OPPO A98 5G Unboxing, First Impressions, and Camera Samples

We share our thoughts on the OPPO A98 5G with a Snapdragon 695 processor, 120Hz IPS LCD, and a 5,000mAh battery with 67W charging.

OPPO A98's eye-catching rear design

Aside from the above-mentioned specs, it comes with LPDDR4X RAM, UFS 2.2 storage, microSD card storage expansion, stereo speakers, and dual SIM support.

At the back are the 64MP f/1.7 main camera, 2MP f/3.3 microlens with 40x microscope zoom, and the 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor with an LED flash while in front is the 32MP f/2.4 selfie camera.

In the Philippines, the OPPO A98 is priced at PHP 18,999.

Let's dive in.

Unboxing/Accessories

OPPO A98 outer packaging

It comes with a monochromatic box with the OPPO A98 branding. Around the box are the key specs, features and regulatory information.

OPPO A98 box inclusions

Inside the box are the OPPO A98, documentation, bumper case, SIM ejector tool, USB-A to Type-C cable, and the 67W wall charger.

There are no included earphones inside the box.

Build Quality/Design

OPPO A98 handheld

From afar, you immediately notice the eye-catching sky blue color and the unique pattern around the rear cameras. When you get closer and grab it, you immediately notice how lightweight and slim the phone is.

It is made of a combination of glass, and polycarbonate.

OPPO A98's display

The screen is a 6.72-inch LTPS LCD with a 2400 x 1080 resolution, a 120z refresh rate, and a 240Hz touch sampling rate. Around the panel are slim side bezels with the top and chin bezel being thicker than the rest. On the upper part of the display is the punch hole that houses the selfie camera.

It produces images with decent sharpness, vibrant color, and deep enough contrast.

Top and bottom

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

Left and right sides

On the left side is the power key/fingerprint scanner while on the right are the SIM tray and the volume buttons.

OPPO 98's SIM tray

The SIM tray can carry up to two nano-SIM cards or one nano-SIM and one microSD card slot. There is no rubber gasket.

OPPO A98's rear cameras

At the back of the phone is the 64MP f/1.7 main camera, 2MP f/3.3 microlens with 40x microscope zoom, and a 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor with an LED flash. In front is the 32MP f/2.4 selfie camera.

The stock camera app's modes include Photo, Video, Portrait, Pro, Extra HD, Pano, Slo-Mo, Time-lapse, Dual-View Video, Microscope, Sticker and Text scanner.

The Pro mode allows for controls of ISO (100-6400), Shutter Speed (30-1/8000 sec), EV (+-2), Focus, and White Balance.

First Camera Samples

OPPO A98 rear main camera 1x

OPPO A98 rear main camera 2x crop

OPPO A98 rear main camera close-up

All of the daylight images have vibrant and eye-catching colors with good contrast. Our only concern is that it could be sharper.

OPPO A98's microscope lens 20x

OPPO A98's microscope lens 40x

The included microscope camera works as advertised. It isn't as sharp as we hoped it would but it does get the job done.

OPPO A98 5G selfie camera daylight

OPPO A98 5G Selfie Portrait

Both selfies have decent sharpness on the subject and vibrant color but the skin tones are not quite right. The edge detection of the Portrait mode is good for its price range.

We hope the results will be consistent once we do more testing. 

Other key features of the phone include a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, 5G, Dual 4G VoLTE, WiFi, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS, stereo speakers, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

OPPO A98 Specs

Display: 6.72-inch LTPS LCD (IPS) screen w/ 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, FHD+ 2400 x 1080 resolution at 391 ppi
CPU: 2.2GHz 6nm Snapdragon 695 octa-core processor
GPU: Adreno 619
RAM: 8GB LPDDR4X
ROM: 256GB UFS 2.2 expandable via microSD card slot
Back Camera: 64MP f/1.7 + 2MP f/3.3 microlens w/ 40x microscope zoom + 2MP f/2.4 depth + LED flash
Selfie Camera: 32MP f/2.4
Battery: 5,000mAh w/ 67W SUPERVOOC
OS: Android 13 w/ ColorOS 13.1
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11ac (2.4GHz/5GHz), 5G, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.1 (SBC, AAC, aptX HD, LDAC), OTG, NFC, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS, dual SIM
Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic
Others: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor, stereo speakers, USB-C, Colors: Bold Gold, Cool Black, Dreamy Blue
Dimensions: 165.6 x 76.1 x 8.2 mm
Weight: 192 g
Price: PHP 18,999

As of the moment

OPPO A98 while web surfing

We are excited to see OPPO A98 perform with our longer-term testing. 

For the price of under PHP 20K, it could be a decent option but because the competition is fierce, it may struggle in terms of raw specs.

Out of the box, our main concerns are the aging Snapdragon 695, and the low-light performance of the ultra-wide camera.

Otherwise, the OPPO A98 is an interesting addition to the brand's mid-range line-up.

Stay tuned.

What do you guys think?