Although it’s a Chinese brand, Oppo is taking hold of India. Being so popular with our neighbour next door, you’ve probably seen a range of Oppo commercials with your favorite Bollywood stars.
Having been won over, you’re looking to buy a phone from them, right? Well, they offer a range of devices, each for a specific budget.
We’ll be running through them. So, why don’t you read ahead?
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The Oppo device feels premium in your hand. Its back has a metallic finish, which will fool anyone considering how cheap the phone is.
Not only does it look and feel premium, but it’s also comfortable to hold. It has curved edges, fitting snug into your palm. This is great considering the A1K isn’t the smallest phone out there with a 6.1-inch display. And if you’re wondering, it has an 87.3% screen to body ratio.
Having a metallic finish, you won’t see fingerprints smudge its back. This is something we’re so glad we don’t have to face.
For such a cheap phone, getting fast charging is appreciated. The A1k comes with a 10-watt fast charger that can jump to 60% in about an hour.
Of course, we have to mention its battery. For its price, there is nothing to complain about as it’s 4000 mAh. It lasts for about a day and a half. However, with its power-saving capabilities, it can last for way longer.
It gets messy from here on out:
The A1K tends to lag. This is due to its 2GB RAM along with the Helio P22 processor. This combination was crucified by the A1K’s OS.
It has the Color OS 6 which is very customizable (that’s a silver lining at least). As it’s so customizable and has many theme packages, it makes the phone sluggish. Sometimes, just switching between apps makes the phone too laggy to use.
Let’s talk about its display. It’s HD+ which is amazing. And what’s so amazing about this is that it’s protected by Gorilla Glass 3. This is a great add-on, making the screen very resilient (however, it’s not the newest or best gorilla glass out there as there’s a 5 and 6).
The rear camera is 8 MP that comes with f 2.2 Aperture. This allows for some pretty detailed shots, but they’re only good when used in well-lit environments. The selfie camera is 5 MP and we also think it produces some great shots when lit, but when it’s dim, you’re in trouble.
To pick it as our favorite, we didn’t really have other phones to compare the A1K with.
Unlike the A1K, the A5s doesn’t feel as premium. This is as it has a plastic back with a glossy finish. Considering the price difference between the two, this left us wondering what happened. What’s worse, it’s glossy backs are fingerprint magnets. If fingerprints bug you, the A5s is going to drive you insane.
In terms of display, expect a 6.2-inch phone that comes with an 81.22% screen to body ratio. Although 81.22% isn’t the worst, the fact that the cheaper A1K has a better ratio by almost 7% is just crazy.
Other than that, the display is vivid with HD+. However, it’s LCD (which is seen in the A1K as well). Well, they’re cheap phones after all.
It comes with a 4350 mAh battery which is noticeably larger than the A1K’s. That being said, the A5s do not come with a fast charger. This made us wonder why it’s cheaper counterpart did but it didn’t.
Similar to its brother above, its rear camera produces some pretty detailed shots in well-lit environments. This is as it has a 13 MP sensor that comes with f2.2 aperture, along with a 2 MP depth sensor. Due to the dual cameras, it obviously produces better shots than the A1k.
In terms of its selfie camera, it’s nothing too exciting as it’s an 8 MP camera that once again, only produces good work in proper lighting.
That being said, you’ll enjoy the ability to do Bokeh as the rear camera has a depth sensor after all.
Although it has only 32 GB the fact that you can expand it with the Micro SD card is always appreciated. That being said, this is a feature seen time and time again.
In terms of its processor, it’s nothing too special either.
To crown the A5s, we went through the below phones:
For a budget phone, its screen is impressive. It comes in at 6.5 inches which is reminiscent of more premium phones. As it’s so large, the fact that it has rounded edges is very handy.
What’s also noteworthy is its gigantic battery. Oppo decided to bless us with a 5000mAh one that can last more than 2 days without power saving.
Having a screen that’s so large, it’s disappointing that the screen to body ratio is only 82.47%.
What’s also a shame is that it’s 720p. Being so huge, you can easily see that it’s not 1080p clearly.
Why does the way cheaper AK1 and A5s come with HD+ screens but not the 31,000 A5 2020? We’re met with a phone that doesn’t use an Helio Chip. The A5 2020 utilizes the Snapdragon 665. The fast snapdragon 665 and 3GB of RAM lets the phone handle the extensive Color 6 OS. So, it doesn’t lag.
And of course we need to discuss its cameras.
In the rear, there are 4 of them. However, we keep seeing that they’re only able to produce detailed shots in good lighting. So, the addition is pointless. The same, plain 8 MP camera is seen in the front and is nothing to get excited about.
Having picked the A5 2020, we had to run through the below phones:
It comes with a plastic back but the thing is, it looks almost glass-like. The back reflects light like most glass-backed phones. This is due to it being plastic-clad.
At the end of the day, it’ll fool you, but it’s plastic. This is disappointing considering its price point isn’t the cheapest.
If you didn’t know, its back is curved. This makes it comfortable to hold and helps the back reflect light. The fact that its edges are also rounded amps this up, so Oppo really went all out in this department.
It’s pretty big. Like the A5 2020, it comes with a 6.5-inch screen. Once again, we see a 720p display even though the A9 2020 shouldn’t have this feature.
Thankfully, it has a good screen to body ratio. So far, it’s the largest we’ve seen at almost 90%. This makes it amazing to stream your favorite shows on.
Like the A5 2020, the battery is enormous at 5000 mAh. You can use the device for up to 2 days without charging. In fact, the phone comes with reverse charging capabilities so you’re basically carrying a portable power bank around.
The cameras are good, finally! There are 4 on the rear, with the primary being 48 MP and 8 MP. It produces extremely detailed shots that work in both good and bad lighting. In fact, there are 2 f/2.4 depth cameras that are in the back that makes shots really dynamic.
