Oppo A5 5G review: A big battery but not much else

So, you need a new phone, but you don't want to spend much, and your main complaint with your old device is that the battery is always running out. If that's the case, you might find yourself drawn to the new Oppo A5 5G.

This phone retails for just £179 in the UK, and AU$299 in Australia, with no details on a US release yet. It packs a massive 6000mAh battery, as well as offering 45W fast charging, a smooth 120Hz screen and a durable design with IP54 water resistance.

At a glance, it sounds like a pretty solid deal, but there's plenty of competition in the budget phone market. I wanted to find out how the Oppo A5 5G fares against the competition, and crucially, whether or not it can take decent photos. After sticking it in my pocket for the past week, here's what I found out.

Oppo A5 5G: Specifications

Oppo A5 5G: Design & Handling

The Oppo A5 5G is a fairly large handset, with dimensions just shy of the Galaxy S25 Ultra. That said, the more rounded corners make it feel like less of a behemoth, and it's much lighter than a flagship device.

At this price, you'll be unsurprised to learn that it's mostly made from plastic. It's no bad thing, in my experience, plastic-backed phones seem to be just as durable, if not more so, than their metal and glass counterparts.

Indeed, Oppo backs this up with a Military-Grade Shock Resistance rating, as well as IP65 dust and water resistance. I haven't personally stressed this phone too much, but it sounds like it should be able to take a bit of a beating.

Image 1 of 5

When it comes to the looks, there's definitely a Samsung S-series vibe here, with the cameras positioned at the top left in a traffic-light style configuration. Of course, the plastic housing doesn't feel like Samsung's premium offerings, but at a glance, it's a similar overall look.

The phone is available in two colours, either Mist White or Aurora Green, and I have the latter in for testing. Mist White has a marble-like effect on the back panel, while Aurora Green has a very subtle shimmering texture. Personally, I think they both look pretty classy.

It's a boxy shape with a completely flat front and rear, joined by squared-off side rails. However, the screen has small curved plastic bezels on all sides, which makes it look a bit more like a quad curved design. I was surprised by how impactful these little bezels are for gesture controls; It definitely feels nicer than swiping from the edge of a completely flat screen.

Image 1 of 2

Unfortunately, that's where my praise for this screen will end. It's a 120Hz display, which I always like to see, but it's IPS, rather than OLED, and it has a measly 720p resolution. The brightness peaks at 1000 nits, which is decent, but it doesn't hold a candle to a phone like the CMF Phone 2 Pro, which boasts 3000 nits and has a 1080p 10-bit AMOLED panel.

The screen comes covered with a plastic protective film, which some users are sure to love, but personally, I can't stand plastic screen protectors. As usual, I ripped it off as soon as possible. It turns out this was a mistake. The glass screen underneath lacks an oleophobic coating, so it gets covered in horrendous fingerprints and smears every time you use it.

It also feels like there's more friction on my fingertips than usual, and it's just not a very pleasant experience. So, if you do decide to pick up this handset, I'd recommend keeping that protective film in place - or investigate some other screen protector options, because using it without one is grim.

Oppo A5 5G: Camera Performance

While the design of this phone makes it look like it has three cameras on the rear, there's only one that you can actually use. It's a 50MP unit with a 24 mm-equivalent focal length and an f/1.8 aperture. There's no information about the sensor size, but suffice to say, it's on the small side.

The other camera is a 2MP depth sensor, designed to aid in things like portrait mode effects. It has been proven countless times that you don't really need one of these, and on the contrary, the CMF Phone 1 performed worse with its depth sensor than the CMF Phone 2 Pro, which ditched the sensor altogether. My suspicion is that it's only here to make the phone look more modern.

Image 1 of 7

Around the front, there's a punch-hole selfie camera with an 8MP resolution and f/2.0 aperture. So, yeah, it's not exactly giving mid-rangers much to worry about; the low price is pretty apparent when it comes to the camera hardware.

Despite that, I had some hope for the camera performance. After all, Oppo made one of my favourite camera phones last year, the Find X8 Pro, and the Oppo Find X8 Ultra might be one of the best camera phones on the market today. Surely some of that excellent processing has trickled down to the budget-friendly options.

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case. By default, the photos look over-sharpened and slightly too contrasty for my tastes. Dynamic range is generally decent, but there's still frequent highlight clipping on sunny days. It's not awful, it's just nothing special, either.

