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Being one of the world's thinnest smartphones gives the Oppo R5 something different, a feature that you really want to show off to your friends. Holding the R5 in your digits it feels exceptionally thin and will suit those with super tight skinny jeans, although I must offer a word of caution as the R5 still felt a little tall and digs into the leg when sitting.
Unfortunately, I found this thinness to be more of a hindrance than a blessing. The hard square edges don't make for a comfortable holding experience, digging into the palm and fingers when you're holding it.
While visually pleasing, I wasn't a fan of the hard edges on the iPhone 5S, and the wider thinner Oppo R5 magnifies these problems by digging a little deeper as you stretch to hold it.
It also means that the camera sticks out a little leaving me to worry that the lens will get a scratched without being placed in a case, and the less said about the need for a headphone adapter the better. Bluetooth headphones might be taking off, but I still rely upon wired headsets and I can see myself losing or breaking the adapter.
The R5's camera is also something that Oppo is keen to push. Jutting out the back is a 13MP sensor made by Sony, leaving a 5MP snapper on the front. Flash wise the R5 seems a little lacking. A single LED does not provide a lot of light but in test shots I found that it still provided really decent colour reproduction.
One of the reasons that Oppo is so proud of the R5's camera is its super close focus range, move in as close as you can and then add the zoom and the theory is you'll still get a decent image. I can report that Oppo's theory is pretty sound, only losing focus when the camera was almost on top of the subject.
Oppo has also added some nifty features to the camera including slow motion recording, intelligent scenes and a beautify mode for selfies. The latter option is one that I traditionally avoid as I feel that it adds nothing of any value to the inordinate amount of selfies I snap.
Also included in the R5's box is a rapid charger that Oppo claim can restore 75% of the battery within half an hour, or enough for a 2 hour call in 5 minutes. I can't say that I ever got 75% out of a half hour charge, although I was more than impressed with a 58% boost within that time frame.
I should also give a shout out to the R5's screen here as I found it extremely impressive throughout my time with the handset. Packing Full HD AMOLED technology stretched across 5.2 inches (that's 423ppi), the Oppo R5 is onto a winner here.
Viewing angles are impressive, as is colour reproduction. The AMOLED technology also helps to reduce battery drain as no power is required for black pixels. This also means that smart cases with windows are possible, demonstrated with a supplied case.
I'm not a fan of the bundled case, it feels cheap and poorly made, but it allows the access of information quickly through the small window. This isn't a new feature, Samsung and LG have both been using this style of case for a while, but it's something that is nice to see here.
