Hands-On

OPPO F11 hands-on: Without the moving parts

No motor, lower price

Published

April 23, 2019

Daniel Morial

We already talked about the OPPO F11 Pro, and now we have the OPPO F11. Without the “Pro” moniker, the regular F11 is supposed to sit below its Pro sibling. One would think that the F11 has compromises, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

The regular F11 and F11 Pro share a lot in common, so it’s best to read about the Pro model as well. Our F11 Pro hands-on is available for your reading pleasure here.

Without further ado, here’s my hands-on with OPPO‘s new midranger. As always, let’s start with the physique:

It has a 5.3-inch Full HD+ display

With a 19.5:9 aspect ratio

The waterdrop notch sits on top

It houses the selfie camera

To its right is the power button

Marked with a green accent

The volume keys and card tray are on the left

It uses a hybrid card system

The micro-USB and 3.5mm jack still live on

At least it ha VOOC 3.0 fast charging tech

The back is glossy yet classy

It’s not glass though

There’s a dual rear camera system for taking photos

With a fingerprint reader just beneath it

The notch makes an appearance

The notch was a major feature among phones last year, and it’s still present on some newly announced devices. A number of manufacturers tried to kill it with different solutions and one of those ways is implemented on the F11 Pro. The motorized pop-up front camera allowed the F11 Pro to have a full-screen display without any cutout. But, the case of the regular F11 is different.

The major difference between the F11 and F11 Pro is in the front camera and display. Since the F11 is made to be cost-effective, OPPO had to remove the motorized mechanism and opt for a notch. The waterdrop notch design we first saw on last year’s F9 is present on the F11. Still, the absence of a pop-up camera didn’t provide the F11 a water-resistance rating. It would be great to have protection from liquids.

Aside from the notch, the regular F11 has a similar display to the F11 Pro’s. It’s still an LCD panel that measures 6.53 inches diagonally with a tall aspect ratio. Since it’s an LCD, there’s no way to include an in-display fingerprint reader. A good-old capacitive scanner is positioned on the back of the phone.

The overall design of the F11 is almost identical to the F11 Pro’s. Unsuspecting eyes might not be able to tell the small differences at first glance. This means the F11 is also a classy-looking phone, even though it primarily has a plastic body.

As fast as the Pro model

When it comes to specs, the F11 inherits everything the F11 Pro has. The regular F11 is also powered by the Helio P70 processor paired with 6GB of memory. For storage, it has 64GB that can be expanded using a microSD card. Specs-wise, the Pro doesn’t really have an advantage in this department.

The latest Android Pie-based ColorOS 6 is available out of the box, which is nice, but there’s no promised update to Android Q when that gets released later this year. OPPO is known to skip major updates, so we don’t expect it to get Android Q.

Thankfully, the phone runs smoothly and the extra features of ColorOS are much appreciated. OPPO’s customization of Android is not my favorite, but it’s not the worst out there.

Gaming is alright on the F11, although I did run into a couple of issues. For some reason, Asphalt 9: Legends doesn’t play very well even on default settings, plus PUBG: Mobile has to be launched a few times before it loads properly to its home screen. These issues can be easily addressed through an update, so these are not deal breakers.

The phone’s 4020mAh battery is not a slouch either. Additionally, VOOC 3.0 fast charging tech is available and a compatible adapter is included in the phone’s retail box.

Okay cameras with night mode

Again, the F11 is blessed with the same cameras found on the F11 Pro. On the back, the F11 also has a 48-megapixel f/1.8 main shooter accompanied by a 5-megapixel depth sensor for extra features like portrait mode. For selfies, it has a 16-megapixel sensor placed inside the waterdrop notch.

Check out these samples taken using the F11 Pro’s cameras:

Like with other phones with 48-megapixel sensors, the F11 will use all those pixels to create a crispier 12-megapixel photo. The results are generally okay, even in low-light scenarios. The night shot above was taken using the phone’s Night Mode. As for selfies, OPPO is still indeed a selfie expert.

Is this your GadgetMatch?

For those who like to have a new OPPO phone, I would suggest the regular F11 since it’s a better choice than its Pro sibling. How so? The F11 is essentially an F11 Pro without the motorized pop-up mechanism. If you can let go of the modern approach in selfie cameras and are not bothered by a small notch, you’ll get better value with this.

The OPPO F11 is priced at just PhP 15,990 (US$ 310) in the Philippines, which is PhP 3,000 cheaper than the F11 Pro. It’s available in different shades of green and purple.

