Oppo launches ColorOS based Ni mini for Rs 26,990 in India, comes with 13MP rotating camera

Chinese handset maker Oppo has further expanded its smartphone range in the country with the launch of Ni mini. The smartphone runs on ColorOS, which is basically a customised Android operating system fully developed by the company. A compact version of the company's flagship device N1, it has been priced at Rs 26,990 and will be available for purchase later this week.

In India, the company already offers a number of smartphones that include N1, R1, Find 7a, Find 5 mini, Neo, Joy and Yoyo, apart from N1 mini.

Here is a look at the specifications of the device.

The smartphone sports a 5 inch HD IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen display (1280x720 pixels resolution) with 294 ppi pixel density and runs on the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean OS. It is powered by a 1.6GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and has 2GB of RAM. The internal memory of the device is 16GB, but further memory expansion is not available.

Oppo N1 mini has a 13 megapixel autofocus rear camera with LED flash that can also record full HD videos (1080p) at 30 frames per second. Since the smartphones' camera has a rotating lens, it also doubles up as a front facing camera when required, providing the same high end photography capabilities to the user.

Here is a video introducing the ColorOS.

According to the company, it is also capable of shooting 24MP photos using the Ultra HD mode, which basically combines multiple images to create a more detailed photograph. Additional features of the camera include geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, panorama, and High Dynamic Range (HDR).

On the connectivity front, the smartphone has Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G LTE (depending on the region), as well as a microUSB port but no microSD card slot. The dimensions of the device are 148.4mm x 72.2mm x 9.2mm and its weight is 150 grams. The company has provided a 2,140 mAh battery in the device, which also has GPS (with A-GPS support). It will be available in white, mint and yellow colours.

Getting the pricing wrong

In terms of competition, the device will face off against the likes of Gionee Elife E6 (Rs 20,990), Lenovo Vibe X (Rs 18,900) and Xiaomi Mi 3 (Rs 13,999), etc. In addition, Obi Mobiles- a venture of ex-Apple CEO John Scully's Inflexionpoint- has also launched its octa-core powered smartphone Octopus S520 for Rs 11,990 in India.

One look at any of these and you can understand that Oppo has got the pricing of its smartphone very wrong. In a price sensitive market like India, the company will have to target its smartphones better in order to get the attention of buyers. It can definitely take a cue from Chinese smartphone sensation Xiaomi or Motorola. Both companies have tasted success recently by launching solid devices (in terms of specifications) in the country and pricing them economically.