Oppo, the Chinese manufacturer behind some very unusual phones, announced the R7S in October. It’s an evolution of the R7 released earlier this year, but rather than add crazy features like rotating camera lenses, the R7S concentrates on being thin, lightweight and powerful. It also does a great impression of an iPhone 6S.
Updated on 11-30-2015 by Malarie Gokey: Corrected the article to reflect that the Oppo R7S sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor — not the Snapdragon 810, as previously stated.
Where you can buy the Oppo R7S
Oppo didn’t discuss launch dates for the R7S at first, but has since confirmed the schedule to Digital Trends. The phone will first go on sale during the last week of November in Australia, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam, where it’ll be sold in retail stores.
In the U.S. and Europe, the R7S will be available through the oppostyle.com website at the beginning of December, when it’ll cost $400. That’ll be for an unlocked, SIM-free phone. We’re still waiting for an exact date, and we’ll update here when it’s revealed, but keep a watch on the store over the next few weeks if you’re interested.
What about the specs?
The body is made of a metal alloy with a special coating over the top to maintain the finish, and the Gorilla Glass 3 covering the 5.5-inch screen has a 2.5D shape which Oppo calls Arc Edge. The AMOLED display has a 1080p resolution, and shows Oppo’s own ColorOS 2.1 user interface over Android 5.1.
The latest ColorOS is designed to be much faster than before, with improvements in app launch and boot speeds, plus there are several interesting software additions to the phone. These include notifications appearing on the lock screen, even when it’s asleep, a memory management process, and gestures to launch particular apps or features when the screen is switched off.
Oppo has chosen the Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 to power the R7S, along with a RAM boost to 4GB. There’s a MicroSD card slot to add more storage space to the 32GB internal allocation, and a 3070mAh battery with fast charging capabilities has been squeezed into the 6.9mm thick, 155 gram body.
A 13-megapixel camera inside a square lens holder — perhaps the only area where the R7S doesn’t look like an iPhone — is on the rear, and an 8-megapixel selfie cam is on the front. Features include an image stabilization system, editing tools and filters, a special low-light mode, and a beautification setting for the selfie camera.
Previous updates:
Updated on 11-19-2015 by Andy Boxall: Added in news of the R7S’s international release date
