The OPPO A93 is Too Sleek and Fits Right into Your Budget

Since 2019, OPPO has launched a number of really exciting phones in Nigeria under its A-series category, and the recently released OPPO A93 is the latest addition to this range of devices. Coming with a ₦125,000 price tag, the A93 has four call-out features which are its dual punch-hole super AMOLED display, its 6 AI portrait cameras, the in-display fingerprint 3.0 and of course the 7.48mm ultra sleek design. But there’s more.

The OPPO A93 comes in two colours; the blue and the matte black, and this review focuses on the matte black device.

Unboxing The Sleek A93

The device comes in an all-white box, with a photo of the OPPO A93 on the top side of the box’s extra cover. Once you open the box, you would find the device wrapped in a transparent nylon foil with the 4 call-out features boldly written on it. The first thing that hits you once you start unboxing is the sleek design of the A93 device.

The OPPO A93 is a very lightweight and ultra-thin device, which weighs just 164g, and is 7.48mm thin. This makes it very easy to carry around. OPPO does well in the design of its phones, and the A93 is no different.

The rounded edges of the device and its matte black body finish, which is fingerprint-resistant and does a slight colour change when it is tilted, helps with the grip on the device.

The phone also comes with a silicon case which makes it even firmer to hold, with slightly raised edges to prevent a screen smash in the event of a fall. Other items in the box include a large 18-watt charger, a type-C USB cord, a pair of earphones, a quick guide, and a SIM ejector.

Display

Before the screen of the A93 comes on for setup, the tiny dual punch hole on it gives off the impression of a large-screen display and this is exactly what the device offers. The dual punch hole sports the double selfie cameras of the device which are excellently designed to possess diameters of only 3.7mm meaning that the rest of the 6.43” super AMOLED screen is fully optimized for display.

As the screen comes on, you are greeted by a brilliant high-resolution display with lovely contrast levels. The display is very bright and covers about 90% of the screen, giving very clear and vivid images. The display gets better when you watch a clip on the device as it delivers a super-immersive viewing experience with all colours richly shown. This is due to its pixel density of 408pixels per inch and the screen’s 2400 x 1080px resolution. Even under sunlight, the screen display isn’t affected as the brightness levels can be increased up to 800nits to continue projecting clear pictures.

The on-screen fingerprint is another delight of the OPPO A93 screen, as it shows off a little animation and responds within a second of having the right finger placed on it, and the same happens for the face recognition feature.

Camera

The cameras on the OPPO A93 are arguably the best features on the device and definitely worth looking forward to. With a 16MP main camera and 2MP depth camera for its dual front or selfie cameras, and a quad camera with the 48MP main camera, an 8MP wide angle camera and two 2MP mono camera with 1/5“ depth sensors for its rear camera, the A93 definitely finds itself in the top category of mobile phone cameras.

The AI photography capabilities of the A93 are well shown-off across the different camera setups and modes, ensuring that every image captured on the device is of very high resolutions.

In its portrait mode, the OPPO A93 gives you so much creativity with your pictures whether at night or in daytime. The first and most visible effect the portrait mode gives is how it neatly applies its blur function which can be adjusted as needed while maintaining autofocus and phase-detection for pictures.

This feature ensures a unique splash of colour on the core image while fading out the background to form a stylish frame. The camera in this mode uses an AI algorithm to detect people in the picture frame and differentiate them from the background.

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In night mode, the A93 is well equipped to boost low light conditions and transform low light pictures into clear images with its special features that focus on facial elements, making them clearer by optimizing for facial recognition. There’s also the night flare feature that brightens up photos taken in dimly lit environments.

Taking photos with either sets of cameras at night works well because of the many AI features that the cameras possess, which become more pronounced when set to night mode. The normal photo settings on the A93 are just as great at delivering top quality imagery as it packs everything from wide angle images made possible by the device’s 48MP camera, to the 5x zoom capability that lets you capture faraway objects in a way that much of the quality remains and the tiny details are still visible.

Still in normal photo mode, you can make a lot of tweaks to the camera including turning on the AI scene enhancement which gives you a super-clear image without missing key details or increasing the AI beautification function to highlight beauty preferences such capturing you with bigger eyes or a narrower chin or smaller nose.

When the camera of the A93 is set to expert mode, you get full control over all photo settings including white balance and exposure value, ensuring you capture exactly what you want in whatever way you want it. There are other fun settings that make the camera easier to use like the use of air gestures for taking selfies – which allows you to show your palm to the front camera and have the timer activated between 3 – 10 seconds.

Beyond these many modes, features and settings, the hardware-software combination of the OPPO A93 rear camera which allows it to produce 108MP photos despite having a 48MP main camera is one area the camera wins hugely. The AI features of the camera optimizes images taken with it and scales them to 108MP, which makes them optimized enough for large prints.

On the videography end of things, the device stands tall with a 2160 x 30fps for videos shot on it. This means that the device can record 4K videos effortlessly with the rear cameras, and can still produce 1080P videos while on zoom. The rear camera also supports slo-mo recording which will produce the clips as 1080P x 120fps clips.

Performance

The A93 gets a lot of things right with its performance. For an 8GB RAM with an 8-core MediaTek Helio P95 unit that has a processing speed as high as 2.2Ghz and the ColorOS 7.2 Android 10 operating system, the device runs apps very smoothly with no drag. This is partly due to the anti-lag algorithm that clears data that might cause such errors. For games at medium settings, it performs great as well, and the 128GB storage capacity, which is expandable up to 512GB ensures that memory space is hardly an issue.

The device’s superb performance extends to all of its cool features like the in-built screen recording and screenshot function which allows for screenshot scrolls and screen recording while consuming content. The air gesture feature also works great for taking calls simply by placing a palm over the phone when a call comes in.

Suggested Read: All You Need to Know About The All-New Powerful OPPO A92

With the ColorOS 7.2, the device presents a very intuitive interface that is mostly minimalist. Dark mode on the A93 can be scheduled for specific times to ensure battery management is optimal. The multi-user mode is a strong feature which the OPPO A93 comes with that allows for files to be stored in specific user folders and only accessible to each user, ensuring privacy.

Hardware – Battery, Build & Sound

Again, for its size and performance, the OPPO A93 has a well optimised 4000mAh battery, which can last a full day of usage with just one complete charge. The 18W charger works with a unique charging technology that ensures that in just 10 minutes of charging, the device’s battery goes from 62% to 72%, which is a 10% increase and would give you about 3 hours of talk time at very slow discharge rates.

This technology extends to its night charging feature, which is AI controlled and optimizes overnight charging such that a full 100% charge is synced with the set wake time on the device. This protects the battery’s lifespan. In similar fashion, the power saving mode on the device allows very low battery percentage to last for longer by turning the screen black and white and restricting app usage.

For sound, the OPPO A93 has a stereo speaker to the right of the charging port and another at the top of the device. Listening to music with the bottom speaker is relatively loud and a lot better at lower volumes, but gives a great feel when using the earphones the device comes with. The A93 checks all its comms boxes with integrated LTE, good bluetooth 5.1 connectivity, 802.11ac WiFi, offline voice recognition and 2 SIM support.

Overall Verdict

For its price point of ₦125,000, the OPPO A93 is great value for money and a fine upgrade from the OPPO A92. The A93 gives all the flagship features a mobile user could ask for, at the price of a mid-range phone. This device gets a solid 8/10.