Come one, come all to Pepper and Hannah’s two-for-one special review of Oppo’s new offerings – the Oppo A9 2020 and the Oppo A5 2020. These are phones which, for all intents and purposes, are identical bar a heftier RAM and camera on the A9 (for a cool extra NZ$100-$150).
Because the phones are two different flavours of the same tech, a joint review just made more sense. If you want an Oppo (and you should), this will help you to understand which to get.
Pepper: The Oppo A9 2020 is a dangerous beast. With prestige-level battery capacity, very good camera quality, and blazing chip performance, this affordable smartphone is a powerful alternative to more premium devices. It’s certainly raising a challenge to my expectation of spending +$1000 on a smartphone ever again.
Hannah: I have similar feelings about the Oppo A5 2020, with its intelligent camera, hearty battery and sleek aesthetics. Would I pay an extra $150 for the more powerful camera? Maybe. But the A5 is no slouch either; a genuinely great all-rounder at the budget end of mid-range.
Design
Pepper: First, let me wax a little on the aesthetics of the thing (I’m an artist by trade, bear with me). One of my favourite things about Oppo’s phones in general is that they’re actually beautifully made. The design of most mid-range Android phone models can be almost identical, so it’s nice that Oppo’s phones make the effort to stand out. While the A9 does still feel a little plasticky, the Marine Green colour of the model I tested has a rich, deep iridescent sheen that makes the device feel like a fashion accessory.
Hannah: The A5 I tested donned “Space Purple”, which I also find deeply sexy. The rippling gradient of the colour is not so loud to be gaudy, but sufficiently different that I let out a small “ohhh” when it came out of the box. Marine Green and Space Purple appear to be the only colours available at this time, so if you’re after the clean-cut black, you’re out of luck. However, I’m not sure why you’d want that with these two beauties at your fingertips.
Pepper: Regarding the physical design, the triple camera placed at the back of the phone has a tasteful raised metal bezel, but dust and oil does get trapped around it and need a clean out from time to time. The buttons are placed near the centre of the sides of the phone, which takes some getting used to since your fingers are generally higher than that when holding the device. The buttons, while plastic, don’t feel cheap when you press them, and the whole device gives off an air of considered design.
Display and Sound
Pepper: If you’re someone who likes a big screen, the A9 and the A5 both deliver very well for the price. The Waterdrop Sunlight screen delivers rich colours, a self-adjusting brightness that works well in both low-light and direct sun conditions, and very good 1080p resolution. With 89% screen to body ratio, there’s not a lot of bezel to deal with on the edges. Compared to my iPhone 8 Plus, despite being the same body size, it feels like a hell of a lot more screen to work with.
Hannah: And we can’t forget the notch! I really appreciated how the waterdrop notch at the top of the screen is respectably minimal, comprising only a small dip for the front-facing camera. Less bezel, less notch, more screen. Everyone’s happy.
Pepper: A nice touch that ices the cake for me are Oppo’s extra features that take a lot of the effort out of looking after your phone (and yourself). In the box, you’ll find a decent case for the device, plus a pre-applied screen protector. I don’t know about you, but not having to apply a screen protector is a nice bonus for me. The display also includes Oppo’s Blue Shield technology, which protects your eyes from harmful blue rays. Pretty great.
Hannah: And while you’re watching those glorious colours, the Dolby Atmos Dual Speakers on both models do a good job with the audio experience. While they’re never going to be as immersive as a good pair of headphones, the dual speakers do provide surprisingly clear and dynamic sound for a mid-range phone. This was the case at both low and high volume.
Processor/OS
Pepper: The A9 and the A5 both run Android 9.0 (Pie), wrapped in Oppo’s ColorOS 6. With a Snapdragon 665 processor, the device is quick and responsive. The OS is easy to use, even for a non-Android user like me, although I always struggle to swipe out of Android apps successfully without a home button.
Hannah: I feel you there. While I am an Android user, my Huawei has on-screen buttons on the opposite sides. I was constantly exiting out of apps when I didn’t mean to.
Pepper: During the week of testing, I actually had a few apps that weren’t working on my iPhone, so I ran them on the A9 and they worked right away (annoying, Apple). A side note: there isn’t currently a Dark Mode setting for ColorOS 6, so if you’re not into eye-searlingly white interfaces, be prepared.
Hannah: It should also be noted that while clocking in at 64GB, the A5 has around half the storage of the A9 (128GB). I strongly believe this really shouldn’t be the deciding factor of your Oppo purchase, as both models allow for 256GB expandable memory, which is likely more than you’ll ever use.
Gaming
Pepper: I’m not a mobile gamer, but if you happen to play a lot of high-performance games on your phone, the A9 has Game Boost 2.0, which increases the sensitivity of the screen and adds performance to the Snapdragon chip’s output. The Game Space app allows you to adjust your phones’ optimisation to suit what you’re doing: there’s Competitive Mode (less battery life, more performance), Balanced Mode, and Low-power Consumption Mode. It also has features that allegedly reduce latency, restrict network access to prioritise the game you’re playing, and allocate system resources for a smoother gaming experience.
