The inexpensive Oppo A phones from the 2021 series can be ideal for you if you’re searching for a low-cost 5G phone. Even though this is a review of the Oppo A94 5G, you’ll notice that we refer to the series rather than just the individual phone because choosing one of its brothers over this one is a difficult decision.
The Oppo A94 5G is the top model in a family of affordable 5G phones, but there isn’t much of a difference between it and the Oppo A54 5G and A74 5G when it comes to specs. Although there are some variations in the CPU, refresh rate of the screen, and charging speed, the A94 5G doesn’t always win out in these comparisons because of the small price difference.
As a result, if you require a quick phone, this one is the best in its family owing to its 8GB of RAM and better-looking screen, but it has the lowest battery life and a lower refresh rate than its less expensive brothers.
Before making a purchase, we advise you to read our evaluations of all three Oppo A models; nevertheless, they are so similar that if one catches your eye, the others are probably not going to disappoint either.
Oh, and if you’re wondering why we’re writing “5G” at the end of “A94 5G,” even though the great majority of 5G-supporting phones don’t, it’s because the device also comes in a 4G-only variant that differs significantly. This is a review of the 5G model, which is the only one available in most places. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll just refer to this product as the 5G model.
If not quite emphatic, the Oppo A94 5G is currently a really nice phone for its price. This is still the best way to describe it.
With the MediaTek Dimensity 800U CPU and 8GB of RAM, the Oppo A94 didn’t have the poor or sluggish performance that some inexpensive phones have. It was easy to operate and ran games well.
With AMOLED technology, which offers superior colors and contrast over LCD utilized in many other low-cost phones (including the A94’s siblings), the screen looks fantastic as well. The 60Hz refresh rate, however, makes motion appear less fluid than it would on a device with a 90Hz refresh rate.
Well, you won’t win photography contests with these, but if you simply want to shoot a fast selfie or snap a picture of a cake you cooked, they’ll ensure that the likes come pouring in.
Although it is more expensive than its siblings, the Oppo A94 5G is still an excellent deal if you’re seeking for next-generation connection.
We’d offer the Oppo A94 5G a hesitant “maybe” when it comes to recommendation; read our evaluations for each member of its family. Choose the A54 5G if they all appear about the same to you since it will cost less. The A94 5G isn’t a slouch, either, thanks to several advantages.
Design
While few phones at this price point do so, the Oppo A94 5G doesn’t offer much to deviate from the “normal Android phone” formula. It is your typical “chocolate-bar” gadget that resembles its brothers almost exactly.
Even though the Oppo A94 is far from a “compact phone,” we found it to be rather simple to hold. It’s not too huge, weighing 173g, and is the ideal size for those who don’t want enormous handsets.
The phone contains a 3.5mm headphone jack and a USB-C connector. The left edge of the phone has a volume rocker, while the right edge has a power button that is halfway up.
The phone’s plastic back is good at catching fingerprints. We only tried the black version of the phone, where it wasn’t always immediately clear; this is probably more obvious on the blue version. And on the rear, the camera bump doesn’t protrude all that much.
Although Oppo hasn’t formally confirmed the phone’s IP classification, we’d proceed with care even though it’s probably at least splashproof.
The A94 5G has an attribute that you might not find on other devices with a similar price tag: an in-display fingerprint sensor. It’s an excellent reason to think about this phone if you prefer this way of unlocking your phone.
Display
The Oppo A94 5G’s 6.43-inch display is smaller than the panels on the A54 or A74, though few people would notice the 0.07-inch difference. Its 60Hz refresh rate, as opposed to the 90Hz on its more cheap brothers, makes motion look less fluid, which is one change you can notice.
This device features a standard 1080 x 2400 resolution, which is normal for smartphones of practically any price range. It also has an 800 nits maximum brightness, which is respectable for a low-cost phone, and a cutout for the front camera in the top-left corner.
Because this device employs Super AMOLED instead of LCD, which is regarded a gauche smartphone screen technology, you may choose the A94 5G above its brothers. Darker regions appear even darker than they would on an LCD panel as a consequence, and contrast is boosted.
Cameras
The Oppo A94 5G features the same four back cameras as the A54 and A74. We can finally move on from comparing it to its relatives in this part!
48MP f/1.7 main, 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide, 2MP f/2.4 macro, and 2MP f/2.4 depth-sensing cameras make up these cameras. On the front, there is a 16MP f/2.4 camera as well. For a phone at this budget, the overall array is about average.
Just a little note on the 2MP cameras: smartphone manufacturers seem to like including extra lenses with 2MP sensors, but they seldom or never bring anything new to the table. This is the case in this instance since macro photographs seemed better on the ordinary camera rather than the real macro camera, and as you will soon see, depth was an issue for photos, indicating that the sensor wasn’t performing well. The purpose of these additions is to bolster the list of specifications, not to improve photography.
Moving on to the other cameras, we saw that selfies generally looked well; they were crisp with vivid colors. Inaccurate “bokeh” background blur occasionally appeared in portrait photographs, leaving some unblurred areas visible surrounding the person, but it was never very obvious.
We weren’t too dissatisfied with the main camera either because the pictures were ideal for posting to Instagram or other comparable websites. Particularly in well-lit locations, photos were pretty bright and colorful. They were also high-res enough to allow for any necessary cropping.
