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Saturday 12 July 2014

Oneplus One Review.

What does it mean to “Never Settle” what it comes to a smartphone? Almost every piece of technology has its limits, due to the restrictions of available technology, physics, or just how much circuitry you can cram into a rectangular box.
Does not settling mean including every possible feature under the sun? Does it mean making an affordable phone with zero compromises on hardware? What would zero compromises look like? New kid on the block OnePlus, a Chinese manufacturer led by a former Oppo executive, has given us its bold answer in the One, a phone it calls a ‘Flagship Killer.’
That’s a pretty daring title, and it’d take some pretty daring hardware to live up to the name. Does the OnePlus One meet and exceed our every expectation? Does it fall victim to hype it can’t possibly live up to? Does it deserve the codename Bacon? Find out in Pocketnow’s first guest review from OnePlus One owner and friend of the Pocketnow Weekly, Christopher Larson!

Specs & Hardware

oneplus one review hardware
The OnePlus One is a sleek, contemporary looking piece of kit. From head on, with the screen off, all you see is the big –and I mean big– glass slab of a screen surrounded by the silvery ring of the magnesium chassis. The screen hardware is actually recessed on all sides from the chassis, and it looks like it emerges from the metal beneath, which is a nice way of subtly protecting the screen from drops on the side while creating something stylish and unique.
And, wow, that screen. The 5.5-inch JDI-manufactured IPS-LCD display is huge, matching the size of the LG G3‘s, and only 0.2 inches short of the Galaxy Note 3‘s panel. It’s 1080p, and so not quite best in class in terms of resolution compared to the Oppo Find 7 and LG G3′s QHD displays, but the display certainly doesn’t feel like a compromise. It offers vivid but accurate colors, great viewing angles, solid brightness levels, and a respectable pixel density of 401 ppi. Streaming World Cup matches was a treat during the 10-day review period.
oneplus one front
Swinging around back we get to see the gorgeous polycarbonate backplate that feels soft and dry, almost like a thin carpet to this reviewer’s hands. Top to bottom, the One’s backside plays host to the camera module (probably the least elegant portion of the phone stylistically); the OnePlus logo; the CyanogenMod logo; and the required FCC designations.
The button placement is intelligent for a phone of this size, with the power button on the right side and the volume buttons on the left, both within easy reach about two thirds of the way up the phone. Coming as I was from a tall phone with a top-mounted power button this was a HUGE relief. There is also a full spectrum LED notification light embedded in the front near the 5-megapixel front-facing camera.
oneplus one back
At 152.9 millimeters tall by 75.9 millimeters wide by 8.9 millimeters deep, it’s a pretty enormous piece of hardware, but to this reviewer it has rarely felt ‘too big.’ Of course, your size tolerance will vary, and I do find myself pulling it out of my pocket and resting it on the table when sitting, but that’s about as far as the inconvenience has gone. And let’s be clear, the gobs of space inside have been put to good use: our review device sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor at 2.5 GHz, 3GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage on our Sandstone Black unit (there’s a 16GB option that’s $50 cheaper with a Silk White back cover), a 3,100 mAh battery, and a 13-megapixel camera.
Those internals are top notch in mid-2014, oddball flagship variants notwithstanding. With unique, sleek styling and that powerful hardware, the One feels like a first-class piece of technology.

