Introduction
OPPO A53s 5G is currently the cheapest 5G smartphone in India at a price tag of Rs 14,990/- at the time of writing this. The phone is primarily a 5G variant of the OPPO A53s 4G and has some improvements over its predecessor. The device has a Dimensity 700 5G SoC which is an upgrade from last year’s Snapdragon 460 SoC integrated on A53s. The device has also been upgraded to UFS 2.2 as well as comes with Android 11 out-of-the-box.
It’s not just upgraded with the OPPO A53s 5G but there are some downgrades as well. This includes a step down to 60Hz as well as no stereo speakers. Well, here’s the entire review that you can go through to decide whether you want to go through with it or not.
Prices in India, Variants, Availability
OPPO A53s 5G is available in two colour variants i.e. Crystal Blue and Ink Black. It has a single 128GB storage with two RAM configurations. The 6GB variant is available on Flipkart India at Rs 14,990/- while the higher 8GB variant is available at Rs 16,990/-. Get up to Rs 14,600/- off on exchanging an eligible smartphone on Flipkart India. Of course, there are other deals and discounts available with the purchase as well such as a 10 per cent discount up to Rs 1,250/-on KOTAK Bank CC, Credit EMI, and DC EMI.
Box Contents
Specs at a glance
Before we talk in detail about the let’s see what the on-paper specs look like?
- Display:
- Processor:
- Storage:
- Software:
- Rear cameras:
- Battery:
- Weight:
- Dimensions:
Design and Build
Talking about the design, I liked the OPPO A53s 5G more than the 4G variant. The front has a waterdrop-shaped notch instead of a chunky punch-hole cut-out. The bezels on the sides are healthy and so is the chin at the bottom.
The frame and the back panel are made up of polycarbonate that looks glossy and matte-ish similar to a glass back. Since there’s no rear-mounted FPS now, the back panel looks clutter-free. It’s just a giant triple camera setup (albeit with the same sensors) and that’s all. The sides are curved which aids in grip and usability a lot. The phone’s dimensions have changed ever so slightly just as the thickness is the same, the height is reduced by 0.4mm, and the breadth is reduced by 0.6mm and that’s all.
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You get a side-mounted fingerprint scanner on the right that doubles as a power button as well. There’s nothing on top while the bottom has a single bottom-firing loudspeaker, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a USB Type-C port. On the left, you get volume rockers and a triple card slot for two SIMs, and a dedicated memory card slot. That’s pretty much all the I/O ports available here.
Display
It is almost the same display tech but with a water drop-shaped notch instead of a punch-hole cut-out. You get a slightly bigger 6.52-inch IPS LCD panel with a 720 x 1600 pixels resolution. The display has a protective glass on top of it although there’s no mention as to what it is using. The 90Hz refresh rate on OPPO A53s is not carried forward to A53s 5G and instead, you get a standard 60Hz refresh rate. Now that we are done with the specs and the changes, what does that mean for the OPPO A53s 5G’s display?
Talking about its hands-on display performance, you will feel the regular refresh rate is much slower if you have used the 90Hz variant too. That’s just one of the concerns. Another is the use of an HD+ panel whereas I would have gone for an FHD panel at the least in this price segment.
However, note that even with these shortcomings, the display on-board A53s 5G is still a badass. It is brightly lit at 480 nits, it is an impressive HD+ panel with punchy and vibrant colours. Viewing angles on the phone is great in case you ever wish to view the screen from a different angle just in case. As you are holding a phone with a giant 6.52-inch display, you will feel that it is great for viewing media although it isn’t an AMOLED panel so bear with it.
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Since it is HD+, you might feel that the sharpness on games like COD Mobile is a bit low but that’s because of the resolution and not because the phone cannot handle it. The bezels around the edges are thick and the chin is almost thrice the size of the side bezels. Unless you don’t have a problem with it, OPPO A53s 5G can be your great companion.
Performance
OPPO A53s 5G runs on a MediaTek Dimensity 700 5G SoC with a max 2.2GHz frequency. The chipset is made on a 7nm fabrication process and comes paired with Mali-G57 C2 GPU, 128GB UFS 2.2 storage, and 6/8GB LPDDR4X RAM configurations.
No doubt the chipset is a massive upgrade over Snapdragon 460 used on the 4G A53s 5G. The chipset brings better performance as well as 5G support onboard. The chipset manages to score around 533 and 1722 points on single-core and multi-core tests respectively which is apparently approximately the same score as Realme 8 5G.
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The chipset supports multitasking like it’s nothing. The app launch and load time are almost negligible although the processor might wear down a bit as it gets older. I was able to play COD Mobile and a few other high-graphics games on medium available settings without causing much harm to the processor. Dimensity 700 5G SoC took it all without getting warm although if you have intentions to play for some time continuously, you will end up with a phone with a raised temperature which is apparent with all other smartphones out there.
Usually, you would get some improvements when a successor arrives. OPPO A53s was released in 4G last year and now, it has a 5G variant which is a step up. It gets a powerful chipset, however, it does away with several features including a faster refresh rate, an 18W charging, NFC, and stereo speakers to name a few specs. The camera setup is almost the same and thus, its camera performance is almost the same.
OPPO A53s 5G does get a powerful Dimensity 700 5G chipset which is better in performance than the Snapdragon 460 used on the 4G variant which is a well-ensured upgrade. You also get 5G which is something India doesn’t have an infrastructure for at least for now. Perhaps, I don’t think so you should upgrade from A53s 4G to 5G and rather wait for some better prospects. If you were waiting for A53s, I would suggest you can go for a 5G variant or you can simply check out its various rivals.
