OPPO A79 5G – another well-made, low-cost 4/5G smartphone (review)
The OPPO A79 5G is a great value phone with a decent screen, processor, battery life, camera, warranty/OS upgrade and Patch policy. You can’t go wrong.
It is one of many ‘cookie-cutter’ models OPPO (and most of its competitors) churn out using a high proportion of the same components (screen, battery, camera sensors, processors, and even frames) to fill market niches. Only now is it upgrading 4G models to 5G.
OPPO makes the best use of its component purchasing power and factory setup to produce consistently well-made and popular phones.
Review Model
It is model CPH 2557 4/128GB with Australian firmware and certification. DO NOT BUY any model with 8GB/1289/256GB, and ignore any reviews for this configuration.
Who is the OPPO A79 5G for?
It is for a typical value phone user upgrading from 4G to 5G – email, SMS, phone, a few apps and a point-and-shoot camera. It is not for gamers or power users.
Australian review – OPPO A79 5G 2024, 4/128GB Hybrid dual SIM or SIM/MicroSD, Model CHP2557
Website | Product page |
Price | $369 |
Colours | Mystery Black and Glowing Green |
From* | OPPO Online, Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, Good Guys, Bing Lee, Big W |
Warranty | 2-years ACL |
Made in | China |
Company | OPPO is now #2 in Australia for Android smartphone market share. It has achieved that through excellent product and after-sales service. |
More | CyberShack OPPO news and reviews |
We use Fail (below expectations), Passable (meets low expectations), Pass (meets expectations), Pass+ (near Exceed but not class-leading) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. You can click on most images for an enlargement.
Entry-level phones should at least score a pass mark against each category.
* Grey market – no Australian warranty
We strongly advise you to buy a genuine model with Australian firmware. It is easy to identify the Australian version – under Settings>About Device>Regulatory, there is an Australian RNZ C-Tick mark. There is also an RNZ C-Tick on the box. Read Don’t Buy a Grey Market Phone (guide)
Deep-dive review
We perform over 70 tests, and the full specs are in a table at the end. The first part is an essential summary only.
First Impression – Pass
Everyone raves about the Glowing Green (currently sold out), so we get a Mystery Black for review. I can’t tell you about OPPO’s prowess with PMMA (acrylic painted backs), but it looks like an interesting finish.
We have seen this phone in many guises. The key difference for 2024 seems to be a return to a rectangular camera hump instead of the pill-shaped hump of 2023. And it is 4/5G for the same price.
It has a 20:9 standard ratio, a 6.72” flat screen, and feels quite good in hand. As is usual for this price, it has a 3.5mm earphone/mic port and a hybrid dual SIM or SIM/MicroSD slot.
While it has dual rear cameras, everything is done by the primary 50MP (bins to 12.5MP) Samsung S5KJN1 Tetrapixel .64um sensor used in over 200 competitor’s mid-range models (Samsung, Motorola, Nokia, Realme, Vivo, OnePlus, Xiaomi, etc.).
This review focuses more on the MediaTek Dimensity 6020 SoC, its effect on AI picture post-processing, and whether MediaTek has improved the phone antenna strength – which is usually fine for cities and suburbs but not for regional cities and rural areas.
Screen – Pass
Spec: 6.72”, 2400 x 1080, 20:9 ratio, 680nit peak, 60/90 or auto-stepped 30/48/60/90Hz refresh, LTPS LCD with Panda Glass protection.
OPPO calls this a Sunlight Display. That means the brightness is auto-increased momentarily to as much as 680nits. The operative word is momentarily, and it is more related to helping it show HDR content than outdoor use.
It has a good (close to 100%) sRGB and DCI-P3 colour gamut (of 16.7m colours – not the 1.07 billion colour gamut), so videos look good.
Summary: Nice, bright, reasonably colour-accurate screen.
Processor – Pass
This is our first encounter with the 7nm MediaTek 6020 processor (very similar to the Dimensity 700). It runs cool and does not throttle. It is comparable to a Qualcomm SD480 Plus 5G.
