Oppo F9/F9 Pro review

Android Oreo and Color OS

The Oppo F9 runs on ColorOS 5.2, based on Android 8.1 Oreo. The launcher benefits from a so-called AI engine with real-time translation, fast Face Unlock, navigation gestures, and split-screen multi-tasking. Introduced with v5.0 are also new app shortcuts (long tap), new security features including safe, and better gaming mode with WeChat integration.

ColorOS isn't as bloated as it used to be, but it's still very far from stock Android. It comes pre-loaded with social networking apps, a document editor, and some minor-footprint apps.

The so-called AI builds on-device user behavior models for faster app startups and better resource management. It also uses this behavior to show relevant information on the left-most homescreen pane - calendar appointments, quick shortcuts, weather, world clock, package tracking, flight info, among others. You can configure those, or just leave them to the "AI."

The user interface is your typical Chinese manufacturer's launcher familiar. There's no app drawer on the default launcher. Instead, every app you install gets dumped onto the homescreen. A long tap on some of those app will reveal some quick shortcuts - a feature that failed to get momentum but many makers still decided to "borrow" from Apple.

The Lockscreen features a continually changing slideshow of images. You can subscribe to several different channels (e.g., photos of nature or cars or others) or provide your own imagery.

Lock and home screens

There is a proper fingerprint scanner on the back of the Oppo F9. It's always-on, very fast and accurate. You can also set up face unlock in addition to it - it's equally fast as the F9 wakes up the moment you pick it up.

As any other Oppo, you can spruce up the UI with Themes. The Theme Store features both whole themes and just wallpapers, sorted into categories (including free and paid ones).

Themes

The notification shade features notifications, quick toggles, and a brightness slider.

Notifications • Toggles • Task Switcher • Split screen • Split screen • Split screen

One of the most notable additions to Oppo's custom ROM has to be the Full-Screen Gesture model. Bigger display and diminishing bezels tend to cause some ergonomic issues and while the F9 might not be there yet, the company is already trying its best to get you used to what's coming.

When enabled, Full-Screen Gesture navigation positions three small lines at the bottom of the UI but you can choose to hide those lines. Swiping up from the middle one acts like a home button but if you stop the gestures mid-way - you'll summon the task switcher (like on the iPhone X). Swiping on the left or right ones acts as Back. You can change one of those to open the recent apps manager if you like - we sure did.

If you don't want to go there you get the option of standard Android navigation bar to fall back to.

Navigation settings

Clone apps and file safe functions are on board, as well as real-time translation thanks to an improved voice assistant.

There is a Phone Manager that handles memory cleaner functions, app permissions and encryption, and virus scanning.

Naturally, multimedia is handled by Oppo's default apps. There are feature-rich Gallery, Music player, Videos, and even FM radio.

Phone Manager • Game Settings • Gallery • Files • FM radio

An improved Game Center allows you to handpick which notifications to pass through when you are gaming. It now supports WeChat Voice integration, so no more switching to WeChat if you get a call.

Finally, there are various screen-off gestures available, allowing you to launch apps without even unlocking the phone. Those are hardly more than a gimmick though, particularly given how quickly the Oppo F9 unlocks.

Performance and benchmarks

The Oppo F9 employs the same chipset powering the Oppo F7 and R15 - the Helio P60. The MediaTek's P60 packs an octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A73 @2.0GHz cores and 4x Cortex-A53 @2.0GHz cores. The presence of A73 cores is a serious boost the Android's day-to-day operations.

There is a triple-core Mali-G72 GPU to handle graphics. We already know this is not the best in the mid-range class, but it's no disaster either.

The Oppo F9 comes with either 4GB or 6GB of RAM in India with the latter being sold as F9 Pro there. Outside India the F9 is available only with 6GB RAM much like our unit.

As usual we'll start our benchmark tests with Geekbench. A single Cortex-A73 core ticking at 2.0GHz is only bested by the 2.4GHz A73 one inside the Honor Play's Kirin 970, and the Kryo 385 inside the Pocophone's Snapdragon 845.

GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  2438
• Honor Play
  1899
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  1617
• Oppo F7
  1531
• Oppo R15
  1520
• Oppo Realme 1
  1511
• Oppo F9 (F9 Pro)
  1497
• vivo V11
  1457
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
  1329
• Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
  881
• Oppo Realme 2
  790

Oppo F9 also has enough power for multi-core tasks. The only phone that's noticeably faster than the F9 in its price range is again the Pocophone with its Snapdragon 845.

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  9003
• Honor Play
  6696
• Oppo F7
  5901
• Oppo R15
  5806
• Oppo Realme 1
  5741
• Oppo F9 (F9 Pro)
  5673
• vivo V11
  5535
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
  4918
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  4625
• Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
  4388
• Oppo Realme 2
  3881

The three of those Mali-G72 cores make up for a decent mid-range performer - its scores falls somewhere between the flagship graphics of the Honor Play with the same Mali-G72 GPU but with 12 cores, and the mediocre punch of the S625 (Mi A2 Lite). The GPU scores close to Snapdragon 660's Adreno 512 (Mi A2, vivo V11).

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  53
• Honor Play
  36
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  14
• vivo V11
  12
• Oppo Realme 1
  12
• Oppo Realme 2
  12
• Oppo F9 (F9 Pro)
  11
• Oppo F7
  11
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
  9.7
• Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
  6.1

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  31
• Honor Play
  21
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  8.6
• Oppo Realme 1
  7.5
• vivo V11
  7.4
• Oppo F7
  6.7
• Oppo F9 (F9 Pro)
  6.5
• Oppo Realme 2
  6.3
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
  6
• Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
  3.4

The F9 ranked lower in BaseMark OS, though its score is not much behind its key competitors.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  3713
• Honor Play
  3294
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  2240
• vivo V11
  2218
• Oppo R15
  1985
• Oppo F7
  1953
• Oppo Realme 1
  1940
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
  1925
• Oppo F9
  1904
• Oppo Realme 2
  1039

The benchmarks show the Helio P60 is a very decent performer for a mid-ranger. It has a great processor and adequate graphics, which is what we expected from it. We ran all kinds of games and we spotted almost no issues whatsoever with lag or graphics. Hiccups might occur here and there, but not often enough to ruin the overall experience.

The Android + Color OS combo duo runs blazing fast and the phone remained cool, even after extensive benchmarking. There were no signs of throttling as a result of that, which is nice.