If seen, the Oppo A7 handset is an upgrade of the Oppo A5. It comes with a waterdrop notch. More storage is provided and it also has the latest version of ColorOS. The Oppo A7 priced at Rs 16,990 will face tough competition from phones from brands like Realme, Nokia and Xiaomi. The Oppo F9 also cannot be ignored, which is priced only Rs 2,000 more. Is Oppo’s new smartphone worth buying? Let’s find out…
Oppo A7 design
The Oppo A7 has a waterdrop notch design. This makes it look quite modern. It looks very similar to the Oppo F9. The plastic body comes with a matte finish on the edges. There is a laminated back panel with a textured pattern. The back looks beautiful, especially in the Glaring Gold trim given to us for review.
The Oppo A7 feels like a big phone in the hand, but its weight of 168 grams is not too much. The display comes with a scratch guard. But it makes it difficult to swipe in from the edges, which is not a good thing.
The placement of the volume and power buttons is good. Their feedback is also good. The SIM slot has separate slots for two nano SIMs and a microSD card (up to 256 GB). The laminated back and screen easily get fingerprints.
The brightness of the 6.2-inch LCD display is good. The colors are also beautiful. But the resolution is only HD+ (1520×720 pixels) which is disappointing, especially considering the price. Because of this, the icons and text look a bit soft. This is not too bad, but in this price range, screens with higher resolution are available.
The waterdrop notch provides more usable space on the screen. But the notification LED is gone. The bezels on the sides of the display are almost negligible. But the chin at the bottom is quite thick. All the ports are at the bottom. You will get a micro-USB port, 3.5mm headphone jack and microphone.
There is a dual camera module, LED flash and fingerprint sensor on the back. This sensor works fast. The phone also has face unlock which works well, just like the Realme 2 Pro and Realme U1.
Along with the Oppo A7 handset, you will get a silicone case, SIM ejector tool, micro-USB cable and 10 watt adapter in the retail box.
Oppo A7 Specifications and Features
We were expecting a Snapdragon 636 or MediaTek Helio P60 processor in this phone priced at Rs 17,000. But the Snapdragon 450 has been used in Oppo A7. It is not only old, but is also part of the phone in the price range of Rs 10,000.
Oppo A5 also comes with the same processor, but the starting price of this phone was less. The good thing is that the phone comes with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage. However, the RAM does not help the performance much. Benchmark performance is also not commendable.
The phone has dual 4G VoLTE support. Other specifications include Bluetooth 4.2, single-band Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, USB-OTG and FM radio. Accelerometer, compass, light sensor and gyroscope are part of this phone.
The Oppo A7 runs on ColorOS 5.2 based on Android 8.1 Oreo. It comes with the November 2018 security patch. You can now dismiss notifications with a single swipe.
You will get a feature like ORoaming, with the help of which you can choose an economical data pack for foreign tours. With the help of smart scan, you can shoot and edit text. Apart from this, language can also be translated. You will get many shortcuts and gestures. This also includes a smart sidebar.
Oppo A7 performance, camera and battery life
The Oppo A7 handles standard apps and simple games just fine. But despite having 4GB of RAM, our experience wasn’t very smooth or consistent. There is a lag when switching between apps. Even simple tasks like taking screenshots take more time than necessary.
The phone does not heat up while playing games or streaming videos, which is a good thing. Powerful games like PUBG Mobile and Shadowgun Legends ran on the phone at the lowest settings. The single speaker provided in the phone produces decent sound, but the sound quality is not that good. Especially for songs or movies.
The cameras on the Oppo A7 are pretty standard. The performance isn’t great. The rear has a 13-megapixel (f/2.2 aperture) primary sensor along with a 2-megapixel (f/2.4) depth sensor. The autofocus speed is slow due to the lack of PDAF. But with enough light and steady hands, the Oppo A7 takes decent landscape shots.
HDR also works automatically, which is a good thing. Macro shots also come out well, with saturated colours. Edge detection in portrait mode is decent. But the final effect is not very accurate.
Tap to see Oppo A7 camera samples
The camera generally struggles in low light. Focusing speed drops and the narrow aperture doesn’t let in enough light for a bright image. You’ll have to wait a few seconds for the camera to lock focus. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a bit of a soft shot. The lack of detail is evident and colours aren’t accurate.
The 16-megapixel selfie camera captures some vivid shots in daylight. But the low-light performance is pretty average. There is an AI beautification mode as well. But it is quite aggressive.
You will be able to record videos up to 1080p. The quality is decent. But there is no electronic stabilization. The camera app comes with modes like stickers, panorama and time lapse.
The battery of Oppo A7 is 4230 mAh. The phone is known for its strong battery life. In our HD video loop test, the battery lasted for 19 hours and 43 minutes, which is considered very good. In normal use, the phone’s battery lasts for about two days. The phone does not have fast charging support. But a 10 watt charger fully charges the battery in about two and a half hours.
Our verdict
Unfortunately, the Oppo A7 does not bring anything new or unique to the customers. Only the battery life goes in the phone’s favour, but even for this, spending Rs 16,990 would not be a profitable deal. The right place for the Oppo A7 is the price range of Rs 10,000. But at the current price, it cannot make a special place for itself.
If you are willing to spend more than Rs 15,000 then you have better options like Vivo V9 Pro, Xiaomi Mi A2, Nokia 6.1 Plus and Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro.
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