The Oppo A3x is an Android smartphone aimed at the lower to mid-range market. Limited in resources, the device is designed in such a way that it is able to deliver good value for those who are looking for an upgrade or a refreshing change. For most people looking to buy the Oppo A3x, one major factor will be pricing, because they will get the device if the price is right. Therefore, the market positioning of the A3x is entirely dependent on where the final product is placed on the price scale. On its release, the Oppo A3x was among the 15 models from Oppo unveiled in 2019 alone. This again goes to show the frequent and consistent patterns of innovation and both mid-range and high-end market disruptiveness of the Oppo brand as an original equipment manufacturer of mobile communication devices.
The review of the Oppo A3x will look at the overall quality and performance of this device. The document will consider features like screen size and pixel density, camera capability, processing power, battery performance, internal storage, and operating system, among other aspects of this device. The objective is to form a well-rounded opinion about the device and what an average customer of mid-range phones may expect when considering the purchase of this model. With such an approach, the review will turn out to be suitable to the needs and expectations of all readers of the material.
Design and Build Quality
The first impression of the Oppo A3x will definitely be about aesthetics. The phone is just as eye-catching as any of its other high-end brothers from the same company. The plastic body of this device has been molded very beautifully. The material quality is quite commendable as well. This smartphone feels solid enough in hand. That makes it quite the durable mobile phone. The first time you hold this smartphone in your hand, you will realize that the Oppo A3x is very difficult to let go of. Ergonomics are definitely on point here. What’s more, this Oppo phone is also one of the more lightweight handsets out there. Further discussing the mechanical aspects of the Oppo A3x, the dimensions of the device are 75.6 mm x 155.9 mm x 8.2 mm. The thickness of the phone could have been reduced to match that of the latest smartphones, but it’s doubtful if that makes much of a difference. As for the weight, the smartphone is a featherweight. Considering that the A3x has a 3400 mAh battery, such a lightweight device bearing that heavy component is commendable. The phone is only 170.6 grams. Further, this handset comes in two elegant colors. This includes both red and dark purple. This shade of the device carries a gradient finish. The color options are how Oppo really sets itself apart from its competition and makes sure it caters to an audience that’s not satisfied with only having the blacks and whites of mobile phone designs. Almost every part of the phone is well-finished. Attention to detail is evident on the smartphone as well. The quality of materials is well balanced, and the plastic of the device makes it somehow scratch resistant. The finishing has been done so well that even though the device is plastic, it’s not easy to figure it out upon a glance. The phone is mostly snugged into a metalized frame. Even the buttons have been snugged into this frame. Right above this frame is polished glass. The back of the phone has a nice matte finish to it. The camera protrudes only slightly from the rear. The top and bottom of the phone are considerably flat, while the sides are slightly curved. For more details on the manner in which the device has been put together, let’s take you from the bottom to the top of the device. The Oppo A3x has a slightly flatter plastic bottom, complete with all of the necessary holes for things like the headphone jack and microphone. It has a 3.5mm jack, microphone, micro USB slot, and speakers. The main microphone is located at the bottom edge of the frame along with the USB port and a 3.5mm audio jack, all of which are evenly spaced.
Display and Multimedia Features
As mentioned earlier, it sports an edge-to-edge notch display and a bezel-less design, offering improved visibility. Apps with a rich and clear interface will give you peace of mind. The standard resolution of the display is also emphasized. The screen size is classified as a 6.2-inch IPS LCD with an FHD resolution. It features a flawless multi-touch display, mainly for responsive gaming and fast charging. The device is more detailed and uses a stronger IPS panel. Although the screen is smaller and longer than the one utilized in our unit, it offers a very brilliant arrangement with Android User Interface and ColorOS.
