Oppo F9/F9 Pro review

Introduction

The Oppo F9/F9 Pro is yet another installment in the hugely popular Oppo mid-range series. It's the first phone in the family with a dual-camera on the back and backtracks on the screen cutouts by moving to a tiny waterdrop notch.

You have probably noticed we are using the F9/F9 Pro inscription for this review and there is a reason for that. Oppo has chosen a rather awkward approach to the naming of its mid-ranger.

In India - one of the key markets for the F-series - the F9 is available in two versions. There is the F9 Pro with 6GB of RAM, a 25MP selfie camera and VOOC flash charging, and the regular Oppo F9 with 4GB of RAM, a 16MP selfie shooter, and no VOOC charging.

Yet in every other market Oppo is selling only the F9 but with specs matching the Indian pro version(6GB, 25MP, VOOC). So, the phone we got for review is called F9, but specs-wise it's identical to the F9 Pro as seen in India. We hope this clears it up and we'll refer to the phone as just F9 from here on.

Looking beyond the confusing naming, the Oppo F9 is actually a very attractive phone that comes with the trendy gradient paint jobs freshened with star or diamond patterns.

The internals are well chosen too - the Helio P60 chip has already proven as a solid mid-range performer, you get a dual-camera on the back with bright lens and a super high-res selfie snapper. Add the large battery with VOOC support and it looks like a great package. Sadly we are still seeing a dated microUSB port.

The Oppo F9 is also among the first to come with the latest and toughest to break Gorilla Glass 6. The new glass is shatter-proof for a dozen of drops from one meter, giving you some welcome peace of mind.

Oppo F9 (F9 Pro) specs:

• Body: Gorilla Glass 6 body, plastic frame, 156.7 x 74 x 8 mm, 169g
• Screen: 6.3" 2,340 x 1,080px (19.5:9) LTPS IPS LCD, 409ppi, notched
• Chipset: MediaTek Helio P60 chipset - octa-core processor (4x2.0 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4x2.0 GHz Cortex-A53), Mali-G72 MP3 GPU
• Memory: 4 or 6 GB RAM, 64GB of storage, (dedicated) microSD slot
• Camera: Dual: 16MP (f/1.8) + 2MP for depth sensing, phase detection autofocus; 1080p @ 30fps video
• Selfie cam: 25MP (f/2.0), 1080p video
• OS: Android 8.1 Oreo with ColoOS 5.2
• Battery: 3,500 mAh, 20W VOOC flash charging
• Connectivity: Dual Nano-SIM; microUSB (USB 2.0), Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, GLONASS, FM radio
• Misc: Rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, bottom-firing loudspeaker, 3.5mm audio port

The Oppo F9 stopped short of implementing the under-display fingerprint reader of its vivo V11 cousin, but at this point of the development of the technology it's unclear if we should count that against it. The F9's rear mounted sensor may lack the geeky appeal, but is always-on, accurate, and blazing-fast - three things you can't say for the V11's reader.

We have the cool Twilight Blue model of the Oppo F9 Pro for this review and it's time we proceed to unbox it.

Unboxing the Oppo F9

In addition to the Oppo F9 unit, you will be getting a VOOC-compatible microUSB cable, the 20W VOOC charger itself, and an EarPod-like headset. The non-VOOC supporting non-Pro Oppo F9 in India comes packed with a 10W regular charged instead.

The Oppo F9 retail box also includes a soft transparent case for some extra protection. And even though the phone is shielded with the latest Gorilla Glass 6, Oppo is still applying screen protectors in its factories, just in case.