REVIEW: Oppo's A53s is affordable and worth the consideration
Oppo, a large Chinese smartphone manufacturer, recently entered the South-African market, and we were allowed to check out one of its devices, the A53s.
The tech giant stated that it wants to expand its high-quality device offering in South Africa.
The A53s device was made to allow customers to access premium features but without paying the hefty price tag.
(Front view of the device)
(Side view image of the device)
(Picture of the camera)
This smartphone comes with a 6.5-inch HD+ Neo-Display that also offers up to a 120Hz touch sampling rate and is powered by a 5,000mAh battery, 4 GB RAM and 128 GB storage.
In the box with the smartphone, you will find an 18W charger, a USB Type-C cable, a SIM eject tool and a silicone case with a convenient cutout for the fingerprint scanner.
We were given the blue colour option featured on the rear end of the device that goes from light to dark and has a beautiful glossy finish.
There are two more colour options available which are mint and black.
While it's the low price that's the main selling point of the phone, the Oppo A53 also bundles in a 90Hz refresh rate with a premium look featuring a curved back that is eye-catching with its ocean-blue tones.
Starting with the design, the device definitely has that premium look and feel as it comes with a generous screen size of 6.5 HD+ with a punch hole to house the front-facing camera, a rectangular camera housing on the rear, along with a fingerprint sensor on the back cover.
The display comes with a 90Hz refresh rate which makes the screen perform with nice smoothness.
The Oppo A53S is running the ColorOS 7.2 operating system, which gives the icons on the screen a more lightweight feel, vibrant style and allows for simpler interactions.
Under the hood, the device comes with 4 GB RAM and 128 GB onboard memory that’s backed by a dual SIM card tray that’s also got room for a microSD card to expand the memory even further.
However, using the phone throughout the day, one can feel it operating a little sluggish at times.
This is particularly evident when quickly switching between apps, multitasking or going through settings and search.
It is powered by a massive 5 000mAh battery which can power the device for up to two days on a single charge.
For the camera, Oppo has opted for a trio of lenses for the rear camera housing – 13MP main, 2MP macro and 2MP depth-sensing, along with a 16MP selfie camera.
These lenses work together to produce images that are crisp and colourful and with the added AI Beautification mode, the camera smooths out your skin and removes blemishes and other imperfections.
On the video side, the maximum resolution is 1080p which is fine for capturing video to share on social media.
Overall, At R4 999 (RRP) the Oppo A53s is indeed well priced and gives you more than just the basics. It also performed solidly at most tasks, with the battery and camera, in particular, getting our praise.
One area that did not perform to a high expectation, though, was the processor, which felt a tad sluggish.
However, I was very impressed with the security, which is a fingerprint sensor and impressive face recognition that unlocks the device smoothly most times.
Specifications:
| Operating System | Android 10 |
| Main Display | 6.5-inch 720 x 1,600 IPS LCD |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 460 |
| Battery | 5,000mAh |
| RAM | 4GB |
| Storage | 128GB |
| Front camera | 16MP |
| Rear camera | 13MP + 2MP + 2MP |
| Network | LTE |
| Connectivity | 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, USB Type-C |
(Bottom view of the device)
Written by: Gabriella Steyn.
Guzzle Media
Tags:
#Oppo
