Oppo Neo 7 Review – Stylish and Sturdy
What I like
- The Oppo Ne0 7 has got excellent build quality and it feels premium for an entry-level mobile.
What I didn’t like
- It has just 1 GB of RAM and it is priced high for its specs.
Oppo is known for its quality mobile products. Oppo has a wide range of mobile in the market. Unlike many other mobile manufactures, Oppo is concentrating on brick and mortar sales model and Oppo mobiles are available online as well. The Oppo Neo 7 is a mobile that is placed between entry and mid-level segment of the market. It has a great build quality and a stable operating system.
Design
The 10k mobile segment is a fierce segment because of the huge demand and heavy competition to benefit out of this demand. Many mobiles in this segment don’t bother about design. They just put in the optimal hardware inside a plastic shell and start selling it. But Oppo Neo 7 is different. The Neo 7 has metal rim all around the body. The back of the mobile looks like glass, but it is polished glossy plastic. The glossy finish and the metal rims give the mobile a premium look and enhances the style factor. The glossy back is a finger print magnet though. It is removable, but the battery is not user replaceable. The Neo 7 has a dedicated microSD card slot apart from the dual SIM slots. One slot takes in micro SIM while the second slot takes in a nano SIM. The power / screen lock button is on the left, while the right has the volume keys. The bottom has the micro USB slot with a mic and the 3.5 mm audio jack is at the top. The android menu keys are not backlit but the device has a notification LED.
During my review period, I did drop the mobile accidentally and it landed on its metal RIM. The mobile took the beating with no signs or scars from the accident. I must say that the Neo 7 is not just a stylish device, it’s a sturdy one as well. Overall, the design of the Neo 7 is really impressive.
Display
The Neo 7 has a 5 inch display which can support 540 x 960 pixels resolution and that results in just 220 ppi of pixel density. In the age of full HD mobile, a qHD display is definitely out dated. But still the text on the display is sharp and crispy. The ambient light sensor is a bit slow to react and adjust the display brightness automatically. Otherwise the display is bright and colorful. The colors are natural and the brightness levels are just right. I know it’s a sub-10k mobile, but this is not something I would expect from Oppo who are one of the pioneers in display technology. A HD display would have made the Neo 7 stand tall.
Hardware and Performance
Here are the specs of the Oppo Neo 7.
Oppo Neo 7
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CPU:
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RAM:
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Storage:
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Display:
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Camera:
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OS:
Specs
General
| Status | Available |
Display
| Display Type <strong>Display Technology => </strong> A number of display technologies and types used in mobile phones => TFT (Thin Film Transistor), IPS (In-Place Switching), OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode), AMOLED (Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode), Super AMOLED (an even advanced version of AMOLED), Resistive Touchscreen (Resistive touchscreens contain two layer of conductive material with a very small gap between them which acts as a resistance), Capacitive Touchsceen (Capacitive touchscreen technology consists of a layer of glass coated with a transparent conductor) | TFT |
| Size | 5 inch |
| Resolution | 960 by 540 pixels |
| Display Protection <strong>Display Protection => </strong> Gorilla Glass is a special alkali-aluminosilicate glass shield with exceptional damage resistance that helps protect mobile displays from scratches, drops, and bumps of everyday use, It is always better to go for a smartphone with Gorilla Glass for that added protection and peace of mind. | No |
| Secondary Display | No |
Hardware
| CPU <strong>CPU</strong> (Central Processing Unit) mostly known as processors, CPU processes instructions in order to carry out certain functions that make your device operate properly. Processors are often described as the brain of computers, smartphones and tablets, Smartphones and tablets rely on processors to carry out their every task, Processors are an incredibly important factor in selecting any type of computing device, including your smartphone. | Qualcomm MSM8916 Quad-core 1.2GHz for 4G Version |
| GPU <strong>GPU</strong> (Graphics Processing Unit) is a single-chip processor designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display, This includes things such as lighting effects, object transformations, and 3D motion. | Adreno 306 |
| RAM (Memory) <strong>RAM</strong> (Random Access Memory) is a type of computer memory that can be accessed randomly, any byte of memory can be accessed without touching the preceding bytes that allows information to be stored and accessed quickly from random locations. RAM is the most common type of memory found in computer systems, smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices. | 1 GB |
| Internal Storage <strong>Internal Storage</strong> is a data storage space (flash memory) mostly used in smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices where operating system, apps, music, photos, videos, files and other user data Is stored. | 16 GB |
| Card Slot <strong>Memory Card Slot</strong> is a special slot for inserting a memory card. Memory cards allow you to expand the phone's built-in memory, A memory card (sometimes called a flash memory card or a storage card) is a small storage medium used to store data such as text, pictures, audio, and video, for use on small, portable or remote computing devices such as mobile phones, mp3 players, digital cameras. | Yes |
