A few days after it appeared on the official online store, the OPPO R11 was launched in Shenzhen, China. This is the R9s’ successor and the newest dual-camera flagship addition to the OPPO roster. Here are my thoughts after two full days with it in the bustling city.

Look and feel

The R11 is definitely a smooth and sleek machine.

Although it seems to be a bit big for my tiny girly hands (I still maintain that the size of the iPhone SE is a perfect fit to my teeny hands), this size remains to be standard, as 5.5-inch phones continue to dominate the market.

The phone feels premium with a good weight and feel. It comes in gold, rose gold, and black. We got our hands on the matte black and it looked good, and well, also looked familiar.

Front camera

OPPO has always placed extra importance on picture quality and the selfie experience. The 20-megapixel front-facing camera says a lot here.

[sciba leftsrc=”http://www.gadgetmatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/GadgetMatch-photosample-oppor11-2017-06-10-2c.jpg” leftlabel=”Beauty mode” rightsrc=”http://www.gadgetmatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/GadgetMatch-photosample-oppor11-2017-06-10-3c.jpg” rightlabel=”Beauty mode with bokeh” mode=”horizontal” width=””]

Still built into the phone is the Beauty Mode and its software-generated Bokeh Mode, which makes it possible to achieve the shallow depth effect even with a single shooter on this side of the phone.

Rear camera

The R11 has a dual 20-megapixel and 16-megapixel rear camera setup. It’s also equipped with customized image processing software (14-bit Spectra 160 ISP) specifically designed by Qualcomm to improve its photographs.

According to OPPO, this means faster focus speeds, more vivid colors, and better low-light capabilities. I put that to the test.

Roaming around the colorful streets of Shenzhen.

Thanks to the extra lens, this camera is capable of 2X optical zoom and up to 10X zoom with software assistance, which is close to but not quite the technology unveiled at this year’s Mobile World Congress.

[sciba leftsrc=”http://www.gadgetmatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/GadgetMatch-photosample-oppor11-2017-06-10-4c.jpg” leftlabel=”Normal ” rightsrc=”http://www.gadgetmatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/GadgetMatch-photosample-oppor11-2017-06-10-5c.jpg” rightlabel=”2X optical zoom” mode=”horizontal” width=””]

The R11’s rear camera has a Portrait Mode that “intelligently adjusts” depending on the scenario at hand. Initially, this function didn’t excite (I’m a do-it-yourself kinda gal, and selfies are my thing), but it exceeded my expectations.

You can do no photo wrong on this mode — unless you accidentally crop out your face while taking the photo from the rear camera (since we’re so used to selfies with the front-facing cam and display).

The mode can also work on photo subjects other than your own face, although admittedly, it was harder to focus on the correct object to get the bokeh right.

Once you do, though, the results are impressive.

Other points

The R11 is powered by a Snapdragon 660 processor with 4GB of memory and 64GB of storage that’s expandable using a microSD card. It runs on Android 7.1 Nougat skinned with OPPO’s ColorOS 3.1, which adds security for mobile payments and file transfers. Gaming is also a thing on this nifty gadget, as OPPO is the official partner of King of Glory, China’s biggest mobile game. It has a battery capacity of 3000mAh and OPPO’s VOOC fast charging. It retails for CNY 2,999 or roughly around $440.

Initial impressions

There is a lot to love from OPPO’s new release. Admittedly, it’s tough to find the next big feature and innovation in today’s high-tech world, more so from a phone that bears a striking resemblance to an already popular smartphone. But, it’s what’s inside that counts, and the R11 does perform.

For a selfie sucker such as I, who on non-coverage days insists on shooting with a smartphone as opposed to lugging around a DSLR, this may be a great smartphone solution. One too many times I’ve used a different smartphone for my portrait needs because either the front or rear camera was just not up to par.

That isn’t the case here. Everything I like about OPPO’s previous selfie shooters remains, and the Portrait mode on this phone’s rear camera is promising.

It seems the Selfie Expert is branching out, and I’m excited to see where this goes.

SEE ALSO: OPPO R11 reveals itself earlier than expected

[irp posts=”14546″ name=”OPPO F3 review and selfie comparisons”]