Oppo RX17 Neo smartphone - advantages and disadvantages

The best smartphone manufacturers have their new items in stock for the end of 2018. The well-known Chinese company Oppo was no exception. In November 2018, Oppo released the new RX17 Neo smartphone from its advanced 'RX' line. At the same time, the older model RX17 Pro was presented. These phones became the first models of the "RX" series that are officially supplied to the Russian market. Let's see in this review how great the chances are to conquer this market.

Equipment

In a white box, where RX17 is written in large size on the lid, and Neo is small, except for the phone itself:

• high-speed charging 2A;
• wired headphones;
• transparent silicone bumper;
• micro USB cable;
• a paper clip in order to take out a SIM card;
• instruction.

Appearance

The body of the device is plastic. This, of course, will not please everyone, given its cost. But the plastic used is of good quality and the phone doesn't look cheap. He is handsome and does not look trite. It can be assumed that the huge screen has practically no bezels. They are very thin. The screen occupies 91% of the front panel area. This is an excellent indicator. There is a small chin at the bottom, and a small droplet for the camera at the top.

The reverse side has a gradient color. It is shiny and heavily stained. A transparent cover saves here. But, unlike its glass counterparts, the phone is not slippery and comfortable.

In the upper left corner is the horizontally positioned dual camera with LED. All this is encircled by a graceful gold border. You can choose from two color options - blue and red gradient.

On the bottom there is a micro USB connector, a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a speaker. On the left is the volume control and a SIM card slot, on the right is the power key.

The presence of a modern fingerprint scanner built into the display is encouraging. Unlocking is not super fast, but clear enough. Unlocks the scanner from any position, no mistake. It recognizes even slightly damp fingers.

The dimensions of the phone, considering the size of the screen, are not that big - 158.3 x 75.5 x 7.4 mm.

Specifications

Below are the main specifications of the Oppo RX17 Neo

Screen

The RX17 Neo is equipped with a good Super Amoled large screen. Diagonal - 6.4 inches. FULL HD + resolution 2340 by 1080 pixels. The aspect ratio is 19.5 to 9. Together with its older brother RX17 Pro (they have the same screens, by the way) the RX17 Neo set a world record. These are the first phones to come with the sixth generation Gorilla Glass.

The screen is bright, juicy, great for watching videos, and for games, and for surfing the Internet. The brightness is enough for all information to be visible even in the sun. The colors are rich and natural at the same time. But if you don't like something, then you can adjust the color temperature.

The teardrop notch does not get in the way, unlike the powerful monobrows on other devices. The display, in a modern fashion, is rounded at all four corners, and the fillets are quite large.

operating system

RX17 Neo comes with Android 8.1 and Color OS 5.2. The frustrating thing is that the smartphone released in November 2018 doesn't have Android 9 on board. The manufacturer explains this by the fact that the proprietary shell has not yet been finalized for the latest android. We'll have to wait for the update.

The shell, as usual, resembles iOS in design - the folders are similar, the icons are also rounded, there is no application menu, everything is located on the desktop. If you scroll to the side, a menu for widgets appears, which can be found in the iPhone or in Chinese devices with their own shells. But there is also some originality in Color OS. Everything works quite fast - screens scroll without brakes, applications start quickly.

The shell is quite flexible. The interface is highly customizable - you can change the theme, swap the buttons. There is a function for recording telephone conversations, which is not often found in pre-installed applications.

In addition to unlocking by fingerprint, face unlocking also works. Moreover, it can be flexibly configured. You can set that when you press the power button, the phone immediately recognizes the face and unlocks. It can be set so that for unlocking it is necessary to additionally make a bottom-up swap. Or you can turn it off altogether.

Performance

The RX17 Neo has a nimble Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset. The processor is not the newest, but it has not lost its relevance. The toys go well, but not at maximum settings. Such heavy games, for example, Pubg Mobile, run comfortably if not at the maximum, but at high settings. Therefore, the phone is also suitable for active games.

RAM 4 GB, built-in 128 GB. That's a lot, but the memory can be expanded by installing an SD card up to 256 GB in the hybrid slot instead of the second SIM card.

Autonomy

The RX17 Neo has a 3600mAh battery. This is more than enough considering the power efficient chipset. The video spins non-stop for about 14 hours. This is a good result, above average for amoled screens. In normal mode, the battery will definitely be enough for a day, in economical mode it can be stretched for two days. But there is no need to wait for special miracles of autonomy. She's just not bad, nothing more.

The phone comes with fast charging, not as fast as on the RX17 Pro or Find X, but quite fast. Unfortunately, wireless charging is not supported.

Cameras

The older model RX17 Pro is positioned by the manufacturer as a camera phone. Let's see if the younger RX17 Neo has much worse cameras, how it takes pictures during the day and how it takes pictures at night.

