The OPPO A93 was launched in Malaysia not too long ago. The new mid-ranger is actually a rebranded OPPO F17 Pro, complete with the same specifications and features. Which is not a bad thing, considering what it has to offer at its current price point. Having spent some time with it during the launch event, here’s my thoughts of OPPO’s new smartphone.
When I first held the OPPO A93 in my hand, I couldn’t help but notice a resemblance to another phone by the brand, namely the non-Pro variant of the Reno4. Like that model, the new device comes with a 6.4-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a 60Hz refresh rate and a pill shaped dual-camera cutout on its top left corner. And like the Reno4, the A93’s screen produces excellent visual quality with images and videos appearing crisp and vividly coloured.
Flipping the phone over is where the visual similarities with the Reno4 ends. Instead of a vertical layout, the OPPO A93 sports a quad-camera setup housed in a square island. Besides that, the smartphone rear case also features a two tone frosted design which actually gives a nice premium looking finish. In terms of colour choices, the A93 comes in either Matte Black or Metallic White.
As for the phone’s performance; navigating through its ColorOS 7.2 interface, launching and switching between apps feels fast and smooth. This is thanks to the MediaTek Helio P95 chipset and 8GB LPDDR4 RAM that’s included with the OPPO A93. Given the brief time I had with the phone, I was unable to test out its performance by launching games or other hardware intensive applications. The same can be said about its 4,000mAh battery, which would require days or weeks worth of time for me to fully evaluate.
Photography-wise, the cameras on the OPPO A93 are so far pretty decent during my hands on. Indoor shots with the 48MP main camera came out quite well, even those shot via its 2X digital zoom. Details are sharp, although it’s a bit on the high side in terms of saturation and contrast. Its 8MP ultra-wide produces above par results but as with most lenses of the type, some muddiness and blurring are noticeable at the edges of photos captured with it.
Being able to shoot videos in 4K appears to be the norm for current mid-range smartphones which the A93 definitely aced with no issue, but is only limited to 30fps. There’s also the latest version of OPPO’s Ultra Steady video stabilisation, but you’d need to downscale video capture to 1080p.
All-in-all, the OPPO A93 is looking to be one of several smartphones within the mid-range category that is worth considering without having to break the bank. And at its price, it could even rival OPPO’s own Reno4 (the standard variant) – that is, if you don’t mind losing the faster charging speeds and some other features. The new smartphone will be available for sale on 10 October 2020 and is retailing at RM1,299.