| Sensors <strong>Sensors</strong> are electronic components that detects and responds to some type of input from the physical environment. The specific input could be light, heat, motion, moisture, pressure and location, The output is generally a signal that is converted to use in computing systems, a location sensor, such as a GPS receiver is able to detect current location of your electronic device. |
Distance sensor Light sensor G-sensor E-compass |
Battery
| Battery Type <strong>Battery Type => </strong> Cell phones run on various kinds of batteries depending on the manufacturer, phone size or shape and features. There are basically four types of cell phone batteries => Lithium Polymer, Lithium Ion, Nickel Metal Hydride and Nickel Cadmium. | Li-Poly (Lithium Polymer) |
| Capacity <strong>Battery Capacity</strong> is a measure (typically in Amp-hr) of the charge stored by the battery, and is determined by the mass of active material contained in the battery. The battery capacity represents the maximum amount of energy that can be extracted from the battery under certain conditions. | 2420 mAh |
| Fast Charging | No |
Camera
| Primary <strong>Camera</strong> is able to capture photographs and usually videos, The most important characteristics of a camera are the resolution (measured in megapixels), lens focus type (fixed or automatic), higher megapixel cameras are known to capture higher quality photos, but not always a good measurement of the photos quality. | 8-megapixel |
| Secondary | 5-megapixel |
| Video | 720p/ 1080p |
| Flash <strong>Flash Light => </strong> There is commonly two types of flash lights are used in camera mobile phones, LED Flash (LED flash offers lower power consumption with drive circuitry that takes up very little room, LEDs can be strobed faster than any other light source), Xenon Flash (xenon flash produces an extremely intense full-spectrum white light for a very short duration) | Yes |
Design
| Type <strong>Design Type</strong> called form factor refers to a mobile phone's size, shape, and style as well as the layout and position of major components of phone. There are three major form factors seen in mobile phones => bar phones, folding phones and sliding phones. | Bar |
| Dimensions | 142.7 mm x 71.7 mm x 7.55 mm |
| Weight | 141 g |
| Colors | Ceramic white and Deep black. |
Network
| SIM <strong>SIM</strong> (Subscriber Identity Module) is a small card that contains mobile network subscriber's account information. This allows the phone using the card to attach to a mobile network. The SIM card is most commonly associated with GSM and UMTS mobile networks. Moving a SIM card from one phone to another allows a subscriber to switch mobile phones without having to contact their mobile network carrier. SIM cards can also be used by a phone to store limited amounts of data, such as phone numbers and text messages. | Standard SIM |
| Dual SIM | Yes |
| 2G Network | GSM:850/900/1800/1900 MHz |
| 3G Network | WCDMA:2100 MHz |
| 4G Network | FDD-LTE:B3/TD-40 |
Software
| Operating System <strong>OS => </strong> Every computer system run on a base software called Operating System (OS). Operating System controls all basic operations of the computer (such as smartphone, PDAs, tablet computers and other handheld devices). The Operating System allows the user to install and run third party applications (apps), apps are used to add new functionality to the device. | Android 5.1 |
| User Interface <strong>UI</strong> or user interface of a device is the look and feel of the on-screen menu system. How it works, its color scheme, how it responds to button presses, all of these things are part of the user interface. | Color OS 2.1 |
Connectivity
| Bluetooth <strong>Bluetooth</strong> is a wireless communications technology for exchanging data between mobile phones, headsets, computers and other network devices over short distances without wires, Bluetooth technology was primarily designed to support simple wireless networking of personal consumer devices. | Yes |
| Infrared <strong>Infrared</strong> connectivity is an old wireless technology used to connect two electronic devices. It uses a beam of infrared light to transmit information and so requires direct line of sight and operates only at close range. | |
| Wi-fi <strong>Wi-Fi</strong> is a popular wireless networking technology using radio waves to provide high-speed network connections that allows devices to communicate without cords or cables, Wi-Fi is increasingly becoming the preferred mode of internet connectivity all over the world. | Yes |
| NFC <strong>NFC</strong> (Near field communication) is a set of standards for smartphones and similar devices to establish peer-to-peer radio communications with each other by touching them together or bringing them into proximity, usually no more than a few inches. |
Benchmarks
| Antutu | 28457 |
| Basemark X | 4081 |
| Geekbench 3 Multicore | 1393 |
| Geekbench 3 Single Core | 464 |
| Nenamark 2.4 | 59.4 |
| Quadrant | 13578 |
| Velamo Metal | 947 |
| Velamo Multicore | 1169 |
Reviews
These days most of the sub-10k mobiles have more than 1 GB of RAM. But that is on the papers and the reality depends on how the software manages the available memory. In my usage, I found that the Oppo Neo 7’s Color OS is one of the best manager of memory. When you clear the RAM and close all app, the app and its allied services are closed for sure. It cannot auto start, until you manually start the app. The control is entirely on the operating system and not on the app. This strict control is something which I have not seen, even in flagship devices. The device is definitely fast and snappy and it handles the UI efficiently, thanks to the software optimization.
