Oppo F5 review

Performance

The Oppo F5 is the first phone to come through the office, equipped with MediaTek's new MT6763T Helio P23 chipset. Back in the communication section of the review, we established the main goal with the P23 was to provide advanced network features for a mass market, rather than any meaningful performance bump over the older Helio P20.

Since both chips are based on the same 16nm manufacturing process and use a total of eight Cortex-A53 cores (4 @ 2.3GHz and 4 @ 1.6GHz), this should definitely be true for CPU performance. We are sure that most if not all synthetic tests would gladly back us up on this claim, but the Oppo F5 refused to run GeekBench at all.

However, in the meantime, we do have Basemark OS for a pure CPU performance assessment. We opted for the older BaseMark OS II version, since the newer one seems to have some issues with the new Helio P23 chipset for some reason.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• Oppo F3 Plus
  2349
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  1392
• vivo V7+
  1367
• Sony Xperia XA1
  1367
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  1290
• Oppo F5
  1286
• Xiaomi Mi Max 2
  1235
• Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
  1172
• Oppo F3
  1018
• Nokia 6 (Global version)
  978

We can clearly see the P23 performs on par with the P20, as represented by the Sony Xperia XA1. We can also see that MediaTek's new solution is thus also on par with the Snapdragon 625 in pure number-crunching power. Battery efficiency is a whole other story, though. The new Snapdragon 450, as seen in the Vivo V7+ also appears to be in the same ballpark.

Moving on to a more compound benchmark, like AnTuTu, we can clearly see the Oppo F5 holding its ground well. Ours is the 4GB RAM, plus 32GB storage version and judging by the results, both modules seem to be nice and snappy.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• Oppo F3 Plus
  91458
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  85162
• Xiaomi Mi Max
  74488
• Moto G5S Plus
  64554
• Oppo F5
  63889
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  61762
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  61616
• Sony Xperia XA1
  60707
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
  58068
• Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
  57996
• Xiaomi Mi Max 2
  57902
• vivo V7+
  57791
• Oppo F3
  53008
• Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
  47920
• Nokia 6 (Global version)
  47495
• LG Q6
  37276

GPU performance on the Oppo F5 provides a more interesting case study. Unlike the Helio P20, with its Mali-T880 MP2 @ 900 MHz GPU, the new Helio P23 packs a Mali-G71MP2 @ 770 MHz. On a pure hardware level, it is a more powerful chip, even at the slower clock rate.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Oppo F3 Plus
  17
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  15
• Xiaomi Mi Max
  15
• Oppo F5
  11
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  9.9
• Xiaomi Mi Max 2
  9.9
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  9.8
• Moto G5S Plus
  9.8
• Sony Xperia XA1
  9.6
• vivo V7+
  9.3
• Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
  9
• Nokia 6 (Global version)
  7.1
• Oppo F3
  6.8
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
  6.5
• LG Q6
  5.8
• Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
  5.1

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XA1
  19
• Oppo F3 Plus
  17
• vivo V7+
  17
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  15
• Xiaomi Mi Max
  15
• Oppo F5
  11
• Moto G5S Plus
  10
• Xiaomi Mi Max 2
  9.9
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  9.7
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  9.7
• Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
  8.9
• Nokia 6 (Global version)
  7
• Oppo F3
  6.8
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
  6.1
• LG Q6
  5.3
• Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
  5.1

Naturally, the Oppo F3 performs better in off-screen rendering than the Sony Xperia XA1 or the Samsung Galaxy J7 Max, with their P20 chips. However, the real question here is how well that translates to on-screen performance gains, since the Oppo F5 has more pixels than a typical 16:9, FullHD phone to push data to - 1080 x 2160, to be precise.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Oppo F3 Plus
  10
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  9.5
• Xiaomi Mi Max
  9.4
• Oppo F5
  7.1
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  6.4
• Xiaomi Mi Max 2
  6.4
• Moto G5S Plus
  6.4
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  6.2
• Sony Xperia XA1
  6.2
• vivo V7+
  6.1
• Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
  5.8
• Nokia 6 (Global version)
  4.6
• Oppo F3
  4.5
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
  3.8
• LG Q6
  3.8
• Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
  3.3

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XA1
  15
• vivo V7+
  13
• Oppo F3 Plus
  11
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  9.4
• Xiaomi Mi Max
  9.4
• Oppo F5
  6.8
• Moto G5S Plus
  6.8
• Xiaomi Mi Max 2
  6.4
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  6.3
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  6.2
• Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
  6.2
• Oppo F3
  4.5
• Nokia 6 (Global version)
  4.5
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
  3.6
• LG Q6
  3.5
• Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
  3.3

This effectively shrinks the difference between the two mentioned P20 phones and the Oppo F5 in most on-screen scenarios. This is especially true with more intensive graphic loads.

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Oppo F3 Plus
  6
• Xiaomi Mi Max
  5.5
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  5.4
• Oppo F5
  4.2
• Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
  4
• Sony Xperia XA1
  3.7
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  3.5
• Xiaomi Mi Max 2
  3.5
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  3.4
• Moto G5S Plus
  3.4
• vivo V7+
  3.3
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
  2.6
• Nokia 6 (Global version)
  2.5
• Oppo F3
  2.4
• LG Q6
  2.1
• Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
  1.9

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XA1
  7.9
• vivo V7+
  6.6
• Oppo F3 Plus
  6
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  5.4
• Xiaomi Mi Max
  5.4
• Oppo F5
  4
• Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
  4
• Moto G5S Plus
  3.8
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  3.5
• Xiaomi Mi Max 2
  3.5
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  3.4
• Nokia 6 (Global version)
  2.5
• Oppo F3
  2.4
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
  2.4
• LG Q6
  1.9
• Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
  1.9

It is also worth noting that Oppo has included an option to handle 18:9 aspect ratio on unoptimized apps as well. You can go in the settings and choose which apps get forced into the new aspect. Or rather, which get left alone, since "ON" is the default state.

Some apps can misbehave significantly when forced to 18:9, or their performance can drop. It is worth to keep that in mind.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Oppo F3 Plus
  16695
• Xiaomi Mi Max
  15487
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  13666
• Moto G5S Plus
  10488
• Xiaomi Mi Max 2
  10482
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  10472
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  10446
• vivo V7+
  9955
• Sony Xperia XA1
  9714
• Oppo F5
  9205
• Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
  9034
• Nokia 6 (Global version)
  7516
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
  7004
• LG Q6
  6179
• Oppo F3
  6148
• Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
  5497

Basemark X provides a more conservative approximation for any potential Mali-G71MP2 graphics gains on the F5. While Basemark ES 3.1 is a bit more liberal in its evaluation.

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  287
• Oppo F3 Plus
  261
• Oppo F5
  251
• Xiaomi Mi Max
  238
• Sony Xperia XA1
  191
• Samsung Galaxy J7 Max
  187
• Xiaomi Mi Max 2
  138
• Moto G5S Plus
  137
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  136
• vivo V7+
  131
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
  119
• Nokia 6 (Global version)
  100
• Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
  93
• LG Q6
  82

All things considered, the Oppo F5 and its shiny new Helio P23 chipset have more than enough power to chew through average daily tasks without even breaking a sweat. The ColorOS UI runs smooth and there are no noticeable hiccups in gaming performance either.

Just like all recent ultra-wide devices on the market, though, you do have to be mindful of app behaviour and adjust the aspect settings accordingly.