of your apps settings out into the main settings menu is still a very odd thing to do in the Android realm. However, that's how Apple does it, so we get the same in ColorOS.
Additional camera settings
Still quality
The Oppo F5 captures pretty decent stills. Nothing spectacular, by any stretch of the imagination, but our samples still came out with a nice level of detail and relatively high dynamic range. Noise is also kept at bay well. Colors are also nice and natural.
Oppo F5 camera samples
On the flip side, however, corner softness is a noticeable issue on the F5. It doesn't really handle foliage all that well either. But, the biggest issues the phone has in the camera department in its current state is the lack of consistency.
Auto focus is especially bad. The F5 will routinely miss focus entirely. It is also very trigger-happy with refocusing, which would be acceptable if it focused it well. Instead, it almost seems like it goes through half of the hunting process and then just stops there. We found ourselves constantly tapping the screen in hopes of getting a fixed focus point. Even then, the F5 often decides to refocus. These focusing issues really played on our nerves, we admit.
Oppo F5 camera samples
Exposure metering has its own set of issues as well. The algorithm is really stubborn and won't do more than a very minuscule and very conservative adjustment, no matter how much you go for spot metering in a tough scene. Overall, the Oppo F5 is definitely not a "point and shoot" device that you can trust to pick the best exposure settings for every scene.
Then again, if you feel confident enough, the Pro mode is not only fully-featured but also dependable enough to get good results.
A few sunnier samples
HDR works well on the F5. Its effects are on the subtle side, but just enough to same some detail in shadows and cloudy skies.
Oppo F5: HDR Off • HDR On • HDR Off • HDR On • HDR Off • HDR On
There is an Auto HDR setting as well. It only missed a few opportunities to jump in and help during our testing, so we would definitely advise you to leave it on.
Oppo F5: HDR Off • HDR On • HDR Off • HDR On • HDR Off • HDR On
Oppo F5: HDR Off • HDR On • HDR Off • HDR On • HDR Off • HDR On
Panorama shots from the Oppo F5 are presentable, but not really spectacular. Resolution is high and there are practically no stitching artefact. Unless objects get caught moving between frames, that is. Detail, however, can be improved. Plus, the UI freezes at the end of each panorama session for a few seconds, presumably to stitch everything up. Perhaps that should be handled better and not on a UI thread.
Oppo F5 panorama sample
You can check how the Oppo F5 stacks up against competitors in our photo compare tool as well.
Oppo F5 vs. Oppo F3 Plus vs. OnePlus 5T in our photo compare tool
Selfies
We finally get to the oh-so-important self portraits. This is where the Oppo F5 should really shine to back up its "Selfie Expert" title. Unlike its predecessors, the F5 is only equipped with one front-facing camera. The 20 MP. F/2.0 shooter looks promising enough on paper. It also comes with a notably larger 1/2.8" compared to previous generations. So, please, disregard the grumpy face of our test subject in the shot below and let's move forward.
Oppo is marketing it as a "20MP A.I. beautification front camera". Apparently, it uses artificial intelligence to go about its beautification process in a smart way - "no matter your age, gender, skin tone or skin type".
Fair enough. We gave it a shot. First, some basic outdoor selfies. These came out nice. Detail is good, as well as colors. Skin tones appear more or less natural.
Oppo F5 selfie samples
But, we don't want any of those nasty blemishes, pimples or imperfections ending up on a social network of choice. On to beauty mode. The auto setting seems to work well enough.
Selfies: Beauty off • Beauty On
Selfies: Beauty off • Beauty On
Blemishes are definitely gone, for the most part. Skin color is also nicely smoothed. As far as the A.I. part of the implementation is concerned, we do see some differences.
Overall, the A.I. seems to fair better with smoother and cleaner facial features, for lack of a better term. Beards and stray hairs come out a bit funky since they get the accents and shiny finish as well. If you plan on using the Beauty mode, Auto is a good bet. Messing about with the intensity slider quickly leads to a distinctly artificial look.
Beauty: level 3 • level 5
Beauty: level 1 • level 3 • level 5
The effects are there, as advertised, but we really don't see much advanced A.I. going on, to be perfectly frank.
Panorama selfies are a nifty trick to widen the frame a bit. Also, the Oppo F5 does offer a Bokeh feature. In the absence of a second camera, it is all artificially done. An odd hair can get smeared out from time to time. Still, the results are pleasing.
Panorama selfies • Bokeh mode
Video recording
Unfortunately, there are few good things we can mention about the F5's video capture capabilities. Frankly, we can live with the 1080p resolution cap. It is a definite drawback on a 2017 phone, even a midranger, but not the end of the world.
There are, however, other issues, we can't simply glance over. The F5's focusing issues are even worse while recording video. Focus hunting is an almost constant occurrence and the phone never seems to get it quite right. Also, there is a major jello effect going on in the frame, but let's say it's the stabilization going haywire on the tripod. The focusing issues are the bigger thing here.
