Launched: OPPO’s R9, R9 Plus feature 16MP selfie cams & more


OPPO’s much leaked R9 and R9 Plus have gone official, and they’re clearly targeting a specific set of buyers.

Buyers that indulge in taking self portraits, or as the modern dictionary would have it, selfies. This is for the phones both have rather high-res 16 mega-pixel cameras on the front. In retrospect, it is the OPPO F1 that the company calls its ‘selfie expert’!

Let’s take a look at both these phones.

OPPO R9

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The OPPO R9 comes with the new MediaTek Helio P10 that has found its way into quite a few phones already, including the freshly leaked Gionee S8. With that, the OPPO R9 has a wholesome 4GB of RAM and 64GB of ROM, which should be plenty for a while at least.

If for some reason you run out of space, you can use the second slot on the hybrid SIM tray to expand storage. Of course, you can’t have the cake and eat it too; so it’s either dual SIM or expandable storage.

Here’s where it gets even more interesting: the front camera of the OPPO R9 boasts a resolution of 16 mega-pixel, while the ‘main’ rear camera sits at an austerely modest 13 mega-pixel. Not just that, the front sensor also has a wider aperture at f/2.0 compared to the rear’s f/2.2.

Other specifications of the R9 include a 5.5-inch AMOLED display with a 1920 x 1080p resolution, a 2850mAh batter, and dimensions of 151.8 x 74.3 x 6.6mm with claimed side bezels of 1.66mm.

OPPO R9 Plus

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The larger sibling of the R9, the R9 Plus has a slightly larger screen, but one that sits in the center of the ‘phablet’ category of smartphones – 6-inches with the same 1920 x 1080p resolution across the AMOLED panel.

Read Also:  Oppo A1 Pro arrives with Curved OLED screen and 108MP camera

The Helio P10 is swapped for a presumably more powerful Snapdragon 652 octa-core, while the 4GB of RAM remains. In addition to the base 64GB version, OPPO are also offering the R9 Plus in 128GB. If, for some reason, even that isn’t enough (we’d like to know what you do with your phone, in that case), you can expand storage via the hybrid slot.

To fuel the more intensive hardware and larger screen, the R9 Plus owns a larger, beefier 4120mAh battery. The cameras in this case are 16 mega-pixel on either side of the phone, which sounds much more traditional.

Fingerprint Sensors

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Both phones feature fingerprint sensors on the home button. It isn’t clear if the home button is ‘clickable’ or not yet, but the rounded square home button with a fingerprint sensor on it is highly reminiscent of recent Meizu phones, including the Metal and the MX5.

Pricing: Both Phones

The R9 gets a 2799 Yuan ($430) price tag, which people who’ve followed OPPO through the years would say is quite decent pricing. On the other hand, the larger sibling is 3299 Yuan ($510) for the 64GB version.

Both phones will be made available in China starting 12 April.

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27 Comments

  1. Rohith Iyer
    March 17, 2016

    For such pricing, we can get better phones, OPPO will never learn its pricing strategy

    • benoita74
      March 17, 2016

      And the 60% increase in sales they got in 2015 with the R7 won’t help that for sure :/
      Kind of a shame that phones in China are such a status symbol that you can sell more phones by making them more expensive :/

  2. Toby
    March 17, 2016

    LOL @ the pricing. 😀

  3. E8hffff
    March 17, 2016

    Defintely good that the front camera is getting attention.

    • balcobomber25
      March 17, 2016

      It;s overkill.

      • Joel Adames
        March 17, 2016

        They want to make sure its dead… Then again they forgot the dual tone flash like HTC did in their desire EYE phone.

  4. TheOracle
    March 17, 2016

    Why do these companies insist on a hybrid sim slot? Some of us need a dedicated slot because we use dual-sims.

    As for the price, there are definitely better choices out there.

    • BotondKisKovacs
      March 17, 2016

      Why would a hybrid slot stop you from using it exclusively as a dual-sim slot? I think this is one of the best innovations for a while because it makes the phones appealing to everybody who ever complained that there is no dual-sim or there is no SD support.
      On the price I agree though, it’s way too expensive!

      • TheOracle
        March 17, 2016

        Because I want expandable storage and dual-sim like I have on my Zenfone 2. Simple. As it stands now the HTC One X9 and Huawei 5X are looking like one of the few newer phones with a dedicated sd slot that I’d consider.

  5. Danny
    March 17, 2016

    Nice phone, good specs but for that price + a little extra I buy a S6/S7, etc…

    • Oz
      March 19, 2016

      S6/S7 is almost twice as expensive!

      • Danny
        March 20, 2016

        LOL, what? You can get an S6 for 450€ and an S6 Edge for 520€ The price of this one is 510… don’t know how you are doing your multiplication but that is less than 10% difference for a phone that actually has a warranty anywhere in the world vs having to send it back to china. I buy Chinese phones when they do cost less than half with similar specs, this is not the case.

  6. balcobomber25
    March 17, 2016

    Super selfies!

  7. afghanPower
    March 17, 2016

    In my experience almost all Chinese phones have beautify functions in their front camera software. Wouldn’t a lower resolution be beneficial for a prettier (more plasticy) face? More px-s could possible make you take selfies that actually portray how you look. ??

  8. Peleg M
    March 17, 2016

    Disappointed. Definitely not the specs I wanted nor the price I had in my mind. Looks like Vivo’s my next ?

  9. Millet Air Purifier (Mi-Fan)
    March 17, 2016

    Love the design, thats what the mi5 shoul’ve looked like (at least the front part)

    • Joel Adames
      March 17, 2016

      That I do have to agree?

    • Giulio Dainese
      March 17, 2016

      sooooo.. like a meizu pro 5?

  10. Agil Sulistyo
    March 17, 2016

    I was fainted after look at the price,
    Why oppo….. Why your price is pretty damn high…..

  11. Joel Adames
    March 17, 2016

    Sooo expensive… What kind of support will they be giving ??? In order to charge that premium? In any case (not that I want an elep. P9000) does a dual 16 mpx and some more memory justifies the 230 solar increase over a meizu/xiaomi/htc ???

    Any how, looks like what the Mi5 should have looked like IMHO.

  12. Cpaun
    March 17, 2016

    Next flagship Oppo please. Find 9. Stop with the midrangers. Do these phones have the praised sensor stabilization?

  13. roni24
    March 17, 2016

    430$, it must be SD820
    haha, Oppssss, its Oppo, pay more get less

    • roni24
      March 17, 2016

      Xiaomi Mi5 costs 400$

    • Agil Sulistyo
      March 18, 2016

      Lol.. Thats oppo bro.. Amazing but crazy price. Wait for 1 year til next generation, maybe that price can be friendly..

  14. March 19, 2016

    You can buy the Meizu Pro 5 for less, a much superior phone, especially with regard to battery life – a good two days on average.

  15. sachi
    March 20, 2016

    Oppo has been very aggressive in promoting its product in India, I hope it maintain its stay in India for long http://govtjobster.com/