Software

oneplus software
oneplus software 2That screaming Snapdragon 801 drives one of the most unique Android variants on the market today,CyanogenMod 11S (“CM11s”). A community-driven Android project, CyanogenMod is something like AOSP+, allowing much more customization thanAOSP while also adding features with an emphasis on user privacy and usability. CyanogenMod compiles versions of its OS for most recent hardware. I was running nightly builds of CyanogenMod 11 (note the lack of S) on my Droid DNA prior to switching over to the One. However, CyanogenMod saved some features for the One and the One alone, hence the S differentiator.
CyanogenMod’s standard features include many customization options, such as the very robust theming engine, which can be used to change nearly every visual element from stylistic flourishes like styles of buttons, to fonts, icons, wallpapers, boot animations, and more. It can make quite a difference, and I used it to immediately switch from the One’s standard square icons to a more AOSP-like Holo theme.
Aside from themes, standard CM11 allows you to customize many aspects of the phone’s usability. You can change what the capacitive buttons do (by enabling a long-press of the menu button to bring up the multitasking display, for instance); you can change which on-screen navigation buttons appear; you can adjust what choices are visible in the quick settings menu; and you can add options that are normally unavailable like a flashlight/torch or camera shortcut. You can also add additional shortcuts to the Google Now swipe up gesture from the navigation bar. These shortcuts can be many things, not just applications, and I have found it incredibly handy to keep a NextBus bookmark there so I can quickly look up my nearby public transit options here in Boston.
bq1
But it’s not just flair that CyanogenMod has in mind. PrivacyGuard lets you safeguard your own personal information from apps at a system level. I try not to install apps that ask for unreasonable access to things (why does your game need to look at my call log?), but with CyanogenMod you can actually still install the app and only allow access when you choose. Install that game, and with PrivacyGuard enabled you’ll get a pop-up asking you whether you want to let the app access your location, send texts, or delve into your contact details. Just say no, and you can tell it to remember your choice forever. I love this feature, and Google should integrate it into AOSP post haste.
You also get access to WhisperPush, which will automatically encrypt your text messages if sent to oneplus software 3another CyanogenMod user with WhisperPush enabled. Not the most useful if you don’t know anyone else running your boutique OS, but a useful option nonetheless.
The unique features that give the One’s variant that S designation are pretty great, and enough that I might be grumpy about not getting them on other versions of CM. The lock screen switches from the usual AOSP circle to a simple large light blue ‘grab area’ on the lower half of the screen that you can pull down, which requires a lot less precision, and is easier just to swipe and go. This area also hold your weather and battery information, and will display message notifications or, in a nice touch, a subtle amplitude effect when you’re playing music. The top of the screen has a blurred image of your wallpaper that unblurs as you pull down to unlock (again, unless you’re playing music in which case it’s a blurred image of the album art). If you were last on your homescreen CM11S seamlessly fades your icons and widgets on top of the wallpaper; otherwise it’ll open up whatever app you were in last.
CM11S also includes some gestures you can perform while the phone is locked and the screen is off. Swiping a circle will unlock directly into the camera app, and swiping a ‘V’ will activate the flash on the phone, which has proved surprisingly useful. There are also gestures for play, pause, next track, and previous track for audio, and finally there’s a double-tap to wake the screen. The gestures are not always consistent: they’re sometimes confused for one another, and there seems to be an issue where the flash won’t always come on due to the phone not ‘waking’ properly to activate it, but all in all they’re still nice to have.
oneplus software 5
Another CM11S-unique feature is the ability to switch between capacitive and on-screen buttons. This is unique to the One, as far as I know, and fits squarely into CyanogenMod’s emphasis on user choice in how you interact with your phone. If you go with on-screen navigation the capacitive buttons fade to black and are almost impossible to see.
There are many additional nice features we could talk about, like Voice+, profiles, and more, but the general gist is that you’re getting a great, bloat-free version of Android that will let you do a lot of what you want to do. The only feature I’d really like to have seen with a screen this large is split-screen multi-tasking à la Samsung and LG.

Camera

oneplus one review camera
The camera on the OnePlus One is a solid performer. It doesn’t have some of the fancier features you’ll find out there, like laser rangefinders, two-tone flashes, or Optical Image Stabilization, but it takes good, relatively accurate pictures. The Sony Exmor IMX 214 sensor tops out at 13 Megapixels in 4:3 mode which, annoyingly, you’re locked in to at that resolution. The camera’s low light performance leaves something to be desired, with a lot of noise creeping into shots, especially in sky regions where colors aren’t as differentiated.

CyanogenMod contributed a custom camera app which is accessible but powerful, and I really enjoyed being able to change shooting modes with a swipe on the screen. Switching over to HDR was just a flick away instead of drilling down into settings menus. And boy, is that HDR aggressive, but I have to say I think it works well. You occasionally get, with jittery hands like mine, some blur in the image due to the camera sampling over a period of time, but generally the HDR mode takes crisp, vivid  pictures.
If I had to say the OnePlus did compromise with the phone, I’d say that the camera was where it happened, but it still outputs very respectable images in favorable light. It just isn’t quite as bleeding edge as the rest of the phone’s hardware.

