Hands-On

OPPO F7 hands-on: A stylish selfie phone

From AI selfies to a stylish design

Published

April 8, 2018

Daniel Morial

The successor of OPPO’s main offering is finally in our hands.

The F5 from last year introduced the advantages of artificial intelligence when it comes to taking selfies and 18:9 displays on midrange OPPO phones. As expected, their latest device uses the foundations of the F5 and takes forward steps to make it a worthy successor.

Here’s our hands-on with the OPPO F7.

Let’s start with the display. OPPO calls the 6.23-inch 19:9 display “Super Full Screen” and it’s a major upgrade from the F5. The panel still has a Full HD+ resolution, but the bezels are now slimmer.

In order to achieve this though, OPPO resorted to having a notch that houses the selfie camera, a couple of sensors, and an earpiece. In return, you get an immersive display similar to the iPhone X’s. OPPO claims to have an 88 percent screen-to-body ratio.

Speaking of the body, the F7 sports a new design that I find more appealing than its predecessor. The F5’s matte metallic-looking finish on its unibody back made the phone look utilitarian, with the exclusion of the red model, of course. OPPO redesigned the look and feel of their new F series release by giving it a glossy finish.

The F7 has an acrylic back and new color options. I have the Moonlight Silver here, and if you look closely, there’s a pattern beneath the acrylic that interplays with light.

The OPPO F7 feels more squarish in hand with its sharp edges; gone are the curves! Don’t fret, the chrome-like frame of the phone adds comfort when handling, although I find it to be a bit slippery.

The physical buttons on the F7 are found on both sides: the power/lock button on the right and the volume rocker on the left. The buttons have the same feel as the frame with its chrome-like coating but they’re tactile and responsive.

On top of the phone is the noise-canceling microphone while the bottom side has the loudspeaker, micro-USB port, primary microphone, and 3.5mm audio port.

Specs-wise, the F7 has performance upgrades including the latest MediaTek Helio P60 processor. The new Helio P60 brings in the Mali-G72 MP3 graphics which should please the mobile gaming enthusiasts. 4GB memory will be able to handle multitasking well and 64GB of internal storage is more than enough to store big apps and files. If that ain’t enough, the dedicated microSD card slot is ready to add up to 256GB of storage.

The F7 runs the latest Android 8.1 Oreo skinned with the newest ColorOS 5.0. The UI is still pretty much like iOS but there are some tweaks made to accommodate the display notch. For instance, the control panel is now accessed by swiping down from the top instead at the bottom and there are new swipe-up gesture layouts for UI navigation. The icons are also updated but the rest of ColorOS 5.0 is pretty much the same.

Let’s now dive into the cameras. As a selfie phone, the F7 now has a whopping 25-megapixel front-facing camera with a bright f/2.0 lens — that’s 5 megapixels more than its predecessor. The upgraded selfie sensor is complemented by an updated camera launcher to complete the deal.

As expected, the F7 with its AI Beauty Technology 2.0 can capture great selfies. AI-powered selfies is a step up from your typical photo filters. It recognizes and learns your facial features as you take more photos.

Here’s a sample I took with and without the beauty mode:

And here are more AI Beauty Mode samples with the GadgetMatch team:

There are also new AR Stickers available right in the camera app which add cuteness to your selfies.

As for the rear camera, it’s a 16-megapixel f/1.8 shooter paired with a single LED flash. No dual camera setup for the F series for now, unlike its R series cousin. AI is also embedded in the rear camera which aids in scene recognition. It can identify 16 different scenes and objects in real-time. I’ll try this out in the coming days and will update with more photo samples using the rear camera.

Before we wrap things up, let’s not forget about the non-removable 3400mAh battery and the speedy fingerprint scanner positioned at the back of the phone. Face unlock is also available and it works like a charm, even in dim-lighted environments. How secure is it? We’ll find out more as we spend more time with the F7.

The OPPO F7 is already available in India for INR 21,990 (US$ 340), while in the Philippines it’ll retail for PhP 17,990 (US$ 345). Pre-orders start on April 12 and will be available in stores on April 21.

Hands-On

Final Cut Pro for iPad Hands-on: Game Changer!

But is it worth the subscription?

Published

May 25, 2023

GadgetMatch

Ever since Apple launched iPads running the ever-powerful Silicon chips like on the M1 and M2 MacBook Pros, many have wondered when will Apple put macOS onto the iPad.

While we don’t have anything like that until today, the closest thing we can have is the Final Cut Pro made specifically for the iPads.

Now, it’s finally available for download on the iPad App Store.

Starting at US$ 4.99 per month and US$ 49 annually, is it actually worth the subscription?

In this video we’ll show you all the features and tools exclusive to the new and game-changing Final Cut Pro for iPad!

Gaming

ROG Ally Hands-On: Light, white, ready to fight

Handheld gaming goodness

Published

May 11, 2023

Rodneil Quiteles

The ROG Ally is now official. ASUS’s handheld PC gaming console has been a hot topic for gamers leading up to its launch. We’ve had the privilege to try the ROG Ally for a little less than a day and here’s what we think of it so far.

But first, Unboxing!

