Oppo RX17 Pro first look

The Oppo R17 Pro may already be turning heads in the company’s home market of China but mobile giant Oppo has now chosen to launch a European version of its latest and greatest smartphone in the form of the Oppo RX17 Pro.

Unveiled by the company’s European head, Vincent Wong, the RX17 Pro is essentially the same device as the R17 Pro, rebranded for international audiences. Trusted Reviews was able to go hands-on with the phone during its European launch event to see whether it lived up to the hype.

Oppo RX17 Pro first look – Price and release date

The Oppo RX17 Pro has been confirmed to be launching in Italy, France, Spain and the Netherlands on November 16th, with pricing starting at €599. Its launch sibling, the more conservative Oppo RX17 Neo is set to launch in those same markets on the same day, with a starting price of €349.

After speaking with Oppo representatives during the launch event, Trusted Reviews also confirmed that these devices will serve as the company’s first official entrants into the UK market, although there’s no word on pricing and a specific launch date beyond “very soon”, while local carrier availability remains unknown for the time being.

Oppo RX17 Pro first look – How it compares to the OnePlus 6T

Before getting into how the RX17 Pro handles in its own right, let’s see how it stacks up side by side with its most like-minded competitor, the recently launched OnePlus 6T.

Oppo RX17 Pro	OnePlus 6T
Processor	Snapdragon 710	Snapdragon 845
Display	6.4-inch, 19.5:9, FHD+	6.41-inch 19.5:9 FHD+
OS	Android 8.1 Oreo w/ Color OS 5.2	Android 9.0 Pie w/ Oxygen OS 9
Headphone jack	No. Type-C headphones in-box	No. 3.5mm adapter in-box
Battery	3700mAh	3700mAh
Fast Charging	50W	20W
RAM	6GB	6GB/8GB
Storage	128GB	128GB/256GB
Camera	Dual 12+20MP	Dual 16+20MP
Front camera	25MP	16MP

First and foremost the phone is a real looker. The Radiant Mist variant that dominates the phone’s marketing material is a far cry from the black rectangles that the likes of Apple, Sony and Motorola usually feature on their posters, banner ads and beyond. A two-tone metal frame that fades between blue and purple is complemented by a lightly etched glass back that reflects light in much the same way.

The colour shifts as you tilt it against the light and as with the OnePlus 6T, the phone also sports an S-shaped reflective pattern that’s arresting to look at in person. This lightly textured finish also adds grip compared to glossy glass-backed handsets like the Samsung Galaxy S9, something tested first-hand at the phone’s launch.

The front of the Pro is almost all-screen, with an impressive 91.5% screen-to-body ratio and a frontage protected by the latest Gorilla Glass 6. Like the 6T and the Huawei Mate 20, the phone employs a water droplet-style notch that’s pleasingly unobtrusive, encroaching on the screen in a rather elegant fashion. Despite its small size it still manages to house the front-facing camera, light sensor and earpiece.

If you’re going to have a notch, this is way to do it

For security, the phone places its bets on an in-display fingerprint sensor. It promises a sub-half-second response time and lives up to the claim in practice, although it still feels slower than the equivalent sensors found on the 6T and Huawei’s flagship Mate 20 Pro, and that’s before we mention these are all still notably slower than the now antiquated fingerprint sensors that were placed elsewhere on the bodies of smartphones in previous generations.

With the tagline of “Seize the Night” you’d expect the camera setup to be a focus of the phone and the triple rear arrangement compounds that slogan with the impressive level of technology on offer.

The Emerald Green version is eye-catching but doesn’t repel fingerprints or offer the same level of grip as the Radiant Mist colourway does.

The main setup consists of a dual 12 and 20-megapixel array. The primary 12-megapixel sensor takes a leaf out of the Samsung’s 2018 smartphone playbook with a variable mechanical aperture that switches between f/1.5 and f/2.4, depending on how much light the camera feels it needs. Unlike Samsung’s setup, there’s no manual control over this experience, however, with the phone automatically toggling between the two f-stops as it sees fit. There’s also OIS, Ultra Night mode and a wealth of AI-enhanced automated shooting options that we’ll put to the test in full once we’re able to review the phone in earnest.

There’s also the matter of the TOF (time of flight) 3D camera setup; the third sensor on the back of the RX17 Pro, which lets you scan a subject in real-time to create a 3D representation of their head to light after the fact. That said, its talents can also be used to drop virtual lighting effects on a subject in a more conventional style, reminiscent of Portrait Lighting as seen last year on the iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X.

Selfie fans will appreciate the whopping 25-megapixel front-facing camera that resides within that raindrop notch, which features one of the most robust beauty modes we’ve come across; an unusually in-depth offering on most phones launched in the West but far more commonplace on smartphones built for the Chinese market and surrounding territories.

The Oppo Find X might pack conventional 2018 flagship specs but in the company’s eyes, the RX17 Pro is as equally an accomplished smartphone, even if its Snapdragon 710 processor and 6GB of RAM seem comparatively underwhelming to a spec junkie. In our brief hands-on time with the phone, it felt as snappy as any top-tier Android device, and in some ways, it offers as premium an experience.

It’s one of the first devices beyond the special edition Find X to tote the company’s SuperVOOC 50W fast-charging, made possible by the phone’s dual 1850mAh batteries. Using this dual cell configuration, the phone is able to offer up to 40% charge after just 10 minutes plugged in, meaning it’s more rapid than almost every other handset out there right now.

First Impressions

The RX17 Pro could be considered a high-end entry into the mid-range, but with the wealth of functionality Oppo has squeezed in here, there’s every reason to compare it against 2018’s flagship handsets. What remains is how well all these promising features play out in real-world use and whether or not the phone has the stones to compete with more classically-styled flagships in the field of performance.

Oh, and there’s also the matter of price, with the likes of the OnePlus 6T offering more power for a similar asking price.

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