Oppo F21 Pro 5G Review: A Smartphone With Amazing Looks

The F21 Pro 5G is a new smartphone in the F series list from Chinese smartphone manufacturer OPPO. A non-5G model of this smartphone is also available from the same company. A few major differences between the two devices are the back panel design, chipset, screen refresh rate and cameras. The F21 Pro 5G costs Rs 26,999, which is slightly higher than the 4G variant and brings it into direct competition with many smartphones from Realme, OnePlus, and others. In this review, we will analyse the different major aspects of the smartphone to make sure if buying the OPPO F21 Pro 5G is a good idea.

Let’s review the device on the basis of different aspects.  

Oppo F21 Pro 5G: Display Review

The phone has a 6.43-inch AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution and a refresh rate of 60Hz, which is still below the standard of 120Hz. At 600 nits, the smartphone is sufficiently bright for use in sunlight. The F21 Pro 5G has excellent colours, deep blacks, and outstanding viewing angles, which is common in any OLED display. The smartphone has WideVine L1 certification for high definition content on over the top (OTT) platforms, it does not support HDR10 playback on Netflix or Prime.

Oppo F21 Pro 5G: Camera Review

The cameras on the F21 Pro 5G have the same 64MP primary sensor as the 4G model, and secondary cameras use a 2MP macro sensor. With a wide dynamic range and saturated colours, the photos are sharp in daylight. The cameras can quickly focus with no noticeable shutter lag. While low-light shots are pretty soft and over-processing help smooth most of the details in the picture. Lens light is also a significant concern, and the night mode is unable to reduce the noise.

The considerably low resolution of the macro and depth sensors makes it difficult to scale up the images they capture. Finally, the selfie camera is a 16MP sensor that takes good photos in good lighting but still has a hint of delay in processing that is usual in OPPO smartphones.

Oppo F21 Pro 5G: Performance Review

The OPPO F21 Pro 5G is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 698 SoC. The performance of the device is quite average if compared to other smartphones available in this price range. In terms of benchmark scores, the smartphone falls short of the standards of this price range, but if you planning to buy it with your daily workload, it performs well and does not require heavy GPU usage. In terms of BGMI (Battleground Mobile India), the smartphone can support high definition graphics and ultra frame rate. If we talk about alternatives to RAM and storage, it has a set up of 8GB + 128GB which can be upgraded with virtual RAM up to 5GB.

Oppo F21 Pro 5G: Battery Review

The OPPO F21 Pro 5G gets power through a 4,500mAh battery, which is pretty usual for smartphones at this price point. It can offer 5-6 hours of screen time while playing some light games, binge-watching a few episodes, and scrolling through social media accounts. Once the  5G services are enabled, it is obvious that the smartphone's battery life will suffer, but that is an issue for another time. The device has a 33W fast charging facility, which can charge the battery in around 80 minutes.

The Goods 

• Excellent design

• Excellent camera performance in daylight

• Battery life is sufficient.

• Super viewing angels 

The Bads 

• It could use a better chipset in this price range

• Low-light shots require improvement.

• There are no stereo speakers.

Should you buy it? 

The OPPO F21 Pro 5G may not meet the hardware needs of a smartphone costing more than Rs 25,000, but the design and look are certainly worth the money. The daylight camera performance is acceptable considering its battery life, but the absence of a high refresh display and stereo speakers bounds the device's usability. If you are a gaming geek and require heavy CPU usage, the F21 Pro 5G may not be the ideal choice. Apart from the device is a reasonable choice due to its good design, Android 12, and good photography abilities in low light.

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