OPPO R5

We reviewed OPPO N1, N1 Mini and Find 7 last year which featured the innovative swivel camera and one of the first Quad HD screen in the market respectively. And now once again, the Chinese smartphone maker has sent us something unique, premium and one of the sleekest smartphone in the market; the R5.

A fine craftsmanship

R5 is unbelievably sleek at just 4.85mm, which forces you to think how OPPO has managed to put everything in such a thin profile. The hand polished stainless steel frame feels rock solid and holds the device firmly.

The stainless steel frame adds strength to the overall design and looks good

The volume rockers and power button, made of similar material sits on the right side and offers good tactile feedback. The SIM card tray is provided on left edge and takes a single micro SIM.

The front has three touch capacitive buttons at the bottom and minimal bezels are provided on the either sides of the screen. The top houses the earpiece, light sensor and the 5 MP front camera.

The dual tone color and brushed aluminum gives R5 a premium look

With the brushed aluminum and dual color tone at the back, R5 looks one of the most premium device in its category. And despite all metal and glass, it is not as slippery as the iPhone 6/6Plus feels, due to its angular edges. The weight is very well managed and the 155g device does not feel heavy to hold.

But there are some compromises.

First there is no standard 3.5mm headphone jack and you need to use the bundled mounting cable in the package that docks in the charging slot. So you can’t enjoy music while charging.

Secondly, there is no separate output speaker unit and the only source of music and voice calls is the earpiece, which delivers loud but poor quality sound.

With such thin metallic construction, R5 heats up during video playback and gaming. Though it gets back to normal in a short while but the heating effect is noticeable.

There is no micro SD card slot, so you have to adjust with the 16 GB in-built storage for everything.

Crisp 1080p AMOLED display

The 5.2 inch AMOLED display on the OPPO R5 packs 423 pixels per inch which makes text, icons, images, etc. amazingly crisp. This is a 1080p screen, not a Quad HD panel, but the AMOLED technology makes everything looks stunning.

The colors are vibrant and you will love watching full HD videos on R5. Moreover Quad HD panels consume a lot of battery and the difference is quite unnoticeable by the eyes.

We excessively used the screen outdoors and were impressed by the amazing level of brightness and decent viewing angles which made the content easily visible.

Camera packed with various modes

Camera packs lots of modes to play with

OPPO is known for tweaking a lot with its camera modules and the same goes with R5 also. There are various modes to play with such as HDR-which delivers good results; After focus-which lets you focus a subject after clicking a shot, Slow shutter, Super macro, Beauty, etc.

Ultra HD mode lets you capture pictures with 24 & 50 MP resolution

Then there is Ultra HD, which creates an image of 50 MP but the results are not very good. You can also click pictures in RAW format. Our personal favorite is the Expert mode which lets you control ISO, exposure, focus, shutter speed, etc.

Talking about the performance, the 13 MP rear camera is equipped with Sony Exmor IMX214 BSI sensor. It captures pictures with decent quality, good level of detailing and accurate colors.

However, the camera algorithm is a bit slow and it fails to capture a moving subject. Surprisingly, the performance of 5 MP front shooter is better than expected.

Color OS 2.0 over Android 4.4 Kitkat

The customized layer from OPPO (Color OS 2.0) features a nice set of icons and widgets. If you like to customize your phone, you can install a variety of themes from the OPPO's personalized store which can give your device a whole new look. Then the settings menu have many gestures which comes quite handy in operating the R5.

For instance; double tap on the lock screen to wake up the device, pinch close with multiple fingers on the screen to activate the camera, double tap on home button to lock the device, slide up/down on the screen to control the volume and a lot more. You can also draw letters on the screen to open various applications such as camera, calender, messages, etc.

Minimized screen for one hand operation

R5 is a big phone and people with small hands will face difficulty in operating it with one hand. However a swipe from either corner of the screen minimizes it for one hand operation; something we have seen earlier in Galaxy Note series and Asus Zenfones.

Good but inconsistent performer

With an octa-core Snapdragon 615 chipset inside, R5 can run whatever tasks you throw at it without any issues. However, it is the poor software optimization which results in occasional lags during multitasking.  No doubt, Color OS (2.0) is a refreshing interface over Android 4.4 Kitkat with a slew of customized tweaks; but it makes R5 a bit sluggish even though 2GB RAM is provided.

A software update from OPPO might address the problems as the hardware on the device is pretty much able to perform high end tasks.

Another let down is the poor battery life. R5 is a big phone and its 2000 mAh battery unit is not capable to offer acceptable longevity. I plugged it in after moderate usage of 9 hours and in our battery tests (full HD video at Wi-Fi on brightness) it survived for 5 hours 40 minutes which is not good.

But you get the flash charging that takes the device from 0 to 50% in about 30 minutes, which is appreciable and a certain necessity these days.