After the Oppo Find X with its mechanical pop-up camera design launched in India earlier this year without much fanfare, the Chinese giant decided to step up the game and bring their most popular and innovative R-series to the country. Well, the latest smartphone in that line-up, the Oppo R17 Pro, is finally here and has been priced at Rs 45,990.
Like we always do, let’s first take a quick peek at the specifications table for the Oppo R17 Pro to get an idea of what we’re dealing with here:
Oppo R17 Pro: What’s in the Box
The device comes packed inside an elegant purple box with the R17 Pro tag on top – that also dazzles in a blue and purple gradient under a light. Once you slide out the main compartment, you will find the Oppo R17 Pro sitting on the top, followed by all the other accessories neatly placed inside.
A glass back with the gradient look is no longer a new look for smartphones. Oppo has itself has dabbled with this before, and R17 Pro is an attractive and sparkling beauty.
You will, however, get used to the color gradient once you start using the smartphone or can choose to subdue the effect by using the blue silicone case. The camera bump on the rear is also huge and the phone rocks back and forth when you place it on a table and try to use the in-display fingerprint sensor.
The power button on the right and the volume rocker on the left are quite clicky, which makes them a joy to use, and like me, you might also keep wondering about how they are of different colors.
Oppo R17 Pro: Display
Turning our attention to the front, the Oppo R17 Pro dons the now-trendy waterdrop notch that makes it look equally gorgeous from the front as the back. The device is packing a 6.4-inch Full-HD+ AMOLED display, with a resolution of a 2340 x 1080 pixels, a 19.5:9 aspect ratio, and a screen-to-body ratio of 91.5 percent.
The Oppo R17 Pro was the first device with Corning’s Gorilla Glass 6 protection. It means you don’t need to use any form of screen protector, which is generally the first accessory you might buy. Well, I didn’t mean to test out its toughness, but accidentally dropped the smartphone from pocket height and it survived, so there’s surely some merit to Corning’s claims.
The chamfered edges around the display, where the smartphone’s frame meets the screen, were quite sharp to the touch and it felt like you could get some cuts at first, but the edges smoothen out after a day or two of usage which is a relief.
As smartphones are shifting towards bezel-less displays, the rear fingerprint scanner is losing its relevance. The Oppo R17 Pro also ditches the physical fingerprint sensor in favor of the under-display optical fingerprint sensor to further enhance the look and feel of the frosted glass back.
It’s not all rosy. These sensors are fairly new, and the registration process is still pretty sluggish. The recognition is also a hit or miss, if you haven’t registered your fingerprint correctly, covering the edges. We also noticed sluggish animations while unlocking the device on certain occasions, but the same can be fixed via software updates in the future.
Well, let me start off by saying that Oppo R17 Pro is backed by Android 8.1 Oreo-based ColorOS 5.2 and it should be enough to give you the hint that even though you will get a feature-rich skin, there are some qualms that need to be corrected – as I’ve already stated in my Realme U1 review.
Even though it seems that we usually have bad things to say about ColorOS, this Android skin is literally packed to the brim with features and there are some which you might come to appreciate over time. As you can see in the screenshots attached below, when you turn on the portable hotspot, Oppo R17 Pro shows the data consumed in that one session and the number of devices connected to it in the notification bar at the top.
Though ColorOS may not paint the best picture in terms of user experience, I cannot say the same for the Snapdragon 710 chipset. Oppo R17 Pro is the first smartphone powered by this chipset to launch in India, promising flagship-grade features and performance comparable to Qualcomm’s 800-series chipset. It is coupled with a whopping 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage on the Oppo R17 Pro, which is no longer an overkill and only works in the favor of the smartphone.
We decided to test out the performance of the Snapdragon 710 against the Snapdragon 845 chipset, so I’ve been lugging around both the Oppo R17 Pro and OnePlus 6T with me for the past few days. Apart from running the conventional benchmark tests (results below), I decided to check out app opening and closing times, gameplay experience, and an overall performance check.
I did notice a few jitters and frame drops in the former, leading me to jump to the latter, but the crisp graphics on the OLED screen of the Oppo R17 Pro pushed me to switch back to “high” graphics once again.
Though I wouldn’t put too much faith in benchmark figures as they don’t really translate to the real-world performance, you can find attached our Geekbench and AnTutu benchmark scores below.
The cameras are a major highlight of the Oppo R17 Pro as it’s the first Oppo device to feature a triple rear-camera setup. This includes a 12MP (f/1.5-f/2.4) primary sensor and a 20MP (f/2.6) secondary sensor, coupled with a third TOF (time-of-flight) 3D stereo sensor. There’s also a 25MP (f/2.0) selfie camera on board here.
Oppo R17 Pro Camera Samples: Daylight
The Oppo R17 Pro was a pleasant surprise in the camera department as the pictures we captured in day time and some artificial lighting turned out to be pretty good. While the color saturation and over-sharpening may be an issue for some, I found these shots to be Instagram-ready and worth every penny you’ll spend on this phone.