Performance


The OnePlus One’s bleeding-edge internals put it on par with any Android flagship from a smoothness perspective. Nary a stutter or jitter appeared to this reviewer’s eyes. Operation was clean, fast, and responsive. The OS is built for speed and access, without the usual cruft and garbage that you’d find cluttering a manufacturer’s skin, and it is truly a delight to use. Gaming has been super smooth, and the Adreno 330 GPU cuts through graphics-heavy titles like a hot knife through buttah.
Cellular performance, though it varied a little depending on network conditions, was generally stellar throughout the Greater Boston and suburban Minneapolis / St. Paul areas. Average transfer rates hovered around 30 Mbps down and 18 up, with peaks download rates hitting almost 50 Mbps. T-Mobile’s relatively unsaturated LTE towersare a blessing, though we’d expect those numbers to diminish slightly as more customers hop on. The One supports the following connectivity options: GSM (850, 900, 1800, 1900MHz); WCDMA (Bands 1/2/4/5/8); LTE (Bands 1/3/4/7/17/38/40); Bluetooth 4.0; Wifi 802.11ac; and NFC.
oneplusone back
Voice calls were crisp and clear on both ends according to our testers, and the down-firing speakers were surprisingly loud. It’s not BoomSoundby any stretch of the imagination –bass in particular leaves a lot to be desired– but for throwing on some tunes in the background, they perform just fine. Audio on headphones was detailed and accurate, and for those who like to tweak, the included AudioFX will let you manually equalize and bass boost easily, with an updated graphical interface for CM11S.
Battery performance, by and large, was excellent, with the phone lasting all day even during heavy usage including over an hour of gaming, streaming half of a FIFA World Cup match, heavy texting, and serious camera usage. Screen on time generally was in the 4.5-to-5-hour range, with occasional forays beyond.

Pros

+ Amazing price
+ CyanogenMod 11S is powerful and customizable
+ Top-notch internals
+ Clean, elegant design

Cons

- Size could be an issue
- Camera performance is average
- Getting one is near impossible

Pricing and Availability

oneplus one avail

Trying to purchase a OnePlus One is by far the most frustrating part about it. With an extremely small supply available, OnePlus has limited the ability to purchase this phone via an invite system. Without an invite you can’t get one. Period. The problem is, with high end specs and a cheap price, the demand is far outstripping supply, leaving many would-be customers frustrated. Here’s hoping that OnePlus can solve recent yield problems and deliver their product into eager fans’ hands.
(Editor’s Note: In the meantime, we’re giving away two OnePlus One purchase invites in the next two weeks of the Pocketnow summer of giveaways! Check back on Monday, June 14 for details on how to win!)
If you do get your hands on an invitation, the Silk White version runs $299 with 16 GB of internal storage, and the 64 GB Sandstone Black version, like our review model, runs only $50 more at $349. Compare that to the jump from 16 to 64 gigs on an iPhone 5S, which doubles the on-contract price from $199 to $399.

Conclusion

oneplus one face
The OnePlus One is an excellent phone. Without taking price into account, it stands tall against the mighty likes of the HTC One M8, the Galaxy S5, and the LG G3. Its camera doesn’t have the optical stabilization of the LG G3 or the low-light performance of the One M8, and you may prefer the size of the slightly smaller Galaxy S5, but from a specs, style, and software perspective the OnePlus One is right there with them. And then you look at the price tag, which is half or less than any of its competitors. Half or less.
Yes, it does ‘settle’ if by settle you mean make some small compromises, but what phone doesn’t? If OnePlus can sort out production and calm the angry fans who are still waiting to purchase one, then we’ll have one of the most exciting competitors to come to the US market in some time.
Overall score 8.9 | Hardware 8.8 | Software 9.0| User experience 8.8

A phone to charge QI devices.

