Oppo R5

World’s slimmest smartphone

By Anca Gagiuc on Nov 21, 2014 in Technology

Chinese tech manufacturer Oppo Electronics presented their latest products just in time for the winter holidays, including two new phones, the N3 and the R5.

The N3 will most likely be attractive to photography fans, considering the 16 megapixel camera mounted on a 206 degree rotating motorized mount; the R5 might catch the eye of the fashion conscious smartphone buyer. And something else:

Oppo R5 steals its name from Gionee’s Elife S5.1 as the world’s slimmest smartphone by flaunting its 4.85mm thick steel body. How much has affected the device’s slim silhouette its specifications? – Down to a more than competent device, but not quite in the “flagship” spectrum.

The smartphone sports the 64-bit Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor running at 1.5GHz next to an Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage (no, no microSD expansion available). The battery is rather small (not surprisingly) at 2,000mAh, but it charges quickly due to the VOOC mini Rapid Charge tech support – the device can go from zero to over 75 percent in just 30 minutes. The 5.2-inch display is Full HD AMOLED (1920 x1080), 423 PPI. The frame of the phone is made of 3D-welded hand-polished aluminum alloy, and without too much width to match the lack of depth, the weight is down to 155g.

The stunning Oppo R5 sees through a 13-megapixel Sony Exmor main camera and a 5-megapixel front-facing 83 degree wide angle front camera with f/2.0 for both. Scene modes feature Ultra-HD, Colorful Night, Slow Shutter, Expert Mode, Beautify, HDR, Panorama, Audio Photo, GIF, Double Exposure, Raw, Super Macro, and After Focus. Other features include 4K video at 40fps, 1080p video at 60fps, and 720p slow motion video at 120fps. The issue of camera optics has been dealt with by Oppo the same way Apple has on the iPhone 6 – the lens bulges out of the main frame and is not counted in the handset’s thickness.

This thickness has a downside to it – 4.85mm is too slim to fit in a headphone jack (3.5mm), you’ll need to use the bundled micro-USB adapter or Bluetooth

The software that’s driving the Chinese device is Color OS 2.0 based on Android 4.4. Some of its features include the customized drawing on the display: drawing a “V” will turn on the flashlight, drawing a circle will launch the camera, or drawing a “W” will launch the WeChat.

The device is scheduled to hit the global market in December and will come in silver and gold at the off-contract price of $499. Looking back at the #bendgate issue of the slim iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, will Oppo R5 bend?