OPPO A5s Price List February, 2020 & Specs in Philippines

Oppo A5s Review: Is it really a bang for your buck?

The Oppo A5s is a great entry-level smartphone with impressive battery life, decent performance, and a sizeable display. But do these features justify its ₱6,990 price point?

Pros:

• Slim build
• Triple card slots for two SIM cards and a micro SD card
• Fingerprint scanner
• Smaller waterdrop notch than the Oppo A3s
• Good legibility in bright environments
• Good screen size
• Decent night shots as long as there’s good lighting
• Portrait shots with bokeh effect
• Expandable internal storage
• It handles day-to-day task pretty well
• Smooth performance when running small-to-moderate apps and games
• Two-day battery life
• It only takes 2 hours for a full charge even without having any fast-charging technology

Cons:

• Glossy plastic chassis is a smudge magnet
• Display only comes with HD+ resolution
• Shots lack natural color reproduction
• Discernible noise and loss of detail in low light
• Loss of video quality after zooming
• Oppo Game Space misses the mark when running graphics-intensive games
• Performance hiccups when multitasking and graphics-intensive gaming
• A USB-C port could have been integrated for quicker charging time, instead of micro-USB

Ten years ago, most budget smartphones always get the lowest specifications just to meet their price points. Now, they get impressive cameras, bezel-less displays, long battery life, and so much more. With that, smartphone manufacturers today are bringing budget devices with some premium features to its consumers.

One notable example of a budget smartphone with premium specs is the Oppo A5s. It is the successor of the Oppo A3s, which brings new features to the table including a smaller notch, Corning Gorilla Glass 3, faster performance, and a fingerprint scanner.

The price of the Oppo A5s starts from ₱6,990, which competes with other budget models such as the Asus Max Pro M1, Xiaomi Redmi Note 7, and ZTE Blade A7 Prime. Its price point caters to those who are looking for an affordable phone with above-average specs for the first time. While there are better smartphones out there for the same price point, it offers some features that are different from the rest.

If you are wondering how it fares against competing models and if it’s worth the price, here’s our rundown of the Oppo A5s’ specs:

Oppo A5s Price and Release Date

The official price of the Oppo A5s 32GB in the Philippines starts from ₱6,990 with a drop in price to ₱2,499 in January 2020. This phone comes in Red, Black, Gold, and Green, and is available on Shopee and Lazada.

As for its release date, the Oppo A5s was launched in April 2019 with a suggested retail price of ₱6,990 for the 32GB model.

Overall Design

• Sleek and slim design
• Triple card slots for two SIM cards and a micro SD card
• It comes with a fingerprint scanner

The Oppo A5s sports a slightly bigger build than the A3s. It weighs 170g, making it just 2 grams heavier than the Oppo A3s. This negligible difference means that you will not feel any difference in terms of weight.

When it comes to aesthetics, both smartphones are sleek and slim, as they have 8.2mm thickness. Like the Oppo A3s, the A5s is encased in a glossy plastic chassis which seems cheap but is actually solid and sturdy. It looks bezel-less all throughout, except for the thick bezel on the bottom.

Around the sides, the Oppo A5s sports a metallic finish, while its glossy plastic rear seems to imitate a glass back. Speaking of which, it attracts fingerprints, so you will need a case to protect the device from scratches and smudges.

On the left side, the Oppo A5s houses a triple card slot for two SIM cards and a micro SD card. The volume buttons are situated at the base, as well as the loudspeaker, the micro USB port, the microphone, and the 3.5mm audio port.

On the back, the dual cameras of the Oppo A5s are embellished with a gold accent. The rear is also equipped with a fingerprint scanner which is easy to reach. However, it may sometimes take a couple of presses for the device to unlock. The Oppo A5s also comes with a face unlock feature that has the same issue as the fingerprint scanner, whereby it would take a few seconds before it would start working.

Overall, the A5s virtually has the same build and design as the A3s since Oppo incorporated the same glossy plastic design into the device. What makes it unique, however, is the existence of the fingerprint scanner and the toned-down waterdrop notch on the Oppo A3s.

