We go hands-on with OPPO’s F1 Plus!

They say imitation is the highest form of flattery. If that’s the case, then the folks at Apple should be flattered as heck with OPPO’s newest Android smartphone, the F1 Plus. We’ve seen Chinese companies lift design elements from Apple’s devices before *cough*Lenovo S90*cough* but the F1 Plus takes the practice to another level. We’ve been using the phone for a scant two days now, and almost everybody who has seen the phone questioned why we suddenly moved over to Apple despite being Android die-hards.

OPPO F1 Plus specs

• 2.0GHz MediaTek MT6755 Helio P10 octa-core processor
• 4GB of RAM
• 5.5-inch Full HD AMOLED display, 1920 x 1080 resolution
• 64GB of internal storage, expandable up to 128GB
• 13-megapixel rear camera with phase detection AF and LED flash
• 16-megapixel front camera
• Dual SIM
• 3G, LTE
• WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS, Fingerprint scanner, VOOC fast charging
• Android 5.1 Lollipop with ColorOS 3.0
• 2,850mAh battery

Initial impressions: The iPhone 6S’ long lost brother?

There’s no denying it – the OPPO F1 Plus is almost a virtual clone of the iPhone 6S. From the trademark rounded corners to the overall design, chamfered sides and even the placement of the speaker grills, the F1 Plus is almost indistinguishable from Apple’s latest flagship. Of course, there are minor differences – the fingerprint scanner is bigger and is more oval and has capacitive Android keys flanking it (though they only light up when you touch them) and the antenna bands are in a different place.

Despite being a blatant iPhone 6S clone, the OPPO F1 Plus looks great and isn’t too big. In fact, it’s overall size is a little smaller (151.8 x 74.3mm vs 158.2 x 77.9mm) and thinner (6.6mm vs 7.3mm) than Apple’s iPhone 6S Plus despite having the same 5.5-inch display size. We credit that size reduction to the thin bezels on the phone, which gives it a higher screen to body ratio than Apple’s offering.

Overall the phone feels extremely solid and premium to the hands, and at the end of the day that’s all that matters to many people who are shopping for a new device. Like we said in the intro we’ve had a few people comment on how the phone looks, and to be honest its overall build quality and Rose Gold finish really make it stand out against the sea of similar devices in the market today.

Quickly going through the buttons, you’ll see the volume rocker on the left of the phone with the power button on the right. The SIM slot is right above the power button. It’s a hybrid micro SIM/microSD slot so you’ll have to sacrifice on of the SIM slots if you want to further expand the already generous 64GB of storage in the phone. The 3.5mm jack and USB port are both located on the bottom of the device.

The display of the F1 Plus is a full HD AMOLED panel that produces good colors with excellent blacks all around. The side bezels of the F1 Plus is also quite impressive as they are relatively thinner than most offerings in the market.

The F1 Plus is dubbed as a “selfie expert” by OPPO, thanks to the 16-megapixel front camera of the phone, which has a higher resolution than the 13-megapixel rear facing camera. We haven’t used the selfie features of the device as of yet, though we’ll be putting it through its paces during our full review.

Inside the F1 Plus runs MediaTek’s MT6755 octa-core processor, more commonly known as the Helio P10. That’s paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The MT6755 SoC isn’t a huge upgrade from the company’s previous offerings, though it’s more than enough for most people. We’ve been using the phone for around two days now and we haven’t experienced any lag or slowdown during our time with it.

That’s pretty much it for this hands-on. We’ll be doing our full review (hopefully with video) later this week or next week for the OPPO F1 Plus.