Oppo introduced the F21 Pro series a few days ago, including 4G and 5G models. Both smartphones are available in Cosmic Black, but you also have the option of purchasing the 4G version in the Sunset Orange color and the 5G variant in the Rainbow Spectrum color. We had the chance to spend some time with the Oppo F21 Pro 4G’s Sunset Orange model, so here are our first impressions.
The Oppo F21 Pro comes in a blue colored box, including a protective case, a SIM eject tool, a USB-C cable, a 33W adapter and the usual paperwork.
The Oppo F21 Pro packs a 6.4 “FullHD + AMOLED screen with a 90 Hz refresh rate, 180 Hz touch sample rate and 600 nit peak brightness. It is protected by Gorilla Glass 5 and has an underlying fingerprint reader, which we found to be fast and accurate in the short time we spent with the smartphone.
The panel also has a hole in the upper left corner for the selfie camera. It uses a 32MP Sony IMX709 RGBW sensor which is one of the smartphone’s biggest highlights and is the same sensor we have on the more expensive Reno7 Pro 5G.
The F21 Pro is Widevine L1 certified, which means it can stream 1080p video on OTT apps, including Amazon Prime Video. The smartphone also supports HDR10 and HLG codecs, but is unable to play HDR videos on YouTube. Furthermore, Oppo’s implementation of the screen refresh rate on the F21 Pro is rather odd.
The smartphone has two refresh rate options under the Settings > Screen refresh rate menu – High and Standard. The former raises the refresh rate to 90Hz when you interact with the screen and returns to 60Hz after a few seconds of inactivity (except in the YouTube app which stays at 90Hz all the time). This should help save battery to some degree when reading something or watching a video.
However, the Standard mode, which should remain at 60Hz in all scenarios, also increases the screen’s refresh rate to 90Hz and works in exactly the same way as the High mode. We have contacted Oppo for clarity, but have not yet received a response. Hopefully this will be addressed in a future update.
It’s also worth mentioning that none of our standard test games, which support high refresh rate gameplay, ran at 90 FPS on the Oppo F21 Pro. That’s hardly a surprise since the more expensive Reno7 Pro 5G doesn’t have not even reproduced those with a high refresh rate.
Enough with the screen. Moving on to the other side of the Oppo F21 Pro, we have a flash that houses an island and three cameras: 64MP primary, 2MP depth and 2MP microscope. The latter allows you to take photos or videos with 15x or 30x magnification and has Orbit Light around it to evenly illuminate the area.
But this is not the only purpose that the Light Orbit serves. Lights up for incoming calls and app notifications and when the F21 Pro is charging. It also blinks when you start a game, but we’re not sure why anyone would want it. You can adjust the features of Orbit Light by navigating on the F21 Pro Settings > Customizations > Breathing light menu.
The orbital light around the microscope camera is on
The rear panel of the Oppo F21 Pro in the Cosmic Black version is made with Oppo Glow technology, while the Sunset Orange model sports a Fibreless-Leather design.
Oppo tells us they used lychee grain leather for the base material because it is water resistant and wear resistant. And this design not only makes the F21 Pro Sunset Orange premium, it also offers a great feel in the hand, adding to the overall experience. Don’t forget it eliminates the need to use a protective case to avoid scratches and fingerprint smudges.
We like the overall design and construction of the Oppo F21 Pro Sunset Orange version. It is quite thin and sturdy. And at 175 grams, it was comfortable for extended use, but flat frames, made from polycarbonate, aren’t for everyone. The power button and volume keys offer decent feedback.
Buttons and ports of Oppo F21 Pro
Inside, the Oppo F21 Pro has the Snapdragon 680 SoC with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. There are no other memory options available in India, but you can expand the storage up to 1TB via a microSD card and RAM up to 5GB practically, which in our experience makes almost no difference in the world. real.
The smartphone immediately runs Android 12-based ColorOS 12.1 and the March 2022 Android security patch. Oppo promised two Android version updates and up to four years of security updates for the F21 Pro, but did not disclose the frequency. of the latter.
The software of the Oppo F21 Pro offers nothing different from that of many other smartphones with ColorOS 12.1. However, it is worth noting that the haptic feedback we receive on more expensive Oppo smartphones with ColorOS 12, including Reno7 Pro 5G, Find N and Find X5 Pro when performing different actions such as changing volume levels is not present on the F21. Pro. It’s no surprise as the F series is a lower tier and Oppo told us that this feature requires a special motor that the F21 Pro doesn’t have, so it’s not something that can be added with a future software update.
The performance of the Oppo F21 Pro is also nothing to write home about. The phone performed well when browsing the UI and browsing the web, but it stuttered at times and you shouldn’t expect a stellar gaming experience at the highest settings on games like COD and PUBG. We expected this as the F21 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 680 chip and we had a similar experience with the Realme 9i with the same Qualcomm silicon at the helm.
Powering the entire package is a 4,500mAh battery which draws power through the USB-C port up to 33W. Oppo claims that the supplied 33W adapter can fill the flat cell to 100% in 60 minutes, but in our tests it took 1 hour and 20 minutes for a full charge.
The Oppo F21 Pro, which is a renamed Reno7 4G, is priced at INR22,999 ($ 300 / € 280) in India. You can consider buying it if you want a nice-looking smartphone with a leather panel, but remember that all-round packages from other brands are available in this price range.
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