Inside the box are:

ROG Ally
65W PD Adapter
Proof of purchase, user guide, and warranty
Cardboard stand

Light, white, ready to fight

The ROG Ally tips the scales at 608g. Seems hefty but ASUS did a good job with weight distribution that you don’t really feel it as much. It certainly feels like something you can use for a couple of hours without feeling strain on your hands.

The reason why it’s white is because of the polycarbonate material that they used which is naturally white. ASUS opted not to paint over it to not put on any more unnecessary weight.

The sides curve to the edges to make it easy to hold. You’ll have no trouble reaching the left and right sticks, directional pad, and face buttons. The triggers are also easy to reach but it feels a little tougher to get to the shoulder buttons. Perhaps, it just takes some getting used to.

You also have extra triggers at the bottom of the device. These are also easy to reach and can be assigned any function based on whatever you’re playing.

As for the buttons themselves, they feel durable and tactile. I could use a little bit more click on the shoulders, but overall, have no complaints.

Windows + Armoury Crate SE

The true pain point of this thing is how Windows 11 is not at all optimized for this kind of device. Setting up and signing in to your accounts to get to your games can get a little bit cumbersome.

ASUS’ Armoury Crate software tries to help out with this, but even its “Desktop Mode” for its controllers doesn’t work as well as we hope. Thankfully, the gorgeous 1080p display is touchscreen making it a little easier to navigate the tiny Windows screen that you have to work with.

Microsoft is reportedly already working on a version of Windows that supports this particular form factor. Anyone trying the ROG Ally right now will tell you that it can’t come soon enough.

The sooner they can get something like Steam’s Big Picture mode running, the better for every manufacturer looking into making this kind of device.

All your games, all the time

Speaking of Steam, the ROG Ally does deliver on the promise of making all of your PC games available to you all the time. When you fire it up, Armoury Crate launches right away. From there, you can access both Steam and the Xbox Game Pass Apps right away.

Like Windows, launching and moving around the Xbox Game Pass app isn’t intuitive. Microsoft really has their work cutout for them in developing a Windows Handheld mode.

What’s interesting is that launching Steam takes you directly to Steam Deck mode. In fact, the app thinks you’re using a Steam Deck, even showing ‘Verified’ tags for games that have been tested to work well on Valve’s own handheld console.

In our limited time so far, we’ve played Dragon Ball FighterZ and NBA 2K22 on Steam. On Xbox Game Pass, we tried Hi-Fi Rush and Doom Eternal. That’s a couple of hours jumping through four games, but all of them ran well. There was no noticeable screen tearing or hiccups. That’s a testament to both the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme Chip as well as the multiple display tech meant to help run games smoothly.

We’ll have more detailed tests on the review.

Oh and the front-firing speakers sound great. So good that I didn’t mind watching the “No Return” fancam of LE SSERAFIM Chaewon on it. 🫶🏼

#ROGAlly
Expectation: Gaming.
Reality: Chaewon Fancam. pic.twitter.com/0hJh5WKDcF

— rodneil (@rodneilquiteles) May 10, 2023

ROG Ally Specs

Some of it has been leaked, but here’s the actual, official specs of the ROG Ally.

Model	RC71L
CPU	AMD Ryzen™ Z1 Processor 4nm Zen 4/ 6 cores & 12 threads 22M cache CPU Clock: up to 4.90 GHz AMD Ryzen™ Z1 Extreme Processor 4nm Zen 4/ 8 core & 16 threads 24M cache CPU Clock: up to 5.10 Ghz TDP: 9 – 30 watts
GPU	With AMD Ryzen™ Z1 Config: AMD Radeon™ Graphics RDNA 3 & 4G RAM capacity/ 2.8 Tflops 4 CU GPU clock: 2.5GHz With AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme Config: AMD Radeon™ Graphics RDNA3 & 4G RAM capacity / 8.6 TFlops 12 CU GPU Clock: 2.7GHz
Panel	Full HD (1920 x 1080), 120 Hz / 7 ms eDP1.4b, 500 nits, IPS-panel, 100% sRGB, FreeSync™ Premium, Gorilla® Glass Victus™ and Gorilla® Glass DXC, 10-point Touchscreen Gyro support
Memory	16GB (LPDDR5 6400Mhz) dual channel LPDDR5 8GBx2 on board memory
Audio	2 x 1W speakers with smart amp technology, Dolby Atmos®, Hi-Res Audio, AI Noise Cancellation
Wi-Fi / Bluetooth	WiFi 6E (802.11ax) / Bluetooth® v5.2
Storage	M.2 NVMe 2230 Gen4x4 SSD 256GB (for Z1 config) 512GB (for Z1 Extreme config) +SD card slot UHS-2
I/O PORT	ROG XG Mobile interface (8PCI express lanes) and USB Type-C combo port (with USB 3.2 Gen2, DP 1.4 support) — (1x) 3.5mm Audio jack — (1x) Micro SD slot (UHS-II, Micro SD 4.0) — (1x)
Battery	40Wh
Adapter	65W PD adapter, supports pass through charging
Dimensions	280.44 * 111.18 * 21.22 mm 608g

Price and availability

The ROG Ally Z1 Extreme retails for US$ 699. The ROG Ally Z1 variant retails for US$ 599. Pre-orders begin on May 11. It will be available for sale worldwide on June 13, 2023.