- Fitri Aiyub
Oppo A78 Review : Simply Budget or Just Cheap?
There've been quite a lot of budget phones coming out the gate this Q1 and to be honest, they’re not that far apart in the way they’re designed with internals that weren't exactly made to impress anybody. But of course, no two phones are built the same so we have to shed light where it counts.
For instance, this Oppo A78 comes with a huge 5000mAh battery, an IPS LCD display up to 90Hz, stereo speakers, a 50MP camera and even RAM expansions up to 16GB. All for the price of only RM1,099. Sounds like a bargain right? That may be true, but other options out there might make you think twice if an appealing price tag is the main consideration.
But however you view value, let’s see if this Oppo A78 gives you a good run for your money and if “budget” is even the right word to use.
Design
From afar, there’s nothing out of the ordinary. Following most designs brought over from 2022, it has straight cut edges and a flat display, which is also raised quite a bit from the frame. A very responsive side fingerprint sensor at the right, a headphone jack, and a notable large secondary speaker up top.
While it doesn’t actually feel cheap in the hands weighing approximately 188g, the colour we have with us here does look best when sunlight hits it just right. There’s also just a little texture difference at the back, stating the Innovative AI Cameras — which we’ll get into in just a second.
Speakers
While it may seem light in the hands, the speakers are notably loud and more than enough to keep things audible in a public setting considering how there's also an Ultra Volume Mode which boosts the volume up to 200% whether you’re using headphones or solely relying on the loudspeakers alone.
But of course, don’t expect the highest quality in rich tones you’d get from a regular flagship, but the occasional doom scrolling on IG Reels or videos on Youtube or Netflix would still keep you engaged
Display
Movie viewing experiences goes untarnished too with the 90Hz 6.56-inch IPS LCD display maxing out at 600 nits peak brightness but it may not be the most suitable for higher refresh games. But comparing the screen you get here to the Super AMOLED 90Hz display of the Realme 10, one may argue the questionable decisions by Oppo for pricing this phone higher and getting less.
Performance
Chipset performance gets a decent run for the price equipped with a Mediatek Dimensity 700 and Mali-G57, scoring 682 for single-core and 1736 for Multi-core on Geekbench. Graphics performance isn’t that great, managing only 7.2fps, which might be a little more visible when gaming. It still gets an overall score of 1,201 on our 3D Mark Wild Life test and shows just a little temperature increase but nothing too out of the ordinary.
Battery
This could help most when it comes to power consumption as the large battery on this phone will likely be a two-day-runner with a 5000mAh battery. But in case it does die out on you earlier than it claims, it still comes with a 33W SuperVOOC Fast Charger that would get it back to 100% under 30 minutes.
Cameras
Cameras on the other hand justify the price range a little more, as you only get a 50MP f/1.8 Main camera and a 2MP depth sensor. In most occasions, there’s still some computations involved for balancing out highlights and shadows, it retains some high dynamic range when HDR is enabled and even manages most of the colours decently.
But let's be real here, they aren’t of the highest quality and we wouldn’t want to begin getting into depth for its video performance which also gets a solid C+ in our books.
Price
The Oppo A78 comes with Android 12, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage priced at RM1,099 or S$399.
Final Thoughts
Other options in this price range like the Realme 10 comes with a better Super AMOLED screen, a much better 16MP front facing camera, but at the same time, you lose out on some stereo speakers and a slightly smaller screen real estate of 6.4 inches. It depends on what’s important to you.
All in all, the Oppo A78 isn’t quite the budget phone we’d hope to be seeing in 2023 considering how previous builds of the POCO and Zenfones of late seem to have more value. Regardless of this gap or the matter of price over quality, it will always be an ongoing pursuit for both consumers and manufacturers. There’s still a big market for phones like the Oppo A78. However to you who’s watching, this is feeling out to be more ‘cheap’ rather than ‘budget’ so maybe look elsewhere.
Written by Fitri Aiyub