The Snapdragon 410 and the Adreno 306 do their job in keeping the mobile running efficiently under normal usage. The device never gets over heated. When you start to stress the mobile a little over its capacity, that when the Neo 7 stutters. Full blown graphical games and heavy apps shoes signs of struggle to run on the Neo 7. For your day-to-day usage, the Neo 7 will definitely be a work horse.
It is a 4G enabled device and I found the device to have no issues with latching on the network. Data speed over the air was good and there was no call drops. The earphones were clear and crisp and the loudspeakers were loud enough for conference calls. In total, the Oppo Neo 7 is a basic smartphone and it performs like one.
Camera
The primary camera is an 8 MP shooter capable of 1080p videos and it is assisted by a single LED flash. The front facing camera is a 5 MP camera. The images from the Neo 7 camera are good when shot under ample day light. Under low light conditions, the Neo 7 images starts pixelating and does not result in pleasing images. Focusing is also not a great strength of the Neo 7. Under ample light, the focus lock is instant. But when the light dips by a few lumens, focusing becomes tricky and you have to try a few times, before getting a lock on the desired area. But when shot right, the images from the Neo 7 camera has the perfect color saturation and a good depth of field.
The camera UI has 2 levels. The first level is the view finder display and the UI design is an exact replica of iPhone camera. It has exposure adjustment control and AE/AF lock. The second level reveals the additional features of the camera as add-on plugins. Features like HDR, ultra HD, Gif Animation, Audio photo, etc can be added as desired. The super macro, expert mode and shoot in RAW which we loved on the Oppo R7 series is missing in the Neo 7. Check out the camera samples from the Oppo Neo 7 below.
Software
Oppo Neo 7 run on Android 5.1 with the Color OS 2.1 skinned on top. The Color OS is one of the most matured UI skins out there. It has tonnes of customization features. The themes are the theme store are endless. The wallpaper connects to an online repository and it has loads of wallpapers to suit your taste. The launcher has all the apps laid out in the desk. The extreme left screen can be configured to have the music widget. The notification tray is neatly stacked with sensible shortcuts. Also the UI has a huge list of customizable gestures for various operations. Though the Ne0 7 is a small 5 inch mobile, one hand operation can be enabled with a single swipe from the corner. It has very few bloatware installed. Overall the UI is snappy and charming to use.
Battery
The Neo 7 is powered by a 2420 mAh Lithium polymer battery. Thanks to the software optimization, qHD resolution and Snapdragon 410, the mobile can easily last for a days on a single charge with upto 5 hours of screen on time. The small battery also does not take long to charge. The supplied 1 A charger, charges the device from 0 to 100 percent in about 1:30 hours. The battery life on the Neo 7 is above average and you can trust the mobile for a full day’s work before stepping out of the house, fully charged.
Oppo Neo 7 Review Verdict
Opp0 Neo 7 is available for a best price of Rs 9500 as of now. It was launched at Rs 12500 and over the period of time, the price has been reduced. If you are a person who prefer to buy mobiles from brick and mortar stores and looking for a stylish device under Rs 10000, the Neo 7 is the best bet. But when it comes to the online stores, Neo 7 has some better alternatives like the Moto G, Lenovo K3 note or even the Coolpad Note 3.