As for the display, it uses a 6.2-inch HD+ resolution display, which is not particularly stunning, but good. Some of the other smartphones offer full HD displays that are robust and provide a better screen-to-body ratio. We are discussing this phone at estimated prices, so consider the features. It allows you to adjust your tint and pick from a screen temperature of over 100 colors, but the phone moves this far slowly. Using a dimmer setting is feasible. Many factory-based modes include “Vivid,” “Default,” “Color Temperature Control,” and “Night Shift.” They are designed to support video playback and gaming methods. For a more immersive gaming experience, the phone has been built with “Stereo Speakers” to keep you involved. ‘Stereo speakers’ let you tune into or play anything at any time. Sound quality is also affected by loud sounds before cracking it; at least 60% of the volume provides one of the best experiences. It offers a fully immersive film and game experience. With this technology, it offers a “realistic” approach to entertaining without traditional stereo sound. In the event of a face-off, the user interface (pattern, password, fintech, and voice-recognition technology) will also remove the notch to enhance the gaming experience. The Game Chest provides access to some of the leading games in the market.
Performance and Hardware Specifications
The Oppo A3x has inherited most of its specifications from the Oppo A5 that was released a few months earlier. The device is based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 1.8GHz SoC, which has 8 Cortex A53 cores up to that speed along with the Adreno 506 GPU running up to 600MHz.
RAM: The single-channel 2GB of DDR4X RAM is satisfactory in multitasking scenarios. Single-channel has a lower speed than dual-channel RAM, so the user may notice occasional micro-lags or drops in the speed of the application. RAM comes in two sizes, namely 3GB or 4GB. 2GB is often small for use in an Android OS, but in general, the memory management of Color OS 5.2 is good. The free RAM will increase if the launcher is not used, and excessive background applications can reduce free RAM.
The benchmark score of the Oppo A3x is around 74450, which is much lower than other smartphones in the same price segment. On the other hand, the overall performance of the A3x is rated higher than the Xiaomi Redmi 5 at the same price range. The device is also known as Oppo A5; as such, the device may arrive with the CPU configuration of the Oppo A5, which is different from the exact specifications listed. The device may experience inconsistency during performance and cannot maintain certain performance levels for longer usage.
Processor and RAM
The processor integrated in the Oppo A3x is a MediaTek Helio P60. This SoC has been manufactured using a 12 nm process with which about 1.6 billion transistors have been integrated. This MediaTek Helio P60 includes an ARM architecture quad-core Cortex-A73 at a maximum speed of 2 GHz, which offers the best performance, and another ARM architecture quad-core Cortex-A53 with a maximum speed of 2 GHz that maintains a functional balance between performance and consumption. It is an octa-core with a multi-threaded processing capacity that we achieve thanks to its quad-core Cortex-A73. The screen of our Oppo smartphone is controlled by the ARM Mali-G72 MP3, which includes a video processor.
Oppo A3x has an integrated 4 GB of high-capacity LPDDR4x RAM, an LPDDR4x memory type able to reduce consumption by 15% compared to LPDDR3 and LPDDR4, which translates into better fluidity of use in multitasking tasks executed with demanding programs. The combination of ARM architecture quad-core Cortex-A73 and ARM architecture quad-core Cortex-A53 integrated into the MediaTek Helio P60 aims to offer mid-range performance in graphics and maximum performance in processing tasks. The real performance in the day-to-day use of the Oppo A3x is exceptional. The device offers smooth performance, and everyday usage doesn’t feel sluggish. Using apps like Gmail, WhatsApp, Facebook, and surfing the web using Chrome feels comfortable and smooth.
The Mali-G72 MP3 ARM includes support for OpenGL ES 3.0, OpenGL ES 2.0, OpenCL 2.0, and so on. This smartphone can perform very well in mid-end games like PUBG, which run without lag at low settings but with HD graphics. These components are compacted into a single chipset. When we talk about this processor, it is very important to discuss its energy efficiency. Its consumption is 25 percent less than earlier models. In this sense, the eight-core ARM processor of the Heliosphere 2 is also a victim.
Battery Life and Charging
OPPO A3x has a 4,230mAh battery, which is common for budget and mid-range mobile phones from OPPO. With the Snapdragon 450 processor, endurance is basically not a problem. For example, the screen is always on and the power is at 92%, with an estimated 13 hours and 56 minutes remaining. Under the balanced power mode, the power consumption is 86.3% and the battery life is about 13 hours. When the phone is idle, the power drops by 7.8% per hour. The specific power consumption is as follows.
