Oppo F19 Pro review: Good looking phone on budget; should you buy it

Oppo recently launched F19 Pro and F19 Pro+, of which the former is slightly cheaper than the latter over some downgrades. Succeeding the Oppo F17 Pro, the F19 Pro makes a solid impression through its design and offers a little bit of everything to please the masses who cannot simply shell out a premium for high-end phones.

Oppo F19 Pro is the vanilla version of the Pro+ model, which has its own setbacks but for a good reason. Oppo F19 Pro is priced at Rs 21,490, making it an easy choice for many who are looking for a great-looking phone with good optics and a solid display. You can double the storage on the phone to 256GB for Rs 23,490. Here's a look at the phone and why it still makes a solid case for itself.

Design

Oppo F19 Pro is one of the better-looking phones and easily a great poser in its segment. It is ultraslow at 7.8mm and weighs incredibly light at just 170 grams, making all the tasks easy. Although the F19 Pro has a plastic build, which is not very Pro of the phone, but Oppo has done a smart job at concealing it well. There's a textured matte finish on the back, which gives a nice touch and feel factor. In fact, we found it the best use of plastic build in any phone. It not only offers a solid grip but looks fantastic and keeps fingerprint smudges at bay. It is also more durable than glass, so people with butterfingers are going to find this useful.

The rest of the design is well within the bounds of Oppo's signature look. The volume controls are on the left and the power button is on right, all of them well within reach and offers good feedback. There's also a headphone jack alongside the speaker grille at the bottom and a USB Type-C port.

Overall, Oppo F19 Pro scores well on the design front.

Display

Another area where Oppo F19 impressed us is the display. The 6.43-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display is suitable for multimedia viewing, social media browsing and even games. The display offers good viewing angles with rich colors. But all that goodness is marred by the lack of a high refresh rate. The F19 Pro gets the standard 60Hz at a time when most phones are getting 90Hz or even 120Hz. This is one area where rivals get an edge over the F19 Pro and yes, the difference is noticeable.

Cameras

Oppo F19 Pro has plenty to offer here. There are four camera sensors on the back and a single one for selfies. The rear setup, arranged in a 2x2 format, includes a 48MP f/1.7 sensor as primary and the rest of the sensors are 8MP ultra-wide, 2MP macro and 2MP mono. On paper, this setup is ideal to fulfill any of your photo needs. What's interesting is the inclusion of certain modes, such as AI Color Portrait Video, Dual-View Video, and Dynamic Bokeh. The front camera is equipped by a 16MP sensor.

We tested the cameras in different scenarios and the results were not disappointing. The primary sensor does most of the heavy lifting and delivers optimum results. Given the price segment it is targeting, the results aren't bad at all. It manages to capture details, but as long as you don't zoom in. The colors captured using the main sensor are rich, but when you switch to ultra-wide, there's a shift in the color palette. The portrait shots are good at detecting edges with a good bokeh effect. The low-light performance is just average, and the night mode does little to help with that. The macro does an excellent job at capturing subjects at close range under good lighting. Overall, the F19 Pro won't leave you disappointed with the results.

Normal vs Ultra-wide: Camera samples

More camera samples

Performance

Oppo F19 Pro is powered by MediaTek Helio P95 chipset paired with 8GB RAM as standard. For day-to-day tasks, we found the phone to do well. But Oppo's decision to go with an aging chipset is evident in heavy tasks. We did notice lags while running multiple apps at once and playing games for long durations heats up the phone. But if your average usage looks something like calls, IM messaging, social media browsing, multimedia and music, the phone can handle these tasks. But there are better options out there from Realme and Redmi if you want that performance edge. In fact, Oppo F19 Pro+ is also tuned better to handle heavy tasks comparatively.

The UI is ColorOS 11.1 based on Android 11, which is pretty average. There are some pre-loaded apps as well, some of which can be uninstalled. The UI is not the cleanest, but it sure offers a host of customization options that users will like. The dark mode on that AMOLED display looks stunning and there were no ads interrupting the user experience. 

The fingerprint scanner and face unlock security work effortlessly on the F19 Pro, which should no longer be a surprise in 2021. There's additional app locker to keep your "oh-so-secret" secrets private. 

Battery

Oppo F19 Pro might not be a performing star, but it sure rocks in the battery department. Interestingly, there is a 4,310mAh battery under that sleek unibody, which can deliver a full-day battery life on regular use. With heavy use, the battery drains faster, but the 30W fast charger in the box comes to the rescue as it can power up the phone to fill in over an hour. But if you are in a rush, it can give you 60 percent in about 30 minutes, which can be sufficient if you're not streaming or playing games during the day.

Verdict

Oppo F19 Pro has its strengths and weaknesses, which are mostly highlighted due to the competition in the market. On the plus side, the F19 Pro is a stunning-looking phone with a really good display. The average performance and the lack of a higher refresh rate in the display is a huge bummer. But the average cameras and a reliable battery can be trusted in the phone given its price range.