Hands-On

OPPO Reno15 F 5G hands-on

More question marks than exclamation points?

Published

March 6, 2026

Manila Connoisseur

The OPPO Reno15 Series 5G made its way to the Philippines last month, and reception has been pretty great so far.

With a powerful camera package, AI, and a slew of upgrades, there’s a lot to love and not much negative to say. But that’s with both the standard and Pro models.

On the other hand, with the Reno15 F 5G — the series’ supposed budget-friendly “lite” variant —there were more question marks than exclamation points.

I attack this piece once more from a consumer standpoint: shelling out PhP 23,000 to PhP 26,000 for a midrange smartphone that feels and performs like it’s a few notches below its segment doesn’t sound too pleasant.

Performance

With a Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 processor, the OPPO Reno15 F performs pretty much like any sub PhP 20,000 mid-ranger. It’s acceptable, but does not punch above its weight as expected.

No major hiccups for light and casual usage. But performance struggles a lot for demanding video games.

It also heats up significantly just 10 minutes into a title like Honkai: Star Rail. This is a stark contrast to the marketed 25℃ and up to 10 hours straight of smooth gameplay.

Although, the experience was still enjoyable with several wins and MVP runs in Call of Duty Mobile. It only means the F variant remains a more camera-centric phone rather than an a hard-hitting all-arounder.

As with other devices, the 7000mAh battery with 80W SUPERVOOC is a strong suit. You’re fueled from dawn ’til dusk, with much to spare. Recharging takes a breeze, too.

Display

The OPPO Reno15 F has a 6.57-inch 120Hz display, with a 92.8% screen-to-body ratio. At least, that allows you to focus on content on the screen.

Content leans more towards the cooler tone, so you’ll have to adjust it manually if you want a warmer or more vivid look.

The 397ppi pixel density is fine to ensure sharper visuals, while the 1400 nits peak brightness is helpful outdoors.

Camera

The device’s 50MP main camera captures decent quality. The color science leans on being natural anew, without being too dull nor washed out. You can pull off smooth portraits too.

I hardly used the phone for stills as I focused on videos, but here are some samples, on the occasions I was able to take the handset with me:

The 50MP front camera is an intriguing add-on, as it is capable of up to 4K video and a wide 100° field of view.

What this does is it essentially removes the need to flip your phone for the popular “0.5” shots. And the quality doesn’t get compromised given the pixel count.

Here are some selfies from different focal lengths:

To its credit, filming with the back camera at 60fps does look and feel smooth, although it can be improved.

Same with the front camera; and the zoom range can be switched from 0.6 to 2x without cutting the recording.

Although, it’s still best to use a selfie stick or small tripod if you’re just after talking head videos.

Speaking of which, here are a few I’ve made with just this device:

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But for travel and on-the-go captures, as OPPO markets for the series in general, even the Reno15 F can cover a lot of background along with your or your groups’ faces.

Make no mistake, there are some useful AI editing features here. In particular, AI Portrait Glow gives your raw capture an effect to make it look it was taken with flash.

I do not recall the device heating up as well when taking many photos or videos, so you can say it’s more optimized for that task rather than gaming.

Connectivity issues

Meanwhile, AI LinkBoost 3.0, as in the case of the OPPO A6 Pro, doesn’t seem to punch above its weight either.

Once, I also played Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and the session opened to a jittery start despite being on Wi-Fi and having a stable connection. I don’t know what triggered this.

Design, feel

We got the Aurora Blue variant which does kind of resemble the northern lights when you tilt the phone a certain way and when light hits its back panel.

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The cursive “Reno” on the large, protruding camera island gives it more style.

However, it’s all just aesthetics. On the downside, the phone is all sorts of slippery.

I couldn’t hold it properly without think of it slipping away from my hands; nor could I put it on my lap with confidence.

So I guess it’s good that it has structural integrity and waterproofing, because you’ll need that.

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The 6.57-inch body does have a good balance between being too compact and too large, like ultras and pro maxes.

It has a squarish body and has already adapted to the premium, aluminum frame look from the sides.

Is this your GadgetMatch?

Sadly, the OPPO Reno15 F 5G is a Swipe Left unlike its bigger, more capable siblings. There are plenty of plus points for the camera package but take that away, and I don’t see much difference between the Reno15 F and something like the A6 Pro.

Granted, the asking price of this phone will drop significantly in a few months. But throw in a little more, and you’ve got a legitimate mid-ranger that’s more on the premium side rather than the cheap end of the spectrum.