OPPO A5 Pro smartphone review: a budget novelty with unexpected features

Last week, we reviewed Motorola Moto G75 — an affordable smartphone with top-end features. In the new tests, we have another budget novelty, OPPO A5 Pro, and it also has some important bonuses. Flagships rarely get such characteristics, not to mention devices with a price tag of 7000 hryvnias. So, let’s take a look at another unusual model in this segment, find out whether the smartphone is worthy of attention, who will be suitable and who will not.

Technical specifications of the OPPO A5 Pro

Display	6.67-inch IPS LCD, HD+ 1604×720 pixels, 90 Hz, 264 ppi, Corning Gorilla Glass 7i, peak brightness 1000 nits
Processor	8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen 1 (6 cores of 2 GHz: Cortex-A55 – 2 cores of 2.4 GHz: Cortex-A76), 6-nm
Graphics chip	Mali-G57 MP2, 1072 MHz
Memory	8 GB LPDDR4×256 GB UFS 2.1 memory
Memory expansion	Yes, microSD up to and including 1 TB
Main camera	50 megapixels f/1. 8 AF, additional 2 Mp f/2. 4 mono lens
Front camera	8 megapixels f/2.0
Modules and interfaces	5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS, Beidou, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, NFC
Protection	Yes, IP69, IP68 and IP66 dust and water resistance, impact resistance according to MIL-S TD-810H standard
OS	Color OS 15, Android OS 15
Battery	5800 mAh, 45W fast charging
Body	Plastic
Dimensions	164.8 2×75.53×7.76 mm
Weight	194 grams

Packaging and equipment

OPPO A5 Pro comes in a standard white and silver box.

The box contains the device itself with a screen protector, documentation, a tray clip, a USB-C to USB-A cable, a 45W power supply, and a protective case.

For modern smartphones and minimalist trends, this device has a superb package. I’m especially pleased with the presence of a power supply, and it’s a decent one, especially for a budget smartphone.

Design and ergonomics

The OPPO A5 Pro has a matte plastic body and a modern design: flat edges and rounded corners, the screen is also flat, and the main camera area is relatively small and slightly protruding.

The color we received for review was «Chocolate», which is dark brown. There is also an olive color. In my opinion, this color looks much more attractive. Our version doesn’t get dirty at all, there are no fingerprints or dust on it. Probably, it will be the same with another color, especially since it is much lighter.

The model’s dimensions are 164.8 2×75.53×7.76 mm, and it weighs 194 grams. This is a typical smartphone in the modern «spade» format. It fits well in the hand, at least in a man’s hand, but the case is very slippery, so I advise you to put on the bundled case right away. Moreover, it is not transparent, but black, looks cool and will not turn yellow after a while, as transparent bundled cases always do.

The front panel has two thin side edges and a pair of thicker ones — top and bottom.

On the back we see a module with cameras and the OPPO inscription.

You can drop it and drop it out of your hands, and it won’t be damaged. At least that’s what it says. But remember that none of this is covered by a warranty, so be careful. However, with the existing standards, you can definitely be sure that your smartphone is safe, which is not the case with many other competitors.

OPPO A5 Pro display

OPPO A5 Pro has a 6.67-inch IPS LCD screen with a resolution of 1604×720 pixels. The refresh rate here is 90 Hz, the pixel density is 264 ppi, and the peak brightness is 1000 nits. The latter is only possible with auto-brightness, so I always recommend using it. The top of the screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 7i.

The smartphone has a typical display for modern budget phones — just a normal IPS-matrix that almost does not fade at angles, has a fairly high brightness and rich colors. I’m not going to add anything new here because we’ve seen it many times before, and it’s good that they don’t worsen it, only better.

For example, they increase the refresh rate to 90 Hz. It can be either 60 or 90 Hz, or automatic. I recommend using the latter option.

In general, the screen is excellent, you can easily work with it outdoors under the sun, and it’s nice to watch movies or TV shows on Netflix, Sweet TV, or MEGOGO.

Sound and vibration response

OPPO A5 Pro has a basic vibration motor, so the vibration is standard, not distinctive or memorable. You can’t customize it either. The only thing you can do is activate/deactivate the tactile response of the system.

The sound of the smartphone is stereo, provided by the main speaker and the earpiece speaker. The sound is loud, even very loud. Especially in the 300% ultra-high volume mode. It’s activated by pressing the volume button again when it’s already at maximum. But I don’t recommend turning it on, because buzzing and other such unnecessary sounds appear. But at standard 100%, everything sounds adequate.

There is no 3.5 mm jack here, they are increasingly being removed even from budget models. Therefore, headphones should be connected via an adapter or via Bluetooth. If you do this, the smartphone supports the popular SBC, AAC and aptx codecs.

OPPO A5 Pro cameras

The OPPO A5 Pro has actually one main camera — it’s a 50-megapixel wide-angle module with f/1.8 aperture and a 76-degree viewing angle. But it has neither electronic nor optical stabilization. The second 2-megapixel sensor with an aperture of f/2.4 is an auxiliary module.

