Oppo R11s: The iClone you know and love, but not quite the one you deserve
The Pitch
Though they often get lumped in with Huawei and ZTE, Oppo have always had a very particular approach to the smartphone market. They aren’t trying to be the best Android handset around. They’re playing a different game entirely, and their target audience isn’t the same one that HTC, LG and the rest are gunning for.
If anything, the Android brand that Oppo probably share the largest crossover with when it comes to target audience is probably Google themselves. Much like the the Pixel, Oppo’s phones are aimed at the all-too-common person who wants an iPhone but reels at the expensive asking price. Theirs is a plight that Oppo’s products try to evoke often than Donald Trump cites the struggles of mid-western American coal miners.
With Apple finally making significant strides forward with the iPhone X, 2018 is going to be a pretty interesting year for Oppo. However, before “interesting” things like the rumored R13 reveal themselves, the brand are kicking off the year with the R11s: a slightly-updated refresh on last year’s flagship R11.
Specs
The Oppo R11s boasts a 6-inch ultra-wide 18:9 AMOLED FHD+ display and comes powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor and 4GB of RAM. Under the hood, it pairs this up with 64GB of on-board storage (which can be further expanded via MicroSD. These technical specs are rounded out nicely by a 3200mAh battery, which charges via the Micro-USB port at the bottom of the device.
With regards to software, the R11s runs on Android 7.1 overlaid with Oppo’s friendly neighborhood ColorOS (V3.2) skin. Then, in terms of connectivity, the the R11S comes with Wi-Fi (802.11), 4G and Bluetooth (4.2). There’s no NFC, but the handset does support Dual SIM.
Finally, the camera. The R11s closes out the deal with a dual 20-and-16-megapixel rear camera with f/1.7 aperture and rear one boasting a 20-megapixel sensor and a f/2.0 aperture. This is actually a step down from the R11’s dual 20-megapixel rear-camera kit but otherwise pretty similar.
Design
While incremental refreshes like the R11s are a pretty common staple of Oppo’s product line-up, the company doesn’t usually tinker with the form-factor side of things too much. This isn’t the case with the R11s. Sure, at a glance, it does take a few cues from its predecessor. The exterior of the phone is still a slick metallic unibody with a gentle matte finish. However, beyond that, the front-side of the device has undergone a pretty drastic rework.
The R11s sees Oppo make the same leap that much of their competition did in 2017: the leap to the 18:9 aspect ratio. This isn’t a hugely surprisingly one. Still, it does serve to see the R11s break from tradition in a way that might not exactly thrill the company’s core audience.
Though the reasons behind it are sound, the absence of any sort of notch at the top of the screen makes the R11s feel much closer to an Android device than the brand’s usual aspirations. Regardless, in practice, the display is both a delight to look at, and to use.
Flipping focus over to the other side, the other major difference between this and the R11 becomes apparent. Where the R11 featured a fingerprint sensor at the bottom of the front-facing display, the taller display on the R11s has seen the fingerprint sensor relocated to the backside of the device. Despite the slightly inconvenient location (your mileage may vary here, but I’ve always found rear-mounted fingerprint sensors frustratingly finicky even in their best implementations), this sensor works fine enough and - as per Oppo’s usual strengths in this area - provides a quick and easy way to unlock the device.
Alternatively, you can also log in using facial identification - another addition to the Oppo formula stolen right from the iPhone X’s arsenal. In practice, Oppo’s take on facial-recognition unlocking works but doesn’t quite feel confident enough to recommend over the other options just yet. It’s not as secure as Apple’s FaceID system, nor, in our experience, did it feel as fast and responsive as the facial identification found in the Samsung Note 8 or LG V30+. It’s also less reliable in low-light situations than you’d like.
The only other things to note about the design of the R11s are the less-noticeable, under the hood, improvements it makes over last year’s R11. It’s got the same processor and memory, but features a slightly bigger battery.
Unlike Apple’s latest, the R11s does see the headphone jack continue to endure - which is sure to thrill wireless holdouts. Unfortunately, there's no waterproofing or durability ratings - which have become increasingly common in the mid-tier market in recent months.
Performance
In terms of performance, the Oppo R11s delivers more-or-less what you’d expect from an Oppo phone. For the uninitiated, this means fast-boot times, responsive multitasking and just all-around snappy performance. For Oppo, this isn’t too tall of a feat - what you’re getting here is well in line with what you generally get out of Android phones above the $600 mark.
It isn’t the cleanest flavor of Android around but the ColorOS skin does a good job of hiding the seams and making for a consistently smooth experience that fans of Apple’s iOS will probably find it to be a good fit. Unfortunately, if prefer a little bit more tinkering and access to some of new features in Android Oreo, you might come away a little bit disappointed with the software side of the R11s. Like the R11, it’s still running Nougat - which means you can’t use the extra screen space afforded by the 18:9 aspect-ratio display to run compatible apps in split-screen mode.
In terms of benchmarks, the R11s held its own across most fronts. Most users are probably going to be perfectly satisfied with the level of performance here. However, as seen below, the Snapdragon 660 in the device just can’t quite keep up with the rest of the flagship crowd.
Camera
Again, like most aspects of the R11s, the camera on the device sits well within what you'd expect out of an Oppo. Images taken using the R11s's cameras look crisp and colorful - but they don't look quite as jaw-dropping as what you'll get out of a Pixel 2 or a Mate 10 Pro. On this front, it feels like the company are pretty out-gunned by a lot of their competition but mount a respectable effort regardless.
Of course, that might be the appeal. Maybe you're happy with paying less for a phone that can take good photos rather than great ones. Even if they aren't going to find their way onto a bus-stop anytime soon, there's a crispness to the colors and definition to the details that will likely prove sufficiently appealing to budget-buyers.
When I reviewed the R9 a few years ago, I used it as my primary camera during a jaunt across Europe and came away really impressed. After a few weeks messing with the camera on the R11s, I have little doubt that this phone would produce pretty similar - if not even better - results.
That said, I'm a little disappointed that Oppo haven't managed to iron out the short delay on capturing HDR shots like some of their competition have. There's an Expert Mode that lets you mess with things like ISO and the like. However, there's no support for slow-motion video - which has fast become a staple in many modern smartphone cameras.
Battery Life
In terms of battery life, the small 300mAh or so between this and the 2800mAh found in the original R11 go surprisingly far. In our usual everyday experience, the R11s could usually about make it a little ways into a second day of regular, mixed use before we'd need to recharge it. Most of the time, battery life ends up pretty close to what the R11 delivered.
In PCMark’s Battery Test, the device fared less well. It took 6 hours and 56 minutes to run the R11s down from 100% to 20% battery life with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity disabled - which is not a particularly great result.
The Bottom Line
Even if it is the company’s sharpest iClone yet, the arrival of the iPhone X sometimes feels like it takes some of the wind out of the R11s’ sails. As an alternative to the iPhone 8, the R11s is easy to recommend - the performance is good, the camera rig is nice, it’s got a compelling build quality and slick feel-factor.
However, for better or worse, the iPhone X changes the equation. In 2018, people thinking of the iPhone are imagining the X rather than the 8. It feels like Oppo counted on Apple continuing to stick to their guns when it comes to form-factor and design and, as a result, have come away looking a little dated.
The R11s is a solid enough option as an iClone but - for the first time in several years - it feels like the gap between this and the real thing is getting wider rather than smaller.
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