OPPO R7 Plus Hands-on, First Impressions: A Phablet Without Borders?

OPPO R7 Plus Hands-on, First Impressions: A Phablet Without Borders?

OPPO R7 Plus 03

We go hands-on with the R7 Plus

Earlier this year OPPO teased a brand-new phone that seemingly had zero side bezels. It was a move that was uncharacteristic of the Chinese company, one that usually holds the details of their devices close to their chest. After a couple of months, we find out that the mystery virtually bezel-less phone is the R7 Plus, a phablet that OPPO hopes will capture the hearts of big-screen lovers. Today we finally have the phone in our hands, and while the device isn’t quite as bezel-less as we thought, it’s still a phablet that will impress big-screen enthusiasts just the same.

OPPO R7 Plus specs

  • 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor
  • 3GB of RAM
  • 6-inch full HD AMOLED display, Corning Gorilla Glass 3, 1920 x 1080 resolution
  • 32GB of storage, expandable up to 128GB
  • 13-megapixel rear camera, f/2.2 aperture
  • 8-megapixel frotn camera, f/2.4 aperture
  • 3G, LTE
  • WiFI, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS
  • Android 5.1 Lollipop
  • Color OS 2.1
  • 4,100mAh battery

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Intial Impressions: a big-screen phone that feels easy to hold in the hands

Okay, first things first: is the R7 Plus as bezel-free as we were led to believe in the initial leaks? No, it’s not – there’s still definitely a trace of a bezel in there, though it’s relatively small compared to other phones. What’s more suprising is the size of the top and bottom bezels of the phone – for a device that has a 6-inch display, the R7 Plus has rather thin top and bottom bezels, which makes it easier to hold and grip than comparable devices of other brands.

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To put the R7 Plus’ size in perspective, it’s as tall as the Zenfone Selfie, and only marginally wider while being thinner. It’s only fractionally bigger and wider than the Galaxy Note 5, which should be good news to people who like big-screen phones. The phone has a 77% screen-to-body ratio, which is one of the highest we’ve seen on a phone so far.

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The R7 Plus uses a unibody magnesium-aluminum design, with a rose gold finish. The phone is hefty but is not heavy, and features a fingerprint scanner on the back, much like the phablet of their rival Huawei, the Mate 7. The volume rocker is on the left side of the phone while the power button is located on the right.

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The SIM tray is located on the right as well. Expandable storage is handled by one of the SIM trays, so if you want to add more space to the 32GB internal capacity of the phone, you’ll have to sacrifice an extra SIM slot to get it.

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The phone utilizes on-screen Android navigation keys for the R7 Plus which cuts down on the bezel size on the front of the phone. The phone runs Android 5.1 Lollipop, along with the OPPO’s own Color OS 2.1 UI layered on top.

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Internally the phone runs Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor, paired with a generous 3GB of RAM. OPPO’s first run with the Snapdragon 615 processor in the form of the R5 wasn’t impressive and resulted in overheating issues when we reviewed the phone last year. This year’s crop of Snapdragon 615 processors seem to have fixed that minor issue though, and since the version of the processor in the R7 Plus is running at a slower 1.5GHz compared to the 1.7GHz in the R5, we’re expecting the R7 Plus to run a little bit cooler compared to the R5. A slower clocked processor also means that the phone will consume less battery, and since the R7 Plus has a massive 4,100mAh in it, we’re expecting this particular phone will have really good battery life compared to its rivals.

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As far as performance goes, initial AnTuTu scores are exactly what you’d expect from the Snapdragon 615 processor – good, but not stellar. Personally we’re more than happy to accept a small performance hit in exchange for better battery life. The 6-inch display is predictably bright and vivid, with excellent colors and viewing angles all around.

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Overall we’re very impressed with the R7 Plus, and while it’s not quite the bezel-less phone that we’ve come to expect, it’s still a great phablet just the same. We have no idea of pricing for the R7 Plus as of yet, but if OPPO prices this decently in the PH, then they just might attract people looking for a big-screen phablet for less.

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