OK so my first impressions…
The whole look and feel of this thing is first class. I really really like the design; it’s so clean and classy. So many nice design touches like the earpiece is very minimal and discrete, the proximity sensor and notification LED all blend into the glass better than most phones I’ve seen. The camera’s are perfectly centred in their positions and have a nice cone recessed effect that not all phones have. I like that the top of the phone is void of any ports. The buttons all feel solid and tactile, all the ports and holes are all machined to perfection. The back is also a nice shade of silver and great for hiding fingerprints. The whole phone feels so svelte, love the look of the chamfered edges and recessed non clicky home button/FPS, and the way the back curves in to make the phone feel even thinner. I think overall I even more impressed with the design than the S7 Edge. 10/10 for build and 9/10 for design.
The screen is nice overall but I agree that it’s overly saturated. I’m really looking forward to the sRGB mode and someone over at XDA already has that update. The screen gets bright and enough to view outdoors with no real issues. 1080p res I would say is adequate and looks fine for 90% of the time, you can notice the PenTile matrix if you look closely but overall I’d say it’s sharp enough for the price.
The camera has impressed me tbh. It’s fast to shoot, exposes well, fast focus, sharp and good colours. Low light is also quite decent too. I’m happy with the camera. The video cam is acceptable but a bit too shaky. Needs more tuning.
Moving onto the software, it’s pretty great, Stock Android sprinkled with a few goodies. Everything is smooth and fast as you would expect. Phone hasn’t got too hot on me and performance is consistent. I really some of the added features like the wave to wake the ambient display and how you can pin apps in the app switcher so when you clear all apps the pinned one’s remain. RAM management is an issue, far too aggressive and closes down apps more than my Nexus 6 with half the RAM. This needs sorting via an OTA, one is on the way but it only allows 3 more apps, we need more.
The FPS is lightning quick, as shown in reviews its quicker than the iPhone 6S and S7. Really impressed with it and it’s accuracy, It’s also topped with sapphire glass which is nice. In comparison the S7 one is plastic. The speaker is of decent quality and volume, it’s just that it’s side firing and mono which sucks. I’m used to the glorious Nexus 6 speakers so it’s hard to adjust. Charging is super-fast and battery life seems decent. I’d say 4-5hrs screen time is about the norm. Notification LED is also great, and works perfect, I set Whatsapp to Purple and it did it no fuss. Not tested the headphone output yet but reviews say it’s also good and close to the HTC 10 which is impressive. The autobrightness is not working well for me, doesn’t get dark enough and I have to keep adjusting it to suit my needs. Nexus 6 works better here.
Overall a big thumbs up for the OP3, it hits well above its price tag.