In other words, it is an entry-level System-On-Chip (SoC) with accordingly lower levels of AI and performance.
It has two modes – best battery or best performance, and we tested using the latter.
The Australian-certified version has 4GB DDR4X RAM (plus up to 4GB virtual swap RAM) and 128GB UFS 2.2 – these are relatively slow, and the 4GB RAM can limit the number of open Apps and browser tabs. Still, we did not experience unacceptable lags once we enabled the virtual RA.
The microSD card (to 1TB) sequentially reads/writes at 68/20MBps, which is fine for photos and 1080p@30fps videos (and can be used as live storage). The external SSD (tested with a 2GB Kingston XS1000 USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 external SSD) gets 27/25MBps. It is non-mountable OTG cut and paste only via the USB-C 2.0 480Mbps interface.
This does not support audio/video streaming, but the phone has Chromecast.
Comms – Pass
It has Wi-Fi 5 AC half-duplex, maximum 433Mbps which is adequate for typical smartphone use. Wi-Fi signals are not strong. At 2m from the router, it is -32dBm when it should be around -20dBm. It was also extremely slow to auto-range on mesh and often had to disable/enable Wi-Fi to get an accurate reading.
You get BT 5.1 (claimed 5.3, but the processor does not support that), GPS (3m accuracy), and NFC.
4/5G – Passable
We had genuinely hoped that MediaTek had improved its integrated modem. However, it still uses the 3rd Gen 2.77Gbps DL (theoretical maximum), which receives a strong signal from one tower and ignores three other closest towers.
At -85 to 90dBm (lower is better) and 1 to 3.2pW it is acceptable for major city and suburban use with good tower coverage. It is not for black spot areas, regional towns or rural use.
Battery – Pass
It has a 5000mAh 19.55Wh (nominal) Li-Po pouch battery that lasts about 500 full recharge cycles (similar to Samsung and Motorola).
Unlike every OPPO phone to date, the OPPO A79 5G does not come with a charger, so it loses points for this oversight. Unless you purchase the 33W SUPERVOOC charger (10V/3A/33W), you won’t get a 74-minute charge. You will only get a maximum charge rate of 12W – we tested with several 30 to 100W GaN PD 3.0 chargers, and all took about 2 hours for a full charge.
We also got mixed results (using Performance Mode and Auto-adaptive screen refresh).
- 1080p video loop (50% brightness and volume): 12 hours 6 minutes (Claim 14).
- PC Mark 3 Modern Office battery test: 18 hours 15 minutes.
- Accubattery endurance: 17 hours 49 minutes
- GFX Bench Manhattan Battery (games): 498.5 minutes (8.3 hours) 1328 frames.
- GFX Bench T-Rex (older style, less intensive game): 459.5 minutes (7.66 hours) 2884 frames.
- Drain 100-0% full load: 4 hours 28 minutes.
- Accubattery drain: 4 hours 54 minutes
- Drain mA idle: 150-200mA
- Drain mA 100% load: 1350-1450
The SoC uses quite a lot more power under load. Heavy users will need a recharge daily, while a typical user will get 1.5 days.
Sound – Pass
It uses the SoC’s amp and provides 2.0 channel sound to a top earpiece and bottom down-firing speaker.
Hands-free is adequate – there is some noise cancellation from the top mic, and volumes are acceptable.
BT 5.1 earphones have good left/right stereo separation and decent volume. Codecs include royalty-free versions of aptX and aptX HD as well as SBS, AAC and LDAC.
The maximum volume is 82dB. It is supposed to have a 300% booster but it makes no difference to the speaker volume.
It has a Real Original Sound Technology EQ – Smart/ Movie/ Game/ Music pre-sets that can recess (not boost) frequencies.
How does it sound – Pass
We use a white noise generator to test the native frequency response of the speaker.
High-bass starts at 100Hz and builds very slowly to low-mid (200Hz) and keeps slowly building to 500Hz where it flattens to 6kHz and a slow decline to 20kHz. This is a typical mid sound signature for clear voice – not music.
