OPPO F9 Hands-on and Initial Impression; Flashy Smartphone with Refreshing Upgrades

Anjie lou delos Reyes
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INTRODUCTION:

OPPO has various smartphone families to target different consumers. In fact, they have the Find series to showcase all of the innovative features that they could bring on a smartphone, while its R-devices are focused on battling out premium devices of other brands.

OPPO F9 Hands-on and Initial Impression; Flashy Smartphone with Refreshing Upgrades
OPPO F9 Hands-on and Initial Impression; Flashy Smartphone with Refreshing Upgrades

However, what seems to be the most popular here in the Philippines is its selfie-centric F-smartphone line. But when the Chinese mobile manufacturer launched its OPPO F7 in the country four months ago, consumers were stunned through its powerful features usually found on more expensive handsets. Also, OPPO made sure that the F7 would not only match users who love taking selfies, but also those who want an affordable gaming smartphone.

Now, OPPO shocked almost everyone when it suddenly released the F7’s successor – the OPPO F9. Really, it came too soon.

Continue reading to know our initial findings!


PACKAGING:

Similar to other OPPO handsets, the F9 comes with the company’s trademark box. Outside, it is printed with the phone’s render, OPPO branding, and its quick specs. Inside the box, you’d see the unit, MicroUSB cable, adapter, earphone, protective case, user’s guide, and its SIM ejector tool.


PHYSICAL:

OPPO F9 Front
Front

The OPPO F9 flashes a fresher F7 look. Almost patterned on its predecessor design, OPPO was able to dress it with a more jaw-dropping physique. It comes with two color variants: Sunrise Red and Twilight Blue. In addition, OPPO also introduced a Starry Purple Limited Edition model, which will feature a star-like effect.

Just like the F7, its polycarbonate body disguises as glass panels. It is big at 156.7mm x 74.04mm x 7.99mm, while it weighs 169 grams. Holding the device gave us the same feel we encountered on the F7, as it also has curved edges and thoughtfully placed buttons to make it comfortable on our hands. Nevertheless, one-hand usage wasn’t advisable for it has a slippery body. To keep its charm, we also recommend users to always put its clear case to protect it from smudges and fingerprints.

OPPO F9 Waterdrop Notch Design
Waterdrop Notch Design

The OPPO F9 now has a slightly bigger 6.3-inch FHD+ display with 19.5:9 screen aspect ratio topped with Corning Gorilla Glass 6. Its notch, on the other hand, served as one of its upgrades. The handset now carries a waterdrop notch, allowing the device to reduce the space it usually occupied. And although it has a smaller size, it’s impressive that it can still house its earpiece, camera, and sensors. The device has a minimal chin, as well.

OPPO F9 Bottom
Bottom

Its top is almost clean except it has a secondary microphone on it, while its bottom part accommodates its speaker grilles, 3.5mm audio jack, primary mic and MicroUSB port. Its volume rockers and triple card slot are sited on its left cheek, while its power/lock button is located on the right side.

OPPO F9 Back
Back

Flip the device on its back to see its stunning look. We’re all familiar with Huawei’s popular gradient color variant seen on the P20 series and Nova 3 line. Well, the F9 almost embraced the said trend, but it added more tricks. Different viewing angles would bring flashy color treatment, but it has a petal-inspired pattern that made the handset a total head-turner.

OPPO F9 Dual Rear Cameras, Fingerprint Sensor, OPPO Logo
Dual Rear Cameras, Fingerprint Sensor, OPPO Branding

Meanwhile, its protruding rear cameras are aligned horizontally together with its LED flash. Its fingerprint scanner and its OPPO branding are also placed on its back.

See Also: OPPO F9 versus Huawei Nova 3i


CAMERA:

Jumping off to its photography department, OPPO finally mounted the F9 with a dual-rear camera setup composed of 16-megapixel f/1.8 PDAF shooter and 2-megapixel f/2.4 sensor. For selfie, it still bags a 25-megapixel f/2.0 snapper with A.I. Beautification Technology and screen flash.

Here are some sample shots:

OPPO F9 Main Camera Sample - OPPO F9 Captured by OPPO F9
OPPO F9 Captured by OPPO F9
OPPO F9 Main Camera Sample - F9 Captured by OPPO F9
F9 Captured by OPPO F9
OPPO F9 Main Camera Sample - OPPO F9 Launch Party
OPPO F9 Launch Party
OPPO F9 Front Camera Sample - Selfie
Selfie
OPPO F9 Front Camera Sample - Selfie with Stickers
Selfie with Stickers


INITIAL IMPRESSION:

While its design became one of its top improvements from the F7, OPPO took a smaller step in upgrading the F9’s internal specs. The device is still powered by MediaTek Helio P60 and has 64GB of ROM, the same chipset and storage found in its predecessor, but now has a more generous 6GB of RAM to offer a smoother performance.  Nevertheless, we could expect that it can handle multitasking and heavy tasks better than the F7 because of its bigger memory.

The main camera is improved too, as it now has dual shooters, and based on the first few sample shots that we took, we can say that the F9 is pretty capable in this department.

But for us, the most notable feature it has is its stamina. It is now geared with a 3500mAh battery that supports VOOC Flash Charge, which is said to deliver 2 hours of talk time in just 5 minutes of charge.

Having these things on our mind, the OPPO F9 will surely give us an impressive overall smartphone experience. Priced at Php17,990, it feels good to have a smartphone that flashes a premium-like design and trendy features without losing too much bucks on our pockets.

OPPO F9 Specs:

  • Dual Nano SIM, dual standby, supports LTE connectivity
  • 6.3-inch Waterdrop FHD+ (2340 x 1080) capacitive touchscreen, 19.5:9 aspect ratio
  • Dimensions: 156.7mm x 74.04mm x 7.99mm
  • Weight: 169 grams
  • ColorOS 5.2 based on Android 8.1 Oreo
  • 64-bit octa-core (4x2.0GHz Cortex-A73 CPU + 4x2.0GHz Cortex-A53 CPU), Mali-G72MP3 GPU, Mediatek Helio P60 chipset
  • 6GB RAM
  • 64GB internal storage, expandable up to 256GB via MicroSD card, uses dedicated slot
  • 16MP f/1.8 + 2MP f/2.4 PDAF main cameras with LED flash, 1080p video recording
  • 25MP f/2.0 secondary camera with AI Beauty Technology and screen flash
  • Multimedia Player
  • 3.5mm audio jack
  • FM Radio
  • WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band (2.4GHz, 5GHz)
  • Bluetooth v4.2
  • GPS with A-GPS
  • MicroUSB2.0 with OTG support
  • Sensors: acceleromoter, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic, fingerprint
  • Face Unlock
  • Battery: 3500mAh with VOOC Flash Charge
  • Colors: Sunrise Red, Twilight Blue, Starry Purple (Limited Edition)
  • Price: Php17,990

More from OPPO:

Realme 2 Now Official; Better than the OPPO A3s? 
OPPO R17 Pro with In-Display Fingerprint Scanner and Triple Rear Cameras Now Official!
OPPO F9 versus Huawei Nova 3i

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