Smartphone Oppo RX17 Neo - advantages and disadvantages

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

Equipment

In a white box, where RX17 is written large and Neo is small on the cover, besides the phone itself lies:

• fast charging 2A;
• wired headphones;
• transparent silicone bumper;
• micro USB cable;
• a paperclip in order to get a SIM card;
• instruction.

Appearance

The case of the device is plastic. Of course, not everyone will like it, given its cost. But the plastic used is of good quality, and the phone does not look cheap. He is handsome and does not look banal. We can assume that the huge screen has practically no frames. 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, a small droplet for the camera on top.

The reverse side has a gradient color. She is shiny and very slick. This is where the transparent case comes in handy. But, unlike its glass counterparts, the phone is not slippery and comfortable.

In the upper left corner is a horizontally positioned dual camera with LED. All this is circled with an elegant gold edging. You can choose from two color options - blue and red gradient.

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

Pleased with the presence of a modern fingerprint scanner built into the display. Unlocking is not super fast, but quite clear. 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 so big - 158.3 x 75.5 x 7.4 mm.

Specifications

Below are the main specifications of Oppo RX17 Neo

Screen

The RX17 Neo is equipped with a nice big Super Amoled screen. Diagonal - 6.4 inches. FULL HD+ resolution 2340 x 1080 pixels. The aspect ratio is 19.5 to 9. Together with the older brother RX17 Pro (they have the same screens, by the way), the RX17 Neo model set a world record. These are the first phones to come out with 6th generation Gorilla Glass.

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

The teardrop notch almost does not interfere, unlike powerful monobrows on other devices. The display, in modern fashion, is rounded on all four corners, and the roundings are quite large.

Operating system

The RX17 Neo comes with Android 8.1 and Color OS 5.2. It is frustrating that the smartphone, released in November 2018, does not 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. Will have to wait for an 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 swipe to the side, a menu for widgets appears, which can be found in iPhones or in Chinese devices with their own shells. But there is in Color OS and some originality. Everything works quite fast - the screens scroll without brakes, applications run quickly.

The shell is quite flexible. The interface is well customizable - you can change the theme, swap buttons. There is a function of recording telephone conversations, which is rarely found in pre-installed applications.

In addition to fingerprint unlock, face unlock also works. And it can be flexibly configured. You can set that when you press the power button, the phone immediately recognizes the face and unlocks. You can set it so that you need to additionally do a bottom-up swap to unlock. Or you can disable it altogether.

Performance

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

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

autonomy

The RX17 Neo has a 3600 mAh battery. That's more than enough considering the power-efficient chipset.The video plays without interruption for about 14 hours. This is a good result, above average for amoled screens. In normal mode, the battery will definitely last for a day, in economical mode it can be stretched for two days. But there is no need to expect special miracles of autonomy. She's just fine, nothing more.

The phone comes with fast charging, not as fast as on the RX17 Pro or Find X, but fast enough. 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 a much worse camera, how it takes pictures during the day and how it takes pictures at night.

Main camera

The main camera is dual, 16 MP with aperture 1.7 and 2 MP auxiliary for portraits. With sufficient lighting, the camera takes good pictures. Excellent detail, focus and clarity are achieved. In poor lighting, noise already appears, sharpness is lost, but still the pictures look decent for a mid-range device.

The AI ​​makes the post-processing smooth and precise, really enhancing the resulting photos. It's better not to turn it off. In portrait mode, the blurring of 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.

Video can be shot in 4K mode in good enough 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 - 25 MP, aperture 2.0. And these megapixels are felt. Selfies are sharp and detailed. The front is good.

When shooting selfies to the fullest, artificial intelligence is used, which is called AI Selfie Tune here. This is where smart beautification comes into play. At the same time, the smartphone determines the man in front of him or the woman and what race the person is. Filters are already applied depending on this. Those. the girl will be retouched more than the man. If there is an Asian in the photo, then they will retouch and whiten her more than a European girl, since Asians seem to like it more.

In general, the recognition of Europeans is important, since users 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 embellishment, faces remain alive and natural. But someone will surely like it.

Photo examples

Wireless interfaces

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

Price

How much does the RX17 Neo cost and where is it profitable to buy it? The official price in Russia at the start of sales is 29,990 rubles. And it's the same in every store. That's a lot for a phone with average specs.

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 install it too often these days. And if they put it, then, basically, on inexpensive phones. Therefore, we take for comparison two models that are included in the rating of high-quality smartphones. The selection criterion here is this - all three compared devices have approximately the same average price on the domestic market. In addition, these models 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 bezels, large screen. Oppo has a much neater waterdrop notch at the top of the screen. Xiaomi has a rather large unibrow there. Oppo has a more interesting fingerprint scanner that is built into the screen. Xiaomi has such a scanner only in more expensive versions of Mi 8 Pro and Mi 8 Explorer Edition.

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

Which company's device is better? If you are not a fan of the on-screen scanner and the iPhone-like unibrow does not annoy you, then the flagship from Xiaomi is certainly 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. Case materials are glass and metal. The design is also bezel-less and the phone looks very good. The screen here, unlike rivals, is not Amoled, but IPS, but also of excellent quality. It has the same Snapdragon 845 and, accordingly, much higher performance than Oppo. The rear camera is traditionally good for Asus and also surpasses 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 it is better to choose the ZenFone 5Z.If toys are not important, you don’t like a unibrow and you need good autonomy, then by choosing the Oppo RX17 Neo, you can also save a little.

Bottom Line: Advantages and Disadvantages of Oppo RX17 Neo

• modern frameless design;
• large high-quality Super Amoled screen;
• 128 GB of permanent memory;
• good cameras;
• good autonomy;
• 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 an excellent huge screen, plenty of memory, an innovative fingerprint scanner and a protective glass of the latest generation. This phone is balanced and has no weaknesses, except for the high price at the start of sales. This can negatively affect the popularity of the model.