Build – Pass+
Build quality is excellent, and it has a 2-year warranty. IPX4 offers a modicum of rain resistance.
OPPO uses a sandwich approach, which allows the removal of the back or glass front to access various components. It makes them quite repairable, although you probably won’t bother with a $369 phone.
Inbox is the phone and a 3W USB-A to USB-C cable. We trust OPPO, excluding a charger, is a temporary loss of corporate sanity.
Android 13 – Pass+
It has two OS updates and quarterly security patch updates for up to three years from release. This 2+2+3 (Warranty/OS/security) is excellent for the price.
OPPO overlays ColorOS 13.1 on Android. It is like the grease on Android’s wheels, making it much easier to use – there is no learning curve.
But we must point out the large amount of preinstalled bloatware that takes up Gigabytes of the 128GB storage. Fortunately, this is removable, and you can get over 5GB back. These Apps don’t include OPPO’s Google alternatives.
- App Market – not removable – disable
- Booking.com
- BridgeRunIO
- Bubble Pop! Shooter
- Coffee Run 3D
- Diec Dreams
- Fami Mart
- Fill the Glass
- Games – disable
- June’s Journey
- MazeBall 3D
- Royal Match
- Tall Runner 3D
- Temu
- TikTok
- WoW
- WPS Office
Security is good, and OPPO has things like a fingerprint on the power button, 2D facial recognition, secure folders, etc.
OPPO A79 5G rear camera
It has a 50MP (bins to 12.5MP) primary camera using the Samsung JN1 sensor (as used by hundreds of other brands/models). It is a Tetrapixel .64um sensor, the smallest 50MP sensor you can buy, allowing for thinner phones. So we know what this sensor is capable of and the OPPO A79 5G uses it well.
It is a good all-rounder taking excellent shots in daylight and reasonable shots in office and low light. While you can shoot at 50MP without AI processing, the results are not as polished or colour-saturated as the 12.5MP binned image.
The 2MP camera is a depth sensor only (out to about 3 metres) to help with Bokeh shots, where the SoC’s AI smarts are inadequate to separate the foreground from the background.
OPPO A79 5G front camera
It uses an Omnivision OV08D10 sensor with 1.12um pixels and an F/2.0 aperture. It is fixed-focus and acceptable for daylight selfies, but it does not have a very wide angle – decent selfies but uninspiring.
Camera Comments
You can tell that the AI is working overtime here, and it is largely successful in binned shots to bring out details and colours. It is one of the better <$400 camera results we have seen.
- 1X Day Primary sensor: Good dynamic range, bright colours and good HDR details in the shadows and highlights. Good detail in the foreground and background.
- 2X Day Primary sensor: Equally good as 1X
- 6X Day Primary sensor: Pushing the limits of digital zoom but has good foreground details and negligible background noise.
- 10X Day Primary sensor: Don’t go there.
- Ultra-wide: N/A
- Macro: N/A, but 50MP sensor focuses down to 4cm
- Indoor office light: Good dynamic range and saturated colours. Beginning to lose HDR details.
- Bokeh Depth: even with a 2MP Depth sensor and using AI, without a human subject, it does not know how to separate foreground and background. It requires you to get quite close to the subject to get bokeh.
- Dark <40 lumens: Quite a decent image but lacking details.
- Night Mode: Good colour, detail and range. It picks up details from the monitor screen.
- Selfie: The 8MP is adequate.
- Video (we are not video experts):
- Primary sensor: You can shoot at 1080p@30fps, and the day/office light results are promising, but low light is lacking.
- Selfie: 1080p@30fps, results are adequate. Fine for video conference.
- Overall, the video is good but lacks low-light dynamic range.
Test Images
CyberShack’s view – OPPO A79 5G is a good smartphone for $369
It is made to a price and does not disappoint – you get a well-featured smartphone.
My only caveats are that no charger is supplied (an extra $35), and the phone signal strength is only reasonable for major cities and suburbs.
At $369, it is a good, solid, reliable 4/5G phone
Competition
Motorola G54 – Under $300 for a 5G smartphone
It is very similar but uses the MediaTek 7020 SoC (which is a little more powerful). OPPO has the camera edge with the Samsung JN1 sensor.