Display

• It now has a smaller notch than the Oppo A3s
• Above-average legibility in bright lighting conditions
• Screen size is just right for gaming and watching videos

A waterdrop notch is nestled on top of the Oppo A5s’ 6.2-inch display, where the selfie camera is placed. This time, it is smaller than the one on the Oppo A3s.

In terms of the display, the Oppo A5s produces vibrant colors with a slight saturation. It offers above-average legibility in bright lighting conditions, as it provides just enough brightness. You may have to increase the brightness to 95% in order to view images properly.

Its 6.2-inch screen is a great size for gaming and watching videos, although it only provides an HD+ resolution (1520 x 720px). It is also topped with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 which is three times more damage-resistant than Gorilla Glass 2.

With decent brightness and HD+ resolution, the display on the Oppo A5s is just right for its price point. For users who are not a fan of the notch on the Oppo A3s, they may want to consider investing in the A5s, as it is now fitted with a smaller notch.

Camera

• It takes good photos during night time, as long as there’s sufficient lighting
• Taking portrait shots with a cool bokeh effect is possible

The dual cameras on the back of the Oppo A5s are fitted with a 13MP main sensor and f/2.2 aperture plus a 2MP depth sensor and f/2.4 aperture. The dual-camera setup offers decent performance, as it takes good shots for a budget device. The shots produced have decent detailing but lack natural color reproduction.

Meanwhile, the photos taken during night time, under sufficient lighting, come out with the right amount of color and detail. But under low light, there’s a lack of detail and discernible noise. This is already expected since the Oppo A5s lacks a dedicated night mode, so users have no choice but to stick with the standard photo mode if they want to capture images in low light.

As for the camera interface on the A5s, users may find it distracting, but it does an impressive job of quickly locking exposure and focus. It is also possible to take portrait shots with an impressive bokeh effect, thanks to its 2MP depth sensor. However, the only drawback to taking portrait shots is the edge detection which needs a little tweaking since the background blur is selective with which areas to blur.

Situated in the waterdrop notch is the 8MP selfie camera, which is just as good as the back camera. It also struggles to take decent shots in low light but works pretty well in good lighting conditions. Colors appear slightly dull and unnaturally smoothened out even without turning the AI on. If you turn the AI option on and max out the beauty mode level, selfie shots come out a little more unnatural. The same goes for group shots that look washed out at times, even after implementing some AI beautification settings. To enhance the details on photos, users can opt for the HDR setting, but they need to make sure that there’s a micro SD card mounted to the device.

In terms of video recording, the Oppo A5s could shoot videos in 1080p Full HD resolution. Videos come out with decent quality but become slightly obscure even after zooming in just once.

The Oppo A5s is one of Oppo’s budget selfie phones, so it is expected that the cameras on this device are decent, at the very least. However, the shots produced by the rear cameras, while appearing good, come out with monotonous color reproduction which is similar to selfies. Portrait shots also need some improvement, as the background blur appears to be selective.

Performance

• The storage memory can be expanded up to 256GB
• It handles day-to-day task pretty well
• No performance hiccups when running small-to-moderate apps and games

The Oppo A5s houses a MediaTek Helio P35 chipset which works with PowerVR GE8320 GPU and 3GB of RAM. It only has one storage variant of 32GB which is expandable up to 256GB. Based on benchmark tests conducted by some popular tech review sites, the score obtained for the Oppo A5s is similar to other entry-level devices.

The Oppo A5s can handle basic everyday tasks pretty well - performance is smooth and neat since there are no lags. The same goes for running casual mobile games, as there are no performance hiccups, all thanks to Oppo Game Space. This feature is not available in a lot of entry-level smartphones, which is what makes the A5s somewhat special. What the feature does is it helps the device deliver an impressive performance while gaming. It activates once the user starts up a game.

Mobile games such as Clash Royale run seamlessly and load quickly. However, Game Space does not work as intended when running graphics-intensive titles such as Asphalt 9 and PUBG, as they lag heavily. Battery life also runs out more quickly with the feature on than just using the device as is.

