Oppo F9 Pro

Oppo F9 Pro arrives with a premium design and the promise to provide high-end capabilities at a mid-range price. Coming for ₹22,990, Oppo F9 Pro delivers on some of its commitments to challenge competing mid-range flagships.

While Oppo F9 Pro does deliver a great display and fantastic battery life, it fails to live up to its promise of great cameras. Plus, the performance fails to make a mark when compared to its competitors. As a good looking phone with a lost-lasting battery – Oppo F9 Pro will keep you satisfied, though you should not expect superior performance from this handset.

Oppo F9 Pro emphasises on its rear. It has an iridescent metallic finish which is shimmery and eye-catching. The colour changes according to the angle of the light giving it a premium effect. There is a diamond pattern which is not always visible but can shine if the phone is turned in a certain way. In the front, the notch has been toned down to a water drop notch. The edges of the screen curves around the side giving enough screen space to work with. In the rear panel, the camera does not sit in flush with the panel with a little portion sticking out. Overall, the phone is comfortable to handle, and you can use your finger to reach it from one end to the other. At 169g, the construction feels quite robust. However, the phone is not splash resistant or dust resistance. Plus, it does not come with the new USC Type-C port but dated micro USB port. The phone also retains the headphone jack which is slowly phasing out among current flagships.

The F9 Pro has a 6.3 inch LTPS (low-temperature polysilicon) LCD panel with an aspect ratio of 19.5:9 and a full-HD+ resolution of 1080×2340. The colours are quite accurate and punchy. The viewing angles are quite good. The brightness is quite good, and even in harsh sunlight, it is possible to view the phone without a problem. Due to the rounded corners and the notch, there is minimal cropping of videos, but it is still wholly immersive.

Considering the benchmarks, Oppo F9 Pro can seem weak. The Octa-core MediaTek Helio P60 processor powers it. It gets a score of 5,305 multicore scores while flagship competitors like Honor Play get 6,556 points and Nova 3i receives 5,576 points. Casual games can run properly in this handset though high-end games like Asphalt 9 tends to struggle to deliver choppy gameplay. The phone also gets warm during intensive gaming. However, app-switching works like a breeze and loading of apps are quite fast. Performance wise, this is not a gaming phone.

The Camera app of the phone resembles that of iOS, providing a ribbon at the bottom which shows Slo-mo, Timelapse, Portrait, etc. Plus, there is Google Lends integration with the standard Photo mode which includes filter, beautification and other aspect ratio choices. In daylight, the rear primary 16MP camera works quite well. The focus is accurate, the details are captured well, and the colours are quite sharp.

At night, the camera speed starts to drop, and there is a bit of focus lag. The details are not captured, and there is a noticeable blurring.

However, the portrait mode is quite good and comes out crisp with the effect being captured well on screen.

The front 25MP camera is quite a beauty when it is used indoors. Even in daylight, the selfies came out crisp and captured enough details. However, the beautification mode can get too aggressive and make it artificial. At night, the photos can appear grainy and not be eligible for social media as well.

Regarding videos, Oppo F9 Pro can shoot both 720p and 1080p with its rear camera, but there is a lack of stabilisation which results in shaky footage.

Oppo F9 Pro comes with a marvellous 3500 mAh battery. In an HD video loop test, it lasted for about 13 hours and 12 minutes which is quite remarkable. One of the reasons for the strength of the battery could be due to the efficiency of the chipset. With moderate use like gaming, web-browsing, and video streaming, the phone can last the entire day. It also comes with VOOC fast charging. With about 10 minute charge, the phone can power up from 0% to 19%, and in about 40 minutes it can go to 75%.

The Oppo F9 Pro shows innovation in its design by experimenting with colour and shape. However, it trumps on design, the internals of Oppo F9 Pro is disappointing considering the flagship competitors. The performance is not excellent and results in lags while gaming. Plus, the main highlight of the phones, the cameras, do not bring anything new to it. While the phone has a satisfactory battery life, the lack of waterproofing stands out as a disappointment. All in all, the phone has a decent use value but falls short of challenging its flagship competitors like Honor Play or Huawei Nova 3i.