OPPO A5 2020 is a new mid-range camera focused smartphone launched in the market by OPPO. The smartphone features a 12-megapixel primary sensor, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide unit, a 2-megapixel monochrome sensor, and another 2-megapixel depth unit on the back. On the front, there’s an 8 MP Selfie snapper and the smartphone starts from Rs.12,490. Is this device worth buying? Read our review to find out.
In the box
- OPPO A5 2020
- Adapter
- Micro USB Cable
- A booklet with Warranty Card
- Quick Start Guide
- SIM Card Tool
- Protective Film, pre-applied
- Case
- Earphones
Oppo A5 (2020) Specifications
- CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 octa-core processor
- RAM: 3/4 GB
- Operating System: Android 9 Pie with ColorOS 6.0.1
- Display:6.5-inch HD+ waterdrop display with 1520 x 720 pixels screen resolution
- Rear Camera: 12-megapixel primary sensor, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide unit, a 2-megapixel monochrome sensor, and another 2-megapixel depth unit.
- Front Camera: 8 MP
- Internal Storage: 64 GB
- Other: Fingerprint Scanner
- Battery: 5000 mAh
Design, Display, & Ergonomics
OPPO has been known for its design and camera and hence the OPPO A5 2020 doesn’t disappoint us when it comes to the design. The smartphone comes with a really glossy back panel that features the OPPO branding at the bottom. We got the Mirror Black variant of this device and it actually acts like a mirror as the back panel is reflective. The device weighs 195g and it feels premium when you hold it in your hands.
The camera module is placed in the middle and you get the fingerprint sensor below that. OPPO A5 2020 features a quad-camera setup at the back but even after that, you don’t get a camera bump. Hats off to OPPO for that. You get the power button on the right that comes with a green accent color which enhances the looks of the device. In addition to this, the SIM Tray and Volume Buttons are placed on the left. The smartphone comes with a 3.5mm Headphone Jack and it features dual stereo speakers. It comes with Dolby ATMOS Support and hence your media streaming experience is going to be amazing. The speakers offer great sound and they are probably the best in this range.
Moving on to the Display, OPPO A5 2020 flaunts a 6.5-inch HD+ waterdrop display with a resolution of 1520 x 720 pixels. The display comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 3+ protection on the top. It’s an IPS LCD panel and it isn’t Full HD but you won’t notice the difference when it comes to real-life performance. If you are a person who likes to enjoy videos and games then the display won’t be an issue for you but if you are someone who spends more time on Media Websites, Facebook, Twitter and reads a lot of text then you may feel that the display is less crisp when it is compared to others.
The display is good and we didn’t face any issues while using the smartphone outdoors. Viewing angles are also good but still, it would have been better if OPPO avoided the cost-cutting and gave a Full HD display on this one.
User Interface and Software
OPPO A5 2020 runs on Android 9 Pie based on Color OS V6.0.1 that comes with a lot of additional features and is highly customizable. Color OS comes with a Theme Store that allows users to choose from hundreds of themes available online. It also has inbuilt features like Clone Apps, App Split Screen and Assistive ball that can come in handy for multitasking and make your workflow faster.
Color OS also comes with a feature named Smart Assistant which has some amazing features like Step Tracker and Favorite Contacts. It also comes with Weather, Quick Functions and a Calender so you can use those Apps directly without opening them. For the people who love App Drawers, Color OS features an App Drawer so you don’t have to download a separate launcher to get that.
This is the same OS that we have seen on other OPPO and Realme devices so if you want to know more about the features you can check out our Guides section. The OPPO A5 2020 comes with a lot of bloatware but you can uninstall the Apps you don’t need and disable the rest.
Overall, the UI on the OPPO A5 2020 is really cool and you’ll definitely enjoy playing around with it.
