Oppo R9s review: Strumming along

Display

We were pleasantly surprised to find out that the Oppo R9s features an AMOLED display. We've seen many 5.5" 1,080 x 1,920px displays (that works out to 401ppi pixel density), but mostly LCDs. We have a preference for AMOLED over LCD - usually, it means better contrast and sunlight legibility, vivid colors too. The display is guarded by scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass 5.

The screen is reasonably bright, we clocked it at 410 nits. We rarely put the screen to maximum brightness, so that's plenty in practice. The black levels weren't a perfect zero, we detected the faintest glow (0.032), but contrast is still amazing (around 13,000:1). This is faint enough that you won't see the glowing black characteristic of LCD displays (especially ones on a phone in this price range).

The R9s display is slightly more reflective than the best AMOLEDs out there, and as a result, its sunlight legibility isn't as good. It's still comparable to the LG V20 and superior to the HTC 10, which makes it a very good display.

Sunlight contrast ratio

• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
  4.615
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  4.439
• OnePlus 3
  4.424
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  4.376
• HTC One A9
  4.274
• Samsung Galaxy Note7
  4.247
• Samsung Galaxy A3
  4.241
• Google Pixel XL
  4.164
• ZTE Axon 7
  4.154
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  4.124
• Samsung Galaxy Note5
  4.09
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  4.019
• OnePlus X
  3.983
• Vivo Xplay5 Elite
  3.983
• Apple iPhone 7
  3.964
• Oppo R7s
  3.964
• Huawei P9 Plus
  3.956
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
  3.918
• Samsung Galaxy C5
  3.911
• Samsung Galaxy C7
  3.896
• Samsung Galaxy A5
  3.895
• Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
  3.879
• Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
  3.873
• Samsung Galaxy A8
  3.859
• Microsoft Lumia 950XL
  3.837
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
  3.817
• Motorola Moto X (2014)
  3.816
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
  3.802
• LG V20 Max auto
  3.798
• Xiaomi Redmi Pro
  3.798
• Sony Xperia XZ
  3.795
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
  3.789
• Apple iPhone 6s
  3.783
• Meizu Pro 5
  3.781
• Microsoft Lumia 650
  3.772
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  3.756
• Oppo F1 Plus
  3.709
• Vivo X5Pro
  3.706
• Sony Xperia X Compact
  3.694
• Apple iPhone SE
  3.681
• Samsung Galaxy A7
  3.679
• Meizu PRO 6
  3.659
• BlackBerry Priv
  3.645
• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  3.588
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  3.53
• Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
  3.523
• Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
  3.523
• Acer Jade Primo
  3.521
• Microsoft Lumia 950
  3.512
• Oppo R7 Plus
  3.499
• nubia Z11
  3.466
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  3.422
• Meizu MX5
  3.416
• LG V20
  3.402
• Oppo R9s
  3.352
• Oppo R7
  3.32
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  3.276
• Samsung Galaxy J2
  3.235
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  3.234
• Motorola Moto X Play
  3.222
• Huawei P9
  3.195
• Lenovo Vibe Shot
  3.113
• Motorola Moto X Force
  3.105
• LG Nexus 5X
  3.092
• Huawei Mate S
  3.073
• Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
  3.065
• Sony Xperia X
  2.989
• Huawei Mate 8
  2.949
• Xiaomi Redmi 3S
  2.913
• Sony Xperia XA Ultra
  2.906
• LG G5
  2.905
• HTC One S
  2.901
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  2.884
• Sony Xperia Z5
  2.876
• Microsoft Lumia 550
  2.851
• Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
  2.803
• Sony Xperia Z5 compact
  2.784
• Meizu MX6
  2.751
• LG V10
  2.744
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  2.735
• Sony Xperia M5
  2.69
• Huawei P9 Lite
  2.679
• Vivo V3Max
  2.659
• Xiaomi Mi Mix
  2.658
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  2.641
• Sony Xperia XA
  2.609
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
  2.582
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus
  2.582
• Xiaomi Mi 4c
  2.574
• LeEco Le Max 2
  2.567
• Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
  2.563
• Microsoft Lumia 640
  2.563
• Lenovo Moto G4
  2.544
• Oppo F1
  2.528
• Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
  2.525
• Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
  2.506
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  2.503
• Oppo F1s
  2.481
• Motorola Moto G
  2.477
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  2.473
• Huawei G8
  2.471
• Huawei nova
  2.467
• Sony Xperia Z
  2.462
• Lenovo Vibe K5
  2.459
• Huawei Honor 7
  2.406
• Sony Xperia E5
  2.386
• ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
  2.382
• Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
  2.378
• HTC 10
  2.378
• Huawei nova plus
  2.329
• HTC One E9+
  2.305
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  2.272
• Apple iPhone 4S
  2.269
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  2.254
• Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
  2.253
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
  2.249
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  2.235
• Xiaomi Mi Note
  2.234
• Motorola Moto G (2014)
  2.233
• LG Nexus 5
  2.228
• Huawei P8
  2.196
• Huawei Honor 6
  2.169
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  2.166
• OnePlus Two
  2.165
• HTC One X
  2.158
• LG Aka
  2.145
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
  2.145
• Archos 50 Diamond
  2.134
• Xiaomi Redmi Note
  2.119
• Acer Liquid X2
  2.084
• Huawei P8lite
  2.078
• Moto G 3rd gen max manual
  2.026
• Xiaomi Mi Max
  1.996
• Sony Xperia E4g
  1.972
• OnePlus One
  1.961
• Meizu m3 note
  1.923
• BlackBerry Leap
  1.892
• Meizu m2 note
  1.892
• ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
  1.759
• Sony Xperia U
  1.758
• Asus Zenfone Selfie
  1.68
• Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
  1.675
• ZTE Nubia Z9
  1.659
• Jolla Jolla
  1.605
• Motorola Moto E
  1.545
• Sony Xperia M
  1.473
• Xiaomi Redmi 2
  1.311
• HTC Desire C
  1.3
• Sony Xperia C
  1.283
• Meizu MX
  1.221
• Sony Xperia E
  1.215

