Oppo, one of the top-notch phone brands in the world has added a new device into its budget segment. The Oppo A15 is an exceptionally smart handset and one of the cheapest smartphones from the company to come with the best smartphone features.
The phone is built with a strong plastic body that feels solid. The 6.52-inch display has a very high brightness level and feels good when strolling through the web pages, playing games, or watching movies. However, the A15 display is limited to just 720p resolution that makes the content looks grainer than we earlier imagined.
The MediaTek Helio P35 is supported with 3GB of RAM to deliver a decent performance. On the camera side, the Oppo A15’s triple rear camera set-up lacks flexibility in poor daylight shots even with the presence of a Night mode feature. However, the Oppo A15 4,230mAh battery capacity does well and could be considered the modest component of this smartphone.
While the Oppo A15 offers decent specs at a cheap price, it’s worth comparing it with other phones in the market. There are better phones available at this price or even lower like Xiaomi Redmi 9A and Redmi 9C.
Read Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro Review and Price in Nigeria
Oppo A15 Key Specifications
- Display: 6.52-inches IPS LCD
- Resolution: 720 x 1600 pixels
- Processor: Mediatek MT6765 Helio P35 (12nm)
- Front Camera: 5-megapixel
- Rear Camera: 13-megapixel + 2-megapixel + 2-megapixel
- RAM: 2GB /3GB
- Storage: 32GB
- Battery Capacity: 4230mAh
- OS: Android 10, ColorOS 7.2
Design
As for design, there’s no way to shift away from the fact that the A15 is among the cheapest smartphones with the best design. It’s constructed from strong plastic material that makes it weigh just 175g. Fortunately, the phone has a fairly slim body of 7.9mm which makes it easier to slide into your back pocket.
The plastic rear panel shines especially when light reflects on it. However, you’ll have to go through the stress of wiping away the greasy fingerprints unless you’re using the provided silicone case. The square-shaped camera module in the top left will easily capture your attention because of its slightly protruded bump. Slightly below the camera module is a fingerprint scanner that makes the phone kind of outdated. However, it’s reasonably fast and reliable which is what’s needed anyway.
Turning over to the front, you’ll be welcomed by a fairly large display with some chunky bezels that are normal with most 2020 smartphones. However, we found these bezels larger on the forehead and the chin, but we’ve nothing to complain about here as it’s similar in most smartphones. Meanwhile, a teardrop notch is another feature we didn’t love to see as punch-hole notches have taken over the smartphone world.
Fortunately, you’re getting a full selection of ports including the 3.5mm headphone jack that’s lacking on most phones. Following the headphone jack is the micro-USB port that’s located on the bottom of the phone.
Display
The Oppo A15 is designed with the trend and fan’s preference of large displays which explains the presence of a massive 6.52-inch IPS LCD screen. At 480nits of brightness, the Oppo A15 has a relatively decent brightness level for this price. However, we’re disappointed with the screen’s level of sharpness which won’t bring the best color of any media.
The handset has a screen resolution of 720 x 1600 pixels (HD+) as opposed to the 1080 × 2400 pixels (Full HD+) resolution that’s equipped on most recent devices. This limits your videos to be showing at only HD+ and with an average 269ppi pixel density, videos and web content won’t be showing at the best level.
Camera
The Oppo A15 comes with a familiar triple camera set-up on the back which consists of a 13-MP primary camera supported by a 2-MP macro lens and a 2-MP depth sensor.
The A15 camera is similar to the camera set-up on budget class, but the presence of a low megapixel on the macro lens is hard to justify. This makes the photos to be grainy and ugly which occurs as a result of the low macro lens.
However, many phones like Nokia 3.4 and Xiaomi Redmi 9t (although costs higher) features ultra-wide lenses. Meanwhile, an ultra-wide lens in cheap phones are never particularly great, so they’re better as nothing.
Meanwhile, the main camera performs great in well-lighted conditions, although the results are not that perfect, but are quite acceptable given the low price tag. However, despite the HDR mode, the camera struggles with colors not balanced and overexposing of elements like the sky in the background. With this price, I don’t think low-light shooting should be your concern here. Even with the presence of a dedicated Night mode, the Oppo A15 cameras didn’t manage to produce a single photo that’ll be good for social media upload.