Hardware Performance, Benchmarks, and Gaming
OPPO A5 2020 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 octa-core processor. It comes in two variants – the 3 GB RAM + 64 GB storage variant is priced at ₹12,490 while the 4 GB RAM model costs ₹13,990. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 is an improved version of the Snapdragon 660 and it can handle all the tasks easily. You can multitask with ease however when it comes to gaming you’ll have to settle with playing your games on low graphics.
Games like Mario Kart, Temple Run 2, Dead Trigger 2 and Candy Crush Saga run without any issues but when it comes to heavy games like PUBG and Asphalt 9 you may face some problems. Balanced Graphics with Medium Frame rate is the maximum supported settings for PUBG on this device. If you are specifically buying a phone for gaming then ignore this one because there are better options available in the market. The device doesn’t heat up while gaming and the maximum temperature we noticed was near 36-degree celsius after 2 hours of Gaming.
Apart from this, there are no problems and everything works well. Moving on to the Benchmarks, OPPO A5 2020 scores lower than most of its competitors out there. On AnTuTu the smartphone got a score of 121180 and defeated just 20% of the users. Its benchmark score was lower than the Redmi Note 7 series, Mi A3, Samsung Galaxy A50 and of course the Realme 5 Pro.
On Geekbench 5 the OPPO A5 2020 got a Single-Core score of 316 whereas the Multi-Core score was 1191. This smartphone comes with eMMC 5.1 Storage which is slower than UFS 2.1 and hence we ran Androbench to do a Storage Benchmark test. On the Androbench test, the OPPO A5 2020 got a Sequential Read speed up to 486MB/s whereas the Sequential Write speed was up to 198MB/s. You can have a look at the benchmark results below.
Furthermore, the OPPO A5 2020 packs a massive 5000 mAH battery that easily lasts up to 1.5 days for normal users. Gamers can easily play games up to 9 hours on this device. The device comes with a 10-watt charger inside the box and comes with support for Reverse Charging. It comes with a 3 card slot which means that you can expand your storage via MicroSD card. On the connectivity part, the smartphone comes with support for Bluetooth 5.0, OTG and Dual 4G VoLTE.
Camera
The main highlight of OPPO A5 2020 is its quad-camera setup at the back. The quad-camera setup on the back comes with a 12-megapixel f/1.8 primary sensor, an 8-megapixel f/2.25 ultra-wide unit, a 2-megapixel f/2.4 monochrome sensor, and another 2-megapixel f/2.4 depth unit. On the front, there’s an 8 MP f/2.0 camera for your selfies.
The camera offers professional mode, panorama, portrait and night scene mode for taking better pictures. When it comes to the video capabilities the smartphone can record videos up to 4K@30fps, 1080P @30fps, 720P@30fps. It supports EIS and uses the same technology that we have seen on the OPPO Reno Series. The stabilization works well and you get steady videos.
Moving on to the picture quality, the camera produces some excellent shots in whatever condition you shoot in. The pictures are crisp and capture a high amount of details. The low light shots are also good and you get the right amount of details with them. However, when you switch to 5x zoom the shots you get are blurry. The Ultra Night Mode 2.0 works well and you can see the difference when you compare normal night shots with the pictures shot using Night Mode.
The selfie camera on the front does a decent job and it comes with AI Beautification features. It automatically smoothens the skin tones and adjusts the camera settings according to the lighting conditions you are shooting in. You can also make changes to your face, chin, eyes and touch up your pictures using the camera app on OPPO A5 2020. Have a look at the camera samples below.
Verdict
The OPPO A5 2020 is a smartphone made for the casual users out there. It doesn’t have any major flaws but it doesn’t offer what you pay for. There are smartphones like Realme 5 Pro, Redmi Note 7 Pro, and Vivo Z1 Pro which offer much better specs at the same price range. If you are looking for a smartphone for playing PUBG or some other heavy games ignore this one. On the other hand, if you are looking for a smartphone that comes with good speakers so you can enjoy watching videos and multitask easily then you can go for the OPPO A5 2020.
Pros
- Battery Life
- Quad Camera Setup
Cons
- The display isn’t Full HD
- Overpriced considering the specs it offers.
