Oppo A83 review: A budget smartphone aimed at selfie enthusiasts

Oppo A83 comes with trendy features like full-screen display and Face Unlock. Here’s our full review of the smartphone.

Oppo A83 comes with AI-powered Smart Selfies (HT Photo)

Oppo recently launched a new budget smartphone called A83 in India. Priced at ₹13,990, Oppo A83 comes with a fullscreen display and 'Face Unlock' which have become increasingly popular among the Android smartphones of late. Just like other Oppo smartphones, A83 comes with a special feature aimed at selfie enthusiasts.

Oppo A83, however, steps up the game with the inclusion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to deliver better selfies, which the company touts as "Smart Selfies". Oppo says that A83's 8-megapixel front camera can "precisely refine 200+ facial feature spots, so as to capture the real you." The front camera also "brings out your photogenic best" using the AI and beautify algorithm.

Keeping the company claims aside, Oppo A83 indeed impresses by delivering a clean selfie, smoothening out every possible 'flaw' on your skin. You can also adjust the beautify mode and go crazy by increasing it up to level 6, which most likely will appear unrealistic and strange at certain level. While I haven't been a fan of Oppo's beautify selfies, this smartphone managed to strike a balance and not go overboard with the whitewashing. A welcome change which we have seen Xiaomi implement in their recent Redmi Note 5 Pro and Redmi Note 5 smartphones.

The beauty mode. (Marcia Sekhose)

The beauty mode. (Marcia Sekhose)

The 13-megapixel rear camera delivered mixed results as some photos came out really well while others didn't. You can check out some of the camera samples below. As you can see, in the low light, the result is pretty good even with participating lights in the background. The other picture is quite grainy with the details being blurred out and not refined at all. There's an 'Expert' mode where you can play with the shutter speed, ISO, EV, WB and AF levels.

A low-light shot (photo resized for web) (Marcia Sekhose)

A low-light shot (photo resized for web) (Marcia Sekhose)

Oppo A83 did capture some pretty good pictures in bright light conditions especially this one. There's no filter used in this picture and the tiny details look impressively clear and not grainy.

A shot in good light conditions (photo resized for web) (Marcia Sekhose)

A shot in good light conditions (photo resized for web) (Marcia Sekhose)

Face Unlock but no fingerprint scanner

Moving on to its security feature of 'Face Unlock', this feature takes a quick scan of your face for you to unlock the smartphone. Face Unlock has become quite the rage with smartphone brands incorporating the feature pretty quick. The question here though is whether this feature is even necessary and if the technology is refined enough to change one's experience of using a smartphone.

On the Oppo A83, face unlock is pretty fast when it works. There's one very silly catch though. To use this feature you need to press the power key and only then will the smartphone unlock. It doesn't work in low light conditions and also even in the correct environment, the phone often failed to recognise my face while trying to unlock.

Note that the smartphone doesn't have a fingerprint sensor so you have to rely on a lock/PIN code or pattern to unlock the smartphone when facial recognition does not work.

Display, design

The smartphone has curved edges and a very weird slanting frame. While hovering over the front panel, you may feel like the smartphone has a dent of sorts. Otherwise, Oppo A83 is pretty handy to use with the power key and volume buttons within reach. It's pretty light too.

One disappointing factor was the display resolution which is only HD (720p). At its price point you would expect a display with full HD (1080p) resolution which is available on smartphones like Xiaomi's Redmi Note 5 which is priced even lower at ₹9,999. The full screen 5.7-inch display does its job of giving an immersive experience and also not compromising on comfort by making navigation pretty easy on the smartphone.

The display quality may not strike you while simply using the smartphone but during multimedia viewing especially YouTube, the experience will be more noticeable. Also, the display's brightness is very unreliable. Even at full brightness the display is quite dim making it cumbersome to operate on the device.

Performance

Oppo A83 runs MediaTek MT6737 processor under it hood paired with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. Overall, the smartphone works quite smoothly with no lags. Normal usage of the smartphone included taking calls, listening to music, and mostly using social apps. In terms of gaming, we tried a heavy and graphic intensive game, N.O.V.A Legacy and surprisingly the experience was pretty smooth.

Oppo A83 after a full charge lasts for an entire day which equals to around 12 hours. The usage is the same as mentioned above and yes charging it twice is required. The good thing here is that the smartphone supports fast charging which comes in handy when you need quick juice on your device.

Verdict

Overall, Oppo A83 is a mixed bag. In an attempt to hop on the smartphone trends, Oppo A83 compromises on some necessary features. Other than its decent performance, the smartphone doesn't really stand out against its competition. At the same price, you can go for smartphones like Xiaomi's Mi A1 Android One and Redmi Note 5 Pro which have a lot more to offer without the gimmicks.