Music meets mobile: The violin was the inspiration for the R7
BEIJING: The Oppo R7 smartphone, which was launched in the Chinese capital on March 20, could reach our shores as early as June.
Oppo vice president and managing director of international mobile business Sky Li said the Android smartphone had to be localised before it’s shipped globally together with R7 Plus and a special R7 Lite edition.
“The exact release dates will be announced later. Stay tuned,” he said in an interview with The Star.
For the R7, the company drew inspiration from the violin for the design. “The feel of the smartphone in the hands is a long-standing issue that keeps popping up in focus groups. We sought inspiration from the violin, an instrument that has been perfected over 500 years, to give the R7 a comfortable grip and artistic appearance,” said Oppo chief industrial designer Fan Xiaoyu.
The R7 has a full-metal unibody and 3GB RAM to ensure that apps run smoothly. The 3GB RAM was included as a response to complaints about lags, said Oppo product manager Listen Li.
Sky said RAM is a priority especially for Malaysians as they download a lot of apps and like to play games on their mobile phones.
“Our marketing strategy is to let the product speak for itself,” he said, adding that the company makes it a point to listen to customer’ needs when designing and localising products.
The device runs on Android with the latest ColorOS 2.1 user interface, an improved version that has been enhanced to look and perform better.
With Oppo’s VOOC flash charging system, the R7 can be powered up to 75% in 30 minutes. Just five minutes of charging will give users two hours of talk time, the company claimed.
Oppo, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, chose Thailand as its first overseas stop in 2009 before making its official entry into Malaysia in 2014.
Today, it is present in 21 markets, including countries in South East Asia, South Asia, Middle East, South America and Africa.
“Since entering South East Asia, we have been growing at rapid speed. Latest statistics show that our market share is at 11% in Indonesia, 13% in Vietnam and more than 10% in Malaysia,” he said.
“We are one of the top three smartphone brands in Malaysia.”
Last year, Oppo sold 30 million smartphones and is targeting 45 million units this year. It is focusing on emerging markets, which are switching from feature phones to smartphones, and 3G network to 4G.
“These markets have tremendous potential for us,” he said.
“As for the developed markets in Europe and the United States, our smartphones are available through e-commerce platforms, as we don’t have plans to enter these markets yet,” Sky said.
The R7 has a 5in screen, 1.5GHz Qualcomm MSM8939 8-core processor, 16GB storage and 2,320mAh battery while the R7 Plus has a 6in screen and 32GB storage.
The R7 retails for 2,499yuan (RM1,450) and R7 Plus for 2,999yuan (RM1,750) in China.
Oppo also unveiled a compass bracelet, O-Key Bluetooth headset and selfie stick.
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