OPPO recently launched the OPPO A92, their latest mid-range smartphone that delivers as much bang for its price and more.
We did a quick first impressions review and this time around took a closer look at how it performs from both a hardware and software perspective and how it stands out in the midrange market.
I have been using the OPPO A92 for a good amount of time and here’s our full review.
Design
The OPPO A92 is well designed and impressive as any midrange smartphone can be. The backplate is gorgeous with the constellation design that gives the phone a nice and premium feel to it.
OPPO A92 comes in three colours including Twilight Black, Stream White and Aurora Purple. Our unit was the Aurora Purple variant which was utterly striking to look at and it grabbed attention wherever I pulled the phone out of my pocket or left in face down on the table.
OPPO A92 comes with well-positioned buttons close to where your hand naturally rests – the tactile volume rockers are to the left. Their location is a little bit confusing compared to the standard button placement but I got used to it in a couple of days.
There’s a power button to the right that also functions as the fingerprint reader. It works faster and you just have to skim over the sensor for a second unlocking the phone.
I preferred this placement rather than having an unreliable in-display scanner.
There’s face unlock too if you want another mode of authentication which is also fast and convenient.
At the bottom is the USB Type-C charging port, headphone jack, primary microphone and a mono speaker grille.
At the top is the earpiece that also functions as a complementary speaker giving you stereo sound that comes in handy for multimedia consumption.
This is good for casual listening and gaming as the audio clarity is fair enough with decent bass from the top speaker and base from the bottom flaring speaker.
You can opt for the OPPO Enco W31 wireless earphones if you want something with more detail.
OPPO Enco W31 Wireless Earphones Review: Incredible Audio Quality and Great Comfort
The front punctuates the design for the OPPO A92.
You get a 6.5″ LCD Neo Display. The display itself is a visual treat coming with a resolution of 2400 by 1080pixels at 405 ppi density. Though not an AMOLED screen, you still get delectably beautiful colours in videos and pictures.
The screen paired with the stereo speakers makes for an excellent way to binge content on YouTube, Netflix or Amazon Prime when you’re away from the TV.
Also for catching up on TikTok videos my partner annoyingly keeps sending.
Generally, the OPPO A92 is a great content consumption device – handy during the quarantine.
There’s a punch-hole selfie camera on the top left corner. It sorts of blends into the background most of the time, not bringing too much attention to itself.
Readability outdoors is fantastic too serving up fair clarity in direct sunlight. Overall, the screen is serviceable with sufficient clarity and brightness for most scenarios.
In terms of bezels, the OPPO A92 comes with pleasantly slim top and side bezels. However, the chin has a rather prominent bezel.
The OPPO A92 felt fantastic to hold and I loved the way it fit my hand despite the hefty feel. My hands were able to reach most parts of the screen easily. You can opt to use the included One-Handed mode.
Software and Performance
The OPPO A92 packs the majority of this year’s top hardware – at least for a mid-range smartphone. You get Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 processor, Adreno 610 GPU, ample 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage which you can expand via external MicroSD card.
The OPPO A92 comes with Android 10 and ColorOS 7.2 running straight out of the box.
This hardware and software setup ensures everything functions buttery smooth especially if you’re a heavy multitasker like yours truly – you’ll have no fear of lags or slowdowns while running multiple apps and playing graphics intense games.
For gamers, you get a dedicated Game Space and Game Assistant feature where games are allowed memory exceptions and boosted power demands and network speeds. This feature even provides per game tailored visual experiences for gameplay and slows down any apps that are sucking up data in the background.
You can swap through multiple tabs on Chrome, playing PUBG Mobile, Asphalt 9, Call of Duty Mobile all on high settings and checking social media apps with no issue.
It’s worth noting that the OPPO A92 supports 4G VoLTE including Faiba’s network.
ColorOS 7.2 user interface has seen improvements and now comes with less bloatware and nice customisation additions. Overall, ColporOS 7.2 offers a pretty simple and uncluttered experience.
One little bit setback is that the phone only allows split-screen with the default launcher.
You won’t be able to use two apps simultaneously if you get Nova or Lawnchair.
