OPPO A57 Unboxing And First Impressions

OPPO is on a roll and it is clear that they are aiming to be the best selfie centric smartphone manufacturer! The F3 and F3 Plus was already a hit for their impressive selfie cameras for their price point. However, it seems that OPPO wasn't done, they just introduced their most affordable but impressive Selfie centric smartphone, the A57!

This is the gorgeous OPPO A57!

OPPO A57 Specs

Display: 5.2 Inch HD 1280 x 720 resolution w/ 2.5D curved glass at 282 ppi

CPU: 64 Bit Snapdragon 435 octa core processor

GPU: Adreno 505

RAM: 3 GB

ROM: 32 GB expandable via micro SD card slot up to 256 GB

Back Camera: 13 MP f/2.2 Sony IMX258 w/ PDAF and dual tone LED flash

Selfie Camera: 16 MP f/2.0 w/ screen flash

Battery: 2,900 mAh

OS: Android 6.0 Marshmallow w/ Color OS 3.0

Connectivity: WiFi, 3G, LTE, Bluetooth, GPS, A GPS, GLONASS, dual SIM (dedicated)

Others: Fingerprint sensor

Dimensions: 149.1 x 72.9 x 7.65 mm

Weight: 147 g

Price: PHP 11,990

Disclaimer: This was just a borrowed unit for a limited time from OPPO Philippines.

Unboxing / Accessories

What's inside?

The handset still goes with the same OPPO packaging with impressive amount of freebies inside. It includes the USB wall charger, micro USB data / charging cable, SIM ejector tool, clear TPU case, and paper docs.

Build Quality / Design

Premium build, affordable price

Having it in our hands, it is clear that the A57 is built similarly to its bigger brothers the F3 and the F3 Plus with almost no compromises.

The phone is premium for the price!

It is clear that OPPO has found a way to manufacture their metal body phones so economically that they can offer their premium metal body in a PHP 11,990 phone. We love how the back plate is textured with single antenna lines. If you look closely the smaller plates that are separated by the two antenna lines are actually faux metal but is almost unrecognizable unless you touch it where it has that different texture compared to the metal main back plate.

Top view

Speaker holes, micro USB, microphone and 3.5 mm headphone jack slot below

Volume rocker at left

Power button and SIM tray at right

The frame, power button, volume buttons and sim card tray are all made of metal. What makes the A57 special is it is one of the few phones with dual sim card slots with a dedicated (non hybrid) micro SD card slot!

The combination of the textured backplate and metal frame gives a tactile and solid feel and look when holding with one hand and it never felt that the phone would slip off our hand easily. HOWEVER, this isn't as premium as the F3 or F3 Plus where it was all metal and the A57 has some areas in the metal frame where it felt sharp to hold in some areas.

The display has decent brightness and saturation with decent resolution and is complimented by the thin side bezels and ample top and bottom bezels. It comes with a screen protector applied to the screen out of the box which is plus but it attracts a lot of fingerprints.

The power button and the volume buttons are nice and flush with a satisfying click whenever you press on either of the buttons. We are still having a hard time getting used to the haptic feedback from the home button. It's still not as satisfying as the volume or power buttons.

Initial findings

Dual sim card tray with micro SD card slot!

1. Amazing how they can manufacture the premium build of the F3 or F3 Plus to this price point with minimal compromise.

2. It is the first smartphone in the Philippines equipped 64 bit Snapdragon 435 octa core processor with Adreno 505 that in paper will promise great gaming performance for its price.

3. ALMOST The same Color OS as the F3 / F3 Plus which is a decent skin but isn't as refined as the competition

4. Camera performance for both the 16 MP selfie and the 13 MP main cameras are so far, so good. We will perform more tests in the mean time.

5. We tried our OTG USB 3.0 flash drive and it was able to detect the drive but it wasn't able to read the contents. When we tried to plug the flash drive to the other devices, the files were readable and accessible by the other devices. Audio is loud with good bass and treble while the range is lacking. The sound has decent sound stage with good volume but lacks the meaty, punchy tones that the older brother has.

As of the moment

This is the first smartphone in the Philippines with the snapdragon 435 with Adreno 505 which in paper will make this a decent power house for the price tag. The build quality is good while the display is bright but the maximum brightness isn't that high which could be a problem for using the phone in broad daylight. The audio is good but may turn audiophiles away, otherwise, this is shaping to be a great mid-range selfie phone for the masses!

For our review: OPPO A57 Review - Affordable Selfie Machine!