For the past one year, it is hard not to relate the word “selfie” with OPPO Malaysia’s smartphones given how the company has been working hard to establish its devices which include F1, F1 Plus, and F1s as the “Selfie Expert” devices. This year though, the company has somehow decided to focus on the power of rear camera with the arrival of R9s in our market.
Featuring a tried-and-true polished metal body which we have seen on numerous OPPO devices before, the 147 grams smartphone does feel quite thin and light on my hands. Despite having a thickness of 6.58mm which is less than both iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, OPPO still managed to equip R9s with a 3.5mm audio jack.
Given the phone’s thin physique, this means some sacrifices might be needed which is why I’m not surprised to see that the rear camera module on R9s is quite protruding. Speaking about the camera, OPPO claimed that the 16-megapixels IMX398 sensor in it was specially co-developed with Sony which is rather intriguing to say the least.
The company also stated that the rear camera of R9s comes with dual PDAF feature which allows it to focus faster than cameras with standard PDAF feature. Together with the combination of an f/1.7 lens, it also apparently has a good performance in low-light conditions. There is also another 16-megapixels camera with f/2.0 lens on its front.
Given the short time that I has with R9s at the launch event, I was not able to provide any verdict on the rear camera’s actual performance and furthermore, the lighting conditions at the experience zone was not challenging enough. Nevertheless, I do reckon that the camera does indeed able to focus on subjects quite fast.
OPPO has also implemented a home button with integrated fingerprint reader into the phone which performs quite well although I do miss the tactile feedback of a physical button. In terms of other components, the R9s carries a 5.5-inch full HD AMOLED display together with Snapdragon 625 octa-core processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB internal storage, and 3,010 mAh battery that supports VOOC Flash Charge feature.
As far as my first impressions go, the OPPO R9s is yet another example of a classic OPPO smartphone due to its design, slim physique, and metal body which also provide a premium feel to the device. Additionally, its rear camera seems to perform quite well at a glance which manage to make me rather curious of its full capabilities.
Despite the abundance of premium characteristic in R9s, it is technically still a mid-range smartphone though due to its Snapdragon 625 processor but that’s a story for another time. Meanwhile, the R9s is now readily available at OPPO dealers throughout Malaysia for RM 1,798.
