The new Oppo handset builds upon the brand’s reputation for nicely balancing  hard core productivity features with a solid entertainment  platform.
Anand Parthasarathy
October 1 2020: Buyers increasingly expect their mobile handsets to serve multiple use scenarios, while addressing the twin requirements of work and play. This is a tough mandate for a designer and not all brands get the balance right. Oppo is an exception and has   learned to get the mix right—enough tools for video binge watching, gaming and fun , without forgetting the owner’s other, more productive avatar which demands a good camera at the rear capable of semi-professional images.
My confidence has been justified in the company’s latest combo release of the F17 and F17 Pro.  The unit I got to try out is the F17, so most of what follows is about this model.  The 6.44 inch   2400 x 1800 pixel AMOLED screen is a whisker smaller than the currently fashionable size in this price band, but Oppo ekes out  the maximum screen to body ratio with an ultra thin border which makes the display bigger. The 20: 9  length to width ratio  makes the device  long and narrow – which is seemingly  made to cater to  current movie proportions when viewed in the landscape mode.   When testing with good quality ( 4k) YouTube videos I found the sound rich and loud. The auto brightness adjustment is very effective even if you vie wthe screen in sunlight
F17 comes with either  6GB or 8 GB RAM with 128 GB storage. The Rear quad camera has a 16 MP main lens and a 8 MP wide angle with 2 more 2 MP lenses for mono shoots and something they call retro.
The selfie camera is a 16 MP shooter.  Oppo has gone for the Qualcomm chipset  ( 662 Snapdragon + Adreno 610 graphics) for the F17 while the F17 Pro has a MediaTek Helio P95 with 2 ARM Cortex cores.
Feels like leather
TheF17 offers a very unique leather feel to its integrated  back cover, which we are told is no leather at all but achieved with some unique paint finishes. I for one was deceived.
When playing games, one useful feature is the floating window for incoming messages that doesn’t obscure the gaming area.
Like all Oppo phones today the F17  offers a Color OS (7.2) over lay on the Android 10, but I  found the enhancements to be unobtrusive. And as always the proprietary VOOC 4.0 flash charger does short work of a full charge of the 4015 mAh battery and takes about 5-6 minutes to give 4 hours of use.
At Rs 17990 for the 6GB and Rs 19990 for the 8 GB RAM version, the Oppo F17 offers the sort of value its prior users can depend on. ( at Amazon)
However, going by specs alone, I would, if I could afford it go  for the F17 Pro because its  rear camera is far superior --  48MP + 8 P +2MP+2MP – compared to the F17’s 16 MP main shooter, because the  asking price is  just Rs 3000 more  at Rs 22,990 ( at FlipKart). It also boasts a feature where you can gesture to take a call, without touching the phone.