Moto g84 5G – how does Motorola do it?
RRP $399 and on limited sale at $349, it has a 10-bit 1.07 billion colour pOLED screen, Qualcomm SD695 5G, 12GB/256GB/microSD, and a Samsung GN9 50MP OIS stabilised camera that is the <$400 class leader.
Ratings in the $300-399 segment – 85/100
- Features: 90 has everything you need, including NFC and a decent camera.
- Value: 85 – would have been higher but for the Motorola g84 limited sale
- Performance: 80 – acceptable for typical users but not for gamers and power users. Phone antenna strength is only for the city and suburbs.
- Ease of Use: 90 – OPPO is easy to use and has a great 2-year warranty and local support. It has a good Android upgrade and security patch policy.
- Design: 80 – Another glass and PMMA slab, albeit an attractive green feather brush stroke finish.
Pro
Adequate performance – not for gamers
Bright, colour-accurate screen
Reasonable battery life
Excellent quality build and 2-year warranty with local support
Average camera – better than social media class
Con
Needs to use the OPPO 33W SUPERVOOC charger (not supplied) and cable to reach charge speeds
City and suburbs phone only
AI image post-processing is limited
Not for games
8MP selfie is uninspiring
CyberShack Smartphone comparison v 1.01.24 (E&OE)
OPPO A79 5G
Brand | OPPO |
Model | OPPO A79 5G |
Model Number | CPH2557 |
Price Base | 4/128GB |
Price base | $369 Promotion to 1/2/24: Receive OPPO Enco X earbuds ($299) and a 33W SUPERVOOC charger ($35), totalling $334 by redemption. |
Price 2 | |
Price 3 | |
Price 4 | |
Warranty months | 24-months ACL |
Tier | lower mid-range |
Website | Product page |
Manual | |
From | OPPO online and Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, Good Guys, Officeworks, Big W, Bing Lee. |
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. |
More | |
Test date | January 2024 |
Ambient temp | 25-30° |
Release | January 2024 |
Other models not for Australia (Don’t buy) | Do not buy the 8GB/128/256 versions or gold colour. |
Screen
Size | 6.72″ |
Type | LTPS LCD |
Flat, Curve, 2D, 3D | Flat |
Resolution | 2400 x 1800 |
PPI | 391 |
Ratio | 20:9 |
Screen to Body % | 91.4% |
Colours bits | 8-bit/16.7m colours |
Refresh Hz, adaptive | 60 or 90Hz or supports 30/48/50/60/90Hz auto-stepped. |
Response 120Hz | 180MHz touch sample |
Nits typical, test | Not stated (test 510) |
Nits max, test | 680 nit peak (test 670 in 2% window – mainly for HDR content) |
Contrast | 1500:1 |
sRGB | Natural 100% (test 100.4%) |
DCI-P3 | Vivid 100% (test 97%) Claims 96% NTSC of 16.7M colour gamut |
Rec.2020 or other | N/A |
Delta E (<4 is excellent) | Approx. 2 |
HDR Level | |
SDR Upscale | No |
Blue Light Control | Yes |
PWM if known | N/ A |
Daylight readable | It advertises a Sunlight Display, but peak nits are momentary before settling back to 400-500 nits. |
Always on Display | N/ A |
Edge display | N/ A |
Accessibility | Usual Android features |
DRM | L1 FHD SRD streaming |
Gaming | Not really for gaming |
Screen protection | Panda (Twice reinforced) |
Comment | Bright screen with reasonable colour accuracy. |
Processor
Brand, Model | MediaTek MT6833 Dimensity 6020 |
nm | 7 |
Cores | 2 x 2.2GHz & 6 x 2GHz |
Modem | MT |
AI TOPS | Estimate 8 TOPS |
Geekbench 6 Single-core | 711 (Performance mode) |
Geekbench 6 multi-core | 1821 (Performance mode) |
Like | Benchmarks Like MT Helio G96 or Dimensity 700. |
GPU | ARM MALI-G57 MC2 950MHz |
GPU Test | |
