Oppo F19 Pro+ 5G: Take insta-ready pics and wait for high speed

Ready or not, here they come. 5G phones are now starting to pour in. While it’s nice to know we’re geared up for the future, it’s still true that the future being sold to us is still nice and far away. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that by the time 5G connectivity becomes commonplace in India, you’ll be ready to buy another phone. That’s not to say that companies should omit 5G readiness — they just shouldn’t be hard-selling it. Many unwary consumers may imagine 5G is sooner than it actually is and choose a phone keeping it in mind, which is a little unfair.

That said, Oppo has just launched two related phones, the F19 Pro and the F19 Pro+5G in its ‘F’ Series and we’re looking at the second today for a review. I’ve been using it for a few days and here’s what strikes me about this new device.

If you’re looking for a mid-range phone, the F19+5G has a few things going for it. First off, it’s an eminently ‘holdable’ phone. It feels very light and is very nicely narrow. If you’re someone who gazes at the phone for one reason or another a lot of the time, your hands aren’t going to get fatigued with this phone. It also won’t cause too much pocket-sag, which is something you can’t say for many phones these days. There’s some slight rounding off all along the sides and honestly it’s quite thoughtful as the phone doesn’t dig into your palms.

Oppo launches F19 Pro Series smartphones in India

The overall build is not bad at all, though you’ll learn soon enough that the back is made of polycarbonate, not glass. You’ll probably only know this from reading it somewhere because phone makers are getting very good at making plastic look like glass and glass like plastic. I have the silver variant to check out and it’s got an interesting effect that gives reflected light a kind of perspective. It’s shiny but not in a bad way. Fingerprint smudges don’t show up easily on the surface, but if you’re finicky there’s a transparent case in the box. The package is generously endowed with accessories including a set of earphones — and there’s a 3.5mm jack for you to use them with as well. And while we’re at it, they’ve put in a slot for a memory card as well, so that’s another thing customers will value.

Everything is straightforward around the edges, but going around to the front, there’s a really nice 6.4-inch SuperAMOLED screen but it doesn’t have a high refresh rate when phones cheaper than this are now coming with the feature. There’s the now typical punch hole for the front camera and fairly slim bezels except at the bottom where the edging is a bit asymmetrically thicker. A minor point that doesn’t detract from the experience.

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All the everyday jobs

This phone runs on the MediaTek Dimensity 800U chipset, which is good for all regular everyday tasks though it’s perhaps not the device of choice for heavy-duty gaming. There’s a single version: 8GB RAM with 128GB storage, which makes life simpler. It’s also running Android 11 out of the box and not making customers wait for some promised future update. It works plenty smooth for everyday tasks. Oppo uses its ColorOS to bring in customisations and features beyond Android and it isn’t too bad. There are tweaks and personalisations you can play with. But of course, there are a few pre-loaded apps you may not want but can happily offload. I didn’t find too many push notifications plaguing me either, which is enough of a boon in itself. There’s the standard level of security with an under-display fingerprint sensor that works well enough.

The battery on this phone is a 4,310mAh which one might say is a little less than one is getting these days on phones of this price. But, the fact that there is 50W fast charging means that you can top up in a mere three quarters of an hour and because of this don’t need to carry a heavy phone, which is a great trade-off for many people. Besides, 5 minutes of charging will give 5 hours of talk time.

A shot of colour

The camera is a highlight on this phone, says Oppo. The main 48MP sensor results in detailed images with great dynamic range though overall perhaps more saturated and sharpened than some would like. What I really like is the number of modes and filters there are to play with: if you’re a social media addict, you should have a great time giving your photos an atmosphere and a special look with these. The main camera has a good shutter speed and does pretty well with edge detection and bokeh. There’s an 8MP ultra wide, 2MP macro and 2MP monochrome camera which are par for the course. In front there’s a 16MP camera which does a lot of beautification to begin with. But Oppo is making the biggest noise over its use of AI to highlight colours and enhance the scenes it recognises. Also, the videography capabilities of the phone with which you capture vivid colours with the AI Highlight feature on-screen. Now, this does give the footage some shot of light but also changes the colours to a bit of an unrecognisable extent. There’s the dual-video mode, which is becoming standard practice even on mid-range phones now.

The Oppo F19 Pro + 5G (the companies around us should surely have some mercy with those names) already has a fair bit of competition from several phones around that out-spec it on several fronts, leaving it seeming too expensive for what it offers.

Price : ₹25,990

Pros : Great ergonomics, good screen, fast charging, Android 11, good daylight camera, premium design

Cons : A bit overpriced, competition has stronger offerings, high refresh rate a glaring omission, somewhat protruding camera bump