The summer of smartwatches is upon us, and new Android Wear users everywhere are just starting to settle into life with their mobile accessories. The Moto 360 is standing by in the wings, ready to jump onto the retail scene in just another month or two, and entries by Apple and Microsoft are anticipated for a little later on. No matter which platform you call home, or what style smartwatch you prefer, you’re going to have some good options to choose from.
And as more and more of these wearables arrive, we’re seeing how the decisions being made by manufacturers are shaping out expectations for these devices. Despite Pebble’s early success, for example, bright, colorful (power hungry) displays seem to have become the norm. And since no one wants a smartwatch that’s overly big and bulky, batteries have remained on the petite side.
moto-360-leather-bandThat combination leads us to an uncomfortable reality: battery life ain’t gonna be great. “OK,” perhaps, giving us a solid day of use, but week-long operation on a single charge seems like it’s going to be a pipe dream for the foreseeable future.
This means having to charge our smartwatches regularly. With how frequently we’ll be doing it, making this process as convenient as possible is going to be a big deal, and we’ve already shared with you the sort of complaints that happen when manufacturer efforts fall up short.
But at least some of these OEMs seem to really get it, and Motorola looks like it’s talking the promising step of equipping its Moto 360 with support for wireless Qi charging.
That sounds great: just drop your watch on a charger, as easily as you’d set it on your nightstand before bed. But one issue that’s come up as we’ve discussed smartwatches the past couple weeks onthe Pocketnow Weekly podcast has been what that requirement for a smartphone-specific charger means when you’re traveling.
nexus-4-charger-qiMost wireless chargers today are single-device models, so even if your phone supported it too, you’d either be carrying around at least two chargers with you (one phone, one smartwatch), or swapping back and forth between charging your phone and watch as the need arrived – not exactly the paragon of convenience.
And then a lightbulb appeared over my head: why can’t the phone charge the watch?
Here’s what I’m thinking: there’s not a lot-lot different between the charging coil in a phone that receives wireless power and the coil in the charger that transmits the energy. We’d need some additional driving circuitry in place (and maybe even a second coil – but honestly, there’s room), but it’s not a crazy idea that we could use our phones to wirelessly charge accessories like smartwatches.
Remember that ZENS Qi Wireless Charger we shared with you a few months back? Think that, instead of just a dumb battery, it’s your phone. And instead of lugging around a bulky wireless charger with you while traveling, you’d bring a regular old micro USB charger.
At the end of the day, you’d plug your phone into the wall, but then set your smartwatch right on the phone itself. And as your phone fills up its 2x00mAh battery overnight, it wirelessly shares some of that juice with the smartwatch and its smaller 3-400mAh cell.
qi-coil
Hell, why even constrain this to use with smartwatches? Every smartphone with  wireless charging should support transferring power as well as receiving it. Just as we can tap phones together to transfer content thanks to NFC and Bluetooth, what if sharing power was as easy as sharing photos? Set your fully-charged phone down, place your friend’s phone with a dead battery on top, and send it some of that power!
I realize I’m probably getting wildly ahead of myself here – wireless charging has still only flirted with mainstream acceptance by this point, and demanding ambitious new features might be something more worth considering after we’ve reached milestones like getting wireless charging support on all flagship devices by default (hell no,add-on charging backs), and getting the industry to decide on one standard (I mean, it already is Qi, buta few bad apples just can’t seem to accept that).
Just as smartphones evolved from devices we used to consume content to ones we use to produce it, let’s have an evolution that moves them past being mere consumers of power to devices that can act as conduits, sharing it with other products in our lives.

Surviving a weekend without a charger.


