Oppo R7 review: Changing course

Changing course

GSMArena team, 03 July 2015.

Synthetic benchmarks

The Oppo R7 is equipped with a Snapdragon 615 chipset, a solution so popular, that Oppo itself has no less than 4 smartphones in its lineup, powered by Qualcomm's upper midrange chip.

Oppo likes to tinker with processor clock speed to adjust it to the specific device, and it's no different on the R7. The four "powerful" Cortex-A53 cores in the pseudo-big.LITTLE setup can go as high as 1.46GHz, while the other four are limited to 1.11GHz. Qualcomm quotes typical figures of 1.7GHz and 1.0GHz, respectively.

Oppo R7

The R7 comes with a spacious 3GB of RAM, so multitasking should be a breeze. It's among the key improvements over the R5, and makes the R7 only the second Oppo smartphone with that amount after the now aging flagship Find 7.

We kick off the benchmark routine with Geekbench 3, which measures solely CPU performance. The R7 sits midway between the S615 equipped R5 and R1x. The R7 is also no match for last year's flagships, but is also bested by the Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615, again), which puts up a better fight.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

  • Lenovo Vibe X2
    3647
  • Meizu MX4
    3556
  • Xiaomi Mi 4
    3175
  • Samsung Galaxy S5
    3120
  • Huawei Honor 6
    3081
  • vivo Xshot
    3048
  • HTC One (M8) Lollipop
    2923
  • Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
    2880
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    2856
  • Oppo R5
    2806
  • Oppo R7 (retail)
    2683
  • Gionee Elife S5.5
    2581
  • Oppo R1x
    2507
  • Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
    2375
  • Xiaomi Mi 4i
    2336
  • ZTE Blade S6
    2086
  • Huawei Ascend P7
    1895

Antutu has become more or less an industry standard for a quick overall benchmark and measures RAM and storage performance on top of CPU power. The Oppo R7 is trailing behind the S615 competition, and would have been last, if it weren't for the ZTE Blade S6, but that one is a little over half the R7's asking price.

In all fairness, the S615 crowd is pretty tightly spaced, and is lagging behind the 2014 top-end Snapdragon 801. The Mediatek MT6595 inside the Meizu MX4 and Lenovo Vibe X2 is the undisputed champ here.

AnTuTu 5

Higher is better

  • Meizu MX4
    46922
  • Lenovo Vibe X2
    46666
  • HTC One (M8) Lollipop
    45530
  • Samsung Galaxy S5
    45348
  • vivo Xshot
    43318
  • Huawei Honor 6
    42688
  • Xiaomi Mi 4i
    34491
  • Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
    32217
  • Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
    31436
  • Oppo R5
    31417
  • Oppo R1x
    30187
  • Oppo R7 (retail)
    29452
  • Huawei Ascend P7
    28758
  • ZTE Blade S6
    27198

Another compound benchmark, Basemark OS II 2.0 paint a more favorable picture of the R7. It still trails behind the Sony M4 Aqua and the Galaxy A7, but leaves a few of the S615 competitors behind in the overall score. The the single- and multi-core CPU tests mostly mirror the results.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

  • HTC One (M8) Lollipop
    1186
  • Samsung Galaxy S5
    1160
  • vivo Xshot
    1050
  • Huawei Honor 6
    888
  • Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
    858
  • Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
    813
  • Oppo R7 (retail)
    757
  • Oppo R1x
    753
  • ZTE Blade S6
    751
  • Oppo R5
    710
  • Meizu MX4
    666
  • Gionee Elife S5.5
    567
  • Huawei Ascend P7
    552
  • Xiaomi Mi 4i
    296

Basemark OS 2.0 (single-core)

Higher is better

  • Samsung Galaxy S5
    5557
  • HTC One (M8) Lollipop
    5235
  • vivo Xshot
    4856
  • Huawei Honor 6
    4106
  • Xiaomi Mi 4i
    3008
  • Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
    2628
  • Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
    2480
  • Oppo R7 (retail)
    2452
  • ZTE Blade S6
    2446
  • Oppo R5
    2437
  • Gionee Elife S5.5
    2303
  • Huawei Ascend P7
    2240
  • Meizu MX4
    2219
  • Oppo R1x
    2177

Basemark OS 2.0 (multi-core)

Higher is better

  • Huawei Honor 6
    21198
  • HTC One (M8) Lollipop
    21140
  • Samsung Galaxy S5
    19237
  • Gionee Elife S5.5
    18019
  • Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
    16640
  • vivo Xshot
    15206
  • Xiaomi Mi 4i
    13521
  • Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
    13167
  • Meizu MX4
    12671
  • Oppo R5
    12044
  • Oppo R7 (retail)
    9755
  • Huawei Ascend P7
    8737
  • Oppo R1x
    8683
  • ZTE Blade S6
    8229

The Snapdragon 615 comes bundled with an Adreno 405 GPU, which typically does a good job as long as you don't sweat it with the latest 3D games.

In Basemark X it clearly pulls ahead of all competitors with the same chipset. The Xperia M4 Aqua comes closest, followed by the Blade S6, while the Oppo R1x is a mile back, indicating a different setup there.