We noticed a slight contrast shift as we viewed the Oppo at different angles. Colors are barely affected, and the effect is barely noticeable.

Color accuracy is not perfect. Oppo provides no adjustable color modes for the screen and the default setup produced an average deltaE of 6.4 and a maximum of 10.2. We checked for an sRGB option in the Developer options but we didn't find one. We value sRGB because most photos on the Internet are intended for that color gamut. However, we have a noted interest in photography, the moment you slap on an image filter on your photo you can stop worrying about color gamuts.

These readings are not perfect, but are comparable to the ZTE Axon 7 (5.5" AMOLED, QHD), Xiaomi Redmi Pro (5.5" AMOLED, 1080p), Samsung Galaxy C7 (5.7" AMOLED, 1080p) and others.

Connectivity

The Oppo R9s is a dual-SIM phone that uses a Qualcomm chipset, which means excellent support for the variety of mobile wireless connectivity. This includes the several LTE flavors, GSM and CDMA. VoLTE is supported as well for improved audio quality.

Local connectivity is also well covered with Wi-Fi ac and Bluetooth 4.1 support, but note that there's no NFC.

The microUSB 2.0 port on the phone offers On-The-Go functionality for connecting accessories, something often overlooked these days.

Battery life

The Oppo R9s is powered by a 3,010mAh battery (Li-Po) sealed inside its metal body. The phone supports the fast VOOC charging standard and is bundled with the right charger for it - 5V @ 4A = 20W. In our tests, it reached 64% charge (from 0%) in half an hour.

ColorOS 3.0 features a few power saving techniques that are enabled by default, so you may notice the phone often takes up the initiative of killing background apps for you. If that causes issues, you can exempt specific apps from this behavior. We found it too aggressive to our taste and had to disable it for a few apps (a minor note: we wish we had a way to do this from the app switcher, instead of having to go into the settings).

Update: We completed the battery tests and found the endurance is as good as expected - the 3,010mAh battery is stretched to 74 hours, matching the Asus Zenfone 3 and Huawei nova plus (its direct competitors). The talk time is over 25 hours, an excellent result. The web browser lasted 10 hours, matching the Zenfone 3 ZE552KL and beating the likes of the Pixel XL and Huawei P9 Plus (two phones with 5.5" AMOLED screens, QHD and 1080p respectively).

The video playback score is even more impressive - we got close to 16 hours of continuous video, which is a fantastic result. Very few phones top the R9s in this department - you could marathon a whole season of your favorite 45-minute TV show!