OPPO F35 Pro 5G Review: Style, Stamina and Solid Photography

I’ve been using the OPPO F35 Pro 5G for a little over a week now, testing the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage variant in Wave Blue. The launch also marks a decade of OPPO’s F Series in India, which first arrived with the OPPO F1 in 2016. From everyday browsing and gaming to photography and video streaming, I’ve put the F35 Pro through the usual routine to see how it holds up. With its eye-catching design and a few notable hardware upgrades over its predecessor, here’s how it fared in my day-to-day use.

Design

The OPPO F35 Pro 5G looks stunning in Wave Blue. Over the past week, several people have asked me about the phone, and I can see why. The back panel features a reflective pattern that changes with the light, while the starry detailing around the camera module adds character without looking gaudy. In a market where many smartphones look alike, this design stands out for the right reasons.

The rear panel doesn’t feel plasticky and resists fingerprints well. I also appreciate that the camera module doesn’t protrude too much, so the phone sits relatively flat on a table. Small bezels and well-placed buttons add to the clean design. The phone is a little thick, but its well-balanced weight distribution makes it comfortable to hold. A slimmer profile would have been preferable, but the design and build more than make up for this minor drawback.

Display and Sound

The F35 Pro 5G features a 6.78-inch 1.5K AMOLED display with an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz in regular use and 144Hz in specific scenarios. The panel is bright, sharp, and delivers realistic colours without looking excessively saturated. Images and videos look particularly impressive at their highest quality settings, with plenty of detail and contrast. The high refresh rate also makes everyday navigation feel smooth. Scrolling through Instagram, switching between apps, and browsing the interface all feel responsive. The display is equally capable during gaming, where its sharp visuals make supported high-graphics settings more enjoyable.

The stereo speakers are loud and clear enough for videos and games, although as you would expect from a phone speaker, bass is limited. Overall, the display is a highlight, while the speakers are perfectly adequate for everyday entertainment.

Performance

Powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7360 MAX, the OPPO F35 Pro 5G comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage in the variant I tested. It also supports virtual RAM expansion, which uses some internal storage to supplement memory.

In everyday use, the phone performed well. I experienced no noticeable lag while gaming, streaming high-resolution videos, or switching between apps. Apps also launched faster than on the previous OPPO F33. The experience remained smooth throughout my testing.

However, the F35 Pro 5G isn’t a performance-focused phone. It handles everyday tasks and gaming without much trouble, but its appeal lies in reliability rather than raw processing power. The 8GB RAM and 128GB storage configuration should suit most users, although those who install large games or store plenty of videos may want more space. The phone scored 943,324 on AnTuTu, ranking above the Redmi Note Pro + and below the Poco M8 Pro.

Camera

The OPPO F35 Pro 5G features a 50MP main camera with optical image stabilisation (OIS), an 8MP ultrawide camera with autofocus, and a 50MP autofocus selfie camera. Compared with the F33 Pro, it replaces the older model’s 2MP monochrome sensor with an ultrawide camera and adds OIS to the main sensor. It also supports 4K video recording at 30fps on both the front and rear cameras.

In daylight, the main camera captures detailed photos with generally accurate colours, although I found the results slightly too warm. Low-light photography is where the phone impressed me most. The main camera retains plenty of detail in darker environments, making it a strong option for night-time shots.

The ultrawide camera is less impressive, with a noticeable drop in image quality compared with the main sensor. Portrait mode, on the other hand, delivers pleasing results. Selfies are equally good, with Natural Tone processing handling skin tones well without making them look too processed. The selfie experience feels largely unchanged from the previous generation, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Video recording is the camera system’s biggest weakness. Footage looked noisy even in daylight, despite support for 4K recording. Stabilisation is good, though, and helps keep handheld footage steady. The F35 Pro is therefore better suited to photography than video, with low-light performance being its standout feature.

Battery and Charging

The F35 Pro 5G packs an 8,000mAh battery and supports 80W SUPERVOOC wired charging. During the first couple of days, when I barely used the phone, the battery dropped by only around 5% across both days combined. With more active use, it comfortably lasted just over a day. That kind of endurance is reassuring if you regularly stream videos, browse social media, or play games.

Charging is equally impressive. The phone took just over an hour to reach 100%, which is a great result for an 8,000mAh battery. The combination of long battery life and relatively quick charging makes this one of the F35 Pro’s strongest features.

Software and User Experience

The OPPO F35 Pro 5G runs ColorOS 16, which I found intuitive, easy to navigate, and simple to customise. However, the experience is undermined by the number of pre-installed apps and bloatware. Even the global search includes ads, which feels unnecessary at this price.

Most of the unwanted apps can be deleted or disabled, but having to clean up the interface yourself takes away from the experience. At almost ₹50,000, I expected a cleaner out-of-the-box software experience.