Cheap smartphones: Oppo launches F1 in Australia for $199

Metallic phones with high end camera features are getting cheap, with one launching in Australia for under $200.

The Oppo F1 comes with a 13 megapixel camera.

Metallic phones with high end camera features are getting cheap. Oppo today announced one for $199.

The China phone manufacturer said it was continuing its rapid expansion in Australia by making its latest F1 smartphone available in silver through Optus and its retail partners for $199 outright.

That’s $100 less than if you buy the F1 through other retailers although with Optus you are tethered to a prepaid deal.

The F1 is the first device to be introduced from the F-series, a newly created line of affordable smartphones featuring high-end camera technology and a premium metallic build.

It has an 8-core processor, a 5-inch, 720p high definition display, 16 gigabytes of storage and a second SIM slot that can be used as a microSD card port. Storage can be expanded by up to 128 Gigabytes.

The F1 comes with a 13 megapixel main camera with face detection, phase detection autofocus, geotagging, and high dynamic range (HDR) shooting. It has an 8 megapixel front-facing camera for selfies and video calls.

Oppo Australia’s Michael Tran said the front facing camera allowed through 44 per cent more light than a f/2.4 lens, and shots were 30 per cent clearer than ones taken with a standard 5MP front facing camera.