The OPPO A71 is a midrange device that promises to offer you a premium, unique design, enhanced features that guarantee high performance and superb photography. I have spent quite some time with the device and there’s a lot to love about it while at the same time, there are two or three things here and there that might repulse you from buying the device, but before you make up your mind and judge the book [phone] by its cover [brand], above is my full video review of the OPPO A71 but for those of you who are data cautious, below is a quick overview of the review:
Design
The design of the OPPO A71 is brought out as “unique” by its creators but truth is, there’s nothing unique about the design of the OPPO A71, however, that is not to say that it is a bad thing. The A71 looks a lot like most of 2017 OPPO smartphones and there’s no denying that the phone draws a lot of inspiration from a certain fruity company. The A71 has a 5.2-inch HD display, a curved metallic design that screams premium and this is enhanced by that matte black colour that the device comes in, however, the matte element means that the phone will, 90% of the time, look like a block of smudges that are really hard to clean. The best part about the design of the OPPO A71? It’s compact enough for one-handed usage and does not feel like you’re about to drop it every time you are using it.
Software
The OPPO A71 runs on Color OS 3.1 on top of Android 7.1.1 Nougat. Color OS unapologetically looks like iOS, so you will either love it or hate it. Truth is, when you look past the iOS resemblance, Color OS is quite smooth and comes with handy features such as network speed on the notification bar, blue light filter inbuilt, lockscreen magazine with the ability to add your own pictures in the carousel, three finger swipe screenshot and many other neat features.
Performance
The OPPO A71 comes with 3 gigz of RAM, an MT6750 Octa-Core processor and a very reliable memory management system that ensures, most times, when you get back to an app, you will pick up from where you left off. The phone performs well in moderate usage, such as non-demanding gaming, social media and heavy browsing.
Camera
I am ready to take criticism for this statement but the OPPO A71 has one of the best cameras at its price point. The phone features a 13MP shooter on the back, that delivers crisp images with a lot of detail even in low light. The images kind of shots I managed to get from the A71 were impressive especially when you zoom in into an image and you get to experience what OPPO refers to as Super Zoom, which is explained here. The 8MP selfie shooter is as impressive as its counterpart on the back of this phone. I am not a heavy selfie taker but I could not resist but take one or two selfies, just to show off.
Battery Life
Packing a 3000mAh battery, the phone would last me well throughout the day and trust me, I am a heavy user. I start my day at 7am and I usually put my phone done well after 11pm and there’s no one time I have run for the charger in the course of the day. However, you will most likely be disappointed by how long the A71 takes to charge. In the age of fast charging, the A71 takes well over 2 hours from zero to 100 and that is too much.
Conclusion
So, should you spend your 20,000 shillings on the OPPO A71? The answer is very depended on what you want out of a phone and what you are willing to compromise, but seeing that majority of the population just want a phone that can take great selfies, last longer and not lag, there are very few phones that can rival the OPPO A71. However, keep in mind that the A71 lacks a fingerprint reader, some people I spoke to told me that it is not a necessity but I don’t see why OPPO skipped on it, considering rivals with phones that cost half the price of the A71 have a fingerprint reader.
I recommend watching the video review for more details and visuals of all the highlights above. Don’t forget to share and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
