At the OPPO launch event yesterday, OPPO also announced OPPO R1, a MT6582 powered smartphone which will arrive in India in April 2014 in the range of Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 30,000 INR. The dual SIM phone with 5 inch display and amazing built quality was showcased at OPPO N1(Hands On) launch and we got to spend some time with the device – here are some thoughts.
OPPO R1 Quick Specs
- Display Size: 5 inch IPS LCD, 1280 X 720 resolution, 294 PPI
- Processor: 1.3 GHz MT6582 Quad Core Processor with Mali 400 GPU
- RAM: 1 GB
- Software Version: Color OS based on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)
- Camera: 8 MP AF camera with Dual LED flash, with Rotating Lens
- Secondary Camera: 5 MP camera capable of HD video recording
- Internal Storage: 16 GB
- External Storage: No
- Battery: 2410 mAh battery Lithium Ion
- Connectivity: 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP, aGPS, 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio
- Others: Dual SIM – No, LED Indicator – Yes
- Sensors: Accelerometer, gyro, proximity
OPPO R1 Hands on Review, Features, Camera, India Price and Overview [Video]
Design and Build
The OPPO R1 is definitely a premium slab on the outside. The phone is rectangular and neat with aluminum running around the edges. The phone is quite sleek with only 7.1 mm thickness and weighs a modest 140 grams. The back and front side is covered with glass which adds to the classy look and feel.
With a width of 70.4 and body length of 142.7 mm the phone felt quite comfortable to hold in hand. At the back you will find only the camera sensor and led flash above the OPPO insignia. The loud speaker grills are present at the bottom which implies that the sound won’t be muffled when your phone lies on its back.
Display
The IPS LCD display is 5 inches in size and bears 720p HD resolution which is not something the phone can boast about at the expected price range. The display is protected by corning Gorilla Glass 3 which makes it extremely resistant to abuse. The viewing Angles were wide and the colors were good enough but not the best that we have seen. The touch is very sensitive and you can use it with gloves as well.
Camera and Internal Storage
The primary auto focus camera has an 8 MP sensor, maximum that MT6582 can support, and is capable of HD video recording. The details were pretty good on the front camera. The front camera with 5 MP sensor is also above average and will provide you with good quality HD video chat.
You can launch the camera app by using a four finger gesture and you can tap on the viewfinder to click images. The color reproduction and details in the clicked images was quite good. The internal storage is 16 GB and it is not expandable. Out of 16 GB about 13 GB will be available at the users end.The limited internal storage might be a deal breaker for many.
Battery and OS
OPPO R1 will carry a 2410 mAh battery under the hood which is expected to comfortably last one day moderate usage. OPPO has not yet specified the backup you can extract from this battery. The Operating system is Color OS based on Android 4.2 which is something we like on this device.
The customizable UI along with gesture support is quite handy and pragmatic. The phone even comes with popular paid app Swype keyboard pre-installed. You can have a better look at the UI functionality in the hands on video above. The phone also supports OTA updates.
OPPO N1 Photo Gallery
Conclusion and Overview
The phone comes with very good built quality, camera and software but again, the MT6582 chipset backed by 1 GB of RAM does not justify the specified price-tag of 25,000 INR to 30,000 INR. The phone sports a polished casing with not so impressive guts under the hood. This might be one of the best MT6582 phones we see this year, but the price is too high, especially when phones like Nexus 5 and Gionee Elife E7 are offering Snapdragon 800 in the same price range.