In a typical use scenario, 67% of the power is enough to support 4 hours of use. The mobile phone will last for 103 minutes if it is filled with 10% of the power for gaming. In the actual gaming scenario, the mobile phone has an endurance of more than 3 hours in balanced mode. In normal mode, the power consumption is 69% and the power consumption is 1.38% per minute. The screen display also shows that the high-brightness screen affects the endurance of the game. Basically, the battery life will last for one afternoon with usage. Under normal use, the power consumption is 78%, so it can be used for 3 hours and 10 minutes to achieve 70% fast charging, and 100% charge takes 100 minutes. The 36W fast charging is because the mobile phone supports various charging specifications, which speeds up battery charging, reduces the waiting time for charging, and improves the efficiency of battery charging under reduced screen display. The 4000mAh battery can meet the needs of daily office and gaming. Smartphones in the 2000 yuan price segment are reviewed based on three indicators: gaming time, browsing time, and video playback time, which can meet daily use. The 25W fast charge is not fast in the domestic new product market, but it is common for some branded mobile phones. With 10% power plugged in, it charges 30% of the battery in half an hour, and it can be fully charged in 100 minutes.
Camera Capabilities
The Oppo A3x has a primary camera with 13 megapixels resolution. The small size of its sensor (1/3.06″) may limit its image quality compared to those with larger sensors. This camera has a pixel size of 1.12 microns, while the pixel resolution is 4160 x 3120 pixels. By default, it captures images with a 4:3 aspect ratio. Interestingly, it includes autofocus, optical image stabilization, and a dual-tone LED flash. The primary camera can use an f/2 aperture to let some ambient light hit the sensor for better low-light performance. When recording videos, this smartphone has a maximum video resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels at 30 frames per second. Lastly, the camera includes advanced capabilities, like touch-to-focus, face detection, smile detection, or burst mode.
The Oppo A3x has a selfie camera with 8 megapixels resolution. This camera has a pixel size of 1.12 microns and a pixel resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels. Just like the primary camera, this selfie shooter has an aperture of f/2. Lastly, the selfie camera also has advanced capabilities, such as face detection or smile detection. With such camera capabilities, we are looking at a pretty good camera setup. This camera is capable of taking images with good exposure and dynamic range levels, with the help of good hardware and software optimizations. The primary camera can also capture good photos at night, although some details might not appear sharp. Overall, this camera is a top performer in its class, and it certainly is a good choice if you’re a photography enthusiast. By following the various shooting modes, both from the camera app and third-party apps, users can potentially enhance their creativity and take unique photos.
Primary Camera Setup
The rear lens system of the smartphone Oppo A3x combines a light intensity lens with one camera with a resolution of 13 megapixels. The decisive factor for the success of a smartphone in the photo segment is not the number of cameras, but the quality of the sensor used and the algorithms for designing photos, because even a lens with a small light intensity can take excellent photos in daylight with the help of good algorithms.
Oppo A3x back camera real sample in different background lighting.
Daylight Images In daylight, the smartphone creates high-quality pictures with a neutral color scheme. Particular attention is drawn to detailing the pixels of the image, as the objects in the frame paint small pixels; in the photo below, you can see a small sign of a hole tool. The overall accent of the frame draws attention to the forest in the background, and the edges of the photo are blurred beautifully with good color reproduction. In the frame photo, both buildings do not illuminate directly from the sun’s rays; the main focus in daylight on the smartphone is the part of the building that adapts to the stable lighting of the city. Between the edges of the frame below, in addition to the sunny sides of the small windows, we can find signs of buildings. For an explanation, we will refer to the low-light explanation at the bottom of the second column. The lower frame of the Waradan Reservoir Bridge with sunset in Tehran reviewed the evening photo frame below; also with respect to light, it does not fall much into the city; you can see a large number of cameras in the Tehran tourist area all the time.
