OPPO A60 5G – the best low-cost 5G smartphone (mini-review)

The OPPO A60 5G is the perfect low-cost 5G phone. Looks, longevity and low price are its main features.

Throw in a low-cost pre-paid 4/5G SIM (from Boost, Woollies, Aldi, or Coles), and you have the most cost-effective smartphone capabilities in a MIL-STD device that will last the distance. Mind you, I would not waste money on a 5G plan for a low-cost phone.

It is an almost identical twin to the new OPPO A40 4G – a great 3G smartphone replacement with a different processor to handle 5G. Sorry if you notice a similarity in reviews.

This is a mini-review reserved for low-cost phones, meaning that we do all the tests but only report significant outcomes. Here, you can see the battery life and whether its phone signal reception is any good.

Australian Review OPPO A60 5G

Brand	OPPO
Model	OPPO A60 5G
Model Number	CPH2683
RAM/Storage Base	4/256
Price base	$299
Warranty months	24-months ACL
Tier	entry level 5G
Website	Website
From	Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, Good Guys, Officeworks, Bing Lee and OPPO online
Country of Origin	China
Company	OPPO is now #2 in Australia for Android smartphone market share. It has achieved this by offering excellent products and after-sales service.
Release	August 2024
Other models not for Australia (Don’t buy)	The genuine Australian model has an RNZ C-Tick on the box label. Also, check Settings, About Device, and Regulatory.
More	CyberShack OPPO news and reviews CyberShack smartphone news and reviews

We use Fail (below expectations), Pass (meets expectations) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. We occasionally give a Pass(able) rating that is not as good as it should be and a Pass ‘+’ rating to show it is good but does not quite make it to Exceed. You can click on most images for an enlargement.

We are also tightening up on grading. From now on, Pass, for example, means meeting expectations for the price bracket. We consider a Pass mark to be 70+/100, with extra points added for class-leading and excellence. For 2023 reviews and earlier, deduct 10 points from them for reasonable parity.

Screen – Pass

6.67” 1604 x 720, 1000 nit HBM, 60/90/120Hz IPS LCD—a decent, colourful screen with more than enough brightness to read in direct sunlight.

Processor – Pass

MediaTek Dimensity 6300. Let’s try to put this in perspective. It is similar in speed and capability to the Samsung Exynos 1280 and Qualcomm SD 695 SoCs. With an ARM Mali-G57 MP2, it is not a gamer SoC.

OPPO states it has 36-Month Fluency Protection, which means optimising software, hardware, and other comprehensive technologies to make the phone perform ‘like new’. However, this does not mean there is absolutely no lag.

RAM/Storage – Pass

4GB LPDDR4X, 128GB eMMC 5.1 (85GB free), and a hybrid micro-SD slot are fine. You can add up to another 4GB of virtual RAM that uses the slower eMMC flash storage.

Wi-Fi – Pass

Wi-Fi 5 AC 2.4/5GHz has a maximum speed of 433Mbps out to 10M.

BT 5.3 – Pass

It has SBC, AAC and aptX codecs

NFC – Pass

It is nice to see it in this price bracket.

GPS – Pass 5M accuracy

• GPS L1CA+L5
• BeiDou B1I+ B2a
• Glonass L1OF
• Galileo E1 + E5a
• QZSS L1CA+ L5
• NavIC

4/5G – Pass

Hybrid dual SIM and microSD card slot.

4G Bands 1/2/3/5/6/7/8/12/13/17/18/19/20/26/28/66/38/39/40/41

5G sub-6Ghz n1/n3/n5/n7/n8/n20/n26/n28/n38/n40/n41/n66/n77/n78.

It found the first tower at up to 12 picowatts, typical of MediaTek modems.

It is for city and suburbs only where there is good band 28 coverage.

Battery – Pass but no charger supplied

It takes 2 hours at 5V/3A/15W. You can use a lower-wattage charger, but charge times will extend exponentially. It can use any PD charger. OPPO SUPERVOOC 45W is $45.

The 5100mAh battery is rated for 1600 recharge cycles (most low-cost phones are 300-500) and will still have 80% usable capacity.

Battery life should be two days for typical users and 10-15 hours for heavy users.

Sound – Passable

• A mono speaker (earpiece and bottom speaker) solely for clear voice (not music)
• Single mic for hands-free (no noise reduction).
• 3.5mm jack for cabled earphones gives good stereo sound.

Build – MIL-STD – Exceed

• 165.71 x 76.02 x 7.68mm x 187g
• It has MIL-STD 801H certification and IP54 (rain resistant).
• Nebula Red | Ocean Blue
• Plastic frame and PMMA back are likely to show signs of wear.
• The screen uses Panda (twice reinforced)
• The rear cover uses China Southern Glass (twice reinforced)
• 2-year warranty

It is rare to find a MIL-STD phone at this price.

Android – Pass+

Android 14 with two Android upgrades and three years of security patches.

It has a fingerprint sensor on the power button and 2D face recognition. This is great for Google Pay.

Camera – Pass

• 50MP autofocus camera (bins to 12.5MP) and a 2MP depth sensor – OK point-and-shoot results in day and office light
• 5MP fixed focus selfie – OK for single and dual selfies
• 1080p@30fps video

Camera shots are strictly for day and office light. The MediaTek SoC has more power to make a difference over the same camera in the OPPO A40 4G.

CyberShack’s View – OPPO A60 5G ticks most boxes

At $299, it is one of the more fully featured Android smartphones, and with MIL-STD 810H certification, it is designed to last. Add OPPO’s 5100mAh 1600 battery cycle and 36-month fluency guarantee; it is a keeper.

Rating (70/100 is a pass mark)

• Features: 80 – add-in extended battery recharge, MIL-STD and fluency, and it gets extra points.
• Value: 85—While there are cheaper 5G phones, none have the feature set of the A60.
• Performance—80— MediaTek Dimensity 6300 is fit for purpose and is on par with an SD695.
• Ease of Use:  80 – ColorOS 14 is a light overlay on Android 14 and is easy to use without a steep learning curve. Add a two-year warranty and reasonable OS upgrade and patch upgrade.
• Design: 80 – Another glass slab with MIL-STD build.