OPPO A98 5G Review - Middlingly mid

After using the OPPO A98 5G for quite a while, we share our thoughts and experiences with the new affordable mid-ranger with 40x microscope zoom.

OPPO A98's eye-catching rear design

To recap, the OPPO A98 has a 120Hz 6.72-inch LTPS LCD screen, a 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC, 8GB LPDDR4X RAM, 256GB UFS 2.2 storage, a 5,000mAh battery, 67W fast charging, a 64MP rear main camera and a 2MP f/3.3 microlens with 40x microscope zoom.

In the Philippines, it is priced at PHP 18,999.

Let's dive into the review!

For our review part 1: OPPO A98 5G Unboxing and First Impressions

Multimedia Experience

OPPO A98's display

In front are those above 6.72-inch LTPS LCD screen with an FHD+ 2,400 x 1,080 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate.

The panel is surprisingly bright for its price category. It's not the brightest but the screen is somewhat readable under direct sunlight. Images on the screen are vibrant and contrasty while the text and details are crisp enough.

10 point touch screen, 120Hz refresh rate

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 punch hole that houses the front-facing camera. Above it and hidden within the top bezel is the slim earpiece. The chin bezel is thicker than the rest of the bezel though.

Top and bottom

For audio, the phone is equipped with a 3.5mm audio jack and a single bottom-firing speaker with several microphones around the phone.

At maximum volume, the phone's single speaker is just enough to fill a small room. To get the best audio quality, we recommend lowering the volume to 80 percent as the sound becomes distorted at max volume. The sound stage is small and clarity is decent but could be better.

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

Cameras

OPPO A98's rear cameras

As mentioned earlier, the phone is equipped with a 64MP f/1.7 main camera and a 2MP f/3.3 microlens with 40x microscope zoom and an LED flash.

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.

Rear Camera Samples

OPPO A98 rear main camera 1x

OPPO A98 rear main camera 2x crop

The 64MP primary camera produces daylight images with strong contrast and vibrant color. Its high resolution allows for good detail and sharpness even when cropping into 2x.

OPPO A98's microscope lens 20x

OPPO A98's microscope lens 40x

The microlens allows for 20x and 40x zoom and it produces decently sharp macro images. It's a niche feature that many will find novel but nice to have.

OPPO A98 rear main camera 1x indoors

OPPO A98 rear main camera 2x indoors

The same can be said for indoor shots. However, we noticed that the highlights (or brightest areas) tend to be exposed quickly, resulting in bright white light sources. The 2x crop also experienced increased grain which reduced the sharpness because of noise reduction.

OPPO A98 rear main camera 1x low light

OPPO A98 rear main camera 2x low light

For low light, the amount of noise is more apparent and the image isn't as sharp as we would like. But what impressed us is the cameras retained color accuracy despite the noise or grain.

OPPO A98 rear camera night mode

The Night mode significantly improves the sharpness, detail, and contrast while dramatically reducing noise and grain, especially in the shadow area. It retains good color accuracy like in daylight too.

Overall, the rear camera produced acceptable images across most situations but will struggle with noise in low light. We recommend using the night mode in low light whenever possible or when the subject is still.

OPPO A98's front-facing camera

In front is the 32MP f/2.4 selfie camera.

Camera modes include Photo, Video, Portrait, and Night.

Selfie Camera Samples

OPPO A98 selfie camera daylight

OPPO A98 selfie camera portrait mode

Daylight selfies from the OPPO A98 are excellent where we have decent sharpness, contrast and detail. The colors are over saturated though. 

The portrait mode's edge detection is surprisingly spot on.

OPPO A98 selfie camera indoors

Indoors, the image is similar to daylight but like the rear cameras, the light sources or highlight areas overexpose quickly. There is some grain in shadow areas too.

OPPO A98 selfie camera low light

In low light, the selfie camera's images have dramatically lost sharpness, detail, and color accuracy because of the amount of grain. Like indoor images, the light sources overexposed quickly and became very distracting.

OPPO A98 selfie camera night mode

The Night mode improves the sharpness, color, and amount of noise but only if the subject stays still. 

We recommend using the Night mode but make sure to keep the subject and the phone still.

Overall, the front cameras produce images with good selfies. However, it struggles with noise and grain in lower light conditions. 

The rear and front-facing cameras can record up to 1080p at 30fps. The footage has acceptable sharpness but is grainy and shaky.

Performance

OPPO A98's AnTuTu and GeekBench scores

To recap, the OPPO A98 features a 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 octa-core processor, Adreno GPU, 8GB LPDDR4X RAM, and 256GB UFS 2.2 internal storage.

OPPO A98's 3DMark and CPDT scores

OPPO A98 benchmarks:

1. AnTuTu - 460,707
2. Geekbench 6 - 907 (single-core), 2,081 (multi-core)
3. 3D Mark WildLife - 1,211 at 7.25 average fps 
4. CPDT - 374.72 MB/s sequential read speeds and 364.04 MB/s sequential write speeds

The OPPO A98 scores in AnTuTu, Geekbench, and 3DMark are with expected results but there are better-performing smartphones with similar specifications.

OPPO A98 5G's Genshin Impact graphic settings

When playing Genshin Impact, it is set on the low graphics settings as the default. The phone can run the phone but struggles when there are a lot of animations happening simultaneously on the screen.

Many phones at this price point are faster than this one...

In our experience, the phone can handle basic tasks like navigating through the OS, opening apps, web surfing, social media, and the like but will struggle with more intensive games.

For security, the phone has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor and face unlock. The Initial setup and subsequent uses are quick and it detects our biometrics instantaneously.

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 5.1, NFC, OTG, GPS, Galileo, QZSS, BeiDo,u and GLONASS. It has slots for two nano SIM cards and a microSD card as well.

PCMark Battery benchmark result

Inside the phone is a large 5,000mAh battery. With our usual PCMark battery benchmark, the phone suspiciously lasted under 9 hours. 

This is inconsistent with our real-world use where we were using the phone intensively while being connected to 5G, LTE, and WiFi all through the day and it would still have 20+ percent after the work day ended.

The battery charges via USB-C with the 67W wall charger which charges the phone to 100 percent in around 60 minutes.

OPPO A98's ColorOS 13.1

It is running on Color OS 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.

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

There are a large number of pre-installed apps and services that can be uninstalled. It adds to the initial setup. Some of these apps have annoying push notifications. We recommend disabling or uninstalling these.

Pros - Eye-catching design, lightweight and solid build materials, 67W charging, 120Hz screen, 40x microscope allows for creative shots

Cons - Cameras struggle in low light, SD695 is not as competitive in the price range

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

Verdict

OPPO A98 while web surfing

OPPO has produced an interesting smartphone where the focus is on its outward design while offering unique features like fast 67W charging and a microscope zoom camera.

We also liked its decently long-lasting battery life from the large 5,000mAh battery and software optimization of ColorOS.

What surprised us was how bright the screen is and its ability to be near-readable under direct sunlight. The colors pop and the text is crisp too.

Its 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon has been a good processor for years, but it shows its age even at this price point.

Our other concerns include the dramatic loss of quality in the images from the rear and front-facing cameras in low light. The competition has been performing better than this.

We hope that OPPO will be able to come up with a stronger smartphone at this price segment next time.

But, if you really like its eye-catching design, microscope zoom-capable cameras, and bright display, go.

What do you think guys?

Build/Design - 4.25

Multimedia Experience - 4.25

Cameras - 4.0

Performance - 3.75

Average - 4.1/5