Review of the smartphone Oppo A31 with the main characteristics

The first quarter of 2020 has been especially productive for Oppo. Of course, enterprising Asians have released batches of smartphones before, just have time to read the reviews, but February gave the world even too much good technology at an prohibitively low price.

What is China famous for? first of all? Of course, the phenomenal ability to completely recreate the legendary products of expensive brands, such as the American Apple or the South Korean Samsung. So the Oppo A31 smartphone has every chance of becoming the first budget and high-quality copy of the iPhone X, which is currently the best-selling among the entire line. Let's learn about the similarities of the two smartphones and about the grossest mistakes made by Oppo manufacturers right now!

News from Oppo

Over the past few years, Oppo has made a major "upgrade" of its products. Already, the media is prophesying the glory of Xiaomi to her.However, does this prospect please loyal fans? After all, as you know, with an increase in the level of production, prices immediately increase. Because of this, it is quite possible that the youth brand will not keep you waiting and will quickly transform into an elite brand for buyers much richer.

However, do not worry ahead of time. In early February, the company informed the press that the prices for the A and Reno line had been reduced. The guest of today's review just got a generous discount. For residents of Russia, this is a saving of up to 3-5 thousand rubles, is significant, isn't it?

Appearance

The Oppo brand introduced a smartphone whose design is almost identical to the iPhone X. Is it good? Or maybe bad?

According to the canons of modern fashion, the phone has acquired considerable dimensions - 163.9 x 75.5 x 8.3 mm. At the same time, it is still comfortable to hold it in your hand, which is facilitated by a small width and only 180 grams of weight. Oppo A31 is elongated and has the shape of a rectangle with slightly rounded edges. The case is made of glossy plastic, which is to be expected at such a low price. Budget material instantly collects scratches, and on light colors and dirt. However, it is impossible not to notice that bright overflows and a gradient advantageously distinguish it from the background of other smartphones in the line. Of great concern are the plastic side frames, the chips on which will appear after six months of daily contact with the keys in the pocket of jeans or jackets. What can not be said about the front of the device, securely protected by tempered glass.

You should not be afraid! The problem of scratches is easily solved with a silicone case and a protective film.

In general, the design is quite simple and minimalistic.On the back, there is only a block of three cameras, as well as a miniature (compared to Xiaomi) fingerprint cutout, bordered by a silver ring. As in the iPhone, absolutely all cutouts (USB, headphones, including speaker) have moved to the lower side of the smartphone. So, it is there that the device will look the least presentable. On the front, a frameless screen awaits us, also rounded and a drop-shaped front camera. Simple and tasteful!

Equipment

The packaging of smartphones has undergone huge changes in 2020, regardless of their price. Each box now, in addition to the standard charger, coupons, certificates, a clip for the SIM card slot and a USB cable, now contains a branded silicone case that is ideal for each model.

And the colors for the A31, Oppo was greedy. There were only two of them: fantastic white (with mint overflow) and mystical black. The appearance of the latter goes beyond the limits of the average price segment. Intense black, with fingerprint immunity, looks no worse than luxury.

Characteristics

Screen

At the heart of the budget flagship is a 6.5-inch IPS LCD liquid crystal matrix. The Chinese brand is still far from Apple's quality materials, but you should not underestimate the capabilities of this display. The brightness of the output image reaches 480 nits or candelas. The image is bright and saturated, and this is one of the main advantages of a cheap, at first glance, matrix.

The fragility of this and a small ratio of pixels per cm2, only 270 ppi, while other products receive a minimum of 380 ppi, can spoil the picture. That is why, with a strong deviation, the screen fades a little. In sunny weather, the screen also loses saturation, but in cloudy weather everything can be seen perfectly! Don't expect luxury customization, the Oppo A31 has only two possible modes: normal (with a blue tint) and reading (with a yellow tint). That is why the screen resolution corresponds to 720 x 1600, with the ability to display videos and photos in HD quality (720p), at 1080 and 4K the image will take a long time to load and display incorrectly.

At the same time, the response speed of the display is high. No glitches with fingerprint and screen unlock. Most importantly, the first surprise from Oppo was hidden here - unlocking with Face ID, exactly like the "ten".The operation of the function also met the expectations of users, no false positives or errors.