Oppo A3x rear camera sample shot for the full 13-megapixel widescreen still in the evening. The drawing of the colors in the Tehran still corner of the wide-angle can bridge soars in the frame part of the Kordestan highway below the arrow. Note that the wide-angle sometimes drops to use in the afternoon due to light intolerance, a case where it is generally reported in the A series that the eyes are better or closed, and we increased the lighting of ISO to 8 percent. Below is an example of the artistic depiction of the first frame of the Reservoir Bridge section. Although the scene blurs on the sides of the edges of the main frame floodlight still in dark photography, this smartphone is due to the absence of noise at high speeds in high sunlight because another night sky, especially in the low-light environment of the twilight evening, is awesome and beautiful, unlike most models in this price range with low light. It’s worth considering and starting to make money with this phone. Of course, this feature only comes with an algorithm that lightens the night frame, and the pictures taken in the open air at night, such as the example of the town in front of the building or the 10th photo of the persimmon building, may not benefit from the outside lighting. This smartphone works because the artificial light does not illuminate the building; the seventh image of the light falls on the dark curb. According to the explanation of lighting, we will refer to the bridge. You may care about the feature of the smartphone with special photography. As a result, we can say that the photography of the Oppo A3x smartphone is unique among the images we see in frames by continuing to adjust the lighting algorithm in artificial lighting conditions, different frames, the contrast, and lighting mode of the city’s street.
Selfie Camera and Features
Up until now, we have seen the definitions and technology behind the display panels, but we can’t ignore the trend of selfie cameras. A 16 MP camera is fitted at the hole-punch cutout in A3s; no fancy words are mentioned, so most of the other brands are also using the same camera sensor in this price range. The 16 MP makes a noticeable difference in detail and a broad selfie in comparison to the 8 MP sensor placed in other smartphones with a similar cutout. Institutions for the LED are unchanged; therefore, once again, they have found the software to light up the LED display for brightness adjustment for selfies. Features of this primary and only front camera have already been seen, with lots of beautification modes and real-time customizations. The meat of the story lies in the 16-megapixel motorized setup at the back and the 25-megapixel hole-punch shooter in front. Though the former manages well in bright daylight, the low-light scenario can capture unimpressive footage. A mixture of sharpness, appealing detail, and spot-on color are the end products here. On the other hand, non-saturation, brightness correction, and light exposure are not up to the mark and could be improved. Portrait shots can decide which scene to focus on, like a person with the creamiest bokeh behind. HDR capabilities make photography look interesting as they decide which part of the picture needs more light or not. A3x uses the bokeh effect front camera with artificial intelligence to do real-time face and eye detection from one individual to all the people in a scene. Portrait mode, just with the selfie camera, doesn’t bring home the feeling of a stylized portrait at best. Filters are limited as well. But like other selfie cameras, it is a segment-first that implements social media channel integration to support video calling and live streaming.
Software and User Interface
In terms of software and user interface, the Oppo A3x runs on ColorOS 5.2 built over Android Oreo, which delivers a pretty good user experience. The UI is quite user-friendly and easy to navigate. It is intuitive and able to deliver a good user experience overall. Furthermore, there are several customization options available with this device, allowing you to customize it just the way you like. Additionally, you get several useful shortcuts and gesture controls, which are available on the device and work flawlessly with the Oppo A3x. From the software perspective, ColorOS is fully optimized to work with the hardware of the Oppo A3x, resulting in flawless performance and a hassle-free experience. Moreover, Oppo has not added a lot of bloatware to this device, providing a better user experience at some level. However, you get several pre-installed apps on the device that you will probably never use and cannot delete, but can only disable. Once done, these apps don’t bother you much. Talking about user reviews, most users are happy and satisfied with the software of the Oppo A3x. However, one reviewer mentioned that the company could have added more useful and beneficial features in ColorOS that were not present in the Android Oreo of the phone. Furthermore, updates on the Oppo A3x are pretty slow, so there is no exact time for how frequently you may receive updates on this device. From a software point of view, the Oppo A3x is a device that is good enough for your daily tasks and functionalities. The usability and design philosophy of this device reflect in the software, which provides an excellent user experience. The software plays a crucial role in enhancing day-to-day functionalities and delivers exceptional performance.
