Meet OPPO A94 - A pretty mid-range smartphone facing stiff competition

More than three months ago, OPPO has brought the A94 to the Philippines and we're now ready to share with you our thoughts about this device.

Meet OPPO A94

As a quick recap, it is a mid-ranger with a stylish build, color-rich display, intelligent chip, and capable cameras. 

But how does OPPO A94 perform? Let's check it out!

Meet OPPO A94

What's in the box?

The device arrives in a light blue box with some of the specification highlights printed at the back. Inside are the following: OPPO A94 unit, silicone clear case, SIM ejector tool, wall charger, USB-A to USB-C cable, basic earphones, and paper documents.

It looks like OPPO simply put everything we need in the box. Yay!

OPPO loaned to us the Fantastic Purple colorway. Out of the box, it's as stunning and playful to look at with naked eyes. At the back, the OPPO A94 highlights a curved gradient glass-like back design.

It's a magnet for fingerprint smudge and hairline scratches, though so we recommend putting on the provided silicone case because those two are my pet peeves.

OPPO A94 in Fantastic Purple colorway

The A94 is a lightweight device weighing only 172 grams. Surprisingly, it has a nice grip even though it has a glass-like build. 

On top, you can only find a single microphone sitting at the right part. For the bottom, Meanwhile, the 3.5mm headphone jack, another microphone, USB-C charging port, and grille speaker are placed at the bottom of the device.

Top

Bottom

Left

Right

The power button is sitting alone on the right side of the device. On the left part, you can find the triple slot (dual SIM and microSD card) tray just above the volume rockers.

OPPO A94 features a 6.43-inch 2.5D curved Dragontrail Pro protected AMOLED screen with FHD+ 2400 x 1080 resolution, 180Hz touch sample rate, and 409 ppi. It has almost no side bezels leaving the chin bezel the most visible one.

Its punch-hole selfie camera is placed at the leftmost part of the screen.

Immersive display with vivid and sharp colors!

Of course at its price, it's natural to expect getting an AMOLED screen and OPPO didn't let us down on that part. The immersive display is paired with nice, vivid, and sharp colors plus good viewing angles and brightness levels. 

Even if it doesn't support high refresh rates, we are not disappointed with its screen.

6.43-inch AMOLED screen

Under direct sunlight, OPPO A94's display can do so much, thanks to its 800 nits brightness. I can clearly see everything on my screen outdoors. But of course, we should be staying in our homes these days for safety. *wink*

Even if it only has a single grille speaker, OPPO A94 can fill up a medium room with a nice, crisp sound. The speaker has a little distorted sound when the volume is on its highest level but this should not concern you because is unnoticeable.

The free earphones work decently with the device when plugged in it.

A94 has a quad camera system consisted of: 48MP f/1.7 w/ PDAF + 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle + 2MP f/2.4 macro + 2MP f/2.4 mono + LED flash. This is a wide array of sensors with varying dedicated functions to ensure good images for different situations.

Quad-cameras

Notably, it can shoot video with AI Color Portrait technology that retains the colors for your subject while giving it a monochrome background. 

In addition, there's a Dual-View video that can record videos from the rear and front cameras. According to OPPO, the AI Scene Enhancement 2.0 feature can recognize 20 kinds of scenes to optimize the camera settings for more accurate color. It also has Dazzling Background blur effects.

Its camera UI has the following features: Night, Video, Photo, Portrait, Dual-View Video, Slo-Mo, Time-Lapse, Expert (pro mode), Extra HD, Pano (panorama), Text Scanner, Macro, and Sticker.

OPPO A94's 48MP main camera produces great quality photos with vibrant colors and sharpness. The photos are even better when taken with the Extra HD feature.

Rear Camera Samples

Daylight 1

Daylight 2

Ultra-wide 1

Close-up

Macro

Indoor 1

Indoor 2

Low light

Night mode (taken at the same time as the previous lowlight photos in photo mode)

Low light with flash

Overall, the photos taken by the quad-cameras are very much good regardless of lighting conditions. I'd like to note that the main camera produces better photos than the ultra-wide-angle camera.

Punch-hole selfie camera

As mentioned above, the punch-hole selfie camera is placed on the upper left part of the screen. It's a single 32MP front camera with functions limited to Night, Video, Photo, Portrait, Dual-View Video, Time-Lapse, Pano (panorama), and Sticker.

