After the A39, the guys from OPPO Philippines just put some level on their budget A series with the release of the country's first Qualcomm Snapdragon 435-powered smartphone. Is the OPPO A57 will go the distance out of your Php 11,990? Let's check it out in my review
On display, I will never gonna change my previous words that the A57 has the most beautiful display so far in their A series In the number of days that I used it as a daily driver, there's an enjoyment for me on accessing the web, apps and some photo editing and video viewing in the mix.
On UI, at first it is still the same ColorOS that I encountered on their latest duo on the F series. This is definitely one of the best OPPO phones that I love aside from the Neo 5 mainly on the version of ColorOS that they used. It was not present on their latest F series but they implemented an app freeze feature. This is when the phone detected that you are not using that one or more apps for a few minutes, it will freeze it (as you will see that the app icon has some glaciers) which later on, you are getting more out of the RAM. I also noticed from morning til night as long as you are constantly clearing those apps that are not in use, the actual RAM remaining will not decrease overtime.
On connectivity, I am glad to know that the 4G+ worked on this device. No problems too on calls, texts, WiFi, Bluetooth, OTG and GPS.
On benchmarks on gaming, OPPO did not put in some shortcomings on the sensor with 7 out of 9 inside of it. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 octa-core processor almost got some identical numbers compared to what I usually got on the SD 430. Dropped the Asphalyt 8 for some gameplay and it almost did not gave me some lag
On battery, I ran a video battery rundown test and it lasted in 14 hours and 20 minutes. On real time usage with some mixed tasks in 20% brightness, I got 5 hours of screen time in an average of 22 hours. Charging is quite slow in today's standards for around 2 hours and 45 minutes
On camera, daylight shooting is definitely very good on this device. It was also good on lowlight and HDR. On low light, it was also more than average for the given price and sometimes, it even produce better results than the OPPO F3. On daylight, there is around 8 out of 10 chance that you can get a perfect shot unlike on the F3 which is almost automatic. As there is no selfie flash in this device, screen flash is their solution which is a-ok. One downer for me on the A57 is the audio when you shoot a video either on 720 or 1080p as it produced waby sound for some reason. An OTA must be the answer on this one.
OPPO A57 rear cameras samples
OPPO A57 Ultra HD camera sample
OPPO A57 front camera without and with screen flash comparison
On the extras section: I might saw the reason why the brand chose to put in a 5V 1A charger. I tried to use a trusty third party charger with the same electrical output on room tempeture and with the case. It was the first time that I got a warning from the brand that the phone will not charge in full coz of high temperature. I am not sure on who to blame on this case either on the brand or the Soc but I hope OPPO will make a turnaround on my new discovery
OPPO A57 is probably one of my best in terms price-to-overall performance ratio with a Qualcomm SoC as the main ingredient on this one together with with a very good display, very good camera for photos for the asking price, real dual SIM, good battery life and nice body. The issue on some high temperature while charging in some scenarios and poor audio and video must be checked by the OPPO PH guys soon. If to compare to F3, the Php 4,000 less on the A57's SRP has almost no compromised in my part. It's 4 out of 5 for me on OPPO A57
