Oppo F9/F9 Pro review

The competition

The Oppo F9 is yet another smartphone trying to find its place in the crowded mid-range market. It's a looker, which is a rather rare sights around these parts and has a new take on the notch that almost makes it a feature rather than an eye-sore. The 25MP selfie snapper and blazing-fast charging are also earning it a bunch of points and so does the impressive battery life.

Now, the F9 isn't a huge upgrade over the F7 - and that's hardly a surprise given that its predecessor is just six months old. We can't see F7 owners jumping ship, but the F9 was never meant to entice those - instead it was meant to keep the line relevant in a segment where new competitors are coming in every week.

Here's a quick overview of the most noteworthy alternatives.

Xiaomi Pocophone F1 • Huawei Honor Play • • Xiaomi Mi A2 (Mi 6X)

The Pocophone F1 by Xiaomi clearly managed to shake things up around the mid-range, offering a flagship-grade Snapdragon 845 chipset without at an unbelievable price. You also get 4K video recording, an IR-camera-powered face unlock and stereo speakers, so if you are a power user it's hard to ignore it. Yet, the F1 doesn't come even close to matching the F9 looks, nor its 20W VOOC charging.

The Honor Play also costs the same as the Oppo F9 and is another handset obsessed with performance. It has metal to the F1's plastic but again isn't attractive in the same way the F9 is. Oh and the notches on that one, much like the Pocophone F1 is huge and unsightly, so it's not just about the looks of the back.

The vivo V11, an in-house rival, has a better Super AMOLED screen with a similar notch and under-display fingerprint scanner to brag about, in addition to the equally cool body and arguably better camera. It misses on the Gorilla Glass 6 protection though, and that futuristic fingerprint reader is rather unreliable.

Finally, the Mi A2 is all about the stock Android experience. It's got an equally capable chipset and better cameras on the back, but a far less imaginative design and no microSD card slot.

The verdict

The Oppo F9 is among the most attractive in the mid-range today. Unique with that waterdrop-like notch and beautiful with the gradient back with cool pattern underneath.

If you are a power user, you will certainly find better phones than the F9 for the same price, but if you also care about design Oppo's latest will certainly fit the purpose better, while still providing a solid smartphone experience.

Pros

• Gorilla Glass 6 protection for the screen
• A large display with excellent contrast and beautiful notch
• Excellent battery life, VOOC charging
• The Helio P60 isn't a beast, but it gets the job done

Cons

• Plastic frame
• No 4K video recording, mediocre 1080p clips
• Another microUSB port!