Open CL | 1204 |
Like | Decent GPU performance (about twice an SD680 4G) |
Vulcan | 1221 |
RAM, type | 4GB LPDDR4x-2133 and up to 4GB virtual RAM |
Storage, free, type | 128GB UFS 2.2 (86GB free – includes 15GB of apps, some of which are bloatware). |
micro-SD | Up to 1TB |
CPDT internal seq. Read MBps sustained | 713 (Jazz Disk peak 835) |
CPDT internal seq. write MBps sustained | 242 (Jazz Disk peak 316) |
CPDT microSD read, write MBps | 68/20 mountable for photos |
CPDT external (mountable?) MBps | 27/25 OTG Only |
Comment | Not for gamers |
Throttle test | |
Max GIPS | 160794 |
Average GIPS | 157578 |
Minimum GIPS | 142785 |
% Throttle | Nil |
CPU Temp | 50° |
Comment | Reasonable day-to-day performance for email, browsing and general phone features. |
Comms
Wi-Fi Type, model | Wi-Fi 5 AC 2.4/5GHz maximum speed 866Mbps half duplex. |
Test 2m -dBm, Mbps | -32/433 |
Test 5m | -46/433 |
Test 10m | -57/390 (15m -68/292) |
BT Type | 5.1 (Claims 5.3, but processor does not support it) |
GPS single, dual | Dual L1+L5 |
USB type | USB-C 2.0 480Mbps |
ALT DP, DeX, Ready For | Wi-Fi casting and Chromecast |
NFC | Yes |
Ultra-wideband | No |
Sensors | |
Accelerometer | Yes -combo with Gyro is very sensitive. |
Gyro | Yes |
e-Compass | Yes |
Barometer | |
Gravity | Yes |
Pedometer | Yes |
Ambient light | Yes |
Hall sensor | |
Proximity | Yes |
Other | |
Comment | Wi-Fi signals are not strong. At 2m from the router, it is -32dBm when it should be around -20dBm. It was also extremely slow to auto-range on mesh and often had to disable/enable Wi-Fi to get an accurate reading. |
4/5G
LTE and 5G | 5G |
SIM | Hybrid dual SIM or SIM and microSD |
Active | Only one active at a time |
Ring tone single, dual | Single |
VoLTE | Carrier dependent |
Wi-Fi calling | Carrier dependent |
4G Bands | 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/18/19/20/26/28/38/39/40/41 |
Comment | All Australian 4G bands |
5G sub-6Ghz | N1/3/5/7/8/20/28/38/40/41/66/77/78 |
Comment | All Australian sub-6Ghz and low-bands |
mmWave | N/A |
Test Boost Mobile, Telstra | |
UL, DL, ms | 12.6/12.2/24ms |
Tower 1 -dBm, fW or pW | -85-90/1-3.2pW |
Tower 2 | No |
Tower 3 | No |
Tower 4 | No |
Comment | Good, strong reception signal, but I cannot find the adjacent three towers. This is for the city/suburbs or areas with a tower nearby. |
Battery
mAh | 5000 single battery 19.55Wh |
Charger, type, supplied | Not supplied SUPERVOOC 33W 5V/2A/ 10W or 5-11V/ 3A (33W). Most PD 3.0 chargers will charge at 9V/1.5A/12W. |
PD, QC level | PD-capable, but you may not exceed a 12W charge. OPPO SUPERVOOC 80W charges at 8V/3A/24W and occasionally 9V/3A/27W. |
Qi, wattage | No |
Reverse Qi or cable | No |
Test (60Hz or adaptive screen) | |
Charge % 30mins | Claims 51% in 30 minutes. |
Charge 0-100% | 2 hours 4 minutes with Belkin 65W GaN PD 3.0 charger. Claim 100% in 74 minutes with a SUPERVOOC 33W charger. |
Charge Qi, W Using Belkin Boost Charge 15W fast wireless charge | N/A |
Charge 5V, 2A | Approx 4 hours |
Video loop 50%, aeroplane | 12 hours 6 minutes (claim 14) |
PC Mark 3 battery | 18 hours 15 minutes (Accubattery 17 hours 49 minutes) |
GFX Bench Manhattan battery | 498.5 minutes (8.3 hours) 1328 frames |
GFX Bench T-Rex | 459.4 minutes (7.66 hours) 2884 frames |
Drain 100-0% full load screen on | 4 hour 28 minutes Accubattery 4 hours 54 minutes) |
mA full load | 1350-1450mA |
mA Watt idle Screen on | 150-200mA |