ColorOS Features and Customizations
ColorOS 6.0.1 (based on Android 9) is an operating system that comes pre-installed on the phone. This OS features customization options and exclusivities from OPPO. Many design elements flow from the OS towards the smartphone, shaping the visual elements and impacting usability. From a visual perspective, well-thought-out design resources make this software experience more personal and offer users a multitude of built-in features not found in stock Android. Customization starts with the home screen and how apps are launched. The phone allows for the use of a wide variety of designs, such as built-in icons, packs downloaded from the store, and third-party packs available. It also supports a different set of fonts, one of which is changeable, and it allows for font size adjustment. Since it uses a card-based layout, app drawer arrangement is another feature that is useful. Instead of launching installed apps, the card-based layout will display a sorted list of apps designed for use in a swipe-from-half-of-the-screen-up gesture.
The user may customize both system settings and navigation style to give overall control a more personal touch. To help invigorate the visual side of the smartphone, users can download a variety of themes, including live wallpapers and custom icons from the store. More in-depth adjustments can be made in terms of the way the OS works. You can select which apps get access to Wi-Fi or mobile data when they are running in the background via the traffic conservation feature. Apps can run side by side, leveraging split-screen functionality, which will enable multitasking and productivity. Additionally, a floating window is also supported, which allows for some apps to pop up on top of any other app. Both features, according to the settings, can be brought up via the Recents button or by enabling the multi-window feature. For some of these customizations, of course, third-party apps are available. The OS is also able to automatically enter an eco mode at low battery percentage to conserve power. The eco mode helps conserve the last 15% of your phone’s battery when needed by reducing screen brightness and disabling features such as Bluetooth. This, for sure, helps improve the phone’s longevity. While keeping the phone safe and secure, there are also a wide variety of choices including charge endurance, battery optimization, app startup management, automatic recording, game acceleration, and screen saver. During intensive Internet browsing, the power of the OS can be easily noticed and felt. While this is not the fastest OS, many tweaks consider the latest build of ColorOS to be one of the most efficient efforts to date. User experiences have been widely noted, spanning from slow and crash-prone to smooth. While some users believe ColorOS places a lot of emphasis on design rather than performance, some believe it equates to a decent OS experience. Furthermore, some users are displeased with the discovery and information-blanketing system, which creates ad space in the notification tray. The UI ads located everywhere are also despised by other users who blindly “love their phone”. Research concluded that most OS customizations are well-balanced, with a lot of quick actions and settings inside the notification tray and photo gallery, which boosts KPI for many of the Western target audiences. The private folder of the OS is capable of providing high levels of security to the user. It’s a folder that’s password-protected and encrypted. Apps also have the same concept.
In general, Oppo A3x, if you abstract from the price for some time, seems to be a very impressive and balanced smartphone. It provides nice overall performance and decent camera capabilities, both for rear and front cameras. Meanwhile, Oppo A3x can deliver enjoyable user experience. This device has its own, individuals feeling both upside and downside. Therefore, whether it is a good buy option depends on if the phone meets your expectations mentioned in the target group earlier.
A modest amount for a device with such hardware and features distinguishes it from its competitors. As for the performance and within our review, the Oppo A3x will be considered on merit. According to the official retail price, Oppo A3x is aimed at those who want to have more experience with smartphones. The target consumers do not demand things that are too excessive, yet still guarantee optimal current-day use. It is a device that does not emphasize the features or completeness of the connectivity features. The only thing that is the main point of the Oppo is that it still pays attention to ensuring the best audio experience by using an advanced audio processor. So, the use of the Oppo A3x has returned solely to the responsibility of each potential buyer. If they feel really need a smartphone with the features and capabilities of the Oppo A3x as explained above, then they can make this device as the main choice. The Oppo A3x is on the topranking list of the cheapest chargers with this form factor. The performance and the long features list are also impressive, but does it offer a full end customer experience? In contrast to the Oppo A3x, when comparing the A15, the main assets of the Oppo A3x are the wireless charging and reverse charging. Both are really cool to use on a device.