OPPO has launched its latest F Series smartphone, the OPPO F21 Pro which is the successor to the OPPO F19 Pro in India and is also the 4G variant of its sibling OPPO F21 Pro 5G. The OPPO F21 Pro features a 32 MP Sony IMX709 selfie camera, 30x micro-lens for the first time in its triple camera setup, an Orbit LED light, 90 Hz AMOLED display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 SoC, 33W SuperVOOC fast charging, and more. Here are our hands-on and first impressions of the OPPO F21 Pro.
OPPO F21 Pro Specifications
- Display: 6.4-inch AMOLED display, Full HD+ resolution, 90 Hz refresh rate, 180 Hz touch sampling rate
- Software: ColorOS 12.1 interface, Android 12 operating system
- CPU: 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 octa-core SoC clocked at 2.4 GHz
- GPU: Adreno 610 Graphics
- Memory: 8 GB (Up to 13 GB Extended RAM)
- Storage: 128 GB UFS 2.2 internal storage, microSD slot
- Main Camera: Triple cameras (64 MP primary camera + 2 MP depth + 2 MP microlens up to 30x), Bokeh Flare Portrait, Microscope Lens, LED flash, Orbit LED Light
- Selfie Camera: 32 MP Sony IMX709, Selfie HDR
- Others: In-display fingerprint scanner, Face Unlock
- Cellular: 4G network, dual SIM, dual 4G standby support
- Battery: 4,500 mAh battery
- Charging: 33W SuperVOOC fast charging
- Price: ₹22,999 (8 GB + 128 GB)
- Availability: 15th April 2022
- Offers: 10% discount with various banks
On the design front, the OPPO F21 Pro has a FiberGlass leather finish textured back (Sunset Orange color variant) and looks incredibly slim (7.54 mm). This is the Sunset Orange color while the other color variant is Cosmic Black which has a 7.49 mm slim design.
The OPPO F21 Pro comes in with flat sides, and rounded corners, and boasts its slim form factor with a leather back. It’s also among the lightest smartphones in its class weighing 175 grams. The overall design of the OPPO F21 Pro looks stunning and feels great in the hands.
The OPPO F21 Pro has a 6.4-inch AMOLED display with a Full HD+ resolution and 90 Hz refresh rate. Due to its AMOLED screen, the fingerprint scanner isn’t on the right side where you usually see mounted on the power button, it’s under the display unlike many other phones with a side-fingerprint scanner.
For photography, OPPO has done upgrades to the camera system, the F21 Pro packs a 64 MP main camera in its triple camera setup alongside a 2 MP portrait lens, but what’s surprising here is its 30x microscope lens (2 MP) that takes incredibly closeup shots with very tiny details of the object that you can’t see with your eyes open. On top of that, the Orbit LED light on the lens helps fill the light for better details. The Orbit light also breathes in different patterns.
The front side has an Ultra-Sensing Selfie camera of 32 MP that uses a Sony IMX709 image sensor. Some highlights of its cameras are Bokeh Flare Portrait and Selfie HDR.
The bottom side has a USB Type-C port, 3.5 mm audio jack, a microphone, and loudspeakers. The second microphone is on the top, but no secondary loudspeaker is there which means no stereo sound. On the right side, it has a power key while the left side has two separate volume keys as well as a triple-slot SIM tray that holds two 4G SIMs and a dedicated microSD slot.
Moving to its hardware and its performance, the OPPO puts a 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 SoC on the F21 Pro, the SoC has a total of eight Kryo 265 cores clocked up to 2.4 GHz and is laced with Adreno 610 GPU for gaming. It holds a 4,500 mAh battery that supports 33W SuperVOOC fast charging, it takes about 60 minutes to fully charge the battery.
About the CPU, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 is a midrange SoC manufactured in a 6nm process consisting of 4+4 core configurations, and four high-performance Kryo 265 Gold cores clocked at 2.4 GHz, and four power-efficient Kryo 265 Silver cores clocked at 1.9 GHz.
The OPPO F21 Pro comes in a single variant of 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage priced at ₹22,999. You will find two color options on the OPPO F21 Pro – Sunset Orange and Cosmic Black. The ColorOS 12.1 comes with RAM expansion technology extending the phone’s internal RAM up to 13 GB (an additional 5 GB RAM on top of 8 GB RAM).
The OPPO F21 Pro runs on the OPPO’s latest version of ColorOS i.e. v12.1 based on the Android 12 operating system. The ColorOS 12 was officially released last year back in October and it is built on the Android 12, the OPPO F21 Pro luckily received ColorOS 12.1 out-of-the-box. The ColorOS 12 has been improved over its past versions bringing a new user interface and smoother animations, we initially saw the ColorOS 12 on the flagship OPPO Find X3 Pro.
About the new ColorOS 12, some features and highlights you will see are – a new UI with new 3D style icons, smoother animations, localized text, improved multitasking, Omoji, privacy controls, power-saving traits, wallpaper-based themes, and more. Here’s more about the ColorOS 12’s features and highlights.
The OPPO F21 Pro has one of the slimmest and lightest designs so far, does well with its cameras, comes with an AMOLED display, packs ColorOS 12 perks, and offers 33W SuperVOOC fast charging. What’s surprising about its camera is the 30x microlens that you won’t find in this segment as of now. The price for the 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage variant is ₹22,999 which you can get at a 10% discount using various bank cards. The OPPO F21 Pro is also available in 5G, the price starts at ₹26,999.
