OPPO A78 5G Review - Lightweight mid-ranger

After using the OPPO A78 5G for three months, we share our thoughts and experiences with the new mid-ranger.

OPPO A78 5G in Black colorway

To recap, the A78 5G carries a 90Hz 6.56-inch LCD HD+ screen. Inside is the 7nm MediaTek Dimensity 700 5G octa-core processor, Mali-G57 MC2 GPU, LPDDR4X RAM, 128GB UFS 2.2 storage, and a 5,000mAh battery with 33W fast wired charging.

At the back are the 50MP primary rear camera, and an 8MP selfie camera.

In the Philippines, the OPPO A78 5G is priced at PHP 14,999 for the 8GB/128GB variant.

Let's dive into the review!

For our review part 1: OPPO A78 5G  Unboxing and First Impressions

Multimedia Experience

The display

In front is the aforementioned 6.56-inch Panda Glass-protected LCD (A-Si) screen with a 1612 x 720 resolution, a 90Hz refresh rate, and a 90Hz touch sampling rate.

720p at this price range is becoming a rarity

The panel is bright enough and we find it somewhat readable under sunlight as long as the brightness level is at 100 percent. Around the panel are slim side bezels with a thicker bottom bezel.

The panel supports 10 points of multitouch simultaneously which makes it perfect for complicated taps and gestures simultaneously like in mobile games.

On the upper part of the panel is the notch that houses the front-facing camera. Above it and hidden within the top bezel is the slim earpiece.

Top and bottom

For audio, the phone is equipped with a bottom-firing speaker with a decent maximum volume strong enough to fill a small room. The sound stage is not that large and it will struggle in noisy or open environments.

The microphones do a decent job of picking up sounds from a meter away while the noise-cancellation for calls is decent too.

Cameras

Rear cameras

As mentioned earlier, the rear camera set-up is composed of a 50MP f/1.8 main camera with an open-loop focus motor, and a 2MP f/2.4 black and white camera with an LED flash.

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

The Pro mode comes with controls for ISO (100-6400), Shutter Speed (1/8,000-32 seconds), EV (+-2), Focus, and White Balance.

Rear Camera Samples

OPPO A78 5G rear main daylight

The 50MP primary camera produces daylight images with strong contrast, decent detail, sharpness, and colors.

OPPO A78 5G rear main indoors

The same can be said for the indoor shots. The color is decently vibrant while the sharpness and detail are good enough too.

OPPO A78 5G rear main lowlight

For low light, the amount of noise in the shadow areas is more apparent which slightly reduces the sharpness and detail. What is surprising is the retention of color accuracy.

OPPO A78 5G rear main night mode

The Night mode significantly improves the sharpness, detail, and contrast across while improving the exposure to light sources.

Overall, the rear camera produced decent images across most situations at this price point.

Selfie camera

On the punch hole is the aforementioned 50MP f/2.45 front-facing camera with AF and Eye AF.

Camera mode includes Photo, Video, Portrait, Night, and Micro Movie.

Selfie Camera Samples

OPPO A78 5G selfie daylight

Daylight selfies from the A78 5G have good color and contrast but are softer than we would like.

OPPO A78 5G selfie indoors

Indoors, the image is improved. The sharpness is noticeably better while the color and contrast remain good.

OPPO A78 5G selfie lowlight

In low light, the selfie camera's images have good color and contrast but because of the noise reduction, the sharpness and detail have been reduced. There is a screen flash function when needed as well.

OPPO A78 5G selfie night mode

The Night mode improves the sharpness and detail of the low-light images while the color and contrast remain good.

Overall, the front cameras produce images with good color and contrast but the sharpness and detail are a mixed bag.

Both the rear and front-facing cameras can record video at up to 1080p at 30 fps. The resulting footage has decent sharpness and contrast but is noticeably shaky with noticeable stuttering when shooting handheld.

Performance

OPPO A78 5G AnTuTu and GeekBench 

To recap, the OPPO A78 5G features a 7nm MediaTek Dimensity 700 octa-core processor clocked at 2.0GHz. Alongside it are the Mali-G57 MC2 GPU, 8GB LPDDR4X RAM, and 128GB UFS 2.2 of internal storage.

3DMark and CPDT

OPPO A78 5G benchmarks:

1. AnTuTu - 347,610
2. Geekbench 6 - 704 (single-core), 1,799 (multi-core)
3. 3D Mark WildLife - 1,203 at 7.2 average fps 
4. CPDT - 417.93 MB/s sequential read speeds and 252.63 MB/s sequential write speeds

The OPPO A78 5G's scores in AnTuTu, Geekbench, and 3DMark are not the best performing in their price range, but at least it has 5G.

At least is has 5G.

In our experience, this phone is good enough in running most of the social media apps with ease and could run heavier apps like games at low or medium settings. If you are a heavy gamer, increase your budget a little and look elsewhere.

For security, the OPPO A78 5G has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor and face unlock. Initial set-up and subsequent uses are almost instantaneous. The face unlocks only struggles when the camera is dirty or when we are wearing a mask and sunglasses. The screen brightens up when used in the dark.

Regarding connectivity, we have the following: WiFi, 5G, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.3, OTG, GPS, and GLONASS. It has two nano SIM card slots as well.

OPPO A78 5G battery usage

Inside the phone is a large 5,000mAh battery. In our daily use, it managed to last for just under 5 hours and 3 minutes of on-screen time with 21 percent battery left after a long work day. This was one of our daily drivers that were constantly connected to either WiFi or 5G. Its battery performance is good.

The battery charges via USB-C with the 33W charger. It takes under 70 to 80 minutes to charge from 0 to 100 percent.

ColorOS 13

It is running on ColorOS 13 based on Android 13. Visually, it is a slightly more polished version of the previous generation. It adds features that were added with Android 13 with the typical ColorOS look and features.

If you didn't like the old ColorOS before, odds are you still won't like this one. But if you're a fan of ColorOS, you will more likely enjoy the experience.

There is a number of pre-installed apps and services that can be uninstalled. It adds to the initial setup. 

Pros - Eye-catching design, decent build materials, lightweight, rear 50MP is decent

Cons - Selfie camera images are soft, pre-installed bloatware, 720p screen at this price point is difficult to justify

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

Verdict

GIZGUIDE website on the OPPO A78 5G display

OPPO continues to bring unique and eye-catching designs with lightweight materials for its A series.

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

The 7nm MediaTek Dimensity 700 octa-core processor produces decent performance and at least it has 5G, but it may be outclassed by similarly priced competitors.

The 5,000mAh battery coupled with the power-saving features of ColorOS gives the phone's battery life a decent performance and the 33W charging allows for quick top-ups or a full charge for only 80 minutes. Thankfully, the main 50MP camera is also quite nice.

Our other concerns include the soft selfie images, preinstalled apps, and 720p resolution.

But if the user can live with those inconveniences, then the OPPO A78 5G could be yours for PHP 15K. But, it will face a difficult climb with similarly priced competitors. 

What do you think guys?

Build/Design - 4

Multimedia Experience - 4

Cameras - 4

Performance - 3.75

Average - 3.94/5