In conclusion, it’s difficult to challenge performance on the OPPO A92 – it’s solid and seamless. My time with the phone has been a whole lot more positive.
Camera
OPPO A92 comes with five cameras with robust photo and video controls.
This includes a quad rear setup that consists of a 48MP main camera(wide), 8MP ultra-wide lens, 2MP depth sensor for portrait shots. and 2MP monochrome.
There’s also a 16MP selfie camera.
Under good daylight, you’ll get the best results with decent dynamic range, detail and colour rendition.
The main sensor uses pixel binding process to group adjacent pixels together. This means the camera takes in more light for brighter and more detailed shots.
Shots taken with the 48MP mode look so crispy good. I was literally taking pictures of anything I could get my hands on. It’s worth noting the photo sizes will fill up your storage.
Here are some samples. You’ll notice even without using the portrait mode, you get that bokeh effect. [Click on the images to expand]
Portraits seem reliable thanks to the background-blurring that seems reliable. However, the camera will blur part of a foreground object like glass.
The portrait mode has blur slider in case you want to tweak it.
Here are some selfies too. They are good on the whole even the portrait mode that has that shallow depth-of-field trick.
Here are some wide and ultra-wide shots.
Here are some macro shots
Here are some low light shots thanks to the large 48MP sensor and bright F/1.7 aperture that delivers shots decent enough for sharing on social media feeds.
Night mode come through with slightly better results – details will, however, remain fuzzy. There’s a count-down clock provided so that you know how long to hold the phone still while the camera take a few pictures and stitches them together.
For videos, you get to shoot regular video at 4K, 30fps, 1080p at 30fps; slow-motion video at 1080p or 720p.
OPPO included Soloop, a video editor app by the company that let’s you add songs, trim and add text. It’s pretty handy to quickly edit a simple video and share on social media especially Stories.
The OPPO A92 also supports up to 10X zoom.
On the whole, the OPPO A92 cameras are pretty good relative to the cost of the smartphone.
It’s worth noting that with the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic and most of us confined to our quarters, I didn’t get much chance to test the OPPO A92 beyond the confines of my neighbourhood but it excelled impressively on whatever you presented to it.
Overall, the OPPO A92 makes for a great proposition for those prioritising camera performance in a mid-range phone. I enjoyed taking outdoor shots with the phone and I’m pretty sure you will do and even make your friends jealous.
Battery
All that power that the OPPO A92 has means that battery demands are potentially significant and this is why the OPPO A92 comes loaded with a massive 500mAh battery.
The battery offers outstanding endurance.
I was getting an average of 9 hours screen-on-time(6 hours mostly watching TikTok videos, LOL) with 25% left after a hectic day.
It’s difficult to say how the OPPO A92 would have handled itself one normal “workday” since there’s nothing normal about self-quarantining at home.
On average use, the phone could last short of two days before it needed a quick top-up.
You get an 18W fast charger when you quickly need to juice up the phone.
In 30 minutes, you can charge up from empty to 45% in half an hour, 61% in another half and full in another half. Just give it a good hour and a half to completely juice up.
However, OPPO’s 30W VOOC fast charger would have come in handy.
Conclusion
The OPPO A92 plays to the company’s strengths and offers as much value as possible at Ksh 29,999.
The midrange married affordability with function and performance punctuated by the impressive design.
For Ksh 29,999, you get a device that can literally do everything better than before packed with features that work so effortlessly.
Great screen. Stellar performance. Stereo speakers. Excellent battery life. Versatile cameras. These are all the features you want in a mid-range smartphone and then some more that the OPPO A92 delivers on.
The OPPO A92 offers stellar value making the phone a true bargain – it delivers a whole lot for the money – which is the whole point of this phone.
Overall, I’m surprised at how much I’ve enjoyed using the OPPO A92 – so much that I didn’t want to switch to another phone.
OPPO Enco W31 Wireless Earphones Review: Incredible Audio Quality and Great Comfort
Pricing and Availability
The OPPO A92 starts selling at Ksh 29,999 online and in OPPO’s official retail stores. There’s a Ksh 2000 discount on the OPPO W31 wireless earbuds too if you decide to get both.
