“It is the thinnest smartphone in the world,” says Oppo. That was indeed a bold claim by the smartphone manufacturer from China but not that it come without any merit. With a thickness of only 4.85mm, the Oppo R5 is really thin but of course, there are more to Oppo R5 rather than being such a thin device.
First and foremost, let’s look at the internal hardware that Oppo has included into the R5. Weighing at around 155 grams, the processing power for the device is provided by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 MSM8939 8-core processor which features two clusters of ARM Cortex A53 quad-core CPU with one of them is designed for high performance and another for low power operations.
As for clock speed, the high performance quad-core cluster runs at 1.5GHz while the low power operations cluster is able to go up to 1GHz. In certain cases, all eight CPU cores might be activated but then again, there are not many apps out there that are actually optimized for multi-core CPU; let alone require that much CPU cores to operate.
Meanwhile, the Snapdragon 615 MSM8939 also features an Adreno 405 GPU. Alongside the processor, the R5 is also equipped with a 5.2-inch full HD AMOLED display that has a pixel density of 423ppi; as well as 2GB of RAM and 16GB worth of internal storage.
In terms of photography, Oppo has included a Sony Exmor IMX214 13-megapixels sensor into the rear camera of R5 together with a F2.0 lens and single LED flash. At the same time, there is also a 5-megapixels sensor and F2.0 wide angle lens on the front camera of R5. Just like the Oppo N3, the image processing on both of these cameras are handled by Oppo’s own Pure Image 2.0 Plus technology.
Here are some image samples from the demo unit that we tested at the recent launch event of R5 in Singapore but do note that these images might not represent the final outcome of the retail unit.
To achieve such a thin physical structure, it is obvious that certain features need to be sacrificed by Oppo. One of them is the 3.5mm audio jack although the company did include a USB-to-3.5mm adaptor to address this particular issue. Additionally, there is no microSD card slot on the device as well.
Not to forget, the R5 comes with a 2000mAh battery which is rather small by today’s standard and considering that the device itself is an octa-core LTE full HD smartphone. Good thing though that R5 supports Oppo’s VOOC fast charging technology which I believe is something that future R5 owners would find very useful.
At the global launch event for R5, Oppo has also showcased an optional accessory for the smartphone called O-Music. The tiny Bluetooth-based device allows users to listen and control the songs that they have saved into the R5 which is rather thoughtful since R5 does not come with an audio port although it looked rather similar to Apple iPod Shuffle 4th generation. However, we were informed that Oppo has yet to determine the pricing or release date for it just yet.
From our brief time with the R5 during it unveiling in Singapore last October, the device does seemed to have a good and sturdy built quality. We didn’t found any performance or physical issues within the demo unit that we briefly tested at the event although we reckoned that the R5 might be comfortable to hold for some users out there due to its rather squarish physique.
Malaysian consumers don’t have to wait long to see R5 in our shores though as it is expected to be released in our market sometime between end of November and early December. Together with an expected price tag of RM 1598, it will be made available in silver and gold colour schemes.
To learn more about the device, head on to global.oppo.com.
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