OPPO A78 5G Review | Geek Lifestyle

It’s been a great start of the year for smartphones as we find ourselves spoiled for choice in every price range. OPPO has been at the forefront, offering novelty and great value while sticking to its guns in the sweet aesthetics department.

So far, we’ve seen a flexible, foldable flagship and a flashy 5G upper midranger come our way. This time around, we’re taking a look at the OPPO A78 5G — a device on the more affordable side, proven its worth across the seas, and found its way onto Philippine soil to satisfy our curiosity.

Geek-sthetic

Poppin’ it out of the package, we’re treated to something smooth, sleek, and shiny. Glowing Purple is today’s colorway, and while matte in finish, you get an intriguing holographic effect if you turn the phone side to side. It’s all made of nice, hard plastic, and you get all the necessary buttons on both sides–including the side-mounted fingerprint scanner. The much-welcome headphone jack is again, nice to see.

Up top, we have our large-ish camera peepers that house our two lenses–50MP and 2MP respectively, which we’ll check out later.

The TPU case covers the glossy part surrounding the cameras, so you don’t have to worry about any fingerprints ruining your day. Very nice to look at, and feels great to the touch.

Binge-Watching Factor

Compared to its peers, you get a slightly smaller 6.65-inch IPS LCD display with a bit of a chin. Too offset this, we get thinner bezels on the sides and a teardrop camera hole. It sports a 90Hz refresh rate and peaks at 600 nits, resulting in a display that ensures smooth app navigation and no flinching just in case you accidentally turn up the brightness to the max.

As for your viewing pleasure, you get a nice Netflix experience with a good amount of vibrance in its 720 x 1612 pixel resolution. Speakers produce decent audio and retain their clarity even when you crank up the volume.

If you’re worried about keeping your screen pristine, worry not, for the phone comes with a pre-applied display protector and boasts a bit more toughness thanks to its Panda Glass protection.

Gaming Prowess

Can it install and run games? Yes. Can you get a good gaming experience? Yes. Do you need to do a bit of tweaking? Most definitely.

Our unit has a MediaTek MT6833 Dimensity 700 under the hood, flanked by 8 GB of expandable RAM. To see how far we can go, we ran a tag team gaming match featuring the reigning champion Genshin Impact, and our up-and-comer, Goddess of Victory: NIKKE.

NIKKE installed, ran, and played quite smoothly for the most part. Loading screens can be a drag on most devices, so the focus was on gameplay alone. Regardless of how crowded the screen got, there were little to no frame drops and jitters.

As for our mainstay, a bit of tinkering in the graphic setting tab was in order. Technically, you can keep graphics at medium with motion blur turned off, but you won’t have a good time. Going in and out of the menu and walking around Teyvat causes quite a bit of stuttering. Keeping things at low alleviates this. It may not look as pretty, but you won’t have to stop every 3 seconds. Otherwise, any other game should run without a hitch.

Geek Photoshoot Capabilities

Now, this is where the A78 5G can go toe-to-toe and deliver a decisive blow. The 50MP main shooter may not look as appealing on paper, but the photos speak for themselves. The AI really pulls its weight, giving some nice, clear, and detailed photos.

The 2MP depth lens produces that nice bokeh effect, and in my case, was easier to position. The AI isn’t too aggressive either.

As for the zoom, the photos turned out rather nicely. Of course, dialing it up to max guarantees a bit of noise. Best to just use the preset X3 zoom here.

As for low lighting, you can rest easy knowing that the A78 5G’s night mode performs well. Pitch darkness would be a different story, but night shots come out bright.

Lastly, of course, the selfies. By now, you’d think I consider it a chore. It’s not you, OPPO, it’s me.

Drama aside, the 8MP selfie camera made me look surprisingly good, mask included. As for the portrait mode bokeh, things didn’t look out of place. My hair is intact. Well done.

Everyday Reliability

All things considered, you’ll get a decent all-arounder in terms of entertainment and productivity. The expandable RAM provides that extra bit of help if you have multiple apps open. The 128GB storage is a bit on the small side, but sufficient.

Out of the box, it runs on Android 12 and ColorOS 13–a great pair that’ll keep updating for the next couple of years. As for your day-to-day, the 5000mAh battery will stay juiced and ready to go for a good two days or more, on lighter use. Still, you get just about an entire day with heavier usage–gaming included. Once you’re depleted, you can get right back up with some sweet 33W SuperVOOC charging.

Final Geek Lifestyle Verdict

If you’re in the market for an affordable phone that comes packed with decent specs, great cameras, and that sweet, premium aesthetic, then you might just want to check out the OPPO A78 5G. Right now, it’s priced at PHP 14,999 at OPPO’s physical stores and online sellers.