Oppo has over the years proven to be one of the best reliable options for budget phones and that can be seen in the latest Oppo F21 Pro device. The F21 Pro is one of the few phones with eye-catching features everyone will love to have. However, while it fails to come with the latest 5G technology, it still has one of the best internet speeds to keep you going.
The Oppo F21 Pro has plenty of interesting attributes including a Snapdragon 680 chipset, IPX4 water-resistant, AMOLED panel, a 90Hz refresh rate display, and strong battery life to keep you going.
There’s no doubt the competition in the mid-range segment is extremely ferocious as different brands like Xiaomi, Vivo, and many others have plenty of quality handsets to offer at cheap prices. Meanwhile, some popular flagship brands like Samsung, Huawei, Realme, etc have excellent standout offerings too. So it’ll be good to see how the F21 Pro levels against these competitors.
Fortunately, we have had the Oppo F21 Pro for a while now and brought out our unbiased review about the smartphone, alongside its price in the Nigerian market.
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Table of Contents
Oppo F21 Pro Key Specifications
- Display: 6.43-inches AMOLED
- Resolution: 1080 x 2400 pixels
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 680
- Front Camera: 32-megapixel
- Rear Camera: 64-megapixel 2-megapixel + 2-megapixel
- RAM: 6GB /8GB
- Storage: 128GB /256
- Battery Capacity: 4500mAh
- OS: Android 11 ColorOS 12.1
Design and Display
When it comes to design, the Oppo F21 Pro flagship-like design will leave you amazed. It borrows some of the design attributes of the OnePlus 9 Pro which makes them somehow identical especially when you flip through the back panel. It has amazing colour options of Cosmic Black and Sunset Orange to complement its beauty.
However, one thing we don’t like about the F21 Pro design is the fingerprint magnet glossy finish. Even though you can prevent this by buying a silicone case, we still didn’t fancy the rear panel build-up. With a net weight of 175g, this phone is one of the lightest we’ve ever reviewed. Unlike other mid-rangers, the Oppo F21 Pro has an in-display fingerprint scanner which adds to its premium look.
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In terms of ports and buttons, the F21 Pro comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack, sound speaker, and USB-C port all positioned at the bottom edge of the phone. Meanwhile, the power button and volume rockers are placed on the right and left sides of the phone respectively. While most brands have their phone buttons placed on the right side, Oppo’s decision of embedding it to the left is to pave way for easier accessibility. Slightly beside the volume buttons is the SIM /SDcard tray.
Turning over to the front is a 6.43-inch AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution (1080 × 2400 pixels). Unlike the Oppo F19, there’s a 90Hz refresh rate for a smooth phone experience especially while playing games. Other display specs of the F21 Pro are pretty good including a 401ppi density and 20:9 aspect ratio that’s good for viewing content on YouTube, surfing the internet, or playing games.
The Oppo F21 Pro slim display is interrupted by a small punch-hole cutout notch on the left corner that houses the front camera. Meanwhile, with up to 800 nits (as advertised) of brightness level, the F21 Pro display is bright, vivid, and colourful enough for outdoor use.
Camera
The Oppo F21 Pro comes with a triple rear camera setup consisting of a 64MP primary shooter alongside two 2MP microscope and depth sensors. However, there’s no ultra-wide lens, unlike other phones in this segment.
As for performance, the F21 Pro camera takes great photos with great dynamic range and good details in nice lighting settings. However, we won’t say the same thing in lowlight shots. This is one common issue with mid-range phones which we aren’t surprised to find on the F21 Pro. Nevertheless, it’s still good for social media uploading, thanks to the integrated Night Mode that helps to brighten up photos at least to some satisfiable extent.
Moving upfront is an improved 32MP selfie camera that takes great photos. There are integrated beauty filters that help in taking good selfies. We found the Oppo F21 Pro front camera better than the one in most phones.
Videos are great too especially in daylight settings and you can shoot 1080p videos at 30 frames per second (fps).
Performance and Software
While the Oppo F21 Pro has an awesome display and camera, the phone’s performance isn’t left out either. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 chipset running on the phone is pretty good at this price range. Depending on your region, the phone has two storage options available including 6GB /128GB and 8GB /256GB.
In terms of gaming, basic and mid-range games will play well without any lag on this phone while high-end ones like Asphalt 9, PUGB, etc would play but not in high-resolution settings. Meanwhile, day-to-day performance will go well but we found some apps restarting while switching between them.
Moving on to the software is the Google Android 11 with ColourOS 12.1 overlay. While we expected to have the latest Android 12, we’re still surprised why Oppo used last year’s software in a 2022 smartphone. The Oppo UI looks clean with lots of customisable options. However, it comes loaded with plenty of apps that occupy 10% of the phone’s storage. While you can delete some of the apps, a good number of them are undeletable.
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Battery Capacity
Despite being a lightweight device, the Oppo F21 Pro comes with an average 4500mAh battery capacity. While this might sound poor on paper, it can easily last for up to 48 hours if you’re an average user.
Fortunately, the Oppo F21 Pro is bundled with up to a 33W fast charger which is impressive and can power the device from empty to full battery in less than 90 minutes. Also, there’s reverse charging that allows you to power compatible gadgets with the Oppo F21 Pro.
Oppo F21 Pro: Price in Nigeria and Availability
There’s no doubt the F21 Pro is one of the best phones you can buy at this price range. The Oppo F21 Pro starts selling at ₦175,000 ($300) for the base storage model. Upon global release, you can buy the phone from third party retailers and stores in Nigeria and beyond.
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Oppo F21 Pro Full Specifications
General
- Brand: Oppo
- Model: F21 Pro
- Release Date: Not yet available
- Weight: 175g
- Colours: Cosmic Black, Sunset Orange
Display
- Touchscreen: YES
- Type: AMOLED, 90Hz
- Display Size: 6.43-inch
- Screen Resolution: 1080 x 2400 pixels
- Facelock Support: YES
- In-display fingerprint scanner: Yes
- Sensors: Fingerprint (In-display)
- Dimensions: 159.9 x 73.2 x 7.5 mm (6.30 x 2.88 x 0.30 in)
Platform
- Operating System: Android 11, ColourOS 12.1
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM6225 Snapdragon 680 4G (6 nm)
- CPU: Octa-core (4×2.4 GHz Kryo 265 Gold & 4×1.9 GHz Kryo 265 Silver)
- GPU: Adreno 610
Memory
- RAM: 6GB
- Inbuilt Storage: 128GB
- SD Card slot: Yes (dedicated slot)
Camera
- Rear Flash: LED Flashlight
- Rear Camera: 64-MP f/1.7 (wide), 2-MP f/3.3 (microscopic), 2-MP f/2.4 (depth)
- Video: 1080p@30fps
- Front Camera: 32-MP f/2.4 (wide)
- Front Flash: —
Connectivity
- Wi-Fi: YES
- Bluetooth: 5.1
- USB: MicroUSB-C 2.0
- GPS: YES
- WLAN: YES
Network
- SIM: Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
- Technology: GSM | HSPA | LTE
- 3G Support: Yes
- 4G/ LTE Support: Yes
- 5G Support: No
- Speed: HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A
Battery
- Capacity: Li-Po 4500 mAh, non-removable
- Fast Charge: 33W
Price
- Price in Nigeria: ₦175,000
- Price in the US: $300
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