In 2017, the smartphone world’s “in thing” is the borderless display. We’ve seen flagship after flagship attempt bigger, wider displays with smaller and smaller bezels.

OPPO rides this tech train with their newest smartphone release. The F5 is OPPO’s first nearly borderless smartphone. With a screen ratio of 18:9 and new AI built into its beauty mode, the brand which brought us the Selfie Expert is now bringing a device they claim can “capture the real you.”

I took the new F5 out for a spin and here’s how it went down.

Look and feel

There is definitely more screen real estate on the F5. Minimal bezels surround the sides of the phone; the top and bottom bezels are noticeably smaller compared to OPPO’s previous phones.

Admittedly, the phone looks a lot like other nearly borderless devices from other brands, but I’m not even surprised as this tends to happen a lot with smartphones.

The forehead (yes, folks, that’s what they call that bezel up top) houses the earpiece and the front-facing shooter — this is a single camera selfie setup.

The back part of the device is plastic but it’s given a premium metal look. It doesn’t feel as heavy as phones with an all-metal build, though it does have some good weight to it — none of that cheap, plastic-y feel.

The fingerprint scanner can also be found on the back with the rear camera and LED flash, which is a placement I’m not particularly fond of. Good news, though: This phone has a facial recognition unlock feature so you need not bother with the back scanner to unlock your phone.

On the right side, there’s the power button and a double nano-SIM card tray with a separate microSD card slot.

On the left, volume rockers.

On the bottom, we have the speaker grilles, micro-USB port, and audio jack. There are no physical buttons on the phone’s chin (yes, those bezels down there); the home, back, and recent apps buttons are all found on screen.

The handset is sleek and light. The F5 is just a few millimeters taller than the F3 and R11 so you get the same feel holding it. But, even if the phone is almost the same size as previous OPPO releases, the 6-inch display makes a difference. I found that having a bigger screen does add to a more enjoyable smartphone experience.

Cameras

There are only two cameras on the F5: a 16-megapixel camera on the back and a 20-megapixel shooter up front.

Of course, the F5 is equipped with OPPO’s signature beauty mode on both rear and front cameras.

Sample selfie!

OPPO added an extra layer to their beauty mode for this particular phone: Artificial intelligence is built into the front-facing camera for better selfies. This added AI technology should be able to tell a person’s age, sex, and even race, to come up with optimum beauty settings for the best possible selfie you could ever take.

The AI beauty mode allows for more natural selfies, even if it removes blemishes. It smoothens your skin but doesn’t blur out all your pores — something that tends to happen when using normal beauty filters.

What also stood out to me is how the bokeh mode has improved on this device. Notice the better cutout on the F5 photo as compared to the F3’s.

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Bokeh mode is available on both beauty and normal mode, although you can’t activate this feature when using the rear camera.

Here are a few more sample shots:

There is no wide-angle shooter on the F5, a feature I loved on the F3. The pro mode is still there though, which will delight those who opt to shoot on manual mode. The video beauty mode previously only found on the R11 is also on this phone, which is great, as not all selfie phones have this feature integrated into their native camera apps.

Quick specs

The F5 is powered by a MediaTek MT6763T processor and runs on Android 7.1 with ColorOS 3.2. It has 4GB of memory and 32GB of storage with a 3200mAh battery capacity.

All this means is that the F5 runs on a midrange processor that’s newer and more efficient compared to the one used by its predecessor, the F3. It runs on Android Nougat and OPPO’s operating system which is reminiscent of the iPhone’s interface (Read: pretty easy to use if you’ve ever been on an iPhone.)

Initial thoughts

The OPPO F5 does what it does best — take good selfies — all on a better screen. That is, if you consider bigger as better.

It’s undeniable, though, that shooting Instagram stories, editing selfies, and everyday social media stalking is an improved experience with this taller display.

As for everyday performance, however, I’d still have to spend more time with the phone to be able to write a full review. In the meantime, I’m definitely enjoying the better F5 view.

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY: OPPO F5 launches with near-borderless display and selfie AI

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