Filling

The smartphone works with the penultimate version of the Android operating system - 9.0 (pie). In 2020, it is even surprising to meet products based on it, but it still remains the most stable and effective. Here, for the first time, neural networks were used to predict user work algorithms and a system of gestures. In A31, to activate the functions, you need to swipe the desktop to the left and customize the space for yourself. Close cooperation with Google is also noticeable, because among the factory applications more than 10 belong to it.

The transitions between the menus are smooth, loading the browser takes no more than 3 seconds, in many respects it is worth thanking the author's ColorOS 6 shell for this. The color scheme of shortcuts and widgets is in pleasant light colors. Oppo manufacturers believe that in this way the user will be less distracted from work by bright combinations.

A reasonable question is “why was the shell called ColorOS?” asks for itself.

Meanwhile, these are not empty words, performance has really increased, however, thanks to accelerator applications, for example, Hyper Boost (for games) and System Boost (guess yourself for what).

What about the most important part of any device - the processor? In the Oppo A31, it is represented by the mysterious 12nm Mediatek MT6765V/CB Helio P35 chipset. Its characteristics are at the level of Snapdragon 6 generation. This is normal for budget smartphones. A smart chipset based on 8 cores, divided into clusters depending on the tasks, works. The first is represented by 4 cores at 2.3 GHz to optimize the gameplay and watch high-quality videos.The second took the rest with a clock frequency of 1.8 GHz. According to the results of the Benchmark test, the device hardly plays 3D games at ultra settings, so it will not run WoT and Pubg 9 games, but it can’t run detailed applications and the flagship launches 2D without difficulty, while the case gets very hot.

The video processor is also little known to the world, in terms of power it is also from the budget - PowerVR GE8320. That is why gamers are better off looking at more expensive models.

Test results:

• According to AnTuTu - 86,352 points.
• According to Benchmark - 105,070 points.

Autonomy and additional features

No fast charging features, super-fast ports and 30% in 20 minutes are not worth waiting for in the A31. The battery (Li-Po type, non-removable) of the flagship fully corresponds to the price, the capacity was ‒ 4230 mAh. Not a lot, enough charge for one incomplete day with the active use of mobile Internet and listening to music. Games take valuable interest and even faster in 10 hours. The standby mode will last no more than 3 days, but in the call mode Oppo A31 will last up to 30 hours.

Camera and memory

I was pleasantly surprised by the approach of developers to the choice of cameras. In the case of Oppo, the main thing is not the competitive spirit of "who will fit more cameras on the case", but the effectiveness of all sensors. In this smartphone, there were three of them at once, not counting the front. Let's take a look at the IPhone twin in more detail.

The lens of the main camera produces only 12 MP with f/1.8 aperture. Despite the small values, the photos will turn out to be of high quality even at night. Users were not upset by the meager values, because the photo turns out to be saturated, with well-designed details. Only the zoom suffers, at which the images are significantly blurred.

The second lens got even less - 2 MP.It has a primitive aperture at its disposal, but widescreen shots are provided, and this is with a macro effect and a 27-mm angle. The latter snatched the remaining 2 MP, according to tradition, she is responsible for the depth of the frame (which made a splash in the 11th version of the iPhone).

Well, the replica failed. Oppo cameras are still far from the products of Steve Jobs.
However, let's not forget about the front camera with a value of 8 MP. Yes, the phone turned out to be not particularly gaming and certainly not blogging. This fact will not harm busy people, since communication, the most important factor, is at its best here. Memory too, and this is with an additional slot for a memory card up to 128 GB.

Advantages and disadvantages

• Big screen;
• Bright image;
• Fast loading;
• Beautiful, simple design;
• Similar to iPhone X;
• Case as a gift;
• face unlock;
• Good performance;
• Nice price.

• The charge is enough for one incomplete day;
• Ordinary camera;
• Cheap body materials and side frames.

Outcome

The review is coming to an end, so we can conclude that the Oppo A31 smartphone is an ideal solution for people who are just getting acquainted with modern technology. After all, the manufacturer did not think about games or high-quality frames. However, older people do not need this! A pleasant price (13,000 rubles) and a large screen on which you can see every letter and a large keyboard will surely please loved ones.