It's a shame too, since when the F5 does manage to properly focus, the quality is not that bad. There is a reasonable amount of detail. Video gets encoded in AVC at around 17 Mb/s and a frame rate, hovering around the 29 fps mark. The audio track is a stereo AAC one and 48 kHz. Hopefully, Oppo can address the underlying problem, whatever it might be.
On a more positive note, the F5 does, at least, include a dedicated UI and proper viewfinder for its video recording mode.
Video UI
You can download a shorter, untouched 1080p@30fps (10s, 21MB) sample as well.
Last, but not least, you can use our Video Compare Tool to see how the Oppo F5 stacks against rivals in 1080p mode.
Oppo F5 in our 1080p video compare tool
Wrapping it up
The Oppo F5 represents a rather odd evolutionary step in the company's fairly popular "selfie expert" line. Its spotlight feature - the FullHD, ultra-wide display, while definitely trendy and a strong performer, feels rushed in its implementation.
Looking at the rest of BKK Electronics' recent device portfolio, like the Vivo V7+ and the OnePlus 5T, it is even harder to overlook the somewhat unwarranted nature of the 18:9 refresh. Besides being of dubious value in themselves, these new panels also take their toll on their respective devices, price or feature-wise.
We get it. In order to survive, Oppo has no option but to stay trendy and relevant. But, at the end of the day, you are getting a "selfie expert", lacking the second front-facing camera of its predecessor, as well as its metal build.
Oppo F5 key test findings
- The Oppo F5 has a trendy ultra-wide look going for it. On the front, chins and side bezels are impressively thin. We do miss the metal unibody design of the previous generations, though. The F5 is polycarbonate. It is not a major issue, though.
- The "antenna lines" on the back are a nice design accent, even though they are not actually needed for the radios to function.
- The fingerprint reader/home button is now on the back to accommodate the new design. It is blazing-fast and dependable.
- We appreciate Oppo went for a FullHD display, rather than an HD one. The panel of choice offers excellent contrast and brightness. Sunlight legibility is very good, but not spectacular. The same goes for color accuracy. Tones tend to be a bit colder, with a slight tinge of blue.
- The new MediaTek Helio P23 chipset is just as frugal with battery usage as its older P20 sibling. Both are made on a 16nm process. The F5 manages to score an impressive 91 hour endurance rating from its 3,420 mAh battery. Unfortunately, the F5 does not have VOOC fast charging support. It charges at 5V@2A.
- The new Helio P23 chipset brings major connectivity improvements. It enables Dual SIM, Dual standby, as well as simultaneous VoLTE/ViLTE on both SIM slots. The F5 has an FM radio. It lacks NFC, though. And the OTG-enabled microUSB connector is only rated at USB 2.0 speeds.
- The new Helio P23 is very similar to the older P20 in terms of CPU cores and frequencies. It performs comparably and is about as potent as the Snapdragon 625. Overall, performance is perfectly adequate for everyday task and ColorOS runs smooth.
- Oppo offers a per-app tool to manually force a widescreen or a 16:9 aspect. It is great for coping with compatibility issues.
- ColorOS 3.2 is closer the the iOS aesthetic than ever. Quick toggles have their own shade that pulls up from the bottom. Notifications can't be swiped away, but require a second tap. Many Oppo applications have some of their settings positioned outside the app and into the main settings menu, like on iOS. The UI still runs smooth, though. Google Play Services and a full Google app package come standard. There is some bloat as well.
- Oppo's Face Unlock is a variant of the default Android feature, but it is packaged in a way to make it more appealing and comparable to Apple's new FaceID. Recognition works surprisingly well. It is not easily confused by a change in appearance, can't be fooled by a photograph and is reasonable snappy.
- The Oppo F5 only has a single speaker and not a very loud one, only managing an "Average" mark in our tests. Quality is about average as well.
- Audio output from the 3.5mm jack is top-notch with an external amplifier. With headphones, it is only average, with some detectable crosstalk and noise.
- The ColorOS camera interface borrows a lot from iOS. Most options, like still resolution are still not labeled properly and hard to use. The absence of a second camera on the front or the back, means the F5 can only do simulated Bokeh effects. There is an auto HDR option and it works well. The manual camera mode is fully-featured.
- Still quality is adequate for a mid-ranger. There is plenty of detail, colors are good and noise is kept low. However, there is noticeable corner softness and dynamic range is not great. We observed frequent focus hunting.
- Selfies from the single front-facing snapper have plenty of resolution and detail. Still, it is fixed-focus. Simulated bokeh works surprisingly well. All the advertised "A.I." smart beautification features work well enough, but they are not really all that smart to merit an artificial intelligence slogan.
- The F5 can only record videos as high as 1080p. Quality is decent enough, but focus hunting is constant and accompanied by a very annoying jello effect.
These notable omissions alone could be enough to turn away many prospective buyers and long-term fans of the "F" series. Don't get us wrong, the Oppo F5 is still a well-rounded mid-ranger. The thing is, it lost some unique selling points while changing screens, leaving behind more wiggle room for competitors to shine and stand out as good alternatives.