Hannah: The Oppo A5 2020 is also no slouch on the gaming front, with 4GB of ram to play with and the same Game Boost 2.0 bells and whistles. King’s Raid and The Sims ran like a dream; smooth and lag-free. However, it did stutter on Need for Speed: No Limits – a 2015 release. So, while this Oppo range is more than equipped to deal with 90 per cent of your mobile gaming needs, it’s not the ultimate gaming phone on the market. However, the beautiful big bright screen and ridiculous amount of battery life do make it a very respectable gaming partner indeed.
Pepper: I tested the gaming performance out with both EA’s Real Racing 3 and the timeless classic of Goat Simulator, both of which ran with a good frame rate and quick responses on Balanced Mode. The tilt controls of Real Racing felt really quick, and the large screen lends itself well to a better gaming experience. With the advent of subscriptions like Google Play Pass, it’s exciting to be seeing phones optimised for a great gaming experience coming onto the market.
Camera
Pepper: Where the Oppo A9 2020 really shines is the camera setup. While you’re not going to get the quality of Oppo’s Reno 10x Zoom (which is more than twice the price), the Oppo A9 2020 brings you five lenses to make sure you get a quality shot. The 48 MP rear main camera is your general shooter, it takes excellent shots in a variety of settings, and Oppo’s intelligent Camera app senses whether that shot is indoor, outdoor, green plants, a face, etc. I was really impressed by how it adjusted to match the content in the frame. It does decently in low-light settings, but really shines with close up textures and rich colours. The zoom isn’t really much to write home about, at the top 10x setting, the photo is extremely potato quality.
Hannah: And here we run into the main difference between the A9 and the A5, and inevitably the determining factor for the model upon which you spend your hard-earned cash. While the A5 also boasts five lenses, the main camera is 12MP instead of 48MP. That’s a substantial drop. That said, when you pair Oppo’s intelligent lenses with the mind-boggling battery life of the phone, you’ve got a more than reliable way to record every moment.
Pepper: The wide-angle 112º lens on both models takes adequate 8MP photos and is a nice addition to the kit. While they’re not life-changingly great resolution, it’s handy to have a good panorama lens, and it works well in good lighting.
Hannah: Agreed. This is the first time I’d really played with panorama on a phone, and I hope you’ll forgive the pun but the photos always panned out great.
Pepper: If you’re a selfie junkie, the 16MP front-facing camera is excellent, and offers a stylish Portrait mode to blur out the background and enhance your features. It also includes some AI-powered real-time editing tools that auto-magically make you question the quality of your skin, face shape, and eye size by adjusting them to beauty trends. The last two rear lenses provide depth sensing for portrait taking, handy for snapping photos of your friends.
Hannah: The portrait taking was handy indeed, but in my experience sometimes had hit and miss results. With the A5, there were some shots spotlighting my face like the moon, and others where my face was darkened, like the phone couldn’t bear to draw attention to me. As an illustration, the photos below were taken a moment apart, with no change in external lighting.
Battery
Pepper: Finally, let’s talk about this beefy battery. Battery life is a huge perk with this device, sporting a massive 5000mAh capacity. Running this phone all day, even with some casual gaming, is just not a problem. Unless you’re playing high performance games or videos for big chunks of the day, you’re unlikely to need to charge this bad boy before bedtime. I also had the phone in my bag, turned on (without a SIM) for several days, and it still had plenty of juice left.
Hannah: Oppo even claims that you can run HD videos non-stop for 11 hours – not something I really had time in the day to test, but I’d believe it! The A5 boasts the same whopping 5000mAh capacity battery. And trust me, I did everything I could to suck the life out of it. While travelling internationally over the course of a few weeks, I took literally hundreds of photos a day, some videos, and lived on Google maps. And you know what? I still had a good chunk of battery left every evening. Not having to worry even a little that my battery was going to survive through the day was liberating.
Summary
Pepper: The Oppo A9 2020 and A5 2020 are strong disruptors to the rather bland mid-range of Android smartphones available at the moment, with powerful features making it an incredibly well-priced option for those looking to upgrade with ending up out of pocket. With an all-day (and possibly all-night) battery capacity, great camera options, and a snappy processor with gaming optimisation, I’m stunned that the A9’s price tag sits at $500NZD. I’d recommend this phone to folks who might be looking to escape from the upgrade cycle of the latest top-end phones, without losing out on functionality and a little bit of shimmer.
Hannah: And if you like the sound of the above but are more serious about savings than slick photography, the Oppo A5 2020 may be the partner for you. With all the clever features of the A9 but with a downsized 12MP main camera, the A5 is a more than respectable option. It all comes down to what you value in a budget to mid-range phone.
The A9 2020 and A5 2020 are gorgeous, well-specced phones for mobile gamers and everyday users – at great value to boot. You really can’t go wrong with either of these phones. Go on, your wallet will thank you.
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