Selfie Camera Samples

Daylight selfie with beautify and bokeh

Indoor selfie

Car selfie (while moving)

Indoor selfie 2

Dark room selfie using A94's screen flash

Just like the rear cameras, it has a beautification feature as well. Both have in-app camera filters as well such as Dynamic Broken, Neon Portrait, AI Color Portrait, Film, B&W, and more.

Capable mid-range selfie shooter!

The selfies we took on this smartphone both in outdoor and indoor settings are keeping up with its price range.

One thing that I persoally don't like about it is even if I "reset" the beautification feature, the selfies I take under artificial light (such as house light bulb at night), the photos look like they're taken with beautify feature.

In case you need some beautification, as mentioned above, is available on this device. You can adjust it according to your preference.

Overall, the selfie photos taken on this smartphone are great.

Performance

The OPPO A94 has a 12nm 2.2GHz MediaTek Helio P95 octa-core processor, PowerVR GM 9446 GPU, 8GB LPDDR4X RAM, and 128GB expandable storage.

OPPO A94 benchmarks

To recap, the Helio P95 is an AI-focused processor that can handle multitasking and gaming without any problems. It also adds AI enhancements for camera features, display optimization, and image processing.  It also has a multi-cooling system to keep the device cool at all times.

The device scored 204,536 in AnTuTu and 393 (single-core) & 1,491 (multi-core) in Geekbench benchmark tests.

Decent for mobile gamers

In reality, OPPO A94 can handle games at "high" as its default setting. Below is the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang game setting that we got.

OPPO A94's default setting in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang

However, expect it to fall short in playing heavier and more demanding games like Genshin Impact.

Texting, calling, surfing the web, playing music, and casual gaming can be a day's worth of usage in this device. Surprisingly, I didn't encounter any hiccups, but I will update this if I get any.

In terms of battery, OPPO A94 is packed with 4,310mAh of battery. In real life, it can last almost a day with moderate usage.

Fast charging experience!

Notably, it is packed with 30W VOOC Flash Charge 4.0. Charging takes less than 50 minutes from flat to full. Awesome, right?

The UI is clean with no bloatware. Its overall look and experience can definitely suit most people, if not all. 

AMOLED screen

For connectivity, it has WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz/5GHz), 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.1, OTG, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, QZSS, Galileo, and dual SIM. 

Note that it has an In-Display fingerprint sensor and face unlock, both are responsive. 

OPPO A94 Specs

Display: 6.43-inch 2.5D curved Dragontrail Pro protected AMOLED screen w/ FHD+ 2400 x 1080 resolution at 409 ppi

CPU: 2.2GHz 12nm MediaTek Helio P95 octa-core processor

GPU: PowerVR GM 9446

RAM: 8GB LPDDR4X

ROM: 128GB expandable via microSD card slot up to 256GB (dedicated)

Back Camera: 48MP f/1.7 w/ PDAF + 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle + 2MP f/2.4 macro + 2MP f/2.4 mono + LED flash

Selfie Camera: 32MP f/2.4

Battery: 4,310mAh w/ 30W VOOC Flash Charge 4.0

OS: Android 11 w/ ColorOS 11.1

Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz/5GHz), 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.1, OTG, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, QZSS, Galileo, dual SIM

Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic

Others: In-Display fingerprint sensor, face unlock, Multi-cooling system, USB-C, dual mic, Colors: Fluid Black, Fantastic Purple

Dimensions: 160.1 x 73.2 x 7.8 mm

Weight: 172 g

Price: PHP 13,999

Quick thoughts

A device with good style packed with plenty of features

OPPO A94 is a mid-range smartphone packed with essential as well as appreciable, non-essential features a user needs.

However, it is lacking in speed versus the competition. It would have been better if OPPO A94 launched here is a 5G-ready smartphone already since it is kind of a "must-have" when it comes to this price range. And while it isn't slow in terms of performance, it is facing stiff competition in the chipset department.

But, it would be safe for us to say that this might be a good choice for those who are looking for a design-centric device with a beautiful display, fast charging, and respectable cameras.

Which is the one for you?

Do you agree with us?