A drop in performance is also noticeable when multitasking or opening multiple apps in the background. This is expected since the A5s only comes with 3GB of RAM, whereby the phone’s operating system takes up almost half of that. To maximize RAM, it’s best to get the lite versions of apps.

The Oppo A5s runs on an outdated Android 8.1 Oreo operating system with the ColorOS 5.2 interface. This user interface, while responsive, doesn’t respond super quickly.

Overall, Oppo nailed it when it comes to equipping the A5s with decent internal components that allow it to run small-to-moderate apps and games without any performance hiccups. However, it also has a couple of downsides which include the obsolete Android 8.1 Oreo operating system and the drops in performance when multitasking and graphics-intensive gaming.

Battery Life

• Battery life can last for about two days with casual use
• One full charge only takes about two hours even without having any fast-charging technology

The Oppo A5s is fitted with a 4,230mAh battery pack which scored 12 hours and 53 minutes on the PC Mark battery test. However, based on battery tests performed by some popular tech review sites, it can actually last for about two days with mixed, casual use including Facebook, online streaming, and GPS; and for almost an entire day when watching YouTube videos and playing graphics-intensive games.

Also, during the battery testing sessions, Game Space was disabled since it starts up automatically. Even without the feature on, the phone would feel warm after two hours of use. They put a video on loop, which took the device’s battery to last for about 16 hours, while charging it to 100% took about 2 hours.

In terms of charging, the Oppo A5s does not come with any fast-charging technology. Nevertheless, one full charge via micro-USB only takes about two hours which is pretty fast considering it doesn’t use a USB-C port.

As for connectivity features, the A5s has all the usual ones including Bluetooth, Wifi, GPS, and 4G LTE. It has dual SIM support that makes switching from one network to another possible. The Oppo A5s also has a gyroscope sensor that makes it possible for users to play AR games.

For a phone with a ginormous battery, it would make sense for the Oppo A5s to use a USB-C port. Not because many competing smartphone manufacturers have started integrating that into their budget devices, but because it would make the A5s’ charging time a bit faster.

Verdict

At an affordable price of ₱6,990, the Oppo A5s is a great budget option. It offers a good screen size with a smaller notch than its predecessor, expandable storage, decent CPU performance, and good battery life of about two days. If you are an OPPO A3s user and you are planning to get a better budget phone, it is worth upgrading to the Oppo A5s. It is also a worthy option for gamers on a budget, as the phone offers enough juice for small-to-moderate games.

Based on its price point, the phone seems to be a bang for the buck deal, but some features failed to achieve their intended results. Some downsides include an outdated operating system, subpar image quality, and basic camera and design. For fans of smartphone photography, the phone’s dual rear cameras may not live up to their expectations, as the quality of the images is subpar. Selfie lovers may also want to look for a much better device in the same price range. Furthermore, it doesn’t fall far from its predecessor in terms of design. Not to mention, it doesn’t have other storage options for internal storage and RAM, so users are stuck with the 3GB RAM option which delivers a mediocre performance.

All in all, the Oppo A5s is a great deal for those looking for a budget-friendly phone, but it comes with some specs that don’t fall far from its predecessor, as well as new features that don’t live up to expectations.

Oppo A5s Specs:

• Official Price: ₱6,990
• Glossy plastic design
• Dual 13MP rear camera
• 8MP selfie camera
• 9 x 75.4 x 8.2mm
• 170g
• Red, Black, Gold, Green
• 6.2-inch HD+ IPS display with waterdrop notch, 271 PPI
• Corning Gorilla Glass 3
• 32GB of storage, expandable up to 256GB via microSD card
• 3GB of RAM
• MediaTek Helio P35 2.3GHz octa-core
• PowerVR GE8320 GPU
• Android 8.1 Oreo (ColorOS 5.2)
• 4,230mAh battery
• Dual SIM
• Fingerprint Scanner
• 4G LTE
• WiFi
• Bluetooth
• GPS

Images courtesy of Oppo Philippines