By the time you folks are reading this, I’m probably half-way to my destination at the Adriatic Sea. Taking a vacation for the first time in years was one of the most difficult decisions I had to recently take, but I’m leaving — for a tad more than a week — knowing that Pocketnow is in good hands with my dear colleagues I couldn’t be more proud of.
The Nokia Lumia 1020, with its camera grip case, is the main phone I’m packing, and you know why that is: pictures. I don’t plan on taking a lot of pictures, but those that I do choose to take, I want them to be good, and the Lumia 1020 is my go-to phone in situations like these. It also happens to be my primary navigation device with Here Drive+, Here Maps, and free, quality (at least for me, here in Europe), voice-guided, offline navigation. My secondary phone is my personal favorite phone of 2014, the Sony Xperia Z2, and, despite not being able to dip it in salt water (despite doing that in a recent trip to the Mediterranean), I just have to carry an Android for all the things I can’t (yet) do on a Windows Phone.
This is a battery experiment. I will take no chargers! I will also regret my decision… :)
That’s gonna be tough to pull, but I’ll try it out. My one and only power source will be a Harmonica Style Lumsing 10,400mah external battery. Let’s do some math: the Lumia 1020 has a 2,000mAh battery, its camera grip has a 1,020mAh power source (and since they’re going to be inseparable, why don’t we treat them as a single 3,020mAh battery?), while the Xperia Z2 has a 3,200mAh juice pack. 6,220mAh in total, so the chosen external battery will be probably good for one full charge, and another partial one for both devices.
We’re talking about a roughly 3,000km/1,800mile round-trip combined, where navigation will be essential on the Lumia 1020. Then, we’re talking about taking a lot of pictures, social media, listening to music, some phone calls and texts, as well as light email usage.
Somehow, I know I won’t be able to make it. If this was a three-day trip, I’d say it stands a chance, but I’ll be out, combined, for more than seven days. However, it will be a fun experiment to see how long one can last without power.
Expect to hear from me (and my stories of begging hotel receptionists for a quick charge) in week 30. Until then, you all stay safe! Meanwhile, share your experiences with us: how long did you go for, without a charger or power? What’s the size of your preferred external battery pack?

Friday 11 July 2014

Oppo Find 7 review.

Oppo Find 7 review
It’s a rather normal reaction, if your logo doesn’t spell Samsung, HTC, Sony, or any other well-known brand. But those who touched the Oppo Find 7, and spent just a little time playing with it, will definitely remember it as “the new, cool, phone from China with a funky name.”
What does it take for people to recognize Oppo as a brand? Consistency, history, legacy. What does it take for Oppo phones to take on the competition? Build quality, specs, user experience, and support, which all should be at least on par with the current, well-recognized players. So, does the Oppo Find 7 have what it takes to take on renowned behemoths like the Samsung Galaxy S5HTC One M8Sony Xperia Z2, and LG G3? That’s what we’ll try to answer in our full Oppo Find 7 review below.

