Oppo F27 5G Review: Can Good Looks Compensate For Average Performance?

The Oppo F27 5G price is Rs.22,999 in India for the base variant with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. Furthermore, the 8GB+256GB variant retails for Rs.24,999.

It is available in Emerald Green and Amber Orange in Oppo India website, Flipkart and other retail stores.

The Oppo F27 5G packs the following items inside the box:

• Phone
• Case
• Manual
• Cable
• Charger

Before we talk in detail about the device, let’s see what the on-paper specs look like:

• Display:  6.67 inches AMOLED with 120Hz refresh rate
• Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 6300
• RAM & ROM: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM
• Software: ColorOS 14 based on Android 14
• Rear camera: 50MP+2MP
• Selfie camera: 32MP
• Battery: 5,000mAh
• Weight: 187 grams
• Dimensions: 163 x 75.8 x 7.7 mm

The Oppo F27 5G sports a premium design with a large camera module in the centre. It houses the dual cameras apart from the new Halo Light, which we will discuss later.

You get a frosted glass finish on the back, which isn’t the most pleasing thing to hold. I have the Emerald Green colour of the Oppo F27 5G for review, and you can also get it in Amber Orange if you prefer a more vibrant look. The company has also bundled an armour case in the box, which offers a much better grip and enhanced protection for the phone.

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The main highlight of the Oppo F27 5G design is its durability, as it has an Armour Body certification, which is found in the Amber Orange variant. It also has an IP64 rating, which isn’t mindblowing since you can get IP68-rated phones from Motorola in this price range.

The Halo Light is a small circular light surrounding the camera ring. It can light up in various colours when you receive a phone call, notification, charging and even game launches.

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Moreover, it also synchronizes with music playing on your phone, although on select music services like Gaana and Wynk.However, unlike the Glyph lighting, it is more of a gimmick than a useful feature due to its dim brightness.

The Oppo F27 5G is also one of the lightest phones I have reviewed, weighing around 187 grams and just 7.69mm thick (Emerald Green). Despite the 5,000mAh battery, it does not feel bulky and is relatively easy to carry around.

When it comes to ports and placements, you get the power button and volume rockers on the right while the left remains clean.

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At the top, there is the secondary microphone and speaker grille.

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At the bottom, you will find the SIM tray, microSD card slot, USB-C port, and speaker grille.

The Oppo F27 5G boasts a 50-megapixel primary camera and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. On the front, you get a 32-megapixel selfie camera.

The 50-megapixel OmniVision V50D takes great photos with plenty of detail and clarity during the day. You can also take photos in 2x using sensor zoom, although the output isn’t great. I would have honestly preferred an ultrawide angle sensor since most phones in this range do have one.

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The 2-megapixel depth sensor is only suitable on paper and has no meaningful purpose. Although the portrait mode works fine, it has some issues with edge detection.

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The phone can take decent photos at night despite noticeable grain and noise. Furthermore, it can also struggle in areas with inadequate lighting. The camera performance isn’t anything extraordinary since you can get phones like the Redmi Note 13 Pro and the Realme 13 Pro that offer much more versatile cameras for a similar price.

Regarding selfies, the 32-megapixel can take some decent shots with accurate skin tones and details. The phone can record videos in 1080p at 60 FPS from the primary and 1080p at 30 FPS from the front-facing cameras.

The Oppo F27 5G packs a 5,000mAh battery that can easily last an entire day of usage. The phone easily lasted me two days with light usage, including scrolling through reels, watching videos on YouTube and taking pictures. I easily got around 6 to 7 hours of screen-on time during my review of the Oppo F27 5G.

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Furthermore, you get 45W SUPERVOOC charging support that can top up the phone to 100 per cent in around 1 hour and 20 minutes.

I was hoping for faster charging speeds, given that phones like the Realme 13+ 5G offer 80W charging at a similar price.Hopefully, Oppo will do improve it in the future iterations of the phone.

The Oppo F27 5G sports a 6.67-inch Full-HD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The phone has a centre punch hole cutout and a thick chin at the bottom.

