OPPO have been making news recently with their high end phones and their 10 x lossless zoom camera lens but it is the mid to lower-end phones where they made their name. OPPO have today released a new entry-level phone to the Australian market showing that they are not forgetting about their origins.
OPPO have today announced the AX5s and are pushing it as being a premium device at an entry-level price. The $299 smartphone boasts a 6.2-inch 720P LCD display with teardrop notch and a very high 89.35% screen-to-body ratio.
Imaging-wise it will sport a dual rear camera setup of 13MP and 2MP with AI built into the camera software and an 8MP front facing camera.
The AX5s will apparently provide up to 13.5 hours of video playback due to the 4230mAh battery and AI algorithm managing battery life and processor usage. The CPU is a Mediatek MTK6765 and is helped by a moderate 3GB of RAM. There is just 64GB of onboard storage – expandable up to 256GB. There is NO NFC onboard unfortunately.
Michael Tran, Managing Director at OPPO Australia, said that while everyone is watching for the upcoming 5G phones, which OPPO will indeed be one of the first with one, OPPO realise that not everyone can afford a premium flagship device:
We understand choosing to purchase a sub $300 smartphone usually means missing out on innovative features consumers actually want. That’s not the case with the AX5s, as we’ve taken many of the innovations found in OPPO’s flagship devices and packed them into our small but powerful new addition.
The OPPO AX5s will run ColorOS 5.2.1 on top of Android 8.1. There is no mention of any upgrade path to 9.0 but OPPO have told us they are committed to providing security updates to all their phones going forward.
The OPPO AX5s retails for $299 AUD and is available in both black and red colours from JB Hi-Fi, Telechoice, Yes Distribution and Mobileciti from today. It will arrive on Optus as well on the 29th of April. If you want a cheap phone with some good but not great hardware this might be one to check out.
