Oppo F17 Pro: Stands out amid stiff competition

The new mid-range Oppo F17 Pro is one such effort to strengthen its presence in the cut-throat Indian smartphone market.

The smartphone brings a mixture of mid-range and premium features like thin and lightweight design with quad cameras on its back and support for fast battery charging out-of-the-box.

The Oppo F17 Pro comes in a single variant with 8GB RAM with 128GB storage and is priced at Rs 22,990, available in magic blue, matte black as metallic white colours.

We used the magic blue model for nearly a fortnight and here is what we think about the device.

Oppo F17 Pro packs a 7.48mm ultra-sleek body and weighs just 164 grams, making it one of the sleekest smartphones of 2020.

For the first time, the company has introduced a thin 220 degree edge with F17 Pro to give users a comfortable and smoother in-hand feel.

Overall, the smartphone delivers a super smooth hand-feel while still looking elegantly slim from the side.

There is a USB Type-C port, a headphone socket and a speaker. The smartphone comes with a triple-slot tray on the left, which can accept two Nano-SIMs and a microSD card.

The device houses a square camera module on the back like iPhone 11 pro.

The smartphone sports a 6.43-inch Full HD+, Super AMOLED screen with a large 90.7 per cent screen-to-body ratio to offer a more immersive viewing experience for the users.

The display uses mini dual-punch holes for the front camera to ensure the users fully enjoy video games and intricate details in every shot. The screen also features In-Display Fingerprint Unlock 3.0, which quickly unlocked the screen.

The display comes with additional features like the always-on display mode and dark mode. The always-on display mode shows the clock and some more details on the locked screen.

The phone comes with a quad-camera setup on the back that consists of a primary 48MP camera with f/1.8 aperture, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera with 119-degree field-of-view, a 2MP macro camera and a 2MP depth sensor.

On the front, there is a 16MP primary selfie camera followed by a 2MP depth sensor. The rear cameras can do 4K UHD videos at 30FPS (frames per second).

In broad daylight, the smartphone took images that came quite natural. The phone did manage to capture good amounts of detail, and objects at a distance were recognisable.

In addition, the front camera also offered good colours and details.

Powered by all-new AI algorithms, F17 Pro introduces AI Super Clear Portrait, a portrait photography feature that captures clearer facial details with AI facial reconstruction technology.

The smartphone also features the third generation of Ultra Steady Video that enabled us to effortlessly shoot a video while walking down the street.

The F17 Pro is powered by MediaTek Helio P95 processor with an octa-core CPU and PowerVR GPU. The device runs on ColorOS 7.2 which is based on Android 10. There's a dedicated microSD card slot that can be used to expand the storage further.

During the review, the smartphone performed smoothly, regardless of whether for a casual purpose like posting on social media or WhatsApp chat or heavy usage.

We played Asphalt 9: Legends game and the phone did not stutter.

The device comes with an ‘Air Gesture' feature and users can enjoy the advantage of picking up calls without even touching the phone.

The feature allows users to pick up calls without directly touching the phone by simply waving their hands as far as 20 cm or even 50 cm.

The 4015mAh battery also lasted longer. Oppo ships a 30W fast charger with the phone, which quickly charges the phone.

Conclusion: Oppo F17 Pro is a decent mid-segment smartphone that completely justifies its pricing and scores decent marks in terms of design and performance.

The smartphone aims to create a niche space among stiff challenges coming from Redmi K20 Pro, OnePlus Nord, Realme X3 and Samsung Galaxy M51.

Oppo lovers will find it a true winner.