Estimate loss at max refresh | Tested on Performance mode and Adaptive screen |
Estimate typical use | Two days of typical use, but heavy users may need to top up daily as it draws more under load. |
Comment | We are saddened that OPPO has not included a charger – following in the bad footsteps of Samsung, Apple, Google Pixel, and Nokia. It appears that you need the SUPERVOOC charger to halve charging time. |
Sound
Speakers | Stereo (earpiece and bottom-firing speaker |
Tuning | No |
AMP | MediaTek |
Dolbly Atmos decode | No |
Hi-Res | No |
3.5mm | Yes |
BT Codecs | SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD (royalty-free versions), LDAC. 16-bit/44100 or 48000Hz/stereo |
Multipoint | Should work |
Dolby Atmos (DA) | No |
EQ | Real Original Sound Technology EQ Smart/ Movie/ Game/ Music |
Mics | 2 with some noise-cancellation |
Test dB – all on EQ flat DA off | |
Volume max | 82 |
Media (music) | 77 |
Ring | 80 |
Alarm | 80 |
Notifications | 80 |
Earpiece | 55 |
Hands-free | Decent hands-free and has two mics for some wind noise reduction |
BT headphones | Reasonable L/R separation |
Sound quality
Deep Bass 20-40Hz | Nil |
Middle Bass 40-100Hz | Nil |
High Bass 100-200Hz | Steep build to 200Hz |
Low Mid 200-400Hz | Still building to 500Hz |
Mid 4000-1000Hz | Flat |
High-Mid 1-2kHz | Flat |
Low Treble 2-4kHz | Flat but choppy |
Mid Treble 4-6kHz | Flat |
High Treble 6-10kHz | Slow linear decline to 20kHz |
Dog Whistle 10-20kHz | Decline |
Sound Signature type | Mid : (bass recessed, mid boosted, treble recessed) – for clear voice. |
Soundstage | It is as wide as the phone in landscape but biased towards the bottom speaker. It does not support Dolby Atmos decoding but exhibited a wider soundstage when tested with DA content. |
Comment | Focus on clear voice over music is understandable at this price. |
Build
Size (H X W x D) | 165.6 x 76 x 7.99 |
Weight grams | 193 |
Front glass | Panda |
Rear material | Plastic |
Frame | Plastic |
IP rating | IPX4 |
Colours | Mystery Black Glowing Green (limited availability) |
Pen, Stylus support | No |
In the box | |
Charger | No |
USB cable | USB-A to USB-C 3W |
Buds | No |
Bumper cover | No |
Comment | Excellent build quality (as are all OPPO phones) |
OS
Android | 13 |
Security patch date | |
UI | ColorOS 13.1 |
OS upgrade policy | Android 14 and 15 |
Security patch policy | Three years of quarterly updates |
Bloatware | Quite a lot – all removable. The lower the cost, the more bloatware you get. |
Other | Has all Google Apps as well as OPPO’s alternatives. Use Google Apps where possible for backup purposes. |
Comment | ColorOS is the light grease on Android wheels that makes it easier to use |
Security | |
Fingerprint sensor location, type | On power button |
Face ID | Yes 2D |
Other | OPPO ColorOS has advanced security features |
Comment |
OPPO A79 5G camera
Rear Primary | Wide |
MP | 50MP bins to 12.5MP |
Sensor | Samsung S5KJN1 |
Focus | AF Open loop motor |
f-stop | 1.8 |
um | .64 bins to 1.28 |
FOV° (stated, actual) | 77 (65.6-77.8) |
Stabilisation | No |
Zoom | 10x digital |
Rear 3 | Depth |
MP | 2 |
Sensor | Omnivision OV2b |
Focus | FF |
f-stop | 2.4 |
um | 1.75 |
FOV (stated, actual) | 89° |
Stabilisation | No |
Zoom | No |
Video max | 1080p@30fps |
Flash | Yes |
Auto-HDR | |
Rear: Photo, Video, Night, Pro, Pano, Portrait, Time-lapse, Slow-motion, Text scanner, Extra HD, Sticker, and Google Lens | |
QR code reader | Via Google Lens |