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Regarding outdoor visibility, the phone has a peak brightness of 2100 nits and 1200 in HBM. It is bright enough for outdoor usage, and I faced no legibility issues. You get AGC DT-Star 2 glass for protection, but I still recommend using tempered glass on top.

I watched IC 814: The Kandhar Hijacking on Netflix, and the dark scenes of the show were accurately depicted due to the deep blacks of the AMOLED panel.

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There are two display settings to choose from: Vivid and Natural, and I set it to the Vivid option during my review of the Oppo F27 5G.

Thanks to the 120Hz refresh rate, scrolling through the UI remains smooth and fluid. You can choose between Auto Select, Standard (60 Hz), and High (120Hz). You can also choose an app-specific refresh rate, which is always a welcome option.

You also get a Splash Touch feature that lets you use the device even when wet. For audio, you get stereo speakers that are loud with a dedicated 300 per cent mode and Spatial Audio with Holo Audio.

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Sadly, there is no 3.5mm headphone jack, which is a dying breed on phones anyway. For security, there is an under-display fingerprint scanner apart from face unlock.

The MediaTek Dimensity 6300 chipset powers the Oppo F27 5G paired with 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage. I have the 8GB RAM and 256GB variant of the Oppo F27 5G for review.

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This processor is based on a 6nm architecture and is mainly found in budget phones like the Lava Blaze 3 5G and the Oppo K12x 5G, which cost way less than the F27 5G.

It is smooth, did not lag during casual tasks, and encountered no significant lags or stutters. Furthermore, there is also RAM expansion support for up to 8GB.

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When it comes to more intensive tasks like gaming, you can play BGMI at Smooth and UItra (40 FPS) and CODM at 60 FPS (Medium and High). Unfortunately, there isn’t 90FPS support for either game, most likely due to the limitations of the chipset. However, you do get a dedicated game mode with plenty of options, including the ability to monitor frame rates.

Regarding benchmarks, the phone has a Geekbench 5 score of 764 in the single-core test and 1759 in the multi-core. Furthermore, the managed to get an AnTuTu V10 score of 460812 and a score of 49423 in the AnTuTu storage test.

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In the 15-minute CPU throttling test, the phone throttled to 87 per cent of its peak performance and managed a stability score of 98.9 per cent in the 3D Mark Wildlife Extreme Stress Test.Overall, the Oppo F27 5G is an average performer and there are much better phones like the Poco X6 Pro and the iQOO Z9s Pro if you want a powerful smartphone in this price range.

The Oppo F27 5G runs on ColorOS 14 based on Android 14 out of the box. Oppo has promised two years of OS updates and three years of security patches, which could have been better given the price range.

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You get the typical ColorOS experience with plenty of bloatware apps such as FinShell Pay, Fitbit, Myntra, Snapchat,Spotify and more. To add to the frustration, there are even more folders such as Must Play, Featured and More Apps apart from the infamous Hot Apps and Hot Games one.

Given the mediocre specifications on paper, I was at least hoping Oppo wouldn’t have compromised on the software aspect. Thankfully, you can uninstall most of these apps and disable some of these folders from the App Market.

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Other features include an AI Studio app where you can create portrait photos of yourself, which requires logging into an Oppo account. You need credits to generate these images, which you can obtain by logging into the phone daily. The end result isn’t perfect, to be honest, and is only good enough to share with your friends for an occasional giggle.

Some of the other features include AI Writer, AI Summary, and AI Speak, which harness the power of Google Gemini. You also get AI Eraser 2.0 to remove objects from images apart from AI Smart Image Matting 2.0 to extract objects and add them to a new background. There is also AI Linkboost and BeaconLink to make calls between other Oppo devices without an active network.

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Other features include Smart Suggestions, Split View, Flexible Window, Quick Return, Quick Launch, Smart Sidebar, Kids Mode, Simple Mode, Zen Space, and Screen Recognition. The rest of the ColorOS experience is pretty familiar and packed with useful features; however, the presence of bloatware and only two years of updates can be a sore point for some users.