Is the Oppo F5 worth the Rs.45000 price tag?

The Oppo F5 was launched in Nepal over a month ago and has been doing really well in the market. The Oppo F5 is the flagship phone for Nepal and there's a lot of hype around the phone. Thanks to clever marketing, people took notice of the phone and many have made a purchase based on the hype. But is the Oppo F5 really a good phone? And more importantly, is it worth the Rs.45000 price tag? Let's find out!

The design and the display of the Oppo F5 are the USPs of the phone. The Oppo F5 is one of the few phones with close to bezel-less design at this price point. The phone has a resolution of 1080 x 2160 pixels and it's good. The newer aspect ratio also makes the phone look quite different from others phones. The phone has got a lot of features that are noteworthy. Here are a few:

• 6-inch 1080 x 2160p 18:9 Display
• Corning Gorilla Glass 5
• MediaTek Helio P23 SoC
• 4GB/6GB RAM
• 16MP f/1.8 Rear Camera
• 20MP f/2.0 Front Camera
• 1080p@30fps Video Capture
• 32GB/64GB Internal Storage
• 3200mAh Battery
• Old standard Micro-USB port

First things first, the use of MediaTek Helio P23 is downright disappointing. No, I am not complaining about the use of MediaTek processor, but rather use of mid-range SoC from the company. The SoC is fine for basic tasks like using Facebook, YouTube and Whatsapp but struggles while using CPU intensive apps. But the larger problem is the heavy thermal throttling that slows down the phone significantly. I would love to see a better SoC in the next iteration of the phone.

Apart from the poor selection of SoC, there's very little to complain about the phone. The build quality of the phone is excellent and so is the display of the phone. Sure, the display resolution isn't 1440p or anything, but it's all most user will ever need. If you don't intend to use the Oppo F5 for VR, you won't complain about the display. However, use of AMOLED display on the phone would have been cherry on top.

The16MP f/1.8 rear camera is another highlight of the Oppo F5. And no, there’s no dual camera setup that you would expect out of a phone launched in 2017. But we have seen some single lens system that easily beats out the best dual-lens camera system. So, there are no complaints here.

The camera at the rear of the phone takes really high-quality photos and I have no complaint on that front. The photos come out good even in a low-lit environment which was a bit of a surprise!

The front camera, just as you would expect, is solid! The sensor on the camera is also quite large a 1/2.8". The company also claims that the phone uses AI to beautify the photos. But from what I see, it doesn't look that much different from regular "Beauty mode" that we see on other phones.

The software experience on the Oppo F5 isn't all that great. If anything, it is a direct copy of iOS. Also, forget getting software updates on the phone. Oppo is one of the few manufacturers whose software update schedule is horrible and definitely something the company needs to pay attention to.

The battery life of the Oppo F5 is good. The phone easily gets through the day and the phone charges pretty fast as well. Even for the heaviest of users, the battery endurance of the phone won't disappoint. It's on par with the battery performance of most of the flagship phones.

Oppo F5 Worth the Price Tag?

Well, I don't think that the Oppo F5 is worth the money. You can get better phones at this price point. If you are looking for a phone at around Rs.40,000, I would highly suggest you to check out the OnePlus 3T. Also, you can get the Samsung Galaxy S7 for around Rs.47,000. Make sure to look at the alternatives before you buy the Oppo F5.