Oppo R819 review: Asian blade

Introduction

Dual-SIM phones have an aura of budget-mindedness, which makes it hard to find a handset that goes the extra mile. The Oppo R819 has an impressively slim and light build, a good screen and camera, and operates in the busy but somewhat uninspiring dual-SIM midrange.

   
Oppo R819 official images

The R819 is only 7.3mm thick and weighs a meager 110g, which gives it an in-hand feel that's impressive in any price range. The positive impressions continue with the bright, sharp screen. 720p on a 4.7" diagonal used to be flagship specs last year.

Same goes for the camera - the 8MP BSI image sensor sits behind a 5-element F/2.0 aperture lens and can shoot 1080p video. The Mediatek MT6589 chipset is becoming quite popular and while it won't scare the high-end Snapdragons, it should offer good enough performance and solid battery life. Plus it's coupled with a very recent Android build - 4.2 Jelly Bean - so it should go quite smoothly.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• 3G with HSPA
• 4.7" 16M-color 720p IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen with 312ppi pixel density
• Android OS v4.2.2 Jelly Bean with custom UI; Optional stock Android
• Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7 CPU, 1 GB RAM, PowerVR SGX544 GPU; Mediatek MT6589 chipset
• 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and geo-tagging, HDR
• 1080p video recording @ 30fps, continuous autofocus and stereo sound
• 2 MP front-facing camera with 88° FoV, 1080p video recording
• Wi-Fi b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA; Wireless TV out
• GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
• 16GB of built-in storage
• microUSB port
• Bluetooth v3.0
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack; Dirac HD sound enhancement
• Voice dialing
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
• 2,000mAh battery

Main disadvantage

• Relatively weak chipset
• No microSD card slot
• No LTE
• No NFC
• No TV-out
• Non user-replaceable battery

The biggest omissions that can trip up the R819 on its way to your pocket are all connectivity features. The sealed battery and non-expandable storage are to be expected in a slim phone, even more so considering phone makers are keener than ever on locking up both storage and battery.

There are legitimate uses of multiple SIM cards, even in the day and age of "unlimited everything" plans. Those plans are pricy for one - an extra card can give you data or texts a lot cheaper. Or travelling abroad you might want to keep your SIM active for emergencies, but put in a local pre-paid card for most calls. Or keep the work phone card on you during weekends, without carrying a second handset.

   
Oppo R819 in our office

The Oppo R819 has all the right things on its CV, but let's see how it does in an extended interview - jump over to the next page to see if it lived up to the expectations set up by the Find 5.