Oppo N1

Mini

Review in

pictures

Honey, I shrunk the N1

• An exact downsized unibody replica of its bigger sibling, the N1

• Even gets a portion on the top housing a swivel camera

• The bottom is choc-a-bloc with a micro-USB port, 3.5mm audio socket and a speaker grille

• The volume rocker is on the right, while the power key is on the left spine

Not as ‘mini’ as you’d expect

• It’s mini only when compared to its phablet-sized brother

• Features a 5-inch display, which is sported by many flagships these days

• Handling is good with a curved rear and matte texture on the rear

• Can be used by a single hand, but only for a few tasks

Its 5-inch display is your window to the world

• The 5-inch display bears a resolution of 1,280 x 720 pixels • Produces sharp, vibrant text and images • However, it’s quite reflective… making it difficult to view

the screen outdoors • Glove mode can be enabled, allowing you to use the

device even while wearing gloves

A decent snapper…

• Equipped with a 13-megapixel camera at the rear, alongside the LED flash

• The custom camera app offers numerous modes and image manipulation options

• The Ultra HD mode allows you to capture images in 24-megapixel resolution by stitching multiple images together

… with an interesting ‘twist’

• The USP of the device is that the camera can rotate up to 206 degrees giving you the ability to capture from any angle and take high-quality selfies

• Quality-wise, the images looks really sharp and detailed

• The HDR mode wasn’t all that impressive, and the Ultra HD mode hardly adds any advantages over the usual auto mode

Fifty shades of ColorOS

• Runs the dated Android 4.3 Jelly Bean

• Like its Chinese counterparts, offers a customised UI called ColorOS

• While the UI is not as loaded as, say, Xiaomi’s MIUI, it does bring in quite a few features

• The homescreen has a dedicated photo and music space

Packs in a number of innovative features

• Supports gestures even when the display is off, giving you the ability to wake up the device or quickly access an app

• The preinstalled Swype keyboard offers fast typing with swipe-to-type gestures

• The recent apps menu gives you the option to lock a few apps before cleaning all of them with one click

• The Themes app offer downloadable themes to change the look and feel

Slightly low on performance, but makes up in the multitasking aspect

• Draws power from a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset clocked at 1.6GHz

• Results in decent performance with the Adreno 305 GPU, but there are noticeable jerks while playing heavy games

• The processor is accompanied by 2GB of RAM, making sure that you don’t face any issues while multitasking

Offers limited amount of storage

• Supplied with 16GB of flash storage

• After accounting for the space taken by the OS, around 11.5GB is available to the user

• Sadly, you can’t increase it further since the phone lacks an expansion slot

• You can however, make use of USB OTG capabilities to plug in your flash drive

Can’t maintain distance from the charger for long

• Sips juice from a 2,140mAh battery

• Hardly manages to last even a single working day

• It played a 720p video continuously for seven hours and 30 minutes

• The Battery Saver feature conserves the battery, while Simple Desktop disables most advanced features and give access to the basic stuff only

At a glance

• 9.2mm thickness • Weighs 150g • 5-inch display with an HD

resolution, 294ppi pixel density

• 1.6GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor

• 2GB RAM • 16GB internal storage • 13-megapixel rotating

camera with an LED flash • 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS

and NFC • Android 4.3 with Color OS • 2,140mAh battery

- • Non-expandable

storage • Steep pricing • Older Android build • Low battery capacity

Pros and cons

+ • Decent build quality • Good display • Innovative rotatable

camera which is good for selfies

Price: Rs 26,990

Pricing and verdict “There's nothing really wrong with the Oppo N1 Mini

per se – it comes with good display, a capable and innovative camera and a decent configuration.

However, the same specs are available at far lower price points in other devices. Even if you fancy a swivel

camera, the Gionee Elife E7 Mini is a good option. Because of high pricing, it’s difficult to recommend the

N1 Mini ”