It is clear that in this price category, the quality of the photos will be mediocre, but for the price, the photos are just fine.

I more or less liked the color reproduction, although it is immediately obvious that the algorithms are trying to extract photos at the expense of saturation and acidity. The dynamic range is mediocre, as is the clarity. Night photos are very noisy.

It has a 50-megapixel mode, so if you’re shooting something for social media, it’s best to use it.

The main camera shoots video in 1080p at 30 frames per second. The videos are just okay, but there is some shaking because I’ll remind you that there is no stabilization at all.

The selfie module in the camera has a resolution of 8 megapixels and f/2.0 aperture. The photos are more or less adequate, there is a normal portrait mode. However, when there are many objects in the background, it does not always blur all of them correctly. But this is a common problem with more expensive smartphones. Filming here also takes place in 1080p/30 fps.

Productivity, software, and games

OPPO A5 Pro is powered by an 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen 1 (11nm) processor This is actually an updated old Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 chip. It has four 2100 MHz Kryo 260 (Cortex-A73) cores and the same number of 2000 MHz Kryo 260 (Cortex-A53) cores. The graphics chip here is Adreno 610 1150 MHz. There is 8 GB of LPDDR4X memory and 128 or 256 GB of UFS 2.1 storage. You can also add up to 8 GB of virtual RAM.

The modules and interfaces include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS, Beidou, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS and NFC. The latter is already becoming the rule even for budget models, which is good news.

The processor is very mediocre, i.e. affordable, but also cold. See all the tests below.

I should note that some benchmarks refused to work with the chip. For example, Geekbench 6 tested only the CPU, and gave an error on the GPU. Rebooting and other things didn’t help. Also, 3D Mark didn’t work on the smartphone — it kept saying that there was an error and that the benchmark files needed to be downloaded, and when they were downloaded, it kept throwing the same error.

The OPPO A5 Pro is definitely not a gaming smartphone, but basic popular projects like Call of Duty Mobile or Wild Rift will run on it at medium graphics settings. You can also run games like Genshin Impact, but it will be up to 30 frames and low settings. I don’t feel comfortable playing in this format, but I know that someone else will be fine.

The smartphone runs on Android 15 with the proprietary ColorOS 15 shell. It’s a nice add-on without ads, but with a lot of pre-installed apps and games. It’s a lot, but it’s good that you can uninstall it.

The shell is highly customizable, and you can easily customize it in detail, including changing fonts and general colors.

The system works adequately, but sometimes, of course, there are slight slowdowns. This is normal for a budget smartphone because they all have it. The difference is even more noticeable if someone uses a flagship or iPhone and picks up a similar device. But the situation is improved by the 90 Hz screen, where the increased frame rate adds speed at least visually.

OPPO A5 Pro battery life

The OPPO A5 Pro is equipped with a 5800 mAh battery, which is definitely better than the 5000 of most competitors, with some exceptions.

The budget processor and IPS screen take relatively little power, so with standard use with social networks, calls, games, and YouTube videos, the device easily lasts a day and a half. The battery life can be extended to two days if you stop playing mobile games and watching videos.

In PCmark tests, the smartphone gave an error several times and did not want to measure this indicator.

I’d like to highlight the fast 45W wired charging, which is great for this segment. A full charge takes 1 hour and 20 minutes. Wireless charging did not work and no miracle happened here, as it did with Motorolla.

User experience

The OPPO A5 Pro is a typical modern budget phone with a nice design and some pleasant surprises. It’s cool that it has full water and shock protection, but everything else is typical of other smartphones in this budget category.

I definitely liked the full package, which is now a value in any segment. And here we have a film and a nice non-transparent case, as well as a 45W power supply, which is not cheap by itself. Consider it an additional gift to a smartphone, because that’s the way it is in today’s realities.

It’s a pity that other flagship gimmicks like e-SIM or wireless charging were not included, but even the presence of such serious protection and a complete set already makes this model stand out among competitors in the category.

Prices and competitors

OPPO A5 Pro is sold at a price of 7000 UAH for the 8/128 GB version. There’s also an 8/256 GB version, which we’ve reviewed. Prices here start at 7800 hryvnias, and in large networks it is 9299 hryvnias. If you don’t look at competitors, the price is very adequate. But if you pay attention, the price tag seems to be normal, but for this money you can definitely find something better, or just add a little and get better.

I advise you to pay attention to the same Motorola Moto G75. With a price tag of 9000 hryvnias, it has the same memory, but a larger set of cool features. There’s also the Samsung Galaxy A16 4G with a price tag of 5500 hryvnias, if you need something simpler, Realme C75 (price from UAH 5700), Poco M6 Pro with a price tag of UAH 6649, Redmi Note 14 (price from UAH 5900), Nubia Neo 2 (price from UAH 5960) andMotorola Moto G55 with a price starting at UAH 7300.

I’m glad that at least in this model the company is fixing its constant problem with overpriced devices. Yes, of course, there are other positions for this money, as I said, but OPPO A5 Pro is full of surprises in its category. And the main competitor Motorola Moto G75 is just stuffed with gimmicks and it’s the only one for the money, and this is definitely an exception.