OPPO F5 Youth Unboxing and First Impressions

After the successful 33,000 pre-orders for the OPPO F5, OPPO is not relenting and has just launched the next mid-range game changer, the OPPO F5 Youth!

OPPO F5 Youth

On paper, this phone contains nearly all the great thing about the OPPO F5 except for two things. Whether or not these two warrants the two thousand pesos less price is what we aim to find out!

OPPO F5 Youth Specs

Display: 6-inch FHD+ IPS 2160 x 1080 resolution w/ 2.5D curved glass and Gorilla Glass 5 protection at 403 ppi

CPU: 2.5GHz 64-bit Helio P23 octa-core processor

GPU: Mali-G71MP2

RAM: 3GB 

ROM: 32GB expandable via micro SD card slot up to 256GB (dedicated)

Main Camera: 13MP f/2.2 w/ AF and LED flash

Selfie Camera: 16MP f/2.0 w/ A.I. Beauty Recognition Technology and screen flash

Battery: 3,200mAh w/ 2A charger

OS: Android 7.1.1 Nougat w/ ColorOS 3.2

Connectivity: WiFi, 3G, 700 MHz LTE, Bluetooth 4.2, A2DP, LE, OTG, GPS, A-GPS, dual SIM

Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic

Others: Fingerprint sensor, facial recognition

Dimensions: 156.5 x 76 x 7.5 mm

Weight: 152 g

Price: PHP 13,990 (PHP 12,990 sale price)

Disclaimer: This unit was borrowed from OPPO Philippines for our honest review.

Unboxing / Accessories

The OPPO always has one of the best packaging in the market for the midrange category. It has an outer shell that contains branding all over and at the front of it is the phone itself. Both the outer shell and the box itself has the matte textured paper that adds to upscale feel it wants to convey. 

Inside are the following: the phone, a 5 volt, 2A USB wall charger, USB to micro-USB cable, IEM earphones, SIM ejector tool, polycarbonate case, and the documentation.

Build Quality / Design

Back plate

Like the OPPO F5, the Youth has faux metal textured plastic back plate. In front, the glass is protected by Gorilla Glass 5. It the glass, backplate and the frame feel solid but the faux metal texture feels off at first but you get used to it. Otherwise, the Youth is designed well given the price point.

Premium design language, but with plastic back like the OPPO F5!

With the similar design language of the OPPO F5. They are almost identical. The only difference is the lower 3GB RAM and the 13MP f/2.2 Main camera and the 16MP f/2.0 with A.I. Recognition software.

Top view

Headphone jack, mic, micro USB port, speaker

Volume rocker

Triple SIM slots and power button

The differences are mostly internally. You will only be able to tell the difference if you put the two phones side by side and compared the cameras of each phone with each other.

All ports and buttons are on familiar locations. The phone fits well in the hands as well. It's just a bit slippery.

Overall, the design with stellar specs make this a great phone for PHP 13,990!

Initial Findings

1. The box and the build quality of the phone is mostly premium with the faux metal textured plastic back plate being the only minor gripe. Otherwise, the 6-inch FHD+ display is beautiful and wide that gives an immersive viewing feel to it. Because it is a 6 inch display diagonally, it adds that extra room for better portrait keyboard typing!

2. The OPPO F5's 2.5GHz 64-bit Helio P23 octa-core processor and Mali-G71MP2 returns to the F5 Youth and when we reviewed it with the same 6 inch FHD+ display, this processor plus gpu combo crushed daily tasks and games without a hitch. In our initial testing, this seems to be the case. We will have to do more testing later on.

3. TouchPal  has improved significantly over the versions in the F3, and F3 Plus. We like the cleaner and more streamed like look. We only had two gripe: The first is that the quick toggles are very limited compared to the command center toggles of the V7 / V7 Plus. The second is that changing settings like the wallpaper or turning on the hotspots are all hidden deep within the Settings Menu which can ruin the experience if you are in a hurry.

4. The cameras on this phone are one of the few things that changed from the F5. It has the 13MP f/2.2 Main camera and the 16MP f/2.0 with A.I. Recognition software. The main camera impressed us with its sharpness, color accuracy and dynamic range. The main camera also has a two times zoom that impressed us because there was almost no degradation of image quality unlike the magnification of grain in the Note 8. The Selfie camera also is good but we have to try out more to see how it holds up.

5. It has OTG, gyroscope, light sensor, and but no LED notification light. 

As of the moment

As of the moment, we like the F5 Youth even though it has lesser RAM capacity and it has different cameras from the original F5. Yes the it won't be as good in multitasking but so far, we have not had hiccups in our daily use. The cameras aren't as good as the F5's rear and front cameras but it performs near it that it may warrant the Php 2,000 less in price!

For our review: OPPO F5 Youth Review - F5 for the Youth?