OPPO R7, a decade-old masterpiece with a full metal body, is now available for review

If you know that Xiaomi, a leader in the technology field, has only been established for 5 years, then if a domestic brand has a 10-year development history, it must be considered a remarkable thing.

In May 2015, OPPO ushered in the tenth anniversary of its brand development. At this critical juncture, OPPO R7 was officially launched as the "Ten Years of Eslite" product.

Unboxing: In addition to the earphones, there is also a protective case

Compared with the gorgeous packaging of OPPO N3 and R5 launched last year, which is similar to Apple's Time Capsule router, the paper box packaging of OPPO R7 this time is much smaller. The iconic green color has become the main color of the outer packaging design. The delicate texture on the surface of the packaging enhances the overall grade of the product in terms of details.

Inside the packaging, OPPO R7 is wrapped with a translucent film. Unlike the previous R5, OPPO R7 does not have a protective film applied to the screen in advance. It seems that facing the 2.5D screen, mobile phone manufacturers themselves are also reluctant to apply the film.

The packaging of OPPO R7 includes the main unit, VOOC flash charger, data cable, earphones, card ejector pin and paper instruction materials. Like last year's R5, OPPO R7 also comes with a protective case as standard. The reason for this may be because the machine is too thin.

Appearance: Full metal body with many plus points

The front design of OPPO R7 is quite ordinary. The conventional layout of the earpiece, sensors and buttons, plus the lack of the so-called "borderless" design, make the front of the machine not very recognizable. Of course, the first use of the 2.5D screen on an OPPO product has effectively improved the touch feeling when interacting with fingers.

OPPO's R series products have always been known for their "thinness", and the R7 is no exception. Although the thickness of 6.3mm is not as extreme as the previous R5 of 4.85mm, this result easily surpasses the iPhone 6.

OPPO R7 supports dual SIM cards, and the nano SIM card slot also supports replacement of MicroSD cards up to 128GB to expand storage capacity.

The all-metal body, which is the biggest selling point, is fully displayed on the back of the OPPO R7. Taking the gold version we experienced this time as an example, the whole machine is solidly made and compact. The treatment of the metal surface of OPPO R7 is very similar to that of the iPhone, with an extremely delicate matte touch, and the actual look and feel of the color is also quite close to the "rich gold" of the iPhone.

At the new product launch conference, OPPO claimed that the design of the slightly curved corners on the back of the R7 was inspired by a violin. The biggest advantage in actual use is that the metal body will not cut your hands when you hold it.

The camera seems to always be an insurmountable obstacle for ultra-thin bodies. Like the R5, the camera of the OPPO R7 also protrudes on the back of the body. Fortunately, if a matching protective case is used, the difference in thickness can be offset.

The 5-inch OPPO R7 is not difficult to operate with one hand. The AMOLED 1080P resolution screen has a display fineness of 441PPI, which is outstanding, especially in terms of viewing angle. The AMOLED screen generally displays a green tint at special angles, which has been well alleviated on the OPPO R7, which is quite surprising.

System hardware: still OPPO style

OPPO has never been a fan of hardware "fever". In an era when the fierce competition between Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 and MediaTek Helio X10 is in full swing, OPPO R7 only chose to be equipped with MediaTek MTK6752 octa-core processor.

It is not the most powerful processor, but the 41000+ running score still shows that performance will not become the bottleneck of OPPO R7. The actual running of large games such as "Real Racing 3" is also satisfactory.

For current Android phones, the overall processing performance is in excess, and a larger running memory (RAM) is obviously more practical than a faster processor. OPPO R7 uses 3GB RAM to make the system's multi-tasking ability have better performance. When more than 15 applications are opened at the same time, the free RAM is still maintained at around 1.5GB, which minimizes the probability of background program suicide.

At the system level, OPPO's own ColorOS ushered in version 2.1, and the new OPPO R7 became the first product equipped with the new system.

ColorOS 2.1 focuses on improving the smoothness of the system. The overall operating logic is not much different from the previous ColorOS 2.0. In addition to running more smoothly and responsively, the icons on the interface have also been redrawn. It no longer adheres to the completely skeuomorphic style. More flat elements combined with shadow effects have found a balance between flatness and skeuomorphism.

In terms of some functions, ColorOS 2.1 has also made improvements in details. For example, the music interface on the left side of the main screen uses mood classification as a reference for selecting songs.

Of course, the most regrettable thing is that this time ColorOS 2.1 is still developed based on Android 4.4.4. Many users complain that the system updates of OPPO phones are not powerful. This year's Android phones have all entered the 5.0 era, and OPPO's actions are still a bit slow.

In terms of battery life, the OPPO R7 has a built-in 2320mAh battery. This battery capacity is not outstanding for a phone with a 5-inch screen. Fortunately, OPPO's exclusive VOOC flash charging can allow the phone to be fully charged as quickly as possible when the battery is low.

In actual testing, with 4% of battery remaining, VOOC flash charging only took about 40 minutes to charge the phone to 90%. The smaller battery capacity makes OPPO R7's performance faster than last year's N3. "Rain God" Xiao Jingteng's claim of "5 minutes of charging can provide 2 hours of talk time" is well-deserved.

In addition to its fast charging speed, the global flash shooting system used for the first time also makes the OPPO R7's snapshot capability more powerful. According to OPPO's official introduction, this new system can make the camera's startup speed reach the industry's best 0.64 seconds. Combined with the same phase focus as the iPhone 6, the OPPO R7's focus speed can reach 0.1 seconds, the fastest in the world.

If you want to experience the OPPO R7's super-fast snapshot, there is no problem when the screen is on. However, if the screen is off, the lack of an independent camera button will reduce the efficiency of the camera startup. After all, it takes a certain amount of time to light up the screen, unlock it, and touch the camera icon.

OPPO R7 uses an 8-megapixel front-facing + 13-megapixel rear-facing camera combination, and supports ultra-clear picture quality through multiple-shot synthesis. The details of the actual photo samples are satisfactory.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that the camera interface of OPPO R7 is better than that of previous OPPO phones. The function of adjusting the brightness of the picture by sliding on the iPhone has been added. To be fair, for ordinary users, direct dimming is much easier to use than the separation of focus point and metering point emphasized by many camera phones. The camera interface is also more thoroughly optimized for horizontal screen operation, and the phenomenon of "horizontal screen phone, vertical text" will basically not occur.

Summary: Is the OPPO R7 worth buying at 2,499 yuan?

The official price of OPPO R7 is 2,499 yuan. If "running a score if you don't agree" is used as a benchmark to measure products, then OPPO R7 will definitely not be as good as some of its lower-priced competitors. Without a rotating lens and an extremely thin body, OPPO R7 does not have such a distinctive personality as previous OPPO products.

However, on the whole, the reason why OPPO used R7 to commemorate the brand's tenth anniversary is perhaps because all aspects of the product are tending to be balanced. The fusion of the all-metal one-piece body and curved glass once again demonstrates the technical strength of the craftsmanship. The ColorOS system is also gradually evolving and constantly developing in the direction of being easy to use and practical. These are the best manifestations of a product's sincerity.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.