OPPO F31 Pro+ Review: Durability Is Still the King

Durability in smartphones has come a long way from the days of handling them with utmost care to now us expecting them to last in every condition. OPPO’s F series has built its reputation as the toughest smartphone money can buy, and the company has just come out with a new one. The OPPO F31 Pro+ builds on its predecessor and now comes with an even more durable body, a massive 7000 mAh cell, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 processor.

OPPO sent over their F31 Pro+ for me to test, and this review will culminate my experience with the device over a period of two weeks, highlighting its pros and cons, and whether you should consider spending INR 32,999 of your hard-earned money or not.

Design & Hardware

One of the pillars of the F series is the design, and OPPO has nailed it out of the park. The F31 Pro+ is available in three colors: Gemstone Blue, Himalayan White, and Festive Pink, all of which are really pretty. The Himalayan White version I received was exquisite to look at, with all the little details, the sparkles, and the light reflections. Under the correct light angle, you can also see the individual brush strokes and how they reflect a glittery green light. Plus, the finish is matte, so it doesn’t attract fingerprints, either.

The circular camera island, which doesn’t protrude much, has this white halo around it, which is a really cool effect. Almost everyone I handed the phone to loved the design and stated it adds a really “premium feel.”

The ergonomics, on the other hand, are solid. OPPO has gone with a flat design, which is the newest trend and something I love. The sides are made of shiny aluminum, and despite the fingerprint mess, they not only look elegant but also do a solid job of protecting the device.

Speaking of durability, there’s a lot of stuff. First up, OPPO has incorporated foam and cushioning pads inside the phone near major components like the cameras to protect them from the shock of a fall. There’s also a new motherboard cover that theoretically provides 10% more protection than last year’s models.

I don’t drop phones often, but to test these claims, I intentionally conducted a drop test from various heights, and the F31 Pro+ survived without problems. There was some scuffing on the side, but nothing too major. Also, there’s IP 65, 68, and 69 water and dust protection, meaning if you drop your phone in your food while watching reels, you can go wash it under water and it’ll come out just fine.

Display

The OPPO F31 Pro+ comes with a flat 6.78-inch FHD+ 120Hz AMOLED display, and it is gorgeous. The colors pop, the text is sharp, and the blacks are inky deep. This recipe makes for a super enjoyable multimedia experience on streaming platforms like Netflix and Prime Video.

Taking the phone in direct sunlight isn’t an issue either, thanks to the 1600 nits of peak brightness, which made text and content readable. There’s also  2160Hz high-frequency PWM dimming that reduces flicker, especially in low-brightness environments. I also love that OPPO has incorporated uniform bezels along the display, which adds to the premium feel.

Performance

The OPPO F31 Pro+ runs on the last-gen Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipset, which houses one Cortex-A715 prime core at up to 2.63 GHz, three Cortex-A715 performance cores at up to 2.4 GHz, and four Cortex-A510 efficiency cores at up to 1.8 GHz, along with the Adreno 720 GPU. In addition, my unit came with 12 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256 GB of UFS 3.1 internal storage.

Honestly, there’s no easy way to put it, but the OPPO F31 Pro+ uses a processor that’s almost two years old, which is ancient in the tech world. Sure, it was an amazing performer back then, but Qualcomm has already released the chip’s successor, and it’s at least 30% percent faster.

If we set aside the rant about the processor and focus on the actual performance, then I have zero complaints. The 7 Gen 3 is still a capable chip that can handle every daily task, be it scrolling reels, watching Netflix, or reading. A big part of this can be attributed to ColorOS, which is the smoothest Android skin with slick animations, fast loading times, and thoughtful additions.

However, there is a LOT of bloatware. Even after I said no to installing recommended apps during setup, the phone still downloaded 20 games and apps that I did not want, and removing them was a pain. Plus, the device comes with both Google and OPPO dialers and message apps, which is weird considering you can’t uninstall the OPPO dialer.

Benchmarks & Gaming

Since this is a review, I put the 7 Gen 3 chip inside the F31 Pro+ through a series of tests and benchmarks. In Geekbench’s single-core and multi-core tests, the device scored 728 and 2485, respectively. On the other hand, in AnTuTu, the chip managed to get 1,076,254 points. Finally, in the infamous 30 threat 30-minute throttle test, I observed no thermal throttling at all.

As you may have expected, the gaming performance of the OPPO F31 Pro+ is decent. In games like PUBG and CODM, the phone delivers a respectable 60 fps at high settings, without lag or overheating.

Battery Life

After the build and design, the next biggest reason why you should consider the F31 Pro+ is the battery. Standing at a massive 7,000 mAh, the phone easily lasted me two full days of moderate to heavy usage. To put this in perspective, I mindlessly scrolled reels, watched YouTube, took camera samples, and played a bit of BGMI.

The phone also comes with an 80W fast charger in the box, which juices up the battery from 20% to 80% in just under an hour.

Cameras

The OPPO F31 Pro+ comes with a single 50 MP primary sensor with an f/1.8 aperture, and despite my initial reservations, it performs quite well. Give the sensor enough light, and the photos it produces are punchy, have good skin tones and sharpness, and there’s a decent amount of HDR, too. There were a couple of scenarios where the highlights were a bit blown, but that wasn’t a big issue.

The good news continues in artificial lighting, where the results are still detailed enough and have decent colors. However, there is some shutter delay, so capturing moving objects can be a challenge. Since there’s no telephoto camera, the primary sensor also doubles as the portrait lens. And for the most part, it works just fine as the photos in daytime are detailed, have a nice shallow depth of field, and skin tones are accurate as well.

Selfies, on the other hand, were solid in both daytime and nighttime scenarios. I could easily fit multiple people in the viewfinder, the colors were accurate, and the details were on point.

Should you buy the OPPO F31 Pro+?

At INR 31,999, the OPPO F31 Pro+ has the same ingredients as its predecessor. It packs in a stellar battery and protection that can withstand almost every condition. However, there are some flaws. The processor is almost two years old, and despite its smoothness, the software experience is cluttered. The F31 Pro+ is for people who value design, protection, and battery over anything else. And if you’re that person, then the F31 Pro+ makes a ton of sense.