Oppo K3 has been launched in India in the same price segment as Realme X. The only difference between the two devices is the design, RAM, storage and rear camera. Is the Oppo K3 with a starting price of Rs 16,990 a better option than the Redmi Note 7 Pro (Review) and Vivo Z1 Pro (Review) available in the market? Let’s find out…
Design of Oppo K3
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This is not the first time we have seen similarities in design between Oppo and Realme phones. Both phones have the same dimensions and weight. The laminated back panel is also prone to smudges but we did not see many scratches during the review. The polycarbonate body of the Oppo K3 feels premium and sturdy.
The placement of the buttons is also the same as compared to Realme X. The dual-SIM tray is given on the right side of the phone but there is no option to expand the storage. The single speaker, USB Type-C port and headphone jack are placed at the bottom of the phone while the pop-up selfie camera is placed in the middle of the top part of the phone. Sapphire glass has been used for the protection of the sensor.
Oppo K3 has a 6.5-inch AMOLED display which comes with full-HD+ resolution. There is also Gorilla Glass to protect the screen. Colors look good on the AMOLED panel and the brightness of the phone is also good. For security, an in-display fingerprint sensor has been provided which unlocks the phone quickly.
Oppo K3 has two color variants – one is Aurora Blue (we had it for review) and the other is Jade Black. In the phone, you will get to see dual-tone finish of purple and magenta color which looks very good and due to lamination, when light falls on it, cool visual patterns appear. In the retail box, you will get VOOC 3.0 fast charger, USB Type-C cable, case, SIM eject tool.
Oppo K3 Specifications and Software
Oppo K3 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 processor, this chipset provides good CPU and GPU performance. Oppo K3 has been launched in two variants, one with 6 GB RAM and 64 GB storage which is priced at Rs 16,990. The second one with 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage which is priced at Rs 19,990.
We got the 64GB storage variant for review which has ample space. The Oppo K3 features dual 4G VoLTE, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth version 5, USB-OTG, GPS support. The phone does not have a notification LED but you can enable an always-on screen on which you will see the clock, missed call alerts and SMS only.
The Oppo K3 has FM radio, but to recall, the Realme X does not have FM radio. This Oppo brand phone runs on ColorOS 6 based on Android 9 Pie. Our review unit is running on the July Android security patch. The interface is easy to use and has many shortcuts and gestures which we also recently saw in the Realme X.
The Dolby Atmos sound in Oppo K3 is enabled by default when the phone’s speaker is used. ColorOS does not send you unnecessary notifications but the Oppo App Store app does send you notifications but you can disable them by going into the app settings. You will already find some third party apps like NewsPoint, UC Browser, Dailyhunt etc. pre-installed in the phone but you can also uninstall them if you want.
Oppo K3 performance and battery life
The phone feels quite heavy when kept in the pocket and it is not easy to use the phone with one hand. We recently reviewed the Realme X and now after reviewing the Oppo K3, we found the overall experience to be very similar. Sometimes the Oppo K3 slips from the hand but thankfully there is a case provided in the retail box which helps in maintaining a grip on the phone.
The phone runs Android smoothly and we did not have any complaints of the phone heating up. The phone did get slightly warm during gaming. The Snapdragon 710 processor in the Oppo K3 has good integrated graphics capabilities. Both Asphalt 9: Legends and PUBG Mobile games ran smoothly on high graphics settings.
It may be difficult to use a large display for general use, but you will have a good experience while watching movies or playing games. Due to the good color saturation and high brightness of the AMOLED panel, it feels good to view content on the display. Apart from this, speakers with Dolby Atmos produce good and loud sound.
The pop-up camera has a fast ejection and retraction mechanism which makes face recognition work well. In low light, the light from the screen helps you unlock the phone. The Oppo K3 is powered by a 3,765mAh battery, which is the same capacity as the Realme X.
Our battery loop test results are also very similar. In our HD video loop test, the Oppo K3 lasted for 14 hours and 46 minutes and with normal use, the phone lasted for more than a day. The fast charger that comes with the phone charges the phone from 0 to 52 percent in half an hour and up to 91 percent in an hour.
Camera of Oppo K3
The rear camera of this phone is slightly different than that of Realme X. The Oppo K3 has a 16-megapixel primary camera with an aperture of f/1.7. There is also a 2-megapixel depth-sensing camera for use in portrait mode. The autofocus system in the Oppo K3 is fast and it does not take much time to lock focus on the subject.
Photos are saved quickly with the click of the shutter button. Landscape shots taken in daylight captured good detail, colours had good saturation and HDR also handles exposure well. The camera app also has a Chroma Boost feature which we have seen in Realme phones, here it is called Dazzle Color. Close-up shots captured sharpness and detail well, although the camera’s AI tends to boost the primary colours.
Photos taken in artificial light indoors were also good. Detail was captured well, colors also looked good and there was no noise in the pictures. Focusing speed was also good. While shooting outdoors at night, the pictures came out good but there was a lack of detail. This problem is solved by night shooting mode which improves brightness in dark areas, fixes overexposed areas and compensates for the lack of detail in the scene.
The Oppo K3 has a 16-megapixel selfie camera that takes good selfies even when shooting in adverse lighting conditions. HDR is very effective but the camera struggles to capture good detail in low light. The default beautification settings are a bit aggressive in smoothening skin tones.
Talking about videos, the Oppo K3 is capable of recording up to 4K resolution but without any stabilization. Image quality is good but the colors seem a bit boosted. Continuous autofocus is also fast and there was no problem while switching between two subjects. Stabilization is available at 1080p which works well. Image quality is average in low light.
The camera app is easy to use and there’s an option to activate Google Lens in the viewfinder in addition to the standard shooting modes like time lapse, panorama, expert and slow-motion.
Our verdict
The Oppo K3 is a good all-rounder phone. We have the 64GB storage variant which is priced the same as the base variant of the Realme X while the 6GB RAM variant of the Oppo K3 is priced the same as the 4GB RAM variant of the Realme X. The cameras are also different in both devices but in our experience, the Oppo K3 smartphone has been very close to the camera performance of the Realme X.
Between the base models of the two, we prefer the Realme X as it has less RAM but double the storage. Let us remind you that the Oppo K3 does not have an option to expand the storage. Oppo K3’s rivals Redmi Note 7 Pro and Vivo Z1 Pro can also offer you more storage and the option to expand the storage in the same price segment.
Oppo K3 is an online exclusive phone and is available for sale only on Amazon. On the other hand, Realme X is also sold through flash sales and it may soon be available in Realme’s offline stores as well. Let us tell you that the top variant of Oppo K3 has the same RAM and storage as Realme X.
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