The battle to attract selfie enthusiasts is heating up as smartphone manufacturers look for new ways to stay ahead of competition. The latest selfie-centric smartphone to be launched in Kenya is the OPPO F3. You may have seen this phone being advertised through different channels and now we have an unboxing for you. This post will point out my first impressions of the phone and is not meant to be a full review.
The OPPO F3 is available in Kenya for Ksh 32,999 and its main selling point is the dual front facing camera. With this combination, taking group selfies is much easier that it was before and this is one of the reasons why the company is referring to this phone as the ‘selfie expert’.
OPPO F3: What’s in the box?
So, the question is, what will you be getting in the box when you buy the OPPO F3? You will be getting everything you expect from a smartphone retailing above Ksh 30,000. Below is what’s included in the box.
The Phone (OPPO F3)
A Pair of earphones
USB cable
Charging Adapter
Silicone back Cover
SIM ejector tool
First Impressions
Now that we are done with what is in the box, let us look at the star of the show, the OPPO F3. If you have used any OPPO smartphone released within the last one year, this design will be very familiar. The phone does not feel cheap in any way, this is the sort of thing you expect on smartphone that retails above Ksh 30,000.
You get the usual ports and buttons on this phone with the power button being on the right and the volume keys on the left. The power button is conveniently placed for easy access when the phone is sitting on your palm. The volume keys being on the left is a bit different from most Android smartphones but that is not a big deal as they are still easy to reach. Even with that said, you may have to stretch a bit if you want to reach them when using the phone with one hand. The SIM card and Micro SD card slots are on the right just above the power button.
The Micro USB port for charging and data transfers is at the bottom together with the headphone jack and the speaker grille. OPPO has decided to keep the headphone jack and go with the normal Micro USB ports on the F3 and this is a good thing. Within the last 12 months, we have seen manufacturers ditch the normal 3.5mm headphone jack and replace it with USB Type C but OPPO isn’t doing that with the F3, those two are still sticking around for now.
At the back sits the 13MP camera that is at the very top leaving a clean and smooth back. The back cover cannot be removed and this means there is no way to access the battery unless you open the entire thing. This is not the first smartphone with a non-removable back cover so this is not a big deal and we are sort of used to these smartphones.
At the front sits the 5.5-inch display with a Full HD resolution of 1080 X 1920 pixels. The phone comes with a screen protector pre-fitted and this is a nice gesture from OPPO because fitting the screen protector by yourself is never an easy task (I just never fit those perfectly no matter how hard I try). Below the display is the home button with a fingerprint sensor embedded underneath it. I have never been a fan of fingerprint sensors on the home button below the display as I find it unnatural to have them there. I prefer when it is at the back as that is the perfect place when you have the phone on your hand.
Above the display are the two front facing cameras, the earpiece and a bunch of sensors. The two front facing cameras work independently with one being a normal selfie camera and the other one having a wide-angle lens that makes it perfect for taking group selfies as it allows you to include more of the scene and people in your selfies.
For the short time I have interacted with this phone, I would have to say that the front facing cameras do not disappoint. I got the same experience I had with the OPPO F1S which I reviewed late last year, you can read ore about that by clicking here.
Software Experience
The design aside, the OPPO F3 comes with ColorOS version 3.0.0i which is the company’s own Custom UI based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The UI is heavily forked and feels like iOS and not Android. Whether you will like it or not depends on your personal taste. I am not a huge fan of such UIs and I feel that they lack originality and even though iOS is a great mobile OS, I think Android smartphones should look and feel like Android and not iOS. If I really want the iOS feel on my hands I will go get an iPhone.
And there you have it, the OPPO F3, the latest selfie-centric smartphone to be launched in Kenya. The phone is available countrywide for Ksh 33,000. Will you be getting it?