OPPO hasn’t had the easiest of times taking on giants such as Apple and Samsung, but the sure have come far… and bigger as the R9s Plus proves.
It isn’t easy to break into a league that already has established brands – just look at the La Liga. But with a strong enough product and communications strategy, it can happen. Oppo haven’t been shy with their marketing – especially as one of the main sponsors of Barcelona FC, they’ve shown a statement of intent that they’re going to take it to the big boys. To their credit though, they do have products that perform – the Oppo R9s Plus being one of them.
For a while now, Oppo’s strategy has been to deliver something familiar and take on something lacking thereby keeping new customers comfortable switching from a competitor to delivering on a feature that particular brand tends to be lacking in. Being an iPhone user, you’ll find that the Oppo interface is one that you’ll be instantly familiar with. There’s no real need to re-learn where all the settings are and how to set the phone up – an issue that I tend to have with most other models.
However, one of the areas that Oppo shines is when Apple tends to falter – camera performance. The R9s Plus, focuses on the camera aspects of the ‘camera-phone’, with a 16-megapixel camera (both front and rear) and retains the same hardware that made the R9s a solid shooter with an exclusive 1/2.8-inch IMX398 sensor jointly-developed with Sony, as well as its Dual PDAF (Phase Detection Autofocus) technology and an extra-wide f/1.7 aperture on its rear camera. Turn on ‘Beauty mode’ for that smooth look or fiddle around with expert mode to get the shot just the way you like it.
Have shaky hands? The R9s Plus has got you covered. The phablet receives a software upgrade with OIS+ (Optical Image Stabilization Plus) which kicks in when it detects unwanted vibrations and moves pieces of the optical system to compensate. This in turn, produces some very good quality shots… even if your hands do shake. The R9s Plus also features a dual-tone LED flash to help adjust the warmth of the picture and improve the white balance for a more accurate flesh tone.
Heavier than it’s predecessors though, OPPO R9s Plus sports a Qualcomm octa-core processor, upgraded 6GB RAM and 64GB of onboard storage, which can be expanded by an additional 256 GB, and powered by the Snapdragon 653, it handles the latest mobile games quite well. The main cause of the weight gain though is the 4,000mAh battery that keeps it going all day with one charge. Charging is a breeze though as well with the VOOC Flash Charge technology, which gives you more than a 70% charge in about 30 mins.
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The final icing on the cake is the availability of the R9s in Black. Even if I could wrap up a phone in a casing, ‘Gold’ and ‘Rose Gold’ will never be colours that I’d ever consider purchasing. It’s just not me. Black though, now I’m interested.
The Oppo R9s is a phablet that delivers a strong enough case to make the switch. It’s got a great camera, performs well enough with the latest games and won’t give up on you when you need it the most. When it does, it gets back up pretty quick.
The OPPO R9s Plus is available from retailers in Gold and Black for SGD 779.