Here come the rose gold Android phones

It was only a matter of time before the fad for rose gold cellphones spread from the Apple store to the Android marketplace.

Chinese maker Oppo claims its R7S is the first rose gold Android on the market — although more will likely follow, given the media buzz that followed Apple debuting the color on its iPhone 6S and 6S Plus models.

Samsung sort of beat everyone to the punch with its Galaxy Note 3 — but that only had the merest bronze-pink trim that Samsung called rose gold. For the most part, it was a black and white leather-encased phone that had a pink border.

Like the iPhone 6S, the Oppo R7S has a full-on rose gold rear — which is much prized in Oppo's home market. When the iPhone came out in the hotly anticipated rose gold, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the color was designed especially for the Chinese market. Apple's gold products — iPhones, iPads and now the gold MacBook — were also targeted at Chinese consumers, who have shown a special liking for the luxurious hue.

Side-by-side with an iPhone, the Oppo is a much pinker shade, and less gold-looking than the iPhone. While the rose gold iPhone has proven popular with male consumers, it remains to be seen how many will consider the R7s the same shade as so-called "bros gold".

Side-by-side with a rose gold iPhone 6S Plus.

Image: Victoria Ho/Mashable

Obvious Apple influence

Apple's influence clearly extended beyond just the rose gold veneer. ColorOS 2.1, Oppo's version of Android Lollipop, takes a page from Apple's iOS interface. While regular Android offers a separate list for all the apps on the phone, ColorOS goes the Apple route, showing all the apps on the homescreen.

Pressing on an app's icon will cause the apps on the page to wiggle, indicating that they can be rearranged. Apps that can be deleted will also display a little cross on their icons — just as on Apple devices.

The ColorOS camera app also apes the iOS camera. You swipe left and right to switch between camera and video modes. The placement of the square gallery button to the left, and the flash and selfie-mode icons on the border, are also very similar.

The Oppo R7s in camera mode.

Image: Victoria Ho/Mashable

In selfie mode, you can use a front-facing flash, which illuminates the screen to light up your face in dark settings — a feature Apple introduced with the 6S.

The 6S measures the color temperature of the shot and adjusts the screen color to compensate, creating a more natural-looking shot. But in our tests, photos on the Oppo appeared to display the same pinkish hue regardless of light temperature.

Great finish and features on a mid-end device

The Oppo R7s will retail for S$599 (US$425), putting it in the mid-range of smartphones and toward the pricier end of comparable Chinese phones.

Despite the mid-range pricing, it comes with a number of hardware features typically found on high-end devices. For one, its unibody metal finishing feels solid and premium, and only weighs 155g despite its size.

Its 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display sits behind a layer of Gorilla Glass 4, a step up from the Gorilla Glass 3 found on Oppo's older models.

But it's the chip that puts the phone in the mid-range. Oppo used the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 chip in its older R7 and R7 Plus models, and the average-performing chip is also used for mid-range phones like the Xiaomi Mi 4i and Samsung Galaxy A7.

Oppo has put a generous 4 GB of RAM behind the chip, which helps the phone multi-task and load apps better than its processor specs would indicate.

It comes with 32 GB of storage, but this is expandable to 128 GB via an external microSD card, which you can put in the nano SIM slot of its dual-SIM tray.

Dual-SIM tray for a micro SIM and Nano SIM.

Image: Victoria Ho/Mashable

The phone has a decent Samsung-made 13 megapixel, f/2.2 rear camera, and an 8 megapixel front shooter. The phase detection autofocus is what makes it impressive: In our tests, the phone managed to switch focal points quickly, and often avoided having to hunt for the subject by zooming in and out.

Big battery and super fast charging

With its big screen, it's no wonder Oppo had to put a large 3,070 mAh battery in the R7S. And when you run out of juice, Oppo's VOOC "flash charging" technology promises you'll be able to bring your phone back to a 75% charge in 30 minutes.

This competes with other fast charge battery tech, such as Qualcomm's Quick Charge, which HTC used to build its "Rapid Charger 2.0" plug.

Oppo claims it's been working on VOOC for the past three years, and is making the feature available in its car chargers and power banks as well.

The Oppo R7S hits the market in late December, with the gold version rolling out first. The device will be available to Australia and Asian countries such as Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, with the U.S. and European versions following later in December.

Oppo R7s The Good

Sleek design • Feels great in hand • Fast-charging large battery • Fast autofocus

The Bad

Some might find the pink a little too pink • ColorOS is not very innovative • Mid-range processor is not as fast as the competition

The Bottom Line

An affordable phone with premium trimmings that'll do the job for people keen on carrying a slick device around.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Source: Here come the rose gold Android phones