But depth was a problem. We discovered that the Oppo A94 5G’s synthetic depth effects didn’t always function properly because of the technology employed in smartphone cameras, which frequently must rely on them to substitute natural ones. Sometimes the depth effect was overt, with too much of the backdrop blurred; other times, it was obvious that the camera was having difficulties focusing on the subject of the photo since it didn’t blur anything, making it difficult to determine depth.
This was more of an issue for close-up photographs (of flowers, food, etc.) than for wider-angle photographs. These images were nevertheless superior to macro shots, which had weirdly crushed darker parts and a bizarre yellowish tint.
Finally, the ultra-wide camera delivers on its promise. Although pictures might sometimes be substantially warped at the borders, there was considerable consistency in lighting and color between this and the main camera.
There doesn’t appear to be a method to raise the framerate of filming, even at lesser resolutions, thus video enthusiasts can only record at a maximum frame rate of 30 frames per second, up to 4K. Slow motion can be up to 1080p.
There are a few other settings in addition to the default photo mode, including several that you would anticipate from a smartphone, such as panorama, Pro mode, slow-motion, Portrait mode, and more.
Dimensions and performance
The MediaTek Dimensity 800U processor, which is equivalent to the Snapdragon 480 found in the other two AX4 phones, serves as the “brains” of the system. The Oppo A94 5G seems quite quick in comparison to some competitors since it is coupled with 8GB of RAM, which is a lot for a phone at this price.
The smartphone scored 1641 on the multi-core portion of the Geekbench 5 benchmark test, which is basically on par with the performance of the A54 and A74 (which scored 1664 and 1629 respectively). To put things in perspective, the A94 5G costs somewhat more than the OnePlus North ($1877), the Moto G100 ($2875), and the Realme GT ($3508), all of which are relatively comparable in price.
The Oppo A94 5G isn’t the most powerful phone we’ve tested, but it’s also not the weakest either, and it held up well under pressure. With Call of Duty: Mobile and PUBG Mobile, at least in terms of performance (we have some concerns stated under Software which hampered gaming), we considered it to be more than enough.
Also, the availability of 5G is advantageous since it provides a faster internet connection than you would otherwise have. This made loading Instagram stories and downloading Spotify songs slightly quicker. It’s a blessing because not many smartphones at this price range support 5G.
Software
On top of Android 11 on the Oppo A94 5G is Oppo’s ColorOS. The biggest difference is in the graphics, which have softer hues and a more coordinated color palette than standard Android. Nevertheless, there are also a few additional customization choices.
Oppo doesn’t include as much bloatware as the majority of other Chinese smartphone manufacturers do, so when you switch on your phone, you won’t find it stuffed with pointless additional apps.
The chipset and Memory undoubtedly aid with the software’s navigation, however occasionally there were slight stutters or delays while swiping. Also, a faster screen refresh rate wouldn’t hurt.
Although we’re not sure if it’s a problem with the Oppo A94 5G as a whole or just our review device, there was one significant issue we discovered with it, so it’s probably best to mention it just in case.
Whether we were connected by Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or mobile data, the Oppo phone frequently lost connection for brief periods of time. The first of those showed up as connected headphones occasionally disengaging and reconnecting after a few seconds; Wi-Fi was occasionally a problem playing online games where we’d occasionally repeatedly freeze, or be seconds out of sync for other players; twice during our time with the phone data completely dropped out, though restarting the device fixed the error.
Even while the presence of just one or even two of those problems could have allowed us to brush them off, the trio of problems occasionally made us quite irritated.
Battery power
The Oppo A94 5G’s battery performance was something we debated for a very long time about whether or not to mention as one of the “cons” at the beginning of this review. As you’ll see, we ultimately decided against listing it, but that doesn’t mean we’re happy about it.
The phone’s 4,310mAh battery isn’t very large given its pricing, as cheap phone manufacturers sometimes load 5,000mAh batteries into their products. We discovered that with mild to moderate use, the A94 nearly lasted all day without recharging, but heavy use may completely destroy the battery.
In order to keep the phone operational until the evening on some instances, we had to activate battery saving mode in the afternoon. On other occasions, Ultra Battery Saving mode—which severely restricts the phone’s functionality—was required to keep us going until dusk.
Because some individuals, light phone users who only want to stream music, look around social media, and reply to SMS, will find the battery just fine, we didn’t mention battery life in the “cons” column. Like us, you could find yourself reaching for the charger in the early evening if you frequently play video games, need to use your phone to navigate a city with extensive maps, or enjoy taking lots of photographs.
Also, there is no wireless charging (unsurprising given the price), and the handset’s 30W wired charging isn’t particularly quick considering that you can get phones with 65W for not much more, but it isn’t particularly slow in comparison to some of its competitors (especially when the A54 5G uses a painful 10W). The smartphone needs 30W to get from empty to full power, which takes slightly under an hour.
Summary
You prefer bright displays
Unlike many phones at this price point, the Oppo A94 5G displays colors and contrast beautifully thanks to its Super AMOLED display.
If you require a smartphone with 5G connection, the A94 is a fantastic alternative because few 5G phones (apart from its siblings) are as affordable as it is.
While the Oppo A94 5G won’t give you skills comparable to those of a professional photographer, we discovered that photographs looked great for social media, whether you’re uploading a selfie or a food shot.
