Preview: Oppo Find 7a & Find 7 Smart Phone

The Oppo Find 7 is launching in Malaysia on 7th May. While both high-spec Find 7 and its lower-spec Find 7a smart phones will be at the launch event, we will only be getting the Find 7a for now.

Pre-orders for the Find 7a have started with the price tag of RM1,598 and it will go on sale on the 15th of May. To recap on the specs, the Find 7a gets a 5.5″ Full HD display, a 2.3GHz Quad-Core Snapdragon 801 Processor, 2GB RAM and 16GB of storage. It also gets a 13MP Sony main camera with 6 element lens which can take a resampled 50MP image. Powering the device is a 2,800mAh battery which is slightly smaller in capacity than the high-end Find 7.

Many are asking when will the high-spec Find 7 with its Quad HD display is coming to Malaysia. As of now, Oppo is tight-lipped on the actual date and it isn’t on sale yet in its home country. The Oppo Find 7 is priced in China at 3,498 Yuan which is roughly RM1,850 when converted directly. In terms of specs, the Find 7 high-spec offers a higher resolution Quad HD display, a larger 3GB of RAM, 32GB of on-board storage and bigger 3,000mAh capacity battery.

UPDATE: We will be getting the white and carbon black colour units for the Oppo Find 7a as well. The white colour version will be available first for pre-orders.

Now moving back to the Find 7a, there are 2 colours available – A textured white unit and a ~~matte surfaced grey~~ carbon fibre looking black. Both of which will be available on the high-end Find 7 smart phone as well. ~~Among the 2, we are liking the white colour unit which has a texture that’s similar to LG’s G Pro 2 back cover. The black carbon-fibre looking back cover is exclusive to the high-end Find 7 model.~~

At first glance, you might think that the Find 7/7a has a unibody design as there’s no recessed lines on the cover which lets you pry your fingernails into. To remove the back cover, there’s a tiny metallic button which you can press with the microSIM card pin to pop the cover open. It just pops up the back cover slightly and you would still need to pry the cover with your finger nails. Putting it back is very flush and it snaps in very well with no gaps noticeable.

In our short preview, they even showed us a previous prototype where it uses a longer button that can be pressed easily with your finger nails. That design got dropped as Oppo didn’t find the mechanism as reliable as they intended to be. Now that’s Oppo’s example of paying attention to the details.

Both Find 7/7a features a VOOC rapid charge which is capable of charging the battery from 0 to 75% in just 30 minutes. If you need to make a quick call, a 5 minute charge is even sufficient for 2 hours talk time. The VOOC Charger that’s included pushes a massive 4.5A which is more than the usual 2A chargers included with phablets and even tablets. You could still use your normal chargers but the charge will be at the normal rate.

If you’re wondering how much is a difference between a 5.5″ Quad HD and Full HD display, surprisingly it is hardly noticeable during our short preview. With both Find 7a and a prototype Find 7 side by side, we struggle to tell both of them apart when viewing high resolution photo or while reading text on the browser. However when on a pure white background, the Find 7a appears to have better whites with greater viewing angle while the Find 7 Quad HD display has a hint of blue. Mind you that this is just a prototype unit and they probably would have a better display in the final unit.

You can check out hands-on video of both Find 7a and Find 7 from its global launch event. If you’re curious about its specs, why not check out our comparison table where we stack them against today’s flagship smart phones.