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How much can you buy the budget device for? Expect to spend around Rs.22,000. Considering its price, I think its features are not too bad.
The A71 is old. Oppo released it in 2017. As it’s so old, it sticks out among its newer counterparts. For one, it has some serious bezel action and it’s not that big. You’re looking at a unit that rocks a 5.2-inch display.
It’s quite thin. Its dimensions are 148.1 mm x 73.8 mm x 7.6 mm. More expensive phones these days are slim, so it’s nice to see such an affordable device being built this way. What’s more, it doesn’t rock a plastic exterior. You’re looking at a mobile with a full aluminum body.
The aluminum body helps the A71 handle a beating. However, it can be slippery. Make note if you have smaller hands. The handset’s edges are curved well too, so the chances of it slipping out of your hands are high.
You’re not looking at a heavy unit. I’m a fan of phones with weight as they feel more expensive. The A71 comes in at 137 grams.
You can’t pick it up in a lot of colours. The choices available are only black and gold. Of the two, the gold is my favourite.
Looking across its sides, you’ll find a microSD slot and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The expandable storage is appreciated as the phone already comes with a lot of ROM.
When looking across its sides, you won’t find a fingerprint sensor. And as the phone is so affordable, it’ll be crazy to expect face-unlock. You’ll have to use good old-fashioned passcodes and swipe patterns to secure the device.
Let’s talk about its display. As it’s only 5.2 inches, you won’t be able to immerse in it well. This is especially true as the mobile doesn’t have the best screen-to-body ratio; it’s a little under 70%.
If you look closely, you won’t notice any blurriness. The A71 has a 720 x 1280 pixel resolution. Considering the size of its display, the resolution is decent.
Scruffing won’t be a problem. Oppo placed Gorilla Glass 3 on its display.
It can get pretty bright outdoors in Sri Lanka. Know that the budget device doesn’t have a display that’s bright enough to handle the glare. Viewing it at certain viewing angles would be hard.
Out of the box, it runs Android 7.1
Here’s the deal:
You won’t be able to upgrade its insides to Android 11. This is disappointing as Android 11 comes with a range of new security features.
The UI present is Oppo’s proprietary ColorOS. It’s good-looking and super customizable. However, it has many themes which can make it laggy. Bloatware is an issue you’ll deal with as well.
The chipset housed is the Mediatek MT6750. It’s a rather basic processor so don’t expect the phone to handle extensive tasks. If the handset came with more RAM, its insides would be snappier. You can only pick it up with 3 gigs of memory.
As mentioned, it comes with expandable storage. But you’ll be buying the A71 with 16 gigs of ROM.
Considering the unit’s slim dimensions, you might have guessed that it doesn’t have a large battery. There is a small 3,000 mAh one inside it. With non-extensive use, you can expect it to last around a day. Of course, there are expert power-saving modes to play with.
If you’re expecting to remove its battery, get ready to be disappointed. It doesn’t have a removable back.
The mobile doesn’t use fast charging. It comes with regular 10 W charging instead. How long will it take to charge? It’ll go from 0-100% in over 2 hours. As the handset is so cheap, you can’t be disappointed that it doesn’t come with reverse or wireless charging.
One of the reasons the mobile takes so long to charge is because of its USB port. It is the Micro USB type which is considered dated these days.
Let’s talk about its front and back cameras. There is a single set-up on both of them. Its front camera consists of a 5 MP shooter. In low-light, selfies won’t be good. And in decently-lit environments, the number of details in shots won’t be spectacular.
Its back camera is a larger 13 MP sensor. The shots taken wouldn’t be super high high-quality. But they would be much better than anything its front camera could produce. In low-light environments, you’ll appreciate being able to use a bright-LED flash. Unfortunately, an LED flash wasn’t placed on its front camera.
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