Various connectivity options on the Oppo A15s include WiFi - Yes, Wi-Fi 802.11, b/g/n/n 5GHz, Mobile Hotspot, Bluetooth - Yes, v5. 0, and 4G (supports Indian bands), 3G, 2G.Towards the end of a more the productive year 2020, Oppo released the ultra-low-cost Oppo A15 smartphone. It's a solid feat with a great display and reliable battery life, but countless trade-offs - including poor performance, a low-resolution display, and a below-average camera - reassure you that you're good value.
Professionals
+ Very cheap
+ Reliable fingerprint sensor
+ Durable battery life
Disadvantages
- Poor performance
- Show HD + only
- Micro USB
At the end of a busy year, Oppo Oppo A15 is the cheapest western smartphone brand that still has a lot to offer. You need to set your expectations accordingly.
The all-plastic body of the phone looks solid, if not surprising at all, and the presence of a micro-USB port is like a blast from the past (at least). Although the fingerprint sensor on the back does not think straight ahead, it is fast and reliable.
When we look at the front of the phone, the fresh display on a cheap device is not unusual. With a diagonal of 6.52 inches and a relatively high peak light, it will definitely make an impression. It is unfortunate that this 720p display will not seal this deal. The content of the media and the web looks much more than we would like. Speaking of media content, avid gamers should avoid this phone. The MediaTek MT6765 CPU from Oppo A15 is one of the lowest on the market and is supported by a small 3GB RAM. And due to these modest components, even general navigation is a bit bumpy.
Oppo has opted for a perfect small camera setting on the A15 - something we should not avoid at this price point, as it exceeds standards. However, the lack of flexibility in-camera settings led to poor daily shots. And even though there is a night mode, it does not look very good in low light conditions.
One of the areas that the Oppo A15 provides is battery life. The relatively large 4,230 mAh unit will serve well for moderate components and will happily guide you through the second day of use before you need to recharge.
While it's tempting to think of such a cheap, solidly built phone from this trusted brand, it pays to separate price from cost. Simply put, better phones are available for the same - or less - money, including the Moto G8 and Oppo A5 2020. It costs 119 GBP (about 132 EUR / 162 $ / 210 AU $)
Available from now on in the UK
It is not clear whether he will get to the US or Australia
Oppo A15 will land in the United Kingdom on November 26, 2020, at a cost of 119 GBP (approximately 132 EUR / 162 USD / 210 U $). There are no reports of a wider launch in the US, EU or Australia yet, but we will keep you posted.
This British price makes it the cheapest phone issued by a West Chinese manufacturer, falling under Oppo A53 (159 GBP) and Oppo A72 (219 GBP). The reason is Oppo A9 2020 and Oppo A5 2020 and for this reliable budget line from the market, it was a busy 12 months. However, Oppo A15 finds itself in a risky tight subsection of the budget market, where cuts are needed to keep pace. lowering the price can cripple the phone. Phones like Nokia 3.4 and Alcatel 3L (2020) made the same cumbersome compromise and increased their price below GBP 130 with similar consequences.
Can Oppo A15 get this dangerously balanced job, or does it break down excess fat? Glossy all-plastic construction
MicroUSB and 3.5 mm jack
Nothing beats the fact that the Oppo A15 is a super-cheap phone. The all-plastic design is practically unadorned.
The back of the device is usually partially hollow plastic, shiny to the point that it is covered with greasy fingerprints. Your eye is likely to be caught by the square module of the camera in the upper left corner, framed in synthetic metal.
Just below it is a physical fingerprint sensor, which is another sign that it is not a premium phone. However, it is fast and reliable, which is important.
You can expect the Oppo A15 to be a bit lighter with all the plastics and a relatively thin 7.9 mm body. But it weighs enough 175g. It's not that it shouldn't be heavy either way, but you'll know you're carrying it. Around the front are some relatively strong margins of end-2020 standards. In particular, the front and front of the phone are larger than we are used to. Meanwhile, thanks to the teardrop notch, the phone is somewhat dated to the time when punching notches in the budget sector have just become commonplace.
