OPPO A78 5G Review – 5G phones getting affordable

As we usher into the start of the year, this is the time where brands will start to reveal on new phones that invites consumers to have a brand new change on their phones. That also means 5G is slowly getting common and affordability remains the key driving factor towards the mass adoption.

Let get in to the review of the OPPO A78 5G, one of the OPPO latest offering on budget mid tier level smartphone that focuses on the right pricing and certain specs/performance that we will touch on it as well.

Unboxing

Upon unboxing you will get the following.

• OPPO A78 5G Smartphone
• Translucent Case
• 33w SuperVOOC Charger
• USB A to C Cable
• Sim Ejector
• User Manual/Quick Start Guide

Design

The design this time pretty much carry forward some of the design aesthetics of the A series lineup, which is ok for the most parts. Almost all of the entire body build is made of plastic, which is understandable being a budgeted phone but still solid, however it is still vulnerable to scratches, so thats where the included translucent case came in to protect the phone. At the back of the phone, it is quite beautifully crafted to look premium, carrying a sunbeam pattern, which is shiny and colors slightly changed when under bright environment.

Being on the weight and size, it is measured at 188 grams and 8mm thickness over a flat form factor, and to be it is just the right weight and size coupled with a decent Panda Glass protection over the display and IPX4 protection against minor water spills. The OPPO A78 5G came in 2 colors, Glowing Black and Glowing Purple.

Display & Audio

Now the A78 5G has a 6.56 inch 720P+ LCD display only, it has no effect despite it’s lower resolution choice of display, but you will still be able to enjoy the majority of the content easily and it is fluid with 90Hz refresh rate and furthermore, this is still a L1 widevine certified phone while allows you to view HD streaming services such as Netflix or Disney+. As a modern smartphone in 2023, it has a eye comfort mode that allows you to read on different brightness environments.

It does have a dual speaker mode, one located on the earpiece while another one located on the bottom to create stereo effects, it does have an option to boost the volume up to 200% to make it audible over noisy places. Overall the sound/audio is pleasant enough for most usage.

Camera

Front : 8MP, f/2.0
Rear : 50 MP, f/1.8, 27mm (wide), PDAF, 2 MP, f/2.4, (depth)

Both rear and front camera are usable snappers, just decently enough for quick snaps and uploads, but definitely not your hyper detailed camera, judging from the overall hardware components used, I still think that it is a relevant setup considering the processing level given on the SOC combined. Such combo is geared towards the very casual picture takers that just needed something reasonable, and to be fair, it is acceptable for the price point (again). During day time you will get all the clear pictures with good dynamic range but towards gloomy skies, compromises can be seen on the far objects/subjects where it is still identifiable, but with softer images processed out, and may need additional shots to get it right sometimes. Selfie came out OK either with normal or portrait mode.

Video camera wise the maximum capture is just at 1080P 30 frames, still within most of the standard for the most for a quick upload and minor stutters are to be expected when recording, as long your move is steady, you will be fine for the recording part with decent details

Performance, Features, Benchmarks

Well, this is a phone that caters especially for those who wanted to jump into the 5G era on a budget, which is why the OPPO A78 5G is equipped with a MediaTek Dimensity 700 5G Octa Core processor, along with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of internal storage. While if you need more working RAM to go around, you can use the RAM expansion from your internal storage and expand an additional 8GB, making it a total of 16GB RAM taking advantage of the UFS storage which is still fast in 2023, although faster storage solutions are available, just not at this price range. The downside is OPPO still uses AC 433MBPS WiFi in the phone, so your speed with your higher end router will be limited.

OPPO took one step up even on budgeted device by loading in Android 13 along with ColorOS 13, bringing in new refined look over the UI with better integrated towards latest Android features along with ColorOS specific UI add-ons such as FlexDrop multi tasking and switching, better privacy control and protection, HyperBoost game mode just to name a few. A few bloatware apps are still present, but if you wish to uninstall it, you can do so.

The 5000MaH battery in the phone will roughly keep you going for the whole day and with light usage you can go slightly over one day with all the usual activities along with a drama streaming or two which is no problem at all. Recharging from empty to full will take around 1.5 hours average which is not too bad at all with the included 33w charger. If you are planning to use this phone for gaming, you can get by with lowest settings close to 60FPS with Genshin Impact, and this is expected with and entry level 5G SOC, however over MOBA titles such as Mobile Legends, it fares better with slightly higher settings.

At the same time we did run some simple test on a Prepaid YES SIM card running on 5G network. Based on our simple Speedtest and FAST.com, we manage to reach over 450MBPS on download rates which is great considering I am just testing it indoors, and it will work better if you are outdoors, making this device ideal to be used on any 5G network providers on streaming videos, gaming and of course, social media and productivity.

We will attach the benchmark results as usual for those who care on the synthetic points.

Technical Specifications

Verdict & Conclusion

The OPPO A78 5G is one decently enough device when it comes to specs, price and overall performance, that is adequate enough for daily use and does put some of the positive points in as a starter 5G phone, first off being the affordable price, second is the camera that is good enough to be used over social media uploads, and lastly a starter mid tier MediaTek Dimensity 700 SOC that is suitable for day to day multitasking from viewing to playing, it is all rightly pointed towards OPPO’s commitment in bringing more affordable 5G devices to the mass.

Pricing & Availability

The OPPO A78 5G is now widely available via authorised dealers and online store and at this time of this writing, it is retailed at RM1099. For more information on the phone, CLICK HERE to find out.