Night mode | AI |
Front | |
MP | 8 |
Sensor | OmniVision OV08D10 |
Focus | FF |
f-stop | 2 |
um | 1.12 |
FOV (stated, actual) | 79 (67.2) |
Stabilisation | No |
Flash | Screen fill |
Zoom | N/A |
Video max | 1080p@30fps |
Features | Front: Photo, Video, Pano, Portrait, Night, Sticker, Time-lapse, selfie beautification, and exposure compensation |
OPPO A79 5G camera comments
You can tell that the AI is working overtime here, and it is largely successful in binned shots to bring out details and colours. It is one of the better <$400 camera results we have seen. • 1X Day Primary sensor: Good dynamic range, bright colours and good HDR details in the shadows and highlights. Good detail in the foreground and background. • 2X Day Primary sensor: Equally good as 1X • 6X Day Primary sensor: Pushing the limits of digital zoom but has good foreground details and negligible background noise. • 10X Day Primary sensor: Don’t go there. • Ultra-wide: N/A • Macro: N/A, but 50MP sensor focuses down to 4cm • Indoor office light: Good dynamic range and saturated colours. Beginning to lose HDR details. • Bokeh Depth: even with a 2MP Depth sensor and using AI, without a human subject, it does not know how to separate foreground and background. It requires you to get quite close to the subject to get bokeh. • Dark <40 lumens: Quite a decent image but lacking details. • Night Mode: Good colour, detail and range. It picks up details from the monitor screen. • Selfie: The 8MP is adequate. • Video (we are not video experts): • Primary sensor: You can shoot at 1080p@30fps, and the day/office light results are promising, but low light is lacking. • Selfie: 1080p@30fps, results are adequate. Fine for video conference. • Overall, the video is good but lacks low-light dynamic range. |
OPPO A79 5G ratings 85/100
Features | 9 |
MicroSD mountable for video 3.5mm 33W fast charge but no charger | |
Value | 8.5 |
Outclassed by Moto g54 256GB (was $399, now $349). | |
Performance | 8 |
It performs reasonably, but the antenna strength is only for cities and suburbs. | |
Ease of Use | 9 |
OPPO is easy to use, has a great 2-year warranty, and offers local support. It also has a Good Android upgrade and security patch policy. | |
Design | 8 |
Another glass and PMMA slab, albeit an attractive green finish. | |
Final comment | At $369, it is a good, solid, reliable 4/5G phone for city and suburbs use where there is good tower coverage. |
Pro | |
1 | Adequate performance – not for gamers. |
2 | Bright, colour-accurate screen |
3 | Reasonable battery life. |
4 | Excellent quality build and 2-year warranty with local support. |
5 | Average camera – better than social media class. |
Con | |
1 | Needs to use the OPPO 33W SUPERVOOC charger (not supplied) and cable to reach charge speeds. |
2 | City and suburbs phone only. |
3 | AI image post-processing is limited. |
4 | Not for games |
5 | An 8MP selfie is a little uninspiring. |
OPPO A79 5G
$369Pros
- Adequate performance - not for gamers
- Bright, colour-accurate screen
- Reasonable battery life
- Excellent quality build and 2-year warranty with local support
- Average camera - better than social media class
Cons
- Needs to use the OPPO 33W SUPERVOOC charger (not supplied) and cable to reach charge speeds
- City and suburbs phone only
- AI image post-processing is limited
- Not for games
- 8MP selfie is uninspiring
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