Oppo's new offering in the sub-Rs 10, 000 price segment. The phone is focused towards users who give more importance to style over hardware specifications. Oppo says that the design of the phone is inspired by Chinese bronze mirrors and a special laminating process
The glass finish on the rear combined with the metal frame in gold around the phone gives the phone a stylish look. However, the glass finish is also prone to fingerprints and smudges. On the right side is the power button while the left side houses the volume buttons. Under the rear panel you get a microSIM slot, nano SIM slot and a microSD slot along with the battery which is non removable. We found the phone's overall construction to be sturdy and it is easy to carry around in a pocket.
It has a 5-inch IPS display which has good viewing angles and rich colours. However, the resolution is a paltry 960 x 540 pixels — this is a letdown considering that many phones in the same price nome come with full HD screens. On close inspection, you can see individual pixels on the screen. In addition, the screen tends to capture fingerprints very quickly and needs to be cleaned every couple of hours. Under the screen are the touch sensitive buttons for back, home and menu which work well but are not backlit.
As mentioned earlier, you won't get the best hardware. It has a 1.2Ghz quad core Snapdragon 410 processor that offers 4G support, 1GB RAM, 16GB storage and a 2, 420mAh battery. You can get similar specs on phones in the Rs 6000-7000 price range now. As expected, the phone works fine for most day to day tasks such as calling, web browsing and multimedia usage. In gaming, the phone manages to run the basic games like Subway Surfers and Angry Birds without any hitch. Even the new Asphalt Nitro ran on the phone but loading times are slow and you should expect some random frame drops while gaming.
The Color OS based on Android 5.1 impressed us on the Oppo Mirror 5 — and it didn't disappoint here either. The interface is zippy and comes with various features. You can customise the notification center, enable do not disturb mode, manage running applications, configure gestures and there's a dedicated security center for memory/data/app management.
Camera performance is a mixed bag. The primary camera manages to capture good images outdoors, but indoors and in low light there is visible noise on the images. Front camera is much better — it captures selfies with low noise that are good enough for sharing on social networks. The camera app is quite feature-rich: you get multiple shoot modes ( night, beautify, panorama, HDR, GIF, slow shutter) as well as various filters.
One factor that impressed us was the Neo 7 battery life. Even with a 2, 420mAh battery, the phone manages to regularly last over a day. This is with two email accounts, social networking apps and a mix of music, videos and camera. Audio quality is top-notch with the loudspeaker good enough for using as a bedside music player.
