The R7s is the latest smartphone from Oppo to bear the R7 name, and it's one we've been looking forward to getting our hands on. It achieves, on paper at least, what has been one of the best things to hit the Android ecosystem in 2015: great specs and a great price to match.
The R7s is priced like a mid-ranger at just £259, but on looks alone you'd be forgiven for thinking it costs much more than this. Oppo has made one handsome looking phone.
Covering off a few of the main hardware specs that we're looking at:
- Snapdragon 615 CPU
- 4GB of RAM
- 5.5-inch 1080p AMOLED display
- 32GB internal storage with microSD card slot
- 3070mAh battery with included "Flash Charger" for 90% charge in 50 minutes
- 13MP rear camera
- 8MP front facing camera
- Android 5.1 Lollipop with Color OS
You also get a set of earbuds in the box with the R7s along with a clear TPU case and the company's VOOC fast charge power brick. The latter of those sadly only useful in some regions, the one I received has a European charger which isn't much help in the UK. It's a nice touch to see a case included, help you keep that metal exterior looking its best.
Besides looking great, the R7s is also very light to hold. It's not the smallest thing you'll ever come across at 5.5-inches but it's slim and light enough that the size isn't overwhelming. The gold color on our review unit is definitely more of a champagne, but gold is the thing to do these days so here it is.
When you turn it on there's a 1080p AMOLED display staring back at you and first impressions are good. It's bright, colors seem vivid and it's pleasant to look at. What you see on that display is Color OS 2.1, Oppo's custom take on Android. It's based on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, and we've recently learned that the near-stock, Project Spectrum ROM, will be made available for it in early 2016. Color OS can be sat alongside Xiaomi's MIUI and Huawei's EMUI in so far as you'll either like it or you won't. But the customizations run deep.
We've barely scratched the surface with the Oppo R7s so stay tuned for much more detailed impressions and a full review soon.