Video Review · Specs & Hardware · Software · Camera · Performance

 Pros/Cons · Pricing/Availability · Conclusion · Scored For Me


Oppo Find 7 Review Video

Specs & Hardware

Oppo isn’t afraid of innovation; recall the interesting Oppo N1 with its swiveling camera and two different flavors, one of which was running CyanogenMod out of the box. The market these days doesn’t allow you to juggle too many options in order to catch future customers’ attention. Simply put: your product has to be good, and, if possible, it also has to be cheap.
Oppo Find 7 review
The Find 7a managed to make a lot of waves due mainly to the great build quality, good specs, and innovative camera features. However, as we noted in our review, it was really a “flagship that was not a flagship.” Oppo made a mistake: it announced both the Find 7a and the Find 7 together, so many people were –understandably– holding back, waiting for even better specs (for the sake of specs) and higher resolution (for the sake of higher resolution).
Oppo Find 7 review
However, the Find  7 is now (or to be shortly, depending on your region) out, and it’s the best phone Oppo has ever released. It takes all the good things from the Find 7a and builds upon them. It truly shows the amount of effort Oppo has put into the designing, execution, production, and presentation of its product.
As we said with the occasion of our unboxing, we have to treat the Find 7 like we’ve never seen or held the Find 7a before. Only then can we honestly convey our impressions, feelings, and findings. The Oppo Find 7 is a device that will pleasantly surprise you while in the box; the manufacturer’s presentation of its device is excellent, easily on par with that of other companies like Apple or HTC.
Oppo Find 7 reviewOnce you get it out of the box, prepare to be surprised by the Find 7′s relatively large footprint. Just like the Find 7a, it measures 152.6mm tall, 75mm wide, and 9.2mm thick, while weighing 3 grams more than its sibling, at 173 grams. The squared design doesn’t really help with one-handed usability, and neither does the rounded back: this is one big phone, especially compared to other phones in its category, like the LG G3. Truth be told, the Oppo Find 7 could have been somewhat smaller, but the manufacturer opted for a capacitive key layout below the screen, as opposed to employing on-screen buttons. On the plus side, this ensures that you have the entire canvas all to yourself, which is nice.
A large slab of Gorilla Glass 3 takes up most of the phone’s face. Underneath that sits one of the best displays we’ve seen to date: a quad HD IPS panel with a resolution of 2560 by 1440 pixels, and a pixel density of 538. Sure, you can debate on the general need of such a high resolution on a smartphone, and you can definitely see both the advantages and disadvantages, but we have to accept the fact that technology is moving forward, and manufacturers are eager to show off their potential in both employing the latest tech, as well as pushing the envelope.
Oppo Find 7 reviewOnly two things stand out from the large piece of glass: a small cutout on the top, where you’ll find your earpiece, and a small chin towards the bottom, where one of the distinctive features of the Find 7 resides: the skyline notification LED. It has to be the coolest notification LED on the market, pulsing whenever your phone needs to tell you something, with a light that spreads from center to the sides. (We’d have preferred multiple colors for different notifications, but you’re stuck with blue.)
To the right of the earpiece you’ll find a surprisingly good five-megapixel wide-angle front-facing camera, with f/2.0 aperture and 80 degree vision. Next to it we’ve got our usual proximity and light sensors. The capacitive buttons at the bottom light up discretely when the screen is on. You won’t always see them (especially in the bright outdoors), so learning the layout will definitely help you in using the phone to its full potential.
White and Astro Black are the two color options in which this phone is available, and they’re only visible on the removable backplate, as the front is black in both cases. Cutouts for the 13MP shooter, its dual LED flash, and the stereo speakers on the back are nicely complemented by the shiny chromed Oppo logo. Not too much action going on around the back, and that’s also valid for the sides of the device: power button on the left, volume rockers and the backplate eject hole on the right, 3.5mm headphone jack on the top, and the micro USB port on the bottom flanked by your main microphone.
Oppo Find 7 review
However, there’s a lot of action behind the scenes, where the quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor resides. It runs at 2.5GHz, and ensures you don’t spend too much time waiting on the phone to catch up, or execute the tasks you throw at it. 3GB of RAM also help with that, and so does the Adreno 330 GPU, for all your graphic needs. You’ve got 32GB of ROM for storage, augmentable via microSD card of capacity up to 128GB.
Sadly, one of the minuses for the phone stands out here: the 3GB cap for installing applications. While some won’t use up the storage available in the partition, we wondered why it was there in the first place. We reached out to Oppo, and this is what it had to share:
“Our engineers have already realized this problem and came up with a solution, but unfortunately it would involve a thorough data backup on the users’ end, as the fix would wipe all data on the device. For the sake of the safety of their personal data we decided not to go with it, but our next device won’t be partitioned as the Find 7.”
We’re pretty sure those who resent this shortcoming would be totally fine with backing up their data. If this was something that would bother us on the personal level, we know we’d even put up with losing our data, in order for the problem to go away. Sadly, this is what we have to deal with.
Oppo Find 7 review
A 13-megapixel Sony Exmor BSI sensor takes care of your primary shooting needs, and it does so with style. About the only complaint we have here is the lack of optical image stabilization, but more on that in our camera section below.
We’ve already mentioned the 5MP wide angle front-facer, so we’ll jump straight to the 3,000mAh battery, and the connectivity options which include USB OTG, Bluetooth 4.0, 5G WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (with WiFi Direct and WiFi Display capabilities), GPS, and NFC. The radio supports LTE, but frequencies depend on the market.

