The chunky aesthetic of rugged phones is not for everyone but as Nokia has proven, a phone does not need to rock the typical rugged look to be rugged. Now, Oppo proves that a phone does not need to be ‘rugged’ to sustain borderline extreme daily abuses. The phone in question that is not rugged but super tough is the new Oppo K12 featuring a new one-piece wrap-around metal frame that is super durable and super resistant to bending.
A mid-ranger that is powered by a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chip with AI capability (but of course) and backed by up to 12 GB LPDDR4X memory and up to 512 GB UFS 3.1 storage, the Oppo K12 [CH] has been put no less than 10 durability tests. 10! Can you imagine it? Oppo is really invested in this.
It has been tested for drops at 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) on marble, porcelain, stone, and wood surfaces, and it has been rubbed on the table multiple times. It has been dropped from 10 cm (4 inches) no less than 100,000 times, and it was put through a bend test where it was forced down with 60 kilograms (132 pounds) of force for a thousand times while slotted inside a pocket to simulate being seated on.
The device gets tumbled 300 times inside a steel drum to simulate it has gone through a really bad tumble. And then a steel ball is dropped on it at 80 cm (31 inches). Other tests include a water resistance test, 8 hours of getting blasted by sands, heat and cold tests at temperatures of 75° and -20°, respectively, and finally, the USB-C port has been put through plug and unplug test for 20,000 times.
The device’s touch will work even if it’s wet or you if your fingers are wet.
Imaging, it has a Sony 50 MP main camera and an 8 MP 112° super wide-angle camera. Meanwhile, the front is a 16 MP portrait camera.
Other notables include an AI removal tool, a 120 Hz 6.7-inch FHD+ (2,412 x 1,080 resolution) OLED display, 1.7 billion colors, HDR10+, 1,100 nits, 2,160 Hz PWM dimming, 360° wrap-around antenna, 8 antennae, 5G, NFC, X linear haptic motor, Hyperboost gaming engine, under display fingerprint sensor, face recognition, and a 5,500 mAh battery that supports 100 W super fast flash charge. There is no WiFi 7 though. It does have Bluetooth 5.4. There’s no mention of the USB port Gen.
It is a budget phone, so do not expect anything premium. That said, the back is plastic material.
The new Oppo K12 is available to the Chinese market starting at 1,899 yuan [CH], which works out to be around US$268 according to today’s going rate.
Images: Oppo [CH].
