Oppo F1s vs Sony Xperia XA Camera Comparison + Review

With Oppo positioning its new F1s mid-range to the premium line of other brands like the Sony Xperia and Samsung Galaxy series, it makes us wonder if the expensive pricing is really worth it considering it’s a new Chinese company. To find out if the Oppo F1s is really worth it, we put it on a one-on-one selfie camera comparison and review against the Sony Xperia XA.

• Oppo F1s Review
• Sony Xperia XA Dual Review
• Oppo F1s vs Samsung Galaxy C5

Design

Starting off with the design, the Oppo F1s is built from a mixed plastic and metal materials. The design is an imitation to the iPhone 6 series minus the antenna lines as it relies on the plastic caps and frame for signaling.

For Xperia XA, Sony’s new mid-ranger gets the almost bezel-less design similar to Xperia C5 and XA Ultra. The overall build is still plastic with frames on sides being metal.

The noticeable differences between the two are on ports and fingerprint sensor offering. The Oppo F1s has a physical home button with a snappy fingerprint sensor embedded within it. However, it lacks a LED notification and dedicated camera shutter compared to the Xperia XA.

Handling the Xperia mid-ranger is also better due to the narrower footprint and smaller display though the Oppo mid-ranger has a 0.5-inch more screen real estate.

It’s really hard telling which phone is better in terms of aesthetics because either phone look acceptably stylish. Perhaps the choice will still matter on user preference so we will give this round a tie.

Display

There’s nothing spectacular on the two displays except for Sony Xperia XA having almost acceptable Retina pixel density due to the smaller 5-inch display over the 5.5-inch of Oppo F1s.

Brightness levels are good on both with the Xperia XA having punchier colors due to X-Reality settings. We also have beveled glasses on the panels while Oppo F1s gets a tougher protection of Gorilla Glass 4 compared to the unknown scratch resistance on Xperia XA.

Technically, the difference in sharpness is minimal so we will leave this round tie for both devices.

Camera

The 13MP main camera of the Xperia XA produces photos with pleasing color reproduction and softer sharpness control. Meanwhile, the Oppo F1s shots are noticeably pale and noisy though brighter than the Xperia shooter.

For daylight, we think the 8MP of Xperia shooter does a better job in selfie because of the natural looking photos than on the overly brighten shots from the 16MP of Oppo shooter though you can control the level of toning on the latter.

It is on night selfies where we see the advantages of the F1s’s 16MP sensor. The details are way crisper and overall photo brighter on the Oppo’s camera.

For video, both cameras shoot up to 1080p with the Xperia retaining the pleasing colors over the bland quality on the Oppo camera.

It’s no question the Xperia XA has a more reliable back camera while a better selfie shooter on the Oppo F1s. So if you’re planning to use the main camera a lot, the former is definitely the choice whereas the Oppo is still a better “selfie expert”.

Performance and benchmark

Both chipsets here are Mediatek with the difference in performance not noticeable. The Xperia XA is powered by a slightly faster Helio P10 (Mediatek 6755) with a notch faster than on the MediaTek 6750 of Oppo F1s with 1GB RAM more. Meanwhile, both could handle intensive graphic games like NBA 2k17 in up to moderate settings.

Battery and charging

Oppo F1s has a larger capacity of 3000mAh over the 2300mAh on the Xperia competitor. The extra juice results to a solid battery life over the Xperia XA with an underwhelming endurance.

Both charge slow with no support for Fast Charging on Oppo F1s but optional thru 3rd party Quick Charge adapter for Xperia XA. Nonetheless, the former still takes the cake in this round.

Audio

Both speakers are mono channels and bottom firing. The sound quality on the Oppo is tinny but averagely loud while the Xperia has quite crisper output but a bit underpowered. Again, this round is close so we put them in a close tie.

Pricing and verdict

With an expensive pricing of P12,990 on the Oppo F1s it’s really hard to pick it as an overall winner. However, with its great selfie camera and solid battery life, it stands as a compelling choice among mid-range Android smartphones this 2016.

For Sony Xperia XA Dual at P13,990 pesos, it’s missing some important features like long battery life and ample amount of memory. But the relatively good display, accurate camera, and middling performance make up for those.

So which phone is the winner here? If you really want those bright and sharp portrait shots, go for the Oppo F1s but otherwise the Xperia XA it still a more reasonable buy.
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