we visited the lab where smartphones are tested

During our trip to China, I had the opportunity to visit the Oppo factory near Shenzhen, as well as their photo laboratory. The idea: understand how smartphones are tested.

In the past, I had the opportunity to visit Oppo’s photo R&D laboratory in Taipei, Taiwan.

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However, this laboratory has since closed its doors. The new location near Shenzhen represents a radically different approach to photographic testing.

A miniature city for life-size tests

Here, what struck me straight away was the feeling of entering a movie set or a life-size video game. Oppo has indeed decided to recreate real living spaces to test the photo performance of its devices in conditions as close to reality as possible.

There we find a succession of rooms reconstructed with impressive attention to detail: a living room, a bedroom, but also public places such as a Starbucks, a KFC, a smartphone store (particularly important for testing reflections and complex lighting) , a bar, a nightclub, and even a supermarket.

Each space is meticulously decorated with fake objects, fake food, and even mannequins to simulate human presence.

A rigorous testing methodology

The goal of this elaborate staging is to allow Oppo to accurately assess the changes and improvements made with each iteration of their cameras, whether for a new model or a simple software update. To do this, the company has developed an extremely rigorous testing protocol.

The heart of this protocol is based on the use of robots. These mechanical assistants move around the different settings, holding the smartphones to be tested.

They take photos in portrait or landscape mode, from predefined viewpoints. This robotic approach guarantees perfect consistency and repeatability of tests, eliminating variations that could be induced by a human.

The test environment is fully controlled. The parts turn on and off as the robot moves, allowing the cameras’ performance to be tested in various lighting conditions. This approach allows Oppo to simulate a wide variety of shooting scenarios, from the most common to the most complex.

Once the tests are carried out, the results are sent to a subsidiary laboratory. There, experts carefully analyze the photos and videos produced. They seek to identify the slightest changes in image quality, whether in sharpness, color management, contrast, or even the rendering of details in different lighting conditions.

This analysis allows Oppo to quickly iterate on its camera development, precisely identifying areas requiring improvement and validating the effectiveness of the changes made.

While other smartphone makers certainly have sophisticated photo labs, Oppo’s approach of recreating real-life environments is interesting. It is a life-size sight. This makes it possible to combine the scientific rigor of laboratory tests with the realism of everyday shooting conditions.

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Oppo returns to France: the planned products and the brand’s objectives for this new start

This visit takes on particular resonance in the context of Oppo’s return to the French market in June 2024, after a few months of absence. We can’t wait to see what the Chinese group has prepared for the next launches.

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