Software

Oppo Find 7 review
The Find 7′s software offers a greater chance for subjective interpretation: it will appeal to some of you, while others will prefer to install CyanogenMod as soon as it is available for the Find 7. The UI is definitely not ugly and cluttered, but it is … different. The phone runs Oppo’s own Color OS, based on Android 4.3, and, while the manufacturer is doing a great job releasing bugfix updates, we have to call out the fact that the device is still running an older version of Android, namely 4.3.
Oppo Find 7 review
The user interface is packed with features, many of which you will probably never use. Gestures are a big deal for Oppo, apparently, and you can add your own custom gestures to the list, if you want to launch an app or instruct the phone to do specific tasks. Some of these are system-wide, and some are available while the screen is off. You can double-tap on the home button to both wake the device and put it to sleep. Some gestures are universally handy, while some will be useful for only a handful of users.
Screenshot_2014-07-11-06-48-18-527Nine home screens are available to you and your widgets, to which you can add two so-called spaces: one for pictures, and one for music. You can, of course, disable these, as we did on our review unit. If you don’t like the looks of the phone out of the box, you can opt for a standard, stock Android theme, which comes pre-installed, or download one of the many themes available online. In short: you can change everything about how the UI looks and feels. The app tray behaves like any other Android phone, but it doesn’t contain widgets (which are accessible by long pressing on the menu key, or long tapping on an empty home screen). In order to custom-sort your apps, you have to tap and hold on a shortcut, in order to either drag it to its new, desired location (in the app drawer or on the home screen), or press the Alphabetically Sort button for those who prefer it this way.
However, you’ll have to get used to the customized notification tray, with no easy way of tweaking it. It contains shortcuts for WiFi, mobile data, sound profile, orientation lock, one for killing tasks, as well as a brightness slider. You can further pull down on the notification tray to reveal even more (nine) settings toggles, whenever you have a notification in the shade; otherwise, you’re presented with the full list of options.
The Settings menu is divided into three categories, but that’s something other OEMs do, like Samsung and LG, to name a couple. Pulling down from the top left of the display brings up the gesture panel, but if you don’t use any gestures, you can disable them, and the standard notification tray will pop up, just like when swiping down from anywhere to the right of the carrier name.
Then there are the hidden quirks. There’s no easy way of linking contacts that are not identically named in the Contacts app, for instance, and there are a variety of other small annoyances you need to live with. If you like skeuomorphs and colored, candy-like icons, you’ll like the stock looks of the Find 7. The UI is definitely not among the worst one we’ve used, but we would have at least appreciated a more recent version of Android, if stock isn’t an out-of-the-box option.
Oppo Find 7 reviewOppo Find 7 review

Camera

Oppo Find 7 review
Our experience with the Find 7 camera slightly differs from the one we had while testing the Find 7a. Either the usage scenario, or something Oppo did under the hood in the interim has improved on the 7a’s hit-or-miss performance. Yes, we do miss optical image stabilization and we wish it was included; since it’s not, you’ll have to keep the phone very steady to combat soft focus and blur in low light conditions without using the flash.
Oppo Find 7 review
The camera user interface is pretty simple and straightforward. You access settings from the cog to choose options like resolution, storage, white balance, scenes, video modes, etc. There’s a dedicated shortcut for flash behavior control, one for switching to the front camera, a persistent shutter bottom, one for video recording, and another one for shooting modes (normal, HDR, Ultra-HD, beauty, panorama, slow shutter, audio photo, GIF, and RAW).
The camera produces great results outdoors, but nowadays, most smartphone cameras are capable of delivering good stills in optimal conditions. It’s in low light where it becomes tricky, and where you really wish the camera had OIS. Under these circumstances, if you don’t have a steady hand, you’ll often induce motion blur in your stills. Otherwise, you’ll have to deal with occasionally washed-out colors and some noise, but we’ve definitely seen worse cameras on other flagships.
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Of particular significance is Oppo’s Ultra-HD mode for stills. This mode outputs 50-megapixel images while using a 13-megapixel sensor. These images are often sharper, with more detail, and overall better than your regular 13MP stills, and we found ourselves preferring this mode over the normal one. You also don’t necessarily have to hold your breath to shoot in this mode, which is a plus. It’s definitely not Lumia 1020-like post-shooting reframing, but it allows you an extra level of creativity which you will likely appreciate.
Videos captured on the Find 7 have good audio and overall image quality. Depending on your usage scenario and conditions, the camera will sometimes find it hard to adjust white balance, or exposure, on the fly. Sometimes you’ll also have to manually tap the screen to force focus when the camera is not getting your intentions; it takes some time to master its capabilities.
The front facer, on the other hand, surprised us. While it doesn’t have a physical LED flash like the latest Xperia C3 from Sony, and doesn’t emulate one by brightening up the screen like the LG G3, it produces great results in good lighting conditions. It’s the low-light selfies that will leave you wanting more.

