OPPO and others may be trying to reinvent what an entry-level smartphone is but there is no mistaking that the new A58 from OPPO is in fact an entry-level smartphone.  

Priced at just RRP $299 the OPPO A58 is well and truly an entry level smartphone and as such I will be reviewing it as such. 

It promises to out-perform its price given it’s relatively impressive specs of a 6.72-inch FHD+ display capable of 680 nits peak brightness, a dual camera system which includes a 50MP main camera. There is also 33W SUPERVOOC fast charging of its massive 5,000mAh battery, all powered by a MediaTek Helio G85 chipset with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

Read on to hear my thoughts on just how well the OPPO A58 performs on a day-to-day basis.

Design

Back when OPPO were newcomers to the Australian market, and were still learning what we preferred when it came to software they still had possibly the best-looking, well-built smartphones on the market (albeit being a low bar back then).

Now, many years on, their build quality has improved even more and their design team ought to be congratulated on the way they have been able to not just stay ahead of the curve but continue to apply OPPO design language to all of their smartphones.

The OPPO A58 is yes another example that you can apply good looking design to a cheap phone.  The back has a pleasant starry-look and although it is relatively square around the edges, they are curved enough to feel comfortable in the hand.  

The design is very OPPO and extremely similar to that on the OPPO A98 that we reviewed recently.  The all black (starry black?) A58 that we reviewed looks incredibly premium, which is impressive given the price of the phone.

The rear of the device is nearly identical to that on the OPPO A98 with a couple of large camera bumps inside a non-starry oval island.  The cameras are different to that in the A98 even though they look the same to the eye.  

There is the usual OPPO branding and compliance standards stamped on the rear of the phone and I do not understand why OPPO do this given that no-one else does?  Maybe one of the markets OPPO sell this into require this so they just put it on all phones?

The front of the phone is a big black slab with the camera cutout for the selfie camera in the top middle of the display.  The right side of the device houses the volume rocker and the flush mounted power button that doubles as the fingerprint sensor.

The fingerprint sensor does not seem to be as fast or as accurate as that on their mid-range phones that have this option but it is still better than so many others.  I normally use face unlock to unlock my phone with OPPO smartphones because its speed and accuracy is second to none.

The display is big and certainly bright enough for most things but after using the 2,400 nit max brightness Pixel 8, the 680 nit display on this is not even close.  It is an entry-level phone though so we need to keep this in mind.  The display offers good reproduction of colours with a decent 1080P resolution though.  The refresh rate is just the standard 60Hz though which may account for the suttery feel of it at times – most mid-range and premium smartphones offer refresh rates of at least 90Hz these days.

Performance and user experience

As mentioned above, the OPPO A58 is powered by the MediaTek Helio G85, 6GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage.  These are some decent specs for an entry-level smartphone and it shows.  

Other entry-level smartphones tend to be slow when opening apps and often have stutters beyond any normal usage.  The A58 is different.  Now, don’t get me wrong, it is a LONG way from flagship performance but it can open multiple apps without too much in the way of stuttering.  

You will have times when overly aggressive task manager will close apps that you wanted left open but as a whole it was good to use.  I’m coming off using the Pixel 8 Pro, a phone who’s smoothness has no parallel, so it is a big difference to me but comparing it to the A98 reviewed recently it was extremely similar.  If I hadn’t been spoilt by the Pixel 8, the OPPO A58 would have been just fine.

You will notice apps opening slower than more premium phones but when we are talking less than fractions of a second and a thousand dollars difference in price, it is really significant?

Camera

The rear camera set up includes a 50MP AI camera with pixel binning support and a 2MP portrait camera to produce better low light images and great portraits. The selfie camera is an 8MP camera to deliver enhanced video call quality and great selfies. OPPO has also included AI software enhancements such as Stylised Nighttime Photography, AI Portrait Retouching, and Panorama Mode.

As is the case with these entry-level smartphones, one of the biggest differences between them and their more expensive counterparts is the quality of the camera.  This is the case here too.  

The night time photos suffer quite a bit, but night mode is often reserved for high end AI computations, something only the premium phones can handle.  There is a definite lack of detail and a lot of smoothing out of the photo in post-production to make it seem better. It does not — it just makes it look blurry.

The daytime photos though were quite good and certainly acceptable.  If you are buying a phone in the entry-level price range you should not expect high end photography.  In decent conditions the OPPO A58 performs well though, just don’t expect any award-winning photography.

You can see some examples of the resultant photos below.

Battery life and charging

Once again, OPPO has not included their best hardware in the battery and charging of the A58 but that should come as no surprise.  In saying that though, the b battery and charging solution is still a lot better than so many others out there – premium devices included.

For example, the Pixel 8 Pro can charge at 30W, which is an increase on last year’s speed.  The OPPO A58, on the other hand, can charge at 33W using OPPO’s SUPERVOOC fast charging technology.

On a normal day (non-work) I was able to get over a day’s use of the phone thanks to the 5,000mAh battery.  On heavy use days, such as a weekday, even though I did run it out (and I do for EVERY single phone I use) I was able to quickly charge it using either the 33W wall charger or the 80W SUPERVOOC Car Charger (the charger can charge at that speed but the phone can only accept 33W – still quick).

Software

The OPPO A58 comes with ColorOS 13 onboard and all of OPPO’s usual Android tweaks and enhancements, many of which I love and prefer over stock Android.  You will get a great user experience if you take the time to learn each feature and adjust it to your preferences and how you use the phone.

Should you buy the OPPO A58?

The OPPO A58 is a true entry-level smartphone. There are no two ways about it. What should you expect from an entry-level smartphone? A phone that works ok for basic browsing and checking emails with some basic gaming with a camera that produces acceptable photos.

The OPPO A58 does exactly that. The night time photos are not great, as they are on basically every single entry-level smartphone but the day time photos are definitely acceptable. Browsing is ok as is using most apps concurrently.

Once again OPPO has produced a great looking phone and if you are in the market for an entry-level smartphone and that sub-$300 mark is where you are looking I can recommend you look here.

The OPPO A58 is available in Dazzling Green and Glowing Black from October 5th with an RRP of $299 from JB-Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, Officeworks, The Good Guys, Big W, Optus, OPPO’s Online Store and more.