Oppo and Vivo are probably the only companies that have showcased some futuristic phones this year like the Oppo Find X, Vivo NEX etc. From last year, these two companies are launching most of their flagship phones with in-screen fingerprint scanners, a technology that we don’t expect to see in phones from Apple, Google or Samsung soon, at least not this year. With the Find X and the NEX, the companies showed that you don’t need to add a notch to get more display on the front.
The Oppo Find X is arguably the best looking phone of 2018, thanks to its glass and metal build and that impressive bezel-less design on the front with no notch at all. The company just announced its new mid-range device, the Oppo R17. Despite being a mid-ranger, the phone features the in-screen fingerprint scanner and is the first to come with the all-new Snapdragon 670 processor as well as the Corning Gorilla Glass 6. This makes it an impressive mid-range phone but we don’t see its launch happening globally anytime soon.
The R17 has a OnePlus 6-like dual camera setup on the back with an LED flash and below that is the Oppo logo. Except for that, there is nothing on the rear, making the device look super clean. Things change a bit from the front as the phone does have a notch, but this one probably has the best design. Among all these Android phones with iPhone-X like notches (no matter if they’re small or big), the Oppo R17 has a notch inspired from the Essential Phone. The only difference is that the notch is curvy, that fits perfectly with the overall curvy design of the phone.
Oppo calls it a ‘waterdrop’ notch, and we can clearly see why. Just like every other Android phone with a notch, there is a bottom chin, but it is pretty small as we can see in the renders above. Overall, this is yet another beautiful looking device from Oppo (Maybe not as good looking as the Find X).
Coming to the specifications, the Oppo R17 has a 6.4-inch display with an impressive 91.5% screen-to-body ratio. The display is protected with the all-new Corning Gorilla Glass 6, and it is the first device in the world to have it. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 chipset powers the phone and again, this is the first device in the world to have this 10nm chipset. It was announced this month by Qualcomm and is the most powerful 600 series processor from Qualcomm right now. The Oppo R17 has massive 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, which is kind of unique for a mid-range phone as we hardly see mid-range devices hitting the 8GB mark for the RAM.
There is a dual camera setup on the rear that includes a primary 16MP camera and a secondary 5MP camera. On the front, there is a 25MP camera with Sony IMX576 sensor. This is the same front camera sensor that we have on the Oppo F7. As expected, there are a lot of AI features for the cameras.
Apart from the processor, another unique feature of the phone is the in-screen fingerprint scanner that may not be as fast as the normal fingerprint scanner we have on current phones but is certainly something that we will see in almost every phone in the future. There is a 3,500mAh battery under the hood that supports the VOOC fast charging via USB Type-C port. Finally, Android Oreo runs out of the box with Color OS 5.2 on top.
Finally, the pre-orders have already started in China, and the Oppo R17 will go on sale on August 18. The 8GB + 128GB variant is priced at 3,499 Yuan or $510.