The 16 MP front camera is alright (but not too special). However, we do have a complaint. We found that its beauty filter was too strong for our liking.
As it’s such a hefty phone, it comes with a considerable amount of storage. It has up to 128 GB in it. The fact that you can expand this with a micro SD card means the world is your oyster.
In terms of performance, nothing too concerning for this price point is there to mention.
Having to pick the A9 2020, we went through the below phones:
Ever since notches entered the realm of phones, people have had strong opinions about them. The common consensus is that they’re no good and to be honest, we agree with this. That’s why the Reno2 F is the perfect phone for all us Notch haters.
Why? Because it doesn’t have one!
Because of this, you may be wondering where on earth its camera is. It’s hidden inside the device. With the click of a switch, it emerges. It’s rather futuristic but this is quite common in phones these days.
In fact, the selfie camera is pretty good. It’s 16 MP and produces some pretty sharp shots. While on the topic of cameras, its 4 rear cameras produce shots that are clear and detailed. It can zoom up to 5x, through its ‘hybrid zoom’ and fortunately, zooming in so much, the camera quality is still great.
It’s refreshing to see an AMOLED display at last. This along with the 86.3% screen to body ratio makes it a formidable device to binge Netflix on.
Having such a screen, its battery gets eaten up. It’s unfortunate that it isn’t the largest as a 4000 mAh battery is present. That being said, it comes with 20-watt fast charging.
In terms of performance, it’s powered by the Helio P70 octa-core. For its price point, this should be better but there’s no room to complain as you’ll not notice anything wrong with its performance.
It has the same plastic back that looks like glass but is not. For a somewhat high-end phone, we’d like it to have been made from something other than plastic. However, the glass-like finish really does the trick.
Having picked the Reno2 F as our best pick, we had to consider these phones as well:
The glass and metal design of the phone feels pretty premium. It’s one of the few phones out there that made us feel like a million bucks. Oppo really executed this combination.
Like the Reno2 F, the selfie camera is hidden inside the phone. It emerges with a click of a switch. This gives way for a full screen. More impressive than the Reno2 F, it has a screen to body ratio of almost 87%, letting the high-quality display shine.
Of course, it’s OLED so everything you see is in stunning quality. This is protected by Gorilla Glass 6. Gorilla Glass 5 is on the back.
The Reno has a small battery at 3765 mAh. That being said, its charging is incredibly fast. Strangely, Oppo was hesitant to release what type of charging it is. We now know that it’s VOOC 3.0 so it can go from 0-100% in less than an hour.
You might expect phones at this price to have wireless charging. You’ll be disappointed as the Reno doesn’t have this feature.
Although it’s an expensive phone, it has the Snapdragon 710. This is seen in more budget phones like the Lenovo Z Youth and Oppo K3. However, it isn’t something that would affect daily performance.
In terms of its camera, for a phone at this price point, it’s odd that it doesn’t offer OIS or an ultra-wide lens.
Frankly, we didn’t really have other phones to compare the Reno with. So, it’s Oppo’s reigning king for this price range.
From the many phones discussed, the A9 2020 was the only one that didn’t have trouble producing detailed shots in lit as well as dim lit environments.
Although the Oppo Reno comes with a a great camera, we believe that the A9 2020 is better as it’s cheaper in comparison.
The A5 2020 has an enormous 5000 mAh battery. You can last over 2 days with it by your side. That being said, the A9 2020 gives the A5 a run for its money as it provides an equally large battery and even comes with reverse charging (while the A5 does not).
We chose the A5 as it’s not as expensive but still packs a punch.
With that out of the way, there are a few things you should know about the brand. This will help you decide if you want to work with them or not.
Color OS is known to be very customizable. With the Color 6 update, we saw features that left us wanting more.
Game Space helps you game better. It lets you use your data along with Wifi to optimize your connection, switching between the best network.
There is also a range of smart gestures (which is due to Android Pie).
There are also many types of ‘boosts’ that enhances the device’s specs. For example, the ‘game, app and system boosts’.
Oppo isn’t the quickest to update their phones. This was readily seen when Android Pie was released. Although it was released in October 2018, fast forward to mid-2019, and Oppo devices in America still didn’t get the update. Of course, they have it now, but this lateness is a testament to how slow Oppo can be.
There are definitely quite a few in Bollywood that do.
Deepika Padukone and Siddharth Malhotra were ambassadors for Oppo and were the faces of the Oppo F5 commercials. If you haven’t been living under a rock, they’re major Bollywood stars.
As Oppo is the sponsor of the Indian National Cricket Team, cricketers are a fan of their devices as well. Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, and Ravichandran Ashwin are all faces of the launch of the Oppo F7.
There are quite a few tidbits about Oppo. These are our favorites:
Like most Sri Lankans, you’re probably cricket crazy. That’s why you’ll appreciate that Oppo is the official sponsor of the Indian cricket team.
In 2014, Oppo put out a range of headphones and amplifiers. What’s good about them is that they’ve got some pretty good reviews.
Oppo is owned by BKK electronics. They also own One Plus and Vivo.
Officially, Oppo has been around since 2008. However, they put their first phone out in 2012.
Well, there are a couple of Oppo phones we’re excited about this year. Let’s run through them:
Specs:
It’s supposed to be released in March of this year at a max of 90,000 Rupees.
Specs:
It’s supposed to launch somewhere at the end of February this year at a max of 165,000 Rupees
Specs:
It’s supposed to launch in March of this year as well, at a max of 40,000 Rupees.
All in all, Oppo puts out some pretty great devices for a range of price points.. After all, the brand is one of the leading phone manufacturers in the world.
