OPPO A93 Review: The Sleekest Phone Around!

It is no surprise to see smartphones with top of the line specs in order to stand out from the overcrowded smartphone market; however, many of these devices are not easy to hold in one hand and they usually don’t fit into one’s pocket.

Some of us like our devices to be light and thin without compromise on the needed specifications and key features. The recently launched OPPO A93 seems to strike a balance between good specs and affordability. The device is incredibly thin as it measures just 7.48mm in visual thickness, which is one of the sleekest phones of 2020.

The device weighs 164 grams and can easily slide into your pocket without bugging and hassle. The OPPO A93 is that slim that it can perfectly fit into your clutch. The ultra-slim profile is not the only key selling point of this device, that is why in this review we will be taking an in-depth look at its key features – the vibrant super AMOLED display, 48-megapixel quad-rear camera, the 16MP dual front camera, an octa-core MediaTek Helio P95 processor aided with 8GB of RAM and the battery life.

OPPO A93 Specifications

Unboxing

The white box that contains the OPPO A93 brings an 18W fast Charger, a USB-C cable and a pair of headphones. You will also find inside the box, a transparent silicone case and the SIM ejection tool.

Ultra-thin and Ultra-lightweight Design

We have had the OPPO A93 with us for more than a week now and we can confirm that this device is extremely light that one may forget is in the pocket. The device measures 7.48mm x 73.8mm x 160.1mm in dimension as is available in Matte Black and Magic Blue.

The back of the OPPO A93 comes with a plastic back with curved edges that make it easier to hold in the hands. The Magic blue review unit we had, has a mix of matte and glossy texture at the back. From our check, the matte texture helps reduce fingerprints stains, while the glossy finish reflects different shades of Blue and Purple when you look at it from different angles.

The OPPO A93 is no doubt a well-constructed device yet very thin and light. OPPO has done a very good job in designing this device and is one device I find myself picking up from time to time because of how comfortable it is in the hand.

At the back, the OPPO A93 phone comes with a square-shaped rear camera module which is positioned beside the LED flash while the OPPO branding is placed at the bottom right corner.

When it comes to placement of buttons, the volume controllers and the card compartment which can take two nano-sized SIM cards and a microSD card are placed at the left-handed side while the power button which is quite tactile during our testing is positioned at the right-handed side of the phone.

Others like the 3.5mm audio jack, the microphone, USB Type-C port, and a loudspeaker grille are found at the bottom of the phone.

Dual Punch-Hole Super AMOLED Display

Up front, the device uses an AMOLED screen, it is a 6.34-inch full HD+ display with a dual cutout at the left-hand corner that houses the dual selfie camera. The device achieves a 90.7% screen to body ratio with a 20:9 aspect ratio.

Since it is an AMOLED panel, OPPO was able to use an in-display fingerprint scanner which is quite accurate in unlocking the phone. It is just as fast as the OPPO A92 side-mounted fingerprint scanner but there is an option to use face unlock as well.

The OPPO A93’s screen is vivid and vibrant and there is no issue even when we were using it under direct sunlight as it can achieve up to 800nit of peak brightness. No doubt, an AMOLED screen is always preferable to an LCD panel even though it comes with a 60Hz refresh rate. It is still butter smooth and images look stunning and punchy. 

Another good thing about the display is that the lowest brightness is also quite low and you can even activate the eye comfort mode to adjust the intensity of light when you are reading content on the phone. OPPO A93 offers all-day eye comfort with a built-in Dark Mode that’s been upgraded to include customizable times for turning the mode on or off, while reducing battery consumption

There isOPPO’s proprietary Screen Image Engine (OSIE) which increases video saturation and contrast for clearer visuals on third-party video apps as well. Overall, it is an excellent super AMOLED panel and watching content is pure joy and the viewing angles are also good as well.

AI-powered Front and Rear Camera System

The sleek design of the OPPO A93 is not the only selling point. The device’s key strength also includes the camera. The phone boasts a total of six cameras. You get a quad-camera module at the rear which consists of a main 48MP ½-inch sensor with f/1.8 aperture, and 8MP 1/4-inch ultra-wide shooter with f/2.2 aperture followed by two 2MP mono sensors with f/2.4 aperture.

The front camera is a dual camera setup consisting of a 16MP 1/3 Main sensor with F/2.4 aperture and a 2MP Depth Camera with F/2.4 aperture.

A lot has changed from the camera app since we last reviewed the OPPO A92. You still get different shooting modes such as AI Colour Portrait, AI Super Night Portrait, AI Night Flare Portrait, Dual Lens Bokeh, AI Super Clear Portrait, and AI Beautification 2.0.

On the viewfinder, you get Photo, Video, Night, Portrait, and More at the bottom and options at the top bar depend on what you selected at the bottom.

The device shoots 12MP photos by default and there are options to select HDR, AI scene enhancement, filters, 48MP AI mode, and AI Beautification. You can shoot videos up to 4K @ 30fps and slow-mo at HD and FHD resolution. There are other video-enhancement features like the ultra-steady mode which is available at 1080P and 720P @ 30fps and you can also record video on ultra-wide lens on the phone. 