Image 1 of 4

On the plus side, the colours look quite accurate, and the rear camera can focus closer than I expected, so you can take some decent macro shots. Portrait mode cutouts are generally quite reliable, too.

The biggest downside is the lack of versatility. With only a 24 mm-ish wide angle to use, you don't get much flexibility with your framing. Sure, you can digitally zoom, but the loss of quality is apparent even at 2x zoom, and it only gets worse from there.

At night, things don't get any better. Images are very noisy, and the darker areas of the frame lack detail. Night mode helps, of course, but even then, expect rather middling results.

For video shooting, you can capture at up to 1080p 30fps on the front and rear cameras. I was disappointed to see a lack of 4K recording, but in fairness, the similarly priced Galaxy A16 also maxes out at 1080p. What's more disappointing is the lack of video stabilisation; you'll want to keep a tripod handy with this one.

Image 1 of 2

Oppo A5 5G: Phone Performance

The Oppo A5 5G is powered by the Dimensity 6300, the same chip that's in the Samsung Galaxy A16. This is paired with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, not impressive figures, but likely sufficient for basic tasks. At least there's a microSD card slot, so you can always increase the storage if you find yourself running out.

It's not the most powerful processor around, but it manages to keep up when you're just messaging, scrolling through social media and navigating with Google Maps. Swiping through the OS is mostly stutter-free, and it only tends to hang up slightly when you're performing a system-wide search, or when you first boot up the phone.

Of course, keen gamers demand more performance than that, and as expected, this isn't the ideal tool for the job. 2D puzzle games like Peglin run absolutely fine, but graphically demanding games like Genshin Impact will only run on the lowest preset, and even then, you can expect frequent stutters and slowdowns.

Image 1 of 2

The Oppo A5 5G runs on Color OS, the same software as Oppo's pricier handsets. I'm a big fan of this operating system, it's highly customisable, runs smoothly and looks pretty slick by default. The key difference with this more affordable model is that it's missing some of the more advanced AI features.

There's still some useful stuff, but it's mostly confined to the image editing suite. That said, these features work just as well here, and the Object Eraser is one of the most powerful that you're likely to find in this price bracket.

Image 1 of 3

Another big difference between the A5 and Oppo's flagship devices is the amount of bloatware that comes preloaded on the phone. It's nothing unusual for a budget handset, but it's worth mentioning that there's a lot to clean up. There's all kinds of recommended apps, games and more that will clutter up your home screen the first time you turn it on. It's not hard to remove, but it takes some time, and it's a hassle we could all do without.

One of the most surprising things about the Oppo A5 5G is its battery capacity. It has a massive 6000 mAh cell inside, outclassing some of the most expensive phones on the market. Combine that with the power-sipping mid-range chip inside, and you've got a phone that will outlast most.

Throughout my testing, I was easily getting two days on a charge, and if you're more thoughtful with your usage, you could get longer. Plus, when you eventually wear this battery down, it charges at an impressive 45W.

Unfortunately, there's no charger in the box, just a cable. To get the maximum advertised speed, you'll either need to shell out for an official SuperVOOC charger, or use something that supports the PPS standard at 45W.

Oppo A5 5G: Verdict

In a vacuum, the Oppo A5 5G is a decent phone for the £179 / AU$299 asking price. However, when you compare it to the competition, the value proposition becomes a little more iffy.

I reviewed this phone immediately after spending time with the CMF Phone 2 Pro. At MSRP, that device should cost £40 more, but currently the difference is less than £30 on Amazon.

It's not an insignificant amount, but when you consider that the CMF Phone comes with a triple camera setup, 4K video recording, a gorgeous (smudge-free) 10-bit OLED display, a much more powerful chipset, and double the RAM - the Oppo A5 5G becomes very difficult to recommend.

Sure, the Oppo A5 has one of the largest batteries in its class, but when the experience is compromised elsewhere, that doesn't feel like a good trade-off. Personally, I'd take a faster processor, an extra camera or a nicer screen over a big battery - and that's exactly what a lot of the competition offers.

Alternatives

The CMF Phone 2 Pro is without a doubt my favourite budget phone, and so long as you're on board with the quirky looks, it's a better choice in almost every way. It has cameras that punch above their weight, excellent software, and a much beefier processor under the hood.

Read my full CMF Phone 2 Pro review

The Samsung Galaxy A16 5G is probably the closest competitor to the A5 5G. It has similar looks and the same processor, but with a higher resolution AMOLED screen and an ultrawide camera included. The downsides are a slightly lower refresh rate (90Hz) and a smaller battery.