Basemark X

Higher is better

  • HTC One (M8) Lollipop
    12257
  • Samsung Galaxy S5
    11798
  • vivo Xshot
    11621
  • Meizu MX4
    8324
  • Lenovo Vibe X2
    6512
  • Oppo R7 (retail)
    5382
  • Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
    5105
  • ZTE Blade S6
    5039
  • Xiaomi Mi 4i
    4875
  • Huawei Honor 6
    4868
  • Oppo R5
    4855
  • Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
    4802
  • Oppo R1x
    4018

In the lighter T-Rex routine of GFXBench the R7 manages the same 15fps both onscreen and off, which shouldn't be a surprise, as both tests are carried out at 1080p resolution. The R1x, Blade S6 and Xperia M4 Aqua all pull ahead in the onscreen test, but they're favored by their 720p displays, which have a lot less pixels to render.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

  • HTC One (M8) Lollipop
    28
  • Xiaomi Mi 4
    27.6
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    27.2
  • Samsung Galaxy S5
    27
  • vivo Xshot
    23
  • Meizu MX4
    22.7
  • Lenovo Vibe X2
    17.8
  • Huawei Honor 6
    16
  • Oppo R5
    15.1
  • Oppo R7 (retail)
    15
  • Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
    15
  • ZTE Blade S6
    15
  • Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
    14.9
  • Xiaomi Mi 4i
    14
  • Huawei Ascend P7
    12.3
  • Oppo R1x
    12
  • Gionee Elife S5.5
    10.8

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

  • HTC One (M8) Lollipop
    30
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    28.7
  • Xiaomi Mi 4
    28.2
  • Samsung Galaxy S5
    28
  • Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
    25.8
  • ZTE Blade S6
    24
  • vivo Xshot
    23
  • Meizu MX4
    21.3
  • Oppo R1x
    20
  • Lenovo Vibe X2
    17
  • Huawei Honor 6
    17
  • Oppo R7 (retail)
    15
  • Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
    15
  • Oppo R5
    14.8
  • Xiaomi Mi 4i
    14
  • Huawei Ascend P7
    12.4
  • Gionee Elife S5.5
    10.6

The more demanding Manhattan test introduces an expected overall hit in frame rates. In the offscreen test the differences between the S615 packing smartphones are negligible, save for the trailing R1x. The onscreen test widens the gap between HD and FullHD displays, but the R7 still does an OK job, given its hardware.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

  • Samsung Galaxy S5
    12
  • HTC One (M8) Lollipop
    12
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    11.7
  • Xiaomi Mi 4
    11.6
  • vivo Xshot
    9.5
  • Huawei Honor 6
    8.1
  • Meizu MX4
    7.9
  • Xiaomi Mi 4i
    6.2
  • Lenovo Vibe X2
    6.1
  • Oppo R7 (retail)
    5.9
  • Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
    5.84
  • Oppo R5
    5.8
  • Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
    5.8
  • ZTE Blade S6
    5.8
  • Oppo R1x
    4.9

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

  • HTC One (M8) Lollipop
    13
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    12.2
  • Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
    12.2
  • Samsung Galaxy S5
    12
  • Xiaomi Mi 4
    11.3
  • ZTE Blade S6
    11
  • Oppo R1x
    9.6
  • vivo Xshot
    9.4
  • Huawei Honor 6
    8.7
  • Meizu MX4
    7.4
  • Xiaomi Mi 4i
    6.2
  • Lenovo Vibe X2
    6.1
  • Oppo R7 (retail)
    5.9
  • Oppo R5
    5.8
  • Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
    5.8

The Oppo R7 comes with a pair of browsers installed. We tested both and when it comes to JavaScrip, Kraken 1.1 says that neither is impressive, but Chrome is marginally faster than Oppo's browser.

Not so in Browsermark 2.1, where Chrome posted solid scores upwards of 1400, while the proprietary app was nowhere to be found, with numbers around 600. We therefore concluded that Chrome is the only logical choice and posted its results below.

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

  • Lenovo Vibe X2
    4747
  • Samsung Galaxy S5
    5968
  • Xiaomi Mi 4
    6137
  • Huawei Honor 6
    6937
  • HTC One (M8) Lollipop
    7023
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    7041
  • vivo Xshot
    9114
  • Meizu MX4
    9408
  • Oppo R7 (retail)
    11257
  • Xiaomi Mi 4i
    11439
  • Oppo R5
    11656
  • Gionee Elife S5.5
    12201
  • Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
    12266
  • Oppo R1x
    12826
  • ZTE Blade S6
    12865
  • Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
    13609

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

  • Lenovo Vibe X2
    2211
  • Samsung Galaxy S5
    2066
  • Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)
    1655
  • HTC One (M8) Lollipop
    1460
  • Oppo R7 (retail)
    1433
  • Xiaomi Mi 4i
    1396
  • Oppo R5
    1319
  • ZTE Blade S6
    1271
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    1224
  • Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
    1171
  • vivo Xshot
    1075
  • Huawei Honor 6
    745
  • Xiaomi Mi 4
    744
  • Meizu MX4
    720
  • Oppo R1x
    627
  • Gionee Elife S5.5
    432

Altogether, the Oppo R7 is an average performer, given its internals. It is admittedly better optimized than the R1x, with Color OS 2.1 likely responsible. However, the 3GB of RAM fail to show any meaningful advantage in benchmarks, and the R7 is consistently outperformed by 2GB models.

Reader comments

  • Sajju
  • 02 Oct 2015
  • X}M

Hi Guys which 1 is best Opportunity R7 light or Samsung A7?? Please help me

  • Sunil
  • 12 Aug 2015
  • 2@U

Oppo R7 stylish phone however one you connect with Bluetooth hearing sound too low and phone vibration too low like once you keep in your paint pocket you will not feel your phone is vibrating Regards, Sunil +6596480082

  • Anonymous
  • 13 Jul 2015
  • Mfx

that's not irony at all, that's a matter of personal preference