OPPO A78 5G Unboxing, First Impressions, and Camera Samples

We got an early look at the recently launched OPPO A78 5G in the Philippines.

OPPO A78 5G in black 

To recap, the OPPO A78 5G is the company's newest smartphone that brings 5G connectivity to its "affordable" A Series. It features a 90Hz 6.56-inch LCD screen, 7nm MediaTek Dimensity 700 5G octa-core processor, 8GB RAM, 128GB of storage, a 5,000mAh battery and 33W SUPERVOOC fast charging.

Moreover, it has a 50MP primary camera and a 2MP monochrome camera at the back. On the notch of its screen, it has an 8MP selfie camera.

In the Philippines, the OPPO A78 5G is priced at PHP 14,999.

Let's dive in.

Unboxing/Accessories

OPPO A78 5G box

The OPPO A78 5G comes in the familiar turquoise-colored box with branding, specs, features, and regulatory information printed around the box.

Box inclusions

Inside the box are the A78 5G, SIM ejector tool, documentation, silicone case, USB Type-A to USB-C cable, and the 33W wall charger.

There are no included earphones inside the box.

Build Quality/Design

Rear design

In terms of materials used, the phone is mostly made of polycarbonate with the front being made of a glass panel.

Fairly nice design with a decent build for the price!

This combination makes the phone look more expensive than it really is while making it lightweight.

The back panel has most of its surface with a textured finish with a sausage shape area with a glossy finish where the rear cameras are located.

SIM tray

It is IPX4 rated but there are no rubber gaskets on the hybrid dual nano SIM tray.

Display

In front of the OPPO A78 5G is the 6.56-inch LCD screen with a 1612 x 720 resolution, a 90Hz refresh rate, and Panda Glass protection.

Around the panel are thick top and bottom bezels. Above the notch is the large earpiece that doubles as the second speaker.

Top and bottom

On top of the phone is a smooth surface while at the bottom are the speaker grills, USB-C port, microphone port, and a 3.5mm audio jack.

This is one of the few phones in the price range with stereo speakers.

Left and right sides

The phone's left side contains the SIM tray and the volume buttons while on the right side is the power key that doubles as the fingerprint scanner.

First Camera Samples

Rear cameras

At the back of the OPPO A78 5G is the 50MP f/1.8 primary camera and the 2MP f/2.4 monochrome camera with an LED flash.

While the selfie camera is an 8MP f/2.2 front-facing camera.

The stock camera app includes the following modes: Photo, Video, Portrait, Night, Pano, Pro, Extra HD, Slo-Mo, Time-Lapse, Sticker, and Text Scanner.

The included Pro mode allows for control of ISO (100-6400), Shutter Speed (1/8000-32 seconds), Exposure Compensation (+-2), Focus, and White Balance.

Rear daylight

Rear low light

Daylight selfie

Lowlight Selfie

Except for the Night selfie, the first camera samples from the 50MP rear primary camera and 8MP selfie camera are not the best of what we've seen in this price range. But, we will have to run more tests to see how it performs in more situations. We will check if it has an update as well.

OPPO A78 5G Specs

Display: 6.56-inch Panda glass protected LCD (A-Si) screen w/ 90Hz refresh rate, 90Hz touch sampling rate, HD+ 1612 x 720 resolution at 269 ppi

CPU: 2.0GHz 7nm MediaTek Dimensity 700 5G octa-core processor

GPU: Mali-G57 MC2 (950MHz)

RAM: 8GB LPDDR4X

ROM: 128GB UFS 2.2 expandable via microSD card slot

Back Camera: 50MP f/1.8 w/ AF, open-loop focus motor, 2MP f/2.4 black and white, LED flash

Selfie Camera: 8MP f/2.0

Battery: 5,000mAh w/ 33W SUPERVOOC

OS: Android 13 w/ ColorOS 13

Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz/5GHz), 5G, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.3 BLE (SBC, AAC, aptX, LDAC), OTG, NFC, GPS, GLONASS, QZSS, Galileo, BeiDou, dual SIM

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

Others: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor, IPX4 water splash resistance, stereo speakers, USB-C, Colors: Glowing Purple, Glowing Black

Dimensions: 163.8 x 75.1 x 7.99 mm

Weight: 188 g

Price: PHP 14,999

As of the moment

GIZGUIDE website on the OPPO A78 5G display

As mentioned above, the OPPO A78 5G starts at PHP 14,999.

This may be one of the more eye-catching phones while boasting 5G connectivity for the price. I also enjoyed that it has a large 5,000mAh battery capacity that can last for quite a while with fast USB-C 33W charging, stereo speakers, and audio jack support.

However, it is still using a 720p screen with a notch and the 50MP camera didn't perform as well as expected out of the box. 

If we will look at specs alone and you will not consider OPPO's reputation and after-sales support, the competition in this range is stiff

Anyway, stay tuned for the full review coming soon.

What do you guys think?