Oppo F19 Review – The stellar looks & a lovely display!

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The pandemic has increased our dependency on the online world. With businesses and schools moving to an online model, the demand for smartphones, tablets, and laptops has increased quite a few folds.

This has forced the brands to offer cutting-edge products at a varied price point. One of the fastest-growing smartphone brands globally, Oppo, also brought new products and updated the existing line-ups. We recently reviewed their mid-tier product the Reno 5 Pro quite recently and now have the F19 for review.

The F19 offers a lot of specs that the consumers are particularly looking out for currently while offering a decent camera experience. Something for which the brand is known for. The phone is being offered in the market for INR 18,990. We have been using the phone for close to two weeks and here’s our full review.

OPPO F19 Specifications

Before starting with the OPPO F19 review, let’s have a look at the phone’s specifications.

  • Display: 6.43-inch FHD+ resolution, AMOLED display
  • CPU: Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 Processor
  • GPU: Adreno 610
  • RAM: 6GB
  • Storage: 128GB internal storage, expandable up to 256GB
  • Software: Android 11 (ColorOS 11.1)
  • Main Camera: 48MP (f/1.7) (PDAF) + 2MP depth sensor + 2MP macro
  • Selfie Camera: 16MP (f/2.4)
  • Connectivity: USB Type C, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth v5.1, GPS/ A-GPS, 3.5mm headphone jack, FM Radio
  • Cellular: Dual SIM
  • Fingerprint Scanner: Yes, in-display
  • Battery: 5,000mAh, Li-ion Polymer, 33W SuperVOOC 2.0 fast charging

Box Contents

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Here’s a complete list of items you get inside the box:

  • OPPO F19 smartphone
  • 33W SuperVOOC fast Charger
  • USB Type-C Cable
  • Earphones
  • Sim Ejector Tool
  • Documentation

Design & Display of OPPO F19

With the F19, Oppo has tried to counter the competition and has listened to the consumers in this price segment. The phone has a glossy mirror finish on the back and an overall design that we’ve been seeing on a lot more products in the under INR 20,000 price bracket.

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The phone has a quality build that is sturdy and yet eye-catching. The model is being offered in two color choices with the back being reflective on both. Starting from the back, we get to see a large rectangular camera module moved to a corner that houses three sensors and the flash module. Moving to the button and port placement, the power button is on the right side while the volume rockers are placed on the left along with the SIM tray. The 3.5mm audio jack, speaker, and USB Type-C port sit on the bottom.

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On flipping the phone, we get a closer look at the fairly sized AMOLED display. This is a 6.43-inch Full HD+ panel with a peak brightness of 800 nits. F19 also happens to join the ranks of budget phones now sporting AMOLED panels, albeit this is a standard 60Hz rated one. As with the case with AMOLED screens, we get punchy colors, with deep blacks.

Though the standard brightness for the panel is a bit low, this is to be expected in this price bracket. Out of the box, the colors seem to be a bit more saturated but this can be corrected by changing the colors via display settings. While there is no mention of HDR here, we did happen to play some HDR content here and it was certainly pleasant. We get all the basic stuff here like a dark mode, AOD, and more.

Overall, the display gets plenty bright, has good colors, and is ideal for content consumption.

Software & Performance

Moving to the software, the phone gets the latest version of ColorOS which is now more polished than the previous versions. The F19 runs Android 11 out of the box with ColorOS 11.1 on top. With this new ColorOS build, the UI experience is a bit more fluid and maturated. Gone are the times when the UI looked cartoonish and clunky.

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For stock Android users this could be a bit too much but users who have already had run-ins with FunTouchOS, MIUI, or RealmeOS wouldn’t have a problem adjusting here. With ColorOS you get a flair of customization options, from changing the themes to wallpapers, icons, and more. The UI has some nifty additions some of which have been mentioned in the above section like the Dark mode, Always on Display.

Then there is the Game mode, and the OPPO Relax that as the name suggests helps you to relax and focus by engaging the user in meditation and other peace-inducing exercises. Overall, the software experience on this particular model has been good, with minimal lags or bugs.

The Performance part could be an area of concern here. The Oppo F19 is powered by the Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 SoC. Now, this is an updated version of the Snapdragon 660 and has been one of the best-selling chips in Qualcomm’s stable. The 600 series is known for its balanced performance while giving users a taste of what they would expect from a mid-tier product running on the 700 series chip.

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The performance for the most part has been decent with the phone chugging through the day-to-day use. While Oppo did use a slightly inferior chipset here when factoring in the smartphone price. They went ahead with the storage and RAM option. The phone in the Indian market is being offered in just one flavor, with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. With the RAM being ample, the RAM management and app switching are a breeze.

Though with the Snapdragon 662 the app opening times a bit high, and so is the processing sometimes. The phone is nowhere near to other gaming-focused phones in the under 20k segment, but we did try a bit of gaming. Games like Call of Duty: Mobile ran well on medium graphics with some serious heating and frame drops when switched to high graphics mode.

What we would like to mention here is that the phone gets an in-display fingerprint sensor which is okayish for the most part. Apart from this, the call quality and reception are excellent and so is the audio output via the audio jack. Downward firing speakers are not the loudest in this category but get the job done.

Camera & Battery

The OPPO F19 comes with a triple rear camera module with the main camera being a 48-megapixel sensor with f/1.7 aperture which is assisted with a 2-megapixel unit for macro shots and another 2-megapixel unit for Bokeh. At the front, there is a 16-megapixel shooter for handling selfies.

The competition here is giving a quad-camera setup but we don’t really understand Oppo’s decision of dropping a wide-angle lens here. That being said, Oppo has been known for their camera performance and we get some of it here. The processing algo is on point and so is the overall camera app experience. We get all the basic shooting modes neatly laid out which are more than enough here.

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The images taken by the main sensor are sharp, have lots of detail, and bear natural colors. The dynamic range is accurate for the most part.  However, the low-light performance is just average as the phone clicks only usable pictures with soft details and inaccurate colors. The built-in AI here kicks in assisting some decent shots though.

Apart from the main lens, the other two 2-megapixel sensors are useless for the most part. They do assist the main sensor here and here but most of the heavy lifting is done by it. The front 16-megapixel sensor takes above-average looking selfies with natural skin tones preserved. There is some hint of beautification going on in the background and sadly it cannot be disabled.

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Coming to the battery, the OPPO F19 packs a 5,000mAh unit which is adequate for a full day’s usage. During our tests which including a bit of gaming, calling, web browsing, and streaming, the phone lasted us close to a day and a half. Your mileage might be a bit different as per your use case but the phone can very easily last a full day without any issues. The OPPO F19 supports 33W fast charging and it takes around an hour to fully charge from zero to 100 percent.

Pros

  • Attractive design
  • AMOLED panel
  • 33W Fast Charging
  • Good set of cameras

Cons

  • Underpowered processor, given the price.

Verdict – Should you buy it?

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The Oppo F19 does have some things working in its favor. For starts, the design is eye-catching, there is a decent AMOLED panel with an in-display fingerprint sensor and the support for 33W fast charging.

Where the phone lacks are in the performance department, due to an underpowered chip. The camera performance also for the most part is average and a missing ultra-wide-lens here is a sore thumb.

That said, the sub-Rs 20,000 is extremely competitive right now, with the Redmi Note 10 series dominating the market. But the F19 can carve some userbase among the Oppo fans and the offline customers.

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