The OPPO F9 Has a Different Kind of Notch and a Back to Die For

OPPO has unveiled their best F-series smartphone yet, the F9. The smartphone which is set to go on sale in Kenya as from September 24th brings with it the biggest changes we have seen on the F-Series line of smartphones.

The F9 boasts of being the first OPPO midrange device to pack the company’s proprietary fast charging technology, VOOC Flash Charge. The technology, which has been around for a while now, bring superfast charging speeds to the F9 but keep in mind this does not mean we get USB-C, we’re still stuck with old school ports. OPPO says that VOOC Flash Charge can juice up the F9 with up to 50% charge in just 30 minutes, from our tests, we got 49% in 27 minutes so that’s pretty close.

On top of packing VOOC charge technology, the OPPO F9 comes with a newly designed notch that the company calls, waterdrop screen. The notch on this phone looks like a water droplet, thus the name. Say what you must about notches, but this is the best designed yet and the top bezels are pretty minimal, as minimal as the famous iPhone X, however, the same cannot be said about the chin, which is significantly thick.

Thanks to the waterdrop display, we get a 6.3-inch full HD screen in a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and protected by Gorilla Glass 6 and complemented by the gradient coloured back that comes in two-tone colours and embedded diamond-like patterns visible when light reflects on the back. The phone comes in three colours; sunrise red, twilight blue and starry purple – which will be available later on in the year.

Needless to say, like recent OPPO smartphones, the F9 is a fashionable ornament but it does not shy away from offering worthy performance. The device comes with either 4GB or 6GB RAM configuration with 64GB of internal storage on both options. The performance takes a beating thanks to the MediaTek Helio P60 processor onboard but this should sufficiently serve typical users well.

Other specifications include:

• A 3500mAh battery
• Dual SIM with Dual 4G standby
• Dual 16MP + 2MP cameras for depth sensing
• 25MP selfie camera
• A fingerprint reader on the back and software-based face recognition
• ColorOS 5.2 based on Android 8.1 Oreo

Interestingly, OPPO and Lipa Later introduced a new scheme that would allow current OPPO smartphone owners to trade-in their devices and top up the amount to get the OPPO F9. Lipa Later’s CEO, Eric Muli, however, clarified that this will be based on the condition of the current phone. Lipa Later will also be offering the F9 on a monthly instalment of at least Kes.3729 which includes insurance against theft and a free case.

The OPPO F9 is currently on pre-order until September 23rd, priced at Kes.35,990 for the 4GB option and Kes.37,990 for the 6GB option. Sales of the device start on September 24th.