OPPO K1: A sound competitor in the competitive price segment
Two microphones, high-end electronics, and a premium look that is enhanced by a futuristic finger print display make the K1 a promising disruptor in the budget category.
OPPO has returned with a new smartphone, the K1. While this one is intended for the budget price segment, it looks supremely premium. It has retained OPPO’s now signature water drop screen in front and a beautiful gradient design on the back, something that OPPO has now made a habit of.
If this were a book to be judged by its cover, it wouldn’t be hard to pick it right off its shelf. Not just because of the rear gradients or the water drop design on a 6.41-inch AMOLED screen, but the fingerprint sensor itself. See it for yourself below!
Like its heavyweight elder cousin, the R17Pro, the K1 has a glowing fingerprint icon that lights up on the otherwise idle switched-off screen everytime you pick up the phone. This jewel-like indicator uses an in-screen optical sensor, which ensures a faster and more accurate unlocking experience. The most satisfying part about this is the way the light splashes for a split second when you touch it.
A look at the spec sheet will also reassure the potential buyer that the company is not holding back on the tech. The phone’s main engine is the 64-bit Qualcomm SDM660 octa-core processor, which drives a 4GB RAM and a 64 GB ROM.
The aforementioned water drop houses a 25-megapixel front camera along with the light sensor, while the rear dual camera setup is a 16+2 megapixel duo. The fuel for this machine is provided by a 3600 mAh battery, enough to last comfortably for the day.
The display that switches on has a resolution of 2340x1080 pixels. Its 16-million colour display is vibrant, thanks hugely to OPPO’s signature ColorOS 5.2 running Android 8.1 Oreo. A display resolution of 402 PPI may sound like a bit much, but it is essential for doing justice to the 25MP front-facing camera, which can produce an image size of 4312x5760 pixels.
Leaving that behind, though, is the max size that the rear camera system can achieve, which is a whopping 4608x3456 pixels! It is great that such a size is achievable, given that the rear camera has a Pro mode that enables one to change the focus, exposure, white balance, and other parameters manually.
The competitive mid-range smartphone market is steadily evolving, with brands like OPPO leading the fray. Build quality and a bevy of features aside, the K1, priced at ₹16,990 for the 4GB RAM/64GB internal storage variant, checks most of the boxes that a budget-focused consumer looks for in a smartphone. This also underscores the point that OPPO constantly listens to its users to improve on its mid-range offerings.
The K1 will be available in stores starting February 12. You can take your pick from two colours—Piano Black (a dazzling shade of black) and Astral Blue (a shade of blue). OPPO has also partnered with Flipkart to sell the device exclusively on the e-commerce platform.
To close off this review, it is important to reiterate that the OPPO K1 may be intended for the budget market, but as is evident, it is quite a powerhouse that does not hold back on giving you the best of the essentials, and a tad more.