A picture-perfect phone

THE Oppo R9s Plus has finally landed in Malaysia, almost two months after the release of its ‘little brother’, the Oppo R9s.
The launch, which was held at the Glasshouse at Seputeh, Kuala Lumpur, saw Oppo’s brand ambassadors and local celebrities Ayda Jebat and Lin Min-Chen introduce the new device to the public.
Because photography is the main focus of the phone, this bigger, more powerful version of Oppo’s flagship phone touts a 16MP IMX3369 rear camera from Sony, Dual (Phase Detect Autofocus) PDAF with Optical Image Stabiliser (OIS) and an f1.7 super bright aperture – one of the biggest apertures ever seen on a smartphone camera.
“We are extremely excited to reveal the Oppo R9s Plus to the Malaysian market, as we know that our Malaysian fans are always on the go and love capturing and sharing photographs of their daily activities,” said Oppo Malaysia brand director Chen Lu.
“With 2017 being the year of mobile photography, it only makes sense for Oppo to reward our loyal Malaysia fans with an improved version of the R9s which they love.
“The R9s Plus ensures that users will never have to worry about clarity, comfortable viewing, battery life, and storage space.”
Under the full HD 6in screen is the newly-launched Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 processor, paired with 6GB of memory and 64GB of expandable storage. The battery capacity is also increased to 4,000mAh.
This is an improvement from the smaller 5.5in Oppo R9s, which at the price of RM1,798, has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 octa-core processor, 4GB of memory, 64GB of expandable storage and a 3,010 mAh battery, which also supports Oppo’s VOOC Flash Charge, the company’s proprietary fast charging technology.
Both phones share the same look and basic design, including the much-touted six-string antenna and Oppo’s own ColorOS 3.0, which is based on Android 6.0.
However, this is not the latest version of Android, which is currently at 7.0. Also, ColorOS 3.0 does not have an app drawer.
Because the R9s Plus is substantially larger, it can be a handful for those with smaller hands, and that makes the front-facing thumbprint reader a tad inconvenient.
However, the phone comes bundled with a screen protector and a back plate, making it a complete package out of the box.
The R9s Plus is also a dual SIM phone, at the cost of an expandable storage slot, a problem that a certain other phone company has already solved, with its more affordable devices.
The Oppo R9s Plus is now available at all Oppo online and concept stores, as well as telco and e-commerce partner sites at the price of RM2,498.
This includes 12 months of OppoCare screen warranty coverage.
The phone comes in two colours: gold and rose gold, and if it follows the R9s trend, there will surely be more colours to choose from in the future.