As far as quality goes, you are not going to be having issues with daylight camera performance. The camera performs really well outdoors with plenty of details and excellent dynamic range. Images appear punchier when you activate the AI scene enhancement feature and you can shoot in 48MP mode if you want more details.

Daylight images from OPPO A93

Daylight images from the camera maintain great details with well-balance colour

Lowlight images are also very good and there is a night mode which increases exposure and brightens the scene as well.

Then you might be asking what are the functions of the two 2MP mono lenses, these lenses kick in when shooting the AI modes such as the AI Portrait Color, AI Night Flare Portrait, Dual Lens Bokeh, AI Super Clear Portrait, and more. What the AI Colour Portrait does is, it blurs out the background, focuses on the person with more lively colour while separating the background with another colour.

For selfies, the OPPO A93 has a 16MP front camera plus a 2MP depth sensor. The beauty mode is activated by default and does smoothen the skin a bit even when the beauty mode is turned off.

Images from the selfie camera are quite good with good exposure and white balance.

Those who prefer their selfies to be beautified will no doubt like the results from the front camera. For portrait pictures, edge detection is great.

MediaTek Helio P95 processor with Anti-Lag Algorithm

In the performance point of view, the OPPO A93 is powered by the MediaTek Helio P95 processor. It is an octa-core SoC that comes with two powerful ARM Cortex-A75 Cores operating at up to 2.2GHz and 6 ARM Crotex-A55 Efficiency Cores that can operate at up to 2.0GHZ. The processor does support MediaTek in-house Hyperengine gaming technology for improved smartphone gaming. In terms of graphics, the IMG PowerVR GM 9446 GPU is in charge.

Our day-to-day tasks these days involved scrolling through social media feeds, surfing the internet, playing some games and streaming content. We found the phone more than capable in handling all these. However, we didn’t experience any lag at all playing games like Call of Duty and asphalt 9 thanks to the massive 8GB of RAM with more than enough 128GB of onboard storage. Of course you can still extend this further to 512GB via the supported Micro SDcard slot.

The Helio P95 chipset banks on its AI features to deliver fluid and smooth operation especially from light to medium usage. This is made possible through the anti-lagging technology. However, when it comes to handling graphic-intensive tasks like capturing an image at night or opening heavy apps and games, it handles it just fine.

Good Battery Life with Intelligent power saving mode

Despite its slim profile, OPPO was still able to fit a 4000mah battery into the device. With a lot of optimization available from the chipset level, the device delivers about 6-hours screen-on-time on constant use.

There is a dedicated Intelligent power saving mode which when enabled can help to prolong the battery juice. Say when you are low on battery, you can activate this mode to get more juice out of the battery. But you will only get access to six apps that you use the most. However, you can choose any app you want to be available while this mode is on.

The device is bundled with an 18W fast Charge. In our testing, the device took about 1hr: 30mins to charge from 0 to 100%. If you still do overnight charging for some reason, OPPO has included AI Night charging which optimizes charging at night and reaches 100% battery just before you wake up. The AI uses your sleep pattern and redistributes the last 20% of the charge.

Air Gestures

The air gesture is a new feature that will definitely drive you to get the OPPO A93. There are tons of ways to use the air gestures like picking your calls just by waving a hand upward, raising to wake, placing your phone near your ear to pick calls and flipping to mute an incoming call.

A more Revamped and Intuitive ColorOS 7.2 with smooth design

The OPPO A93 runs on the Android 10 operating system out of the box on top of ColorOS 7.2. ColorOS is one of the most fun custom implementations on Android and the latest version 7.2 even takes things a bit further with its intuitive icons and air gestures which is tailored to make life easier.

We love how OPPO keeps working on its software, the latest version of Color OS 7.2 is now cleaner and simpler with less bloat and little to zero spammy push notifications.

We are now very familiar with ColorOS implementation, out of the box the home screen is set to the standard mode with no app drawer, however, you can still switch to the drawer mode if you so desire.

OPPO has introduced a more minimalist design and intuitive interface that delivers on a next-level user experience. Icons are more revamped and users now have the choice of customizing how they want the icons to be arranged by selecting from one of three sets of designed icons including Rectangle, Pebble, and Material styles.

For privacy and security, there is a multi-user mode which can be enabled to keep your personal files and data safe from the prying eyes of friends and relatives.

Another great addition to the features on this device is the always-on display which is a first for smartphones at this segment. You can customize the appearance of the clock and also if you want other information like notifications to be shown on the display. Since this feature is known to consume battery, the always-on display will only work when you have more than 10% of battery and will also not show when it detects that your phone has been inactive for a very long time. 

Final Verdict

If you are looking for a lightweight phone with a decent battery that delivers up to 6 hours of screen on time with heavy usage, the OPPO A93 is one of the sleekest phones around. Its super AMOLED panel offers clear and vibrant multimedia experience. Outdoor visibility is great with a great viewing angle.

The device comes with 8GB of RAM powered by the MediaTek Helio P95 which is fantastic for the price. With these features, I will give it an 8/10. The device is available across retail outlets in Nigeria and you can get it at N125,000.