First look at OPPO A91: how not to make smartphones in 2020

OPPO has brought to Russia new A-series smartphones: A91, A72 and A52. We have already shared impressions about the middle model in the lineup, it was the turn of the older one - OPPO A91. Looking ahead, we note: it is in many ways worse than the A72. But first things first.

Design

The smartphone received a chassis from another OPPO model - Reno3. Outwardly, they are almost identical, the only difference is in materials and colors. The frame in both smartphones is metal, but the back cover in the A91 is made of plastic, stylized as glass. The novelty is available in black and blue.

90% of the front panel is occupied by a screen with a teardrop notch for the front camera and rounded corners. The protective glass with an oleophobic coating almost does not collect prints, which cannot be said about the plastic back: it is constantly dirty. Not a smartphone, but a forensic scientist's dream.

An optical fingerprint scanner is built into the display, and there is also a face recognition function. The power button is on the right, on the left side are the volume keys and a hybrid slot (2 × nanoSIM + microSD).

The bottom end is reserved for a 3.5 mm audio jack, a multimedia speaker and a USB Type-C port.

Screen

OPPO A91 received a 6.4-inch screen with a resolution of 2,400 x 1,080 pixels, which in terms of pixel density gives 408 ppi. Unlike the A72, you can see grain in the small print here. The fact is that the junior model is equipped with an IPS-matrix with a traditional pixel structure. There is also an AMOLED screen with a Diamond organization system (there are twice as many green diodes as red and blue). The grain is not conspicuous in videos or games, however, if to read from a smartphone, it can be annoying.

The contrast level is perfect, which is what you should expect from AMOLED. The viewing angles are wide, the brightness margin is also impressive - readability in the sun is not satisfactory. The color rendition is close to natural, the white color does not go into a dark or cold palette. In the settings, you can turn on the suppression of PWM flicker, reducing the strain on the eyes.

The display operates at 60 Hz. You should not expect super-smoothness and responsiveness from him, as in flagship Find X2. Nevertheless, it is pleasant to interact with the device: the sensor accurately reads the pressures, and the oleophobic coating ensures a smooth sliding of the finger on the glass.

Sound and vibration

Although the smartphone is positioned as the older model in the lineup, the sound quality here is worse than in the OPPO A72. There are no stereo speakers, the only multimedia speaker is located at the bottom and easily overlaps with a horizontal grip. The volume margin is sufficient not to miss a call, but the sound is flat, unintelligible and devoid of even a hint of bass.

The sound in the headphones is also worse than that of the younger model. The A72 is equipped with the Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec, which even pumps out some high impedance wired headphones, for example, the 80 Ohm Beyerdynamic DT 1350. In direct comparison, OPPO A91 sounds quieter and dimmer.

The vibration motor is standard by the standards of Android-smartphones. The tactile response is not clear enough, but at least there is no rattling like the cheaper models.

Cameras

OPPO A91 received four cameras on the back. The standard 48-megapixel module is equipped with a fast f / 1.8 aperture lens and can record Full-HD video at a frame rate of 30 fps. Once again, the younger model is ahead: the standard camera in the A72 has an f / 1.7 aperture and is capable of recording 4K video.

The rest of the set of cameras is the same. In addition to the main module, there is a wide-angle 8 megapixel, 2-megapixel portrait lens and a depth sensor. Front camera resolution - 16 megapixels.

Other features

The hardware platform of the novelty is the Mediatek Helio P70 chipset. This is a weak solution for a smartphone for 28 thousand rubles: ISP is not able to decode 4K video, there is no support Bluetooth 5.0, and the Mali-G72 MP3 video accelerator does not provide sufficient performance in heavy games. The same graphics were in our recently tested Samsung Galaxy A51 for 19 thousand rubles.

The bad news doesn't end there. OPPO A91 runs Android 9 with Color OS 6.1.2 - the company has released a new smartphone based on last year's software. What's even funnier is the fact that both the younger models - the A52 and A72 - have Android 10 with Color OS 7. The update of the A91 to the current version of the system is expected only in August.

Well at least they didn't save on memory. The novelty is equipped with 8 GB of RAM (LPDDR4X) and 128 GB of internal storage (UFS 2.1) expandable. Also, the optimization of Color OS pleases, thanks to which the smartphone works very quickly.

The OPPO A91 has a 4,025 mAh battery inside, which should be enough for a day of active use. At least the Reno3, with the same battery, could easily endure a day with social media, web surfing and YouTube. It also supports VOOC 3.0 technology, which charges the battery in about 1.5 hours.

Subtotals

OPPO A91 is a frankly unfortunate model. At first glance, we have a simplified version of Reno3, but the company has overdone it with downgrade. As a result, the new product is inferior to the cheaper A72 in terms of sound, cameras, battery, firmware and even performance. And given the price of 28 thousand rubles, it is not clear why this smartphone exists in principle.

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The author thanks OPPO for the device provided. The company had no way to influence the test result.