Performance

Oppo Find 7 review
Back-firing speakers or not, the stereo ones on the Oppo Find 7 deliver. We can easily compare it with the HTC One M8, and, it is our conclusion that the only thing that makes the HTC One M8 win this battle (by a small margin, though), is the placement: if the Find 7 had front-firing speakers, it would sound better than HTC’s flagship. Listening to music or talking on the phone using speakerphone mode is a joy.
Oppo Find 7 reviewHard as we tried, we didn’t manage to bog down the Find 7. That’s mostly due to the flagship specs it packs on the inside. Most of the time during our usage when we had to wait for the phone to execute a specific task, it was due to the internet speed. We think about the only bottleneck you’ll run into while using the Find 7 is your data connection. The phone launches and switches apps in a blink of an eye, and if you didn’t have to wait for information to load through your data channels, it would be pretty instant.
Oppo Find 7 reviewHowever, it does get warm every now and then, especially when running demanding games for longer periods of time. That’s normal, and a behavior we definitely observed on competing phones, like the LG G3, or Sony Xperia Z2.
Voice quality is good on both sides, and so is speakerphone performance. Network signal is on par with any other flagship out there, and data performance delivers, depending on your service provider. We’re using the European model on a WCDMA network, so your mileage could vary, depending on your region or carrier. We also can’t opine on LTE performance as of yet.
Expect a hiccup-free user experience while running daily tasks on the Find 7. Its internals make sure you won’t see any frame-drops, or stutters. However, battery life is something which we wished was just a tad better. We don’t necessarily refer to heavy use of the phone in gaming or imaging modes, but a 3,000 mAh battery should easily be enough for one and a half days. Instead, expect a full day under moderate usage, with definitely the need to top off your charge towards the end of the day (maybe half way through) if you’re playing games. Luckily, with Oppo’s VOOC quick charging, that only takes about 30 minutes for a 75% charge.

Pros

+ Gorgeous display
+ Fast charging thanks to Oppo’s VOOC charging
+ Exceptional performance
+ Great build quality
+ Attractive LED notification

Cons

- Large footprint will alienate some potential users
- 3GB app cap for installing applications to internal storage
- Currently running outdated version of Android

Pricing and Availability

Depending on your region, the Oppo Find 7 is available from the manufacturer’s dedicated website: oppostyle.com. If you’re in the US, this phone’s going to set you back $499 ($599?)*, unlocked and SIM free, without selling your soul to any carrier. If you’re residing in Europe, it’s going to cost EUR 449 under the same circumstances. That’s the information Oppo has officially sent us, despite showing a somewhat higher price point if you check out the phone right now at the link above.
Update: * – We realize that many of you are seeing higher prices, and there very well may be some wires being crossed here, but our official word from Oppo places the US price at $499. That said, we’re getting the same $599 price in the US as the rest of you when we visit the site ourselves. We’ll update this review when and if an explanation arrives for this discrepancy.
Oppo Find 7 review

Conclusion

Oppo Find 7 review
We know you’ll be torn between buying a phone from an already established manufacturer on the market (Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony, etc.), and a flagship from Oppo, despite having great specs. A track record is a powerful thing, and with Oppo, there’s no real history to go by as of yet.
But taking all the aforementioned pros into consideration, as well as the attractive price and the fact that you can unlock the bootloader and tinker with the device without voiding your warranty (check the legalese for details), the Find 7 becomes somewhat easier to recommend.
So should you buy it? As usual, the answer isn’t that easy to paint in black-and-white terms, but we’ll say this: if we had to choose one Android phone, now, to use for the remainder of the year, the Oppo Find 7 would definitely be on our list of contenders.

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