Flipping over to the front, the 5-MP selfie camera doesn’t have the best performance either. However, photos taken are average and good to upload into your many social media accounts.
Processor, Performance, and Software
By offering at this cheap price, you shouldn’t expect the A15 to have the best performance. However, there’s a certain standard of performance that’s expected from the device, but the Oppo A15 once again disappointed us on that.
The handset comes with a MediaTek P35 chipset that’s supported by either 2GB or 3GB of RAM. Unfortunately, it failed to impress on a Geekbench 5 multiscore test after scoring 930 which is very low when compared to other devices.
The Oppo A15 performance is far from decent as you’ll experience some delays when switching between apps or scrolling through web pages. Meanwhile, gaming is quite playable when it comes to basic games. However, high-end games like PUGB will manage to play at low graphics settings, and even at that, the performance is far from being smooth.
As for storage, you’re getting 32GB built-in storage which isn’t worth it as most phones of this price have 64GB as its standard variant. However, you can choose to expand this up to 256GB by using the provided SDcard slot.
The Oppo A15 runs on Android 10 with ColorOS 7.2 skin on top. This combination is reasonably clean and smooth and can be considered one of the best selling points of this phone. The Oppo ColorOS UI gives you a lot of customizable options and settings to tweak to a reasonable degree of satisfaction.
Read Oppo Reno 3 Pro – Full Review, Specs, and Price in Nigeria
Battery Capacity
Powering the Oppo A15 is a 4,230mAh battery that’s moderate for a phone of this caliber. If you’re a heavy user that indulges in hours of gaming, you’re likely getting about 5% left before nightfall. However, in moderate use, you can comfortably enjoy your phone for 24 hours before connecting it to a charger.
Meanwhile, charging the phone with the bundled 10W charger makes the charging speed average. This charger will give you a quick too up from 0 to 100% in 2 hours.
Oppo A15: Price in Nigeria and Availability
The Oppo A15 was officially released on October 27, 2020, and sells for ₦63,000 (around $152) for the 3GB of RAM with 32GB variant.
However, at this price, the Oppo A15 faces tight competition with other brand’s handsets in the mid-range segment. The latest Xiaomi Redmi 9A offers at a lower price of ₦45,000 (about $109), the Umidigi A9 Pro ₦60,000 (around $145), and the Xiaomi Redmi 9C at ₦55,000 (roughly $133). These phones offer better features at a lower price, thereby giving the A15 a run for its money.
Read also 10 Cheapest Oppo Smartphones in Nigeria 2021
Oppo A15 Full Specifications
General
- Brand: Oppo
- Model: A15
- Release Date: October 27, 2020
- Operating System: Android 10, ColorOS 7.2
- Weight: 175g
- Colors: Mystic Blue, Dynamic Black
Display
- Touchscreen: YES
- Type: IPS LCD, 480nits
- Display Size: 6.52-inch
- Screen Resolution: 720 x 1600 pixels
- Dimensions: 164 x 75.4 x 7.9 mm (6.46 x 2.97 x 0.31 in)
- Facelock Support: YES
- In-display fingerprint scanner: No
- Sensors: Fingerprint (rear-display)
Platform
- Chipset: MediaTek MT6765 Helio P35 (12nm)
- CPU: Octa-core (4×2.35 GHz Cortex-A53 & 4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A53)
- GPU: PowerVR GE8320
Memory
- RAM: 2GB /3GB
- Inbuilt Storage: 32GB
- SD Card slot: Yes (dedicated slot)
Camera
- Rear Flash: LED Flashlight
- Rear Camera: 13-MP f/2.2 (wide), 2-MP f/2.4 (macro), 2-MP f/2.4 (depth)
- Video: 1080p@30fps
- Front Camera: 5-MP f/2.4 (wide)
- Front Flash: —
Connectivity
- Wi-Fi: YES
- Bluetooth: 5.0
- USB: MicroUSB 2.0
- GPS: YES
- WLAN: YES
Network
- SIM: Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
- Technology: GSM | HSPA | LTE
- 3G Support: Yes
- 4G/ LTE Support: Yes
- 5G Support: No
Battery
- Capacity: Li-Po 4230 mAh, non-removable
- Fast Charge: 10W
Price
- Price in Nigeria: ₦63,000
- Price in Dollar: $153