Oppo R17 Pro Camera Samples: Low Light
Oppo R17 Pro is able to hold its ground in low-light conditions as well, where also it helps punch up the colors, retain color depth, and outputs accurate photos. The device usually automatically recognizes the scene as ‘Night’ and clicks night mode shots, which turn out to be amazing even when there is a bare minimum amount of light around.
Oppo R17 Pro Camera Samples: Selfies
As I’ve already mentioned, Oppo seems to have improved its selfie camera performance with the addition of onboard AI to the device. The pictures you see attached below have decent amount of detail and while the camera may soften the skin tones sometimes, the selfies captured are Instagram-worthy in most cases.
Oppo R17 Pro Camera Samples: Portrait Mode
Oppo clicks one of the better portrait shots on a smartphone and it was unbelievable for me as well. The portrait selfies, as well as shots captured using the rear camera, have a ton of detail, decent edge detection and a natural background blur in most cases. While pictures of human subjects are much better, those of inanimate objects look great too, which is not the case in many phones.
Oppo R17 Pro Camera Samples: Ultra Night Mode
Night mode is the latest hype train that every smartphone maker is looking to board and Oppo doesn’t want to miss out on that. The Ultra Night Mode on the Oppo R17 Pro is not at par with the Pixel 3, but it’s pretty good. You will see in the shots attached below that Oppo is punching up the highlights and shadows to output some stunning pictures.
Oppo R17 Pro Camera Samples: TOF Camera
The time-of-flight (TOF) camera may not appear to be a suitable addition from a user’s point of view but it makes the Oppo R17 Pro capable of capturing some sweet photos at night and get it ready for future AR applications. It currently sits above the existing rear-camera setup, shoots light beams at subjects and reads their distance from the device to better position the limited AR Stickers (or Apple Animoji clone) inside the camera app or light up the subjects in might mode.
Oppo R17 Pro Video Samples
The Oppo F17 Pro is capable of capturing 4K (UHD) videos but only at 30fps, which sure sounds disappointing for the price you are paying. And if that wasn’t enough, the videos captured, while they feature accurate colors and good audio quality, but the OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) isn’t able to handle the wobble of the auto-rickshaw I was traveling by. You can find the 4K (30fps) video sample attached right here:
However, when you bump down the video quality to 1080p (30fps) then you can easily witness that the video is smoother and the wobble is also reduced in comparison to the 4K videos. You can check out the 1080p video sample attached right here:
Oppo R17 Pro: Connectivity
The Oppo R17 Pro comes with a dual nano-SIM card tray at the bottom and it looks like the tray we have seen on the Mate 20 Pro that also allows you to use a Nano memory card to expand storage. The device extends to you dual VoLTE functionality and I faced no issues with the network connection over the past five days, except when I switched circles and landed in Mumbai yesterday morning to attend the launch event.
The Oppo R17 Pro comes with a single bottom-firing speaker and even though I’m not particularly happy with its positioning, the speaker gets really loud (like really!!) and still manages to offer a wide soundstage with plenty of treble and bass.
To make up for the lack of a headphone jack, Oppo has included a USB Type-C headset in the box but they’re yet another Apple Earpods clone. I don’t understand the obsession with copying Apple products but these earphones are sturdy and well-built. They offer decent sound quality, but with a flat soundstage and no bass-rich sound, which could turn out to be a disappointment for the Indian masses.
We know you have been dying to know about the awesome battery in the Oppo R17 Pro and the SuperVOOC charging technology.
Yes, the modest 3,700mAh battery pack on this device (same capacity as the OnePlus 6T) is backed by crazy fast charging speed that blew me away. I mean, pretty much everyone was amazed by the charging speed of the Oppo R17 Pro.
As for the battery life, well, my biggest qualm with ColorOS is that it does not show the screen-on time and it becomes a little difficult to judge how long the battery really lasts under different usage conditions.
We have now finally made it to the decision-making process and I know most of you’ve already dismissed Oppo R17 Pro as an overpriced Snapdragon 710 smartphone. I know you’re recommending the OnePlus 6T (starts at Rs 37,999) to friends and relatives right now, but do hear me out once.
The R17 Pro is a really compelling device but the poor pricing seems to have sunk the ship for Oppo, who might find it difficult to court buyers for the device. The users are all about internals specifications right now and the possibility of owning a more powerful device, backed by the Snapdragon 845 for less money will certainly sound like a better option, which is where the OnePlus 6T or Poco F1 (starts at Rs 20,999) take the cake.
CONS:
Oppo R17 Pro Review: Impressive But Overpriced
Overall, the Oppo R17 Pro is one beautiful and powerful package that makes sense and is capable enough to check all the right boxes. But the price is unpalatable only for the super fast charging tech.
