OPPO is one of the world\u2019s leading smartphone brands\u2026 apparently. I had never heard of it, largely because I\u2019ve been civil-partnered with Sony devices for the better part of the last decade.<\/p>\n

I love the R15 Pro. It\u2019s just not my One True Phone.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

So, the good stuff. You want a decent battery life. The R15 won\u2019t run any marathons, but doesn\u2019t haemorrhage power like some other phones on the market. I work in communications and PR, so my phone is almost permanently doing things, and I was comfortably getting through the day with about 5-15% battery by the time I went to charge before bed. Also, the charge is insanely fast, getting me up to 50-80% reliably within about 45 minutes of plugging it in; excellent for sneaking a charge over the workday.<\/p>\n

The camera is so good it\u2019s not even funny. Aside from taking an almost unreasonable number of pet pics, some of which are below, I also started taking selfies just to play with the \u2018Beauty\u2019 filter. This wonderfully bizarre feature makes you look like \u2018You on a Good Day\u2019 at setting 1, all the way up to what my girlfriend described as \u2018Aryan Real-Doll\u2019 at level 6. As a 29-year-old man who occasionally breaks out in the skin of a 15-year-old, and which I admit I am quite self-conscious about, this genuinely did boost my confidence around selfies.<\/p>\n

I’m legitimately afraid to do these full size, but look at these cuties and my beautiful skin and tell me it’s not a damn fine camera:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Video playback lets the side down a bit, as the bezel-free design makes the notch at the top of the screen excruciatingly irritating; it\u2019s basically a black chunk missing from your entertainment. That in itself can be the drawback of the notch design for people like me, for all the practicalities of having a spot to pop notification icons and such, the notch still finds itself creating the black void with video content. The screen is excellent, other than that, although it was a bit overzealous on the whole adaptive lighting thing, requiring extra steps to use the phone while that was active; I stopped bothering, instead choosing to dazzle myself in the dark.<\/p>\n

A weird one for me, but also important, is that it never got hot. Like, never. I was running Spotify and Twitter and the camera all at once for ten minutes at a time, and the R15 Pro never even got warm. That, as someone who has almost burned his beard off from a phone call, is a big deal.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The gesture features are fantastic; drawing a circle on the screen to open the camera, or a V to turn on the flashlight from a slept screen, is inspired. No more blindly groping in the dark for me; now I can grope with full visibility.<\/p>\n

\u2026 OK, that was a bad example.<\/p>\n

The R15 Pro themes are something that will appeal to any iPhone users who want to switch to Android, or Android users who miss the feel of an iPhone. The level of customisation is staggering, and the whole experience with some themes has a distinctly iPhone feel to it, which took me by surprise. To be honest, it took me a few tries before I found something I actually liked instead of just tolerated, but nonetheless there\u2019s definitely a market for this kind of smartphone experience.<\/p>\n

Aside from anything else, the thing is god damn beautiful. The handset I was sent has a gorgeous Ruby Red gradient on the back, and I\u2019ve seen the Cosmic Purple look just as impressive. The clear gel case that came with it lets you show it off without risk of damage, although without a screen protector you\u2019re just tempting fate.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

My only real issue with the R15 Pro was, oddly, the Bluetooth. I tried it with my SONY WH-1000XM2s, my TREKZ Titanium, my Pebble 2, and the Boom 3, and all of them had the same issue of dropping connection unless the phone was completely static and within 6 inches of the output. It is entirely possible that my review unit had a factory fault, of course, and the supplied earbuds are among the best I’ve ever had come with a phone. But if you (like me) rely heavily on Bluetooth for your smartphone functionality, you’re not going to have a good time. This is especially odd, as the other connectivity was great, with the NFC helping me with everything from Snapper to… well, Snapper is the only NFC I use. But damned if it wasn’t reliable!<\/p>\n

Even so, this is a phone that I used for a couple of weeks, and would be happy to use for a couple of years, even with the sheer size of the thing. I know I\u2019m an oddity when it comes to this, but I\u2019m really not a fan of the \u2018phablet\u2019 scenario, and a 6.28 inch screen is about 1.28 more inches than I need (insert as many jokes as you like in here). However, you simply cannot beat the price here, and the quality you get for the money can\u2019t be beaten.<\/p>\n

If you like absurdly large devices that have clearly stopped pretending to be phones, the OPPO R15 Pro delivers a customisable, satisfying experience, and one I can easily recommend. Sure, it\u2019s a little more money than you\u2019d expect from an OPPO (around $899), but way less than a similarly performing iPhone.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Review’s over but, if you\u2019re one of those people that obsesses over tech specs (yeah, I see you), here\u2019s some overload on the details:<\/p>\n

Specifications<\/em><\/strong>
\nSpecifications OPPO R15 OPPO R15 Pro<\/em><\/p>\n

Dimensions<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

156.5mm*75.2mm*8.0mm<\/em>
\n180g<\/em><\/p>\n

Screen<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

6.28 inch 2280×1080, 401ppi, OLED,<\/em>
\n60000:1<\/em>
\nScreen body ratio:89%<\/em><\/p>\n

Camera<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

CMOS, IMX519<\/em>
\nFront: 20MP, f\/2.0<\/em>
\nRear: 16MP+ 20MP, f\/1.75+f\/1.75<\/em>
\nAI Recognition, AI Beautification, AR<\/em>
\nstickers, Sensor-HDR, PDAF<\/em><\/p>\n

Core Hardware<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 660<\/em>
\nCPU: 2.2GHz, Octa-core, 64bit<\/em>
\nGPU: Adreno 512<\/em>
\nRAM: 6GB<\/em>
\nROM: 128GB<\/em>
\nExpandable Storage:256GB<\/em>
\nBAT: 3430mAh (type-value)<\/em><\/p>\n

Networks<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(depending on markets)<\/em>
\n4G+\/4G: TD-LTE, LTE FDD;<\/em>
\n3G: WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, CDMA2000;<\/em>
\n2G: CDMA<\/em><\/p>\n

Connection<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

WLAN 2.4G \/ WLAN 5.1G \/ WLAN<\/em>
\n5.8G \/ WLAN Display<\/em>
\nBluetooth 5.0<\/em>
\nNFC<\/em><\/p>\n

Colour<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Cosmic Purple, Ruby Red<\/em>
\n(3D glass)<\/em><\/p>\n

Operating System<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

ColorOS 5.0 (Android 8.1)<\/em><\/p>\n

Others<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fingerprint Reader: Back;<\/em>
\nFast Charge: VOOC Flash Charge;<\/em>
\nMicro USB, OTG; 3.5mm, Dual Mic Noise-reduction;<\/em>
\nSensors: Magnetic sensor, Light sensor, Distance sensor, Gyroscope,<\/em>
\nGravity, E-Compass;<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OPP-Oh my<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":12398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[203,220],"tags":[241,185,238,96],"yoast_head":"\n