We found the answer to the problem with our latest mid-range smartphone, Oppo Mirror 3.
Oppo has provided an 8-megapixel camera in the Mirror 3 product, which is equipped with a Sony IMX179 back-illuminated (BSI) sensor. This sensor is known for its excellent low-light performance. On the other hand, the Oppo Mirror 3’s specs are below expectations given its price, at least on paper. We spent some time with this device to find out why the camera performance is so good that
This product should be purchased.
Appearance and Design
We love Oppo’s sophisticated design and attention to detail when creating smartphones. Although the design of the Mirror 3 is not much different from other all-in-one PCs, it looks more premium than its price. Most importantly, this smartphone is a little smaller, which is a welcome change considering we usually use phones with 5-inch or larger screens these days. We were able to take it out of our pocket very easily and use it with one hand. The reality is that the back of the phone is slightly curved, making it more comfortable to hold.
Oppo Mirror 3 is a compact phone. Its dimensions are 137.7×68.8×8.9 mm and its weight is 130 grams. The phone’s body is made entirely of plastic, but it looks quite sturdy. However, cheap plastic is used to make the power button and volume rocker on the right side.
When pressing these buttons, we felt as if they were about to break, due to the distinct clicking sound. The micro USB port and microphone for phone calls remain at the bottom of the phone. On the other hand, there is a 3.5mm audio port on the top of the phone. At the top there is another microphone, which is designed to record voice during video shooting. There is also an infrared emitter.
At the bottom of the screen are capacitive buttons that let you navigate the operating system. The earpiece, light sensor and front camera are located above the screen. The back has a textured look, but has a glossy finish that makes it feel smooth to the touch. There is a metal ring around the camera and flash. The back of the phone has seven small machine-made holes for the speaker. Inside the back cover there is a battery compartment, two micro-SIM card slots and a microSD card slot.
Specifications and software
Talking about features, we said that Oppo Mirror 3 does not come with any new specifications. The phone is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 SoC with integrated Adreno 306 graphics. The phone comes with 1GB RAM and 8GB internal storage. 8GB may seem small to you, but you can expand it up to 128GB using a microSD card. Using this mirror 3 via micro USB port
Can act as a USB host. All these specs are not that great because other smartphones priced below this one come with a Snapdragon 410 SoC and 2GB RAM, which is common these days.
The Mirror 3’s 8-megapixel rear camera has an f/2.0 aperture, a 5P lens, and a blue light sensor. The 5 megapixel front camera allows you to take selfies. You can only use one SIM card to connect to the 3G network. Talking about other connectivity options, the phone has infrared, Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi a/b/g/n. The phone has a 2000 mAh battery.
The 4.7-inch IPS LCD panel has a resolution of 720×1280 and a pixel density of 312 ppi. There is Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection on top of the screen. The phone’s display is bright and color saturation is also good. The screen copes well with viewing angles and in direct sunlight. In any case, Oppo has rarely disappointed with the display of its phones. But there is one more thing: some people may say that for this price
Compared to other smartphones in this line, the display performance of this phone is below average.
Oppo used its Color OS 2.0 skin on top of Android 4.4.4 KitKat. The lack of use of the Lollipop operating system is a big downside to the Mirror 3. Color OS 2.0 is quite polished, clean and lightweight, but it’s nowhere near Android. Color OS 2.0 has made some improvements and added some tricks, but they are not exclusive to this product. For example, we can see the status bar
With this, we can monitor the speed of our 3G connection. Gesture and movement tricks also worked well most of the time. Oppo has also given users the option to change themes as per their desire.
camera
The camera app has many features and modes available within the app itself, which users can add and remove as they wish. There are also HDR, Panorama and Expert modes. However, this app has unique features such as Colorful Night, Double Exposure, and GIF. The color of photos taken in low light can be enhanced with the colorful Night Mode. With double exposure, you can take two photos and expose one above the other.
You can layer it over it, this is used to give an artistic effect. You can create moving images in GIF mode. Photos taken in normal lighting showed every detail and were not pixelated. However, the overall tone turned out to be warmer than we wanted.
You will need to use HDR to ensure the photo is not overexposed. Tip: Contrary to popular belief, photos turn out better in the shade than in bright sunlight.
The BSI sensor does a good job in low light and we got some great shots. There is some noise in these photos, but it’s much better than photos taken with other smartphone cameras. In fact, the camera’s low-light performance is on par with the Huawei Honor 6 Plus, and that in itself is a huge achievement.
The 5 MP front camera does a great job of taking selfies, there is no need to apply a beautification effect. The 1080p video captured from the camera didn’t live up to expectations, especially since many areas were underexposed despite reasonable lighting.
performance
We have no complaints about performance, but the Mirror 3 is not a powerful device. It performs basic tasks well, but as soon as some intensive task is set, it starts to lag. This flaw was clearly visible when playing the graphics-heavy game Asphalt 8.
In AnTuTu and GFXbench tests, Mirror 3 scored 19,840 and 10,974 points respectively, which is slightly lower than the test results of other SoC-based smartphones. The phone scored 5,236 points in the 3DMark Ice Storm graphics test, while the phone clocked 9.5 fps in the GFXbench benchmark.
The Mirror 3 had no problems playing video. There were no problems playing back even heavily encoded portions of video at 40 Mbps. The phone’s speaker volume is adequate, and the included headphones are sufficient for general use. The voice quality during phone calls is good, there were no problems with dropped calls. The phone’s battery lasted 8 hours and 1 minute in the video loop battery test, which
The phone’s 2,000mAh battery capacity comes as a surprise.
our decision
The Oppo Mirror 3 is priced at Rs 16,990, which is slightly higher than the cost of the product. However, the main camera can take excellent photos in low light, a feature that should attract many buyers. You should only buy this phone if you want to use it for photography or as an infrared remote control for your other electronic devices.