Main camera

The main camera is dual, 16 megapixel with an aperture of 1.7 and 2 megapixel auxiliary for portraits. With sufficient lighting, the camera takes pictures well. Excellent detail, focus and clarity are achieved. In poor lighting, noise appears, sharpness is lost, but still the pictures look decent for a device of the middle segment.

The artificial intelligence does post-processing smoothly and neatly, really enhancing the resulting photos. It is better not to turn it off. In portrait mode, blurring the background from the background is not perfect, but without blunders.

The camera supports shooting in three formats:

• 19: 9 - full screen;
• 4:3;
• square for instagram.

Unfortunately, there is no 16: 9 mode.

Videos can be shot in 4K mode in fairly good quality. The camera has fast autofocus, rich natural colors. The sound is written well too. There is no optical stabilization here.

Selfie camera

The smartphone has a front camera, the same as that of the RX17 Pro - at 25 megapixels, aperture of 2.0. And these megapixels are felt. Selfies have high definition and detail. The front camera is good.

When shooting selfies at full speed, artificial intelligence is used, which is here called AI Selfie Tune. This is where smart beautification happens. In this case, the smartphone determines the man in front of him or the woman and what race the person is. Depending on this, filters are already applied. Those. the girl will be retouched more than the man. If there is an Asian woman in the photo, then they will retouch and whiten her more than a European girl, because Asians seem to like it more.

And in general, the recognition of Europeans is important, since users have complained a lot about the fact that the beautification algorithm used to be sharpened mainly for the Chinese. And the Europeans looked too wonderful after processing. Now it works better, although it cannot be said that after all this beautification, the faces remain alive and natural. But someone will surely like it.

Sample photos

Wireless interfaces

RX17 Neo works on all common LTE frequencies, has dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, GLONASS, Dual SIM. It doesn't have radio and NFC support. The latter is a big drawback, considering that this is not a budget phone at all.

Price

How much does RX17 Neo cost and where to buy it profitably? The official price in Russia at the start of sales is 29,990 rubles. And she's like that in all stores. That's a lot for a mid-range phone.

Comparison with other popular models

It is difficult to find popular models directly comparable in performance to the RX17 Neo. The Snapdragon 660 processor isn't bad, but it's not new, and the best manufacturers don't use it too often these days. And if they do, then mainly on inexpensive phones. Therefore, let's take for comparison two models that are included in the rating of high-quality smartphones. The selection criterion here is the following - all three compared devices have approximately the same average price on the domestic market. In addition, these models have received excellent reviews.

Comparison with Xiaomi Mi 8

Both smartphones have excellent Amoled displays. Oppo has a slightly larger screen - 6.4 inches versus 6.22. Both devices look fashionable - narrow frames, large screen. At Oppo, the teardrop notch on top of the screen looks much neater. Xiaomi has a pretty big monobrow there. Oppo has a more interesting fingerprint scanner that is built into the screen. Xiaomi has such a scanner only in the more expensive versions of Mi 8 Pro and Mi 8 Explorer Edition.

The Mi 8 is well ahead of the RX17 Neo in terms of performance. The most powerful processor Snapdragon 845 is installed there. Xiaomi has a noticeably better camera, there is support for NFC.

Which device is better? If you are not a fan of the on-screen scanner and you are not annoyed by the iPhone-like monobrow, then the flagship from Xiaomi, of course, is more attractive than the average from Oppo at the same price.

Comparison with Asus ZenFone 5Z

ZenFone 5Z is also a flagship, and its functionality is similar to Mi 8. Body materials - glass and metal. The design is also frameless and the phone looks very good. The screen here, unlike its rivals, is not Amoled, but IPS, but also of excellent quality. It has the same Snapdragon 845 and, accordingly, much better performance than Oppo. The rear camera is traditionally good for Asus and also outperforms the Oppo camera. There is NFC.

Inferior to ZenFone 5Z in autonomy. And it has a regular fingerprint scanner.

How to choose from these models? If you need a productive device with a good camera and NFC, then the ZenFone 5Z is the best choice. If toys are not important, you don't like the monobrow and you need good autonomy, then by choosing the Oppo RX17 Neo, you can also save a little.

Bottom line: the pros and cons of the Oppo RX17 Neo

• modern frameless design;
• large quality Super Amoled screen;
• 128 GB of permanent memory;
• good cameras;
• good autonomy;
• a well-functioning fingerprint scanner built into the screen;
• protective glass Gorilla Glass 6;
• fast charging included;
• expandable memory.

• no NFC;
• no USB Type-C;
• high price.

Oppo RX17 Neo is a beautiful and reliable smartphone with a great huge screen, lots of memory, an innovative fingerprint scanner and the latest generation of protective glass. This phone is balanced and has no weak points, apart from the high price at the start of sales. This can negatively affect the popularity of the model.