Review: OPPO A5 5G — entry level pricing with mid-range performance

Mid-range phones are good these days, and as such, few people have a true need for an ultrapremium smartphone.  Some folks though, do not even need the quality of a mid-range phone, or they simply don’t have the spare funds at that time to purchase a mid-ranger.

For these folks, life is in the entry-level smartphone range. A recent study showed that nearly a third (31%) of phones sold in Australia were under $500, an 8% volume rise YoY (GfK, Smartphones AU). So, how good is an entry-level smartphone?  I’ve used a few and have been impressed with what they offer but you do need to temper your expectations.

OPPO sent me the new OPPO A5 5G smartphone to put through its paces.  It has a lot of the basics but lacks in some areas – as you would expect for a device priced at $299.  It has IP65 water and dust resistance, Military-Grade Shock Protection, and a decent 6,000mAh battery with 45W SUPERVOOC Flash Charging.

Design and specs

The OPPO A5 is a big phone, as most phones are these days.  It is 165.7 x 76.2 x 8 mm, making it close to the same height and width as OPPO’s flagship Find X8 Pro.  The display is similarly big, although, as is the case with many of the cheaper devices, the bezels are relatively large.

The resultant 6.67-inch display is a basic IPS LCD with a 720p resolution and some of the biggest bezels you will find on a smartphone in 2025.  For basic scrolling and navigating around the operating system, you do not notice the low resolution, but when reading text, you will undoubtedly notice a difference in the text sharpness and readability compared to a premium smartphone with a higher resolution.

It is an entry-level phone, but in 2025, you could expect a better display, regardless of the phone’s price.

The rear of the phone has a stunning mother-of-pearl-type appearance, which looks incredible.  It is a bit slippery though, so you should purchase a case for this to keep it looking good.  Unfortunately, there is no case included in the box for this phone from OPPO.

The right side of the phone houses the volume rocker and the power button that doubles as the fingerprint sensor.  Most of the affordable smartphones use this solution for their fingerprint sensor, so I am used to it.  It does not function as well as an in-display sensor, but it is still functional – it does its job.  Remember, entry-level.

The rear of the phone houses the camera island, which includes a 50MP, f/1.8 wide-angle camera and a 2MP, f/2.4 wide-angle camera.  Effectively, it is just a single camera system.

Performance and software

The OPPO A5 5G is powered by the Mediatek Dimensity 6300 chipset, the same SoC that powers the OPPO A5 Pro but the A5 5G comes with just 4GB of RAM instead of the 8GB in the Pro version.  This lack of RAM is significant and noticeable.

The task manager is incredibly aggressive, with many apps having to open from scratch, even if you used them within the last hour or so.  Android Auto is barely usable with it continually crashing and the phone just struggles to keep up.

Apps are not the quickest to open and I often had issues with the phone taking far too long to unlock and start using an app – forget about getting a quick snapshot of the great car going past.

  

Once the apps were open though, they chugged along well enough – just don’t expect anything speedy.  I think that OPPO should have found a way to put more RAM in the phone – sure it has RAM-boost but that never seems to make much difference, especially with the aggressive task manager.

The battery life of the OPPO A5 5G is exceptional – most likely partly due to that aggressive task manager.  I found the battery to last well over a day – that 6,000mAh battery just keeps on and on.  

Get low on battery and you can charge it quickly with its support for 45W SUPERVOOC charging – but you will have to buy one separately if you don’t have one already as OPPO do not include the charging brick in the box.

Battery life is the number one driver for Australians when purchasing a smartphone (49%) – even more than price (34%) and brand (32%).  For those who only care about battery life this is a phone you should be looking at.  Not just battery life, but how quickly it can be topped up with the right wall charger. 

There are some games and other apps preinstalled and I’m not sure why OPPO does this, but they do, on all of their phones  – not just this cheaper entry-level phone.  Playing any game is just okay for basic games but don’t expect to be able to play fast-paced games with any real speed or fluidity.

Camera quality

The camera setup on the OPPO A5 5G is a 50MP, f/1.8 wide-angle camera and a 2MP, f/2.4 wide-angle camera.  On paper, you really need to temper your expectations with this camera and IRL, you do as well.  

In broad daylight, it is decent, although it lacks the detail of the more expensive phones with more comprehensive setups, and in low light mode, it falls off markedly in comparison.

As you can see in the images below, the pictures in broad daylight are really good.  This is often the case with entry-level smartphones.  They are acceptable in decent light but struggle in low light conditions.  

As you can see, the photos did struggle to maintain detail in the low light conditions, but at this price, you really should not expect more.  Most of our photos are taken in daylight anyway so you do need to keep that in mind when thinking about camera quality.

Final thoughts

The OPPO A5 5G is an entry level phone priced at just $299, an extremely affordable price for most people. The design is stunning, just what we’ve come to expect from OPPO and while the specs are lacklustre, the performance is better than $299. It is nowhere near an ultrapremium phone but at less than 20% of the price you should not be surprised.

For basic surfing the web, checking your social media, consuming basic media such as Kayo or YouTube and everyday use as a phone, it does job. IF you want a basic phone for basic things then you could do a lot worse than this phone. It is consistent and chugs along just fine.

The OPPO A5 5G is available now  at JB Hi-Fi, Officeworks, The Good Guys, Harvey Norman, Big W, and OPPO Australia’s official online store.