Noteworthy alternatives
Price-wise, the Oppo F5 is launching just north of the EUR 300 mark. We'll start the list of alternatives assuming you are into the the 18:9 trend. The first and probably most obvious place to look is BKK Electronics' lineup itself. The OnePlus 5T is definitely out of budget, but the V7 and V7+ are not. Well, the latter might run you EUR 30 or so more than the Oppo F5.
vivo V7 • vivo V7+
The only real difference between the two vivo handsets is the screen size. So, you can find your personal match. Base storage might also be worth considering since the V7+ comes with 64GB out of the box. You have to pay a premium to get that on the Oppo. Compared to the Oppo, however, the vivo's panels of choice have lower resolution at 720p.
This does potentially mean better on-screen performance out of the Adreno 506 GPU. Although our tests show the differences are minimal. <>While on the subject of silicon, both vivo phones use a Snapdragon 450 chip. I seems to score slightly better than the MediaTek Helio P23 in benchmark tests. But for all intents and purposes, it offers identical performance in real-life terms. The Snapdragon 450 is also Qualcomm's first 14nm chip in the 400 mid-range tier. It comes with the promise of great battery efficiency and also speedy recharges, thanks to Quick Charge 3.0 compatibility.
As for some other good 18:9 aspect, reasonably priced alternatives, there is the Honor 7X. It pack a equally large 5.93-inch panel. And just like the Oppo F5, a FullHD one. The company's own Kirin 659 is also, arguably, a bit better than both the Helio P23 and the Snapdragon 450, overall. Plus, you get a noticeably better dual camera setup and Huawei's excellent software to power it.
Most of these things apply to the Huawei Mate 10 Lite as well. However, for some reason, it is currently quite a bit pricier than its almost identical Honor cousin. So, take that as you will.
Huawei Mate 10 Lite • Huawei Honor 7X • LG Q6
And just to be thorough in examining the pool of 18:9 devices out there, we will mention the LG Q6. However, besides the lower price point, it has few things going for it, compared to the previous options. Its panel is smaller and both the chipset and camera are unimpressive. Still, if you want a trendy new ultra-wide device on a very tight budget, it might be worth considering.
If the 18:9 aspect ratio is not really that big of a priority for you, there is plenty of good value to be had from devices in the more traditional, 16:9 form factor. Xiaomi, for one, has plenty of great options below the EUR 300 mark. Some of them, like the extremely popular Redmi Note 4 costing as little as half the price of the Oppo F5. If you manage to procure one and are confident enough in the local support availability, its value proposition is hard to beat and includes a frugal, yet snappy Snapdragon 625 chipset and a pretty decent 5.5-inch, FullHD display.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 • Xiaomi Mi A1 • Xiaomi Mi Max 2 • Xiaomi Mi Max
Spring a few bucks more and you can get the Xiaomi Mi 5X, or better yet, its international Mi A1 incarnation. It adds a dual 12MP camera on top of what the Redmi Note 4 already offers. Plus, an Android One ROM means snappy performance and quick updates, straight from Google.
Phablet enthusiasts are covered as well. For just shy of EUR 300, you can pick up a monstrous Mi Max 2, with its massive 6.44-inch display, huge 5,300 mAh battery, and a phenomenal battery endurance, to match. However, if you do go down the Xiaomi phablet route, the original Mi Max might just be a better bet. At the expense of some battery capacity, it offers a significantly better chipset. Plus, it is cheaper than its successor.
Moving on to some relatively more Western-friendly options, there is the Motorola Moto G5S Plus. Another Snapdragon 625 device, with impressive battery efficiency to match, a decent panel and equally nice dual 13MP camera setup.
Motorola Moto G5S Plus • Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro • Nokia 6 • Asus Zenfone 4 Selfie ZD553KL
The popular Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro, or otherwise named J7 (2017), comes with an equally power efficient 14nm chipset as well and an identically sized 5.5-inch display. The latter, however, is of the superior Super AMOLED variety - a potential selling point in itself.
You could also save a few bucks and go for the Nokia 6 - an excellently built phone, with some relatively less potent hardware, hidden away under its sturdy exterior. For even less, Asus can hook you up with a Zenfone 4 Selfie. With its dual front-facing camera setup, it might very well be a better match for selfie enthusiasts than the Oppo F5.
The rest of its hardware is okay as well. Asus has more potent devices on offer for a EUR 300 budget as well. However, you are mostly on your own when it comes to actually navigating the company's unmitigated disaster of model numbers and actually picking up the one you want.
The verdict
While not particularly bad in any way, the Oppo F5 clearly lacks the specific appeal of its "selfie expert" predecessors. It decided to trade all that for a trendy new ultra-wide profile - a gamble for sure, but the repercussions of this are yet to be seen.
Regardless of market success, we still feel like the "F" series lost a big chink of its individuality and charm. Still, not every phone needs to sweep us off our feet or throw magic pixie dust. The Oppo F5 is a slightly boring, but nevertheless, a solid mid-range choice.
Since shopping for a mid-ranger in 2017 is all about minimizing compromises, rather than actually avoiding outright bad devices, as was the case not long ago, you can hardly go wrong. And for the right type of customer, the Oppo F5 might be well worth considering.
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