Oppo A97 Smartphone Review – The Oppo A series phones come with an interesting set of features that makes a great deal at quite an affordable price point. Recently, the company launched the upgraded version of the Oppo A96 that is released last year. In July 2022, the smartphone makers released the Oppo A97 in China, while on the other hand, there are also rumors of the Oppo A98 being released on the global stage soon. For today’s review, we got the Oppo A97.
The first impression of this phone is pretty standard compared to the competition since it doesn’t bring an out-of-the-box thing or look appealing in a particular way. Though, there’s no denying that the phone got a boxy design, good performance, proper camera results, and a few more amazing perks. But still, we would recommend you go through the complete review to make the final call. Let’s head toward the Oppo A97 review to find out more details about this phone.
Table of Contents
Oppo A97 Smartphone Review
Highlights
- The device arrives with a 6.6-inches IPS LCD panel with a 90Hz refresh rate and FHD resolution.
- In terms of the hardware, you will notice Dimeisnty 810 chipset under the hood.
- As for the software, the Android 12-based ColorOS 12 custom interface will be presented.
- A 48MP dual camera setup grants impressive details and also offers a 12MP selfie lens.
- As for the battery section, you are getting a Li-Po 5000 mAh battery with 33W fast charging support.
Design and Display
The Oppo A97 is offered in two brilliant shade options that include Blue and Blue. Both of them got a boxy shape design with a unique camera module design layout that looks impressive on the back panel. It’s not like the company is trying to copy anyone, but the camera module is overused on the Oppo phones.
Besides this, the camera module will wobble when you put the phone on a flat surface. It might look that bulky, but the overall built quality of the Oppo A97 feels pretty standard. Furthermore, you will find the fingerprint reader embed in the power button, while the back panel got a dual texture on the back panel. The camera is wrapped around a glossy texture, whereas, the remaining part got a slightly rough texture.
Moving to the front display, the Oppo A97 got a water drop notchy 6.6-inches IPS LCD panel that renders excellent colors and contrast in regular condition. Following this, it’s worth noting that the phone offers a 90Hz refresh rate. Though the brightness nits are lowered then you expect so you might get difficulty using the phone outdoors. Plus, it’s not clear whether the company added corning glass protection.
Memory and Internal
The hardware section of the Oppo A97 is pretty much what you expect from a mid-range smartphone. You will notice the 6nm MediaTek MT6833P Dimensity 810 chipset that will provide decent performance for daily activities, while it also renders 5G connectivity so that you can obtain faster internet connectivity without any hassle. Furthermore, you can rely on the GPU for casual gaming.
On the other hand, the software end comes with the latest Android 12 interface that will handle the custom skin of the ColorOS 12. Though the interface might not have a completely bloatware-free experience, still, you can remove those pre-installed apps. Aside from this, the phone got pretty amazing customization attributes so you can give a personalized touch to the interface quickly.
Last but not least, the Oppo A97 does a great thing by offering sufficient storage and RAM capacity so that people don’t forget about this phone. The smartphone makers ensure that you are getting 256GB internal space that will be accompanied by 12GB RAM support. Through this combination, you won’t face any problems with performance or storing data as much as you want.
Camera
The Oppo phones camera are relatively good from the competition and offer a wide range of attributes in the native camera app so that the users can tweak the photos and videos as much as they want. Plus, the overall image quality is presentable for social media. Therefore, you can share your images on social media platforms without much editing.
Spec-wise, the main camera island offers a dual camera setup. You will find a 48MP primary and 2MP depth lens. With this combination, you will obtain fine details with vibrant and lively colors. But there’s no doubt the image processing is lacking contrast sometimes, while the lowlight photos have noise and oversaturation.
The camera app helps a bit in improving the overall quality, but it only improves to a certain extent, and afterward, you will start noticing a few flaws. For example, the portrait mode skin tone is not accurate and the 12MP selfie offers an average photography experience. In terms of video recording, you can expect that the phone will provide 1080p resolution video recording at maximum.
Battery and Others
The battery performance of the Oppo A97 is average even though the phone got a Li-Po 5000 mAh battery as it is only able to provide roughly 5+ hours of screen time. Though the battery optimization is quite good with the regular task, at the same time, you will notice faster battery drain in extreme multitasking and gaming.
Aside from this, the company also provides 33W fast charging support inside the box from which you can refuel the phone in less than an hour and a few minutes. Hopefully, the sound output is great as you are getting a stereo speaker with a 3.5 mm jack. Finally, the Oppo A97 is a slightly overpriced deal at $315 (Rs 24,000 in India) approx.
Oppo A97 Specifications Detail
Down below you can see the full specifications of the Oppo A97 smartphone.
| Specifications | Oppo A97 |
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G |
| Announced | July 2022 |
| SIM | Dual SIM |
| Dimensions | NA |
| Weight | 190g |
| Size | 6.6 inches |
| Display | IPS LCD 90Hz 20:9 ratio ~400 PPI density |
| Protection | No |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2408 pixels |
| OS | Android 12, ColorOS 12 |
| Chipset | 6nm – MediaTek MT6833P Dimensity 810 |
| CPU | Octa-core 2×2.4 GHz Cortex-A76 6×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55 |
| GPU | Mali-G57 MC2 |
| Card slot | No |
| RAM | 12 GB |
| Internal | 256 GB |
| Camera | 48 MP, PDAF 2 MP, (depth) LED flash, HDR, panorama Max – 1080p@30fps |
| Selfie | 12 MP Max – 1080p@30fps |
| Loudspeaker | Yes (stereo speakers) |
| 3.5mm jack | Yes |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot |
| Bluetooth | 5.2, A2DP, LE, aptX HD |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO |
| NFC | No |
| Infrared port | No |
| Radio | No |
| USB | USB Type-C 2.0, USB On-The-Go |
| Sensors | Side-mounted fingerprint, accelerometer, proximity, compass |
| Battery | Li-Po 5000 mAh Fast charging 33W |
| Colors | Blue, Black |
| Expected Price | $315 (Rs 24,000 in India) approx |
Conclusion
After reviewing each section of the Oppo A97, the phone looks like a forced reboot so that company can provide it during that July month. Apart from this, there’s no logical reason why Oppo released this phone when they have already released some extremely good phones in the same price range. It includes Oppo A58 as a budget-friendly 5G option and Oppo F21 Pro 5G as an all-rounder phone.
Overall, we won’t suggest you go with this phone unless you are getting a discount code. Apart from this, if you have the same budget, I would highly recommend you to check out Honor X40 GT, though, it’s overall a great Android phone for 2022. Meanwhile, you can choose any other options according to your requirements.
