Earlier this month, Oppo unveiled the F19 Pro series in India. The new lineup included the Oppo F19 Pro and F19 Pro+. However, today’s review will focus on the 5G F19 Pro+, but if you want to take a look at the F19 Pro, go ahead, and click the link.
The Oppo F19 Pro+ brings all the good aspects of the vanilla F19 Pro in a 5G flavour. So, without any further delays, let’s take an in-depth look at the Oppo F19 Pro+ 5G.
Design and Build
The Oppo F19 Pro+ features a similar plastic construction as the Oppo F19 Pro (Review). The back panel boasts a frosted glass-like finish with a matte finish that resists fingerprint smudges. Unlike the matte back on the F19 Pro, this one is quite smooth, while the dual-tone back looks good. The phone is quite slim, a little under 8mm thick, and weighs 173 grams.
The camera module slightly protrudes but it tends to blend into the design. Additionally, the curved edges make it easier to grip the phone. The plastic frame has a glossy finish which can attract some fingerprints, but apart from that, the phone looks really good. In terms of button placement, there is a SIM tray and volume rocker on the left and a power button on the left. On the bottom, you get a headphone jack, a speaker grille, and a USB Type-C port.
Display
For the display, the F19 Pro Plus opts for a 6.43-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED panel that is protected by Gorilla Glass 5. The screen’s Widevine L1 support will enable you to watch HDR content on video streaming platforms.
The screen features excellent viewing angles and colour accuracy, we’d give the display top marks in the segment. The display also gets pretty bright and boasts a 409ppi pixel density. The biggest drawback of the screen is the fact that it loses out on the high-refresh-rate.
Performance
For performance, the Oppo F19 Pro+ opts for a 5G MediaTek Dimensity 800U SoC paired with 8GB of RAM. The MediaTek chipset is pretty capable of handling multitasking with little effort. It also handles games well, although the Snapdragon 765G and Snapdragon 750G might be slightly faster. In Geekbench, the chip managed a multi-core score of 1596 points and a single-core score of 583 points.
In AnTuTu, the Oppo F19 Pro+ managed an overall score of 313931 points. The MediaTek Dimensity 800U can also handle games pretty well, Call of Duty: Mobile and Dungeon Hunter 5 ran smoothly without much lag.
It is worth noting that the MediaTek chip does have some limitations. For example, Call of Duty: Mobile was limited to ‘Medium’ settings, which doesn’t give you the best graphics. However, the phone didn’t get too hot and frame rate drops weren’t much of an issue. It is worth noting that the chip also enables 5G connectivity, which offers more utility in the long run, assuming we get 5G in the near future. My overall impression of performance on the F19 Pro+ 5G was satisfactory, but not impressive.
Camera
On the back of the phone, sits a quad-camera setup, similar to the one found on the F19 Pro. The setup includes a 48 MP, f/1.7 primary sensor, 8 MP ultrawide lens, a 2 MP macro unit, and a 2 MP mono camera. On the front, the hole cutout notch houses a 16 MP selfie camera.
The 48 MP camera can record video in 4K or 1080p resolution at 30fps, while the front camera is limited to 1080p video at 30fps. The phone also supports different modes including AI Color Portrait Video, Dual-View Video, and Dynamic Bokeh to name a few.
The primary sensor on the F19 Pro+ captures decent photos, irrespective of the lighting conditions, although it tends to excel in bright outdoor light.
The sensor captures a good amount of detail with little to no noise or distortion. Colours are well represented for the most part but can turn out a bit too punchy at times. Additionally, photos show good dynamic range with detailed shadows. Low light photography is also good, with the camera’s ability to correct exposure, increase sharpness, and reduce noise. The ultrawide camera is useful for getting good landscape shots, but images tend to fall apart in complex or low lighting scenes.
The macro camera here is a hit and a miss, getting good shots depends on how steady the subject is and the light. And even then, it doesn’t always get things right. Portrait mode works well for the most part and there’s also an AI Color Portrait feature that turns the background black and white while leaving the subject in colour.
Selfies look pretty good in outdoor light with realistic colours and a good amount of sharpness, so long as you don’t zoom in. There was some aggressive softening going on with the AI beauty mode, but apart from that, the selfie camera did a decent job in well-lit scenes.
The F19 Pro+ can also capture videos in 4K resolution with well-represented colours and nice details. You also get a ton of different video modes that makes the experience more fun. You also get an ultra-steady mode, but it only works on 1080p resolution. The Oppo F19 Pro Plus’ ultrawide camera can also record 1080p video at 30fps. Vloggers will appreciate the Dual Video mode that enables video capture on both the front and rear cameras simultaneously.
Oppo’s AI highlight video feature is another great addition, which improves low light video recording and does a good job of enabling HDR in daylight depending on the requirement. Overall, the F19 Pro Plus’ camera brings a good balance of hardware, software, and features to make the camera experience one of the best in the segment.
Battery
The F19 Pro+ packs a 4310 mAh battery is far from the biggest in the segment but passes the all-day battery life test. I got a full day of use with 15 percent of battery life going into the next day, while gaming for around an hour. The charging here is updated to 50W, which can fully power up the phone in just under an hour. I’d say overall charging speed is excellent, while battery life is just good, it could be better but is still good enough.
Software
The Oppo F19 Pro+ runs Android 11 based on ColorOS 11.1 out-of-the-box. ColorOS is not the cleanest of software skins, there’s a fair bit of pre-installed in-house and third-party apps, some of which can be uninstalled. Even so, ColorOS has come a long way, the overall user interface feels fluid and responsive. There’s a ton of customisation options, a game mode, an always-on display, and more.
Sure, ColorOS can do with some cleaning up, but the user experience is excellent to the point where it can be rated as one of the top third-party software skins for Android.
Verdict
The Oppo F19 Pro+ 5G is a formidable handset that performs well and looks great. What you get is a good mid-range smartphone with decent cameras, a bright and vibrant display, solid battery life backed by fast charging, a reliable yet clean interface, and a sleek design. I even found the performance of the F19 Pro+ to be well-above-average, while 5G certainly doesn’t hurt. If the phone had one big caveat, it is the lack of a high-refresh-rate panel, but other than that the F19 Pro+ gets most things right. The phone kind of lacks a niche, but does above-average on all fronts