The budget selection continues as we move our attention to the bottom of the phone, where the micro-USB port is located next to the 3.5 mm headphone jack. While the Alcatel 3L also includes a cracked micro-USB port for the same price, the Nokia 3.4 can fully USB-C, so it's possible. 6.52-inch IPS LCD
HD + only
Oppo Mobile UK CEO Kevin Cho says the Oppo A15 is "designed to meet the needs of social networking and user entertainment," explaining the presence of a large 6.52-inch IPS LCD display. It is quite bright (for the price) at 480 rivets and the colors are also reasonably balanced. However, the level of juice on the screen does not bring any benefit to the media content.
At just 720 x 1600, it's HD + / 720p unlike the FHD + / 1080p resolution used by most phones. You won't see Full HD video content here, and with a pixel density of just 269 PPI, web content and photos won't pop up either. No high refresh rate, with normal 60Hz output. We don't expect higher refresh rates from such a cheap phone, but we're starting to see 120Hz displays on phones under 200 GBP, such as the Poco X3 NFC, so it's worth noting. At this price, it is also not uncommon to find a display with such a low resolution. Alcatel 3L, Nokia 3.4, and Moto E7 Plus share this particular specification.
But it encourages us to recommend that you consider your phones a little higher on the market, as your budget may be close to GBP 200. A little extra money (or similar money with a discount on your phone in early 2020) may make you more afraid to buy your money, especially when it comes to the screen. Triple camera: width 13 megapixels, macro 2 megapixels, depth 2 megapixels
Almost plenty of sunlight; hard night
The Oppo A15 comes with the alleged setup of three cameras, with a primary 13-megapixel lens supported by a 2-megapixel macro and a 2-megapixel depth sensor.
It's a familiar budget class setting - and again, the presence of this low-megapixel macro is hard to justify. Heavy close-ups look crazy and so ugly that we doubt many will use Macro mode after the first attempt.
It is worth noting that the Nokia 3.4 and Alcatel 3L insist on an ultra-wide-angle lens - although it is fair to say that cheap ultra-wide-angle cameras are not really that good. With that in mind, the argument for a decent wide-angle lens at the end of the market is strong.
Here, however, she is fully responsible for ensuring that the primary sensor is good. In general, under the same lighting conditions, the results are almost acceptable due to the short price tag. There's a decent balance of photography with the usual natural science of Oppo.
However, we noticed a detailed drop to the edge of the photos we took with the device. Objects with many intricate details, such as trees and shrubs, can have a grainy, processed appearance. You will never want to zoom in on any of the photos taken by Oppo A15 again because they are no longer good enough to control. full focus, both in normal shooting mode and in dedicated portrait mode.
The camera also encounters HDR situations and overexposed elements such as the sky in the background. However, it is possible to get comfortable and useful results in the sun under the right conditions.
On the other hand, shooting in low light is total depreciation. We doubt the presence of dedicated night mode here, because, for some more expensive phones, the forced light output is not visible - just a lot of noise.
However, the 5-megapixel selfie camera on the front is not very polite. Skin tones are likely to blur, even if the Beauty slider is set to zero. MediaTek MT6765 is very slow
Small storage 32 GB
With a price tag of 120 GBP, we would not expect the Oppo A15 to be an excellent performance. But if there’s a certain minimum standard you’d expect from a smartphone, the A15 only barely meets it.
The culprit is the humble MediaTek MT6765 CPU, with a paltry 3GB of RAM supporting it. A Geekbench 5 multicore score of 930 is very low, even when compared to other budget phones.
Consider the older Oppo A5 2020 with its Snapdragon 665, which scored 1,301. Or, to use a contemporary of the Oppo A15’s, the Nokia 3.4, which managed to hit 1,188. It just pips the Alcatel 3L on 847, as a result of that phone’s even less capable MediaTek MT6762.
Benchmarks don’t tell the whole story, of course, but they tend to provide a hint of what can be expected. And sure enough, using the Oppo A15 is a far from a smooth experience, with small but frequent delays when moving between apps and scrolling through web pages. Apps such as Netflix can take a while to get up and running, and even Oppo’s own individual Settings menus take an extra beat to load.
Gaming is quite viable on the Oppo A15, but far from optimal. On PUBG Mobile, the graphics settings don't go up to Balanced / Medium - the notch at the bottom - and yet the display is far from silky smooth. Even light and well-optimized game like Bullet Boy gets stuck the first time you raise a level. We also need to remind you that this is a phone that costs GBP 120. But we must also reiterate the point that it is more sensible to shop
