The OPPO A55 is one of the latest budget smartphones to come from the brand. It positioned at PhP 9,999, which is odd given that it only has a MediaTek Helio G35 for a chipset and a HD+ 6.51-inch 1600 x 720 display. It’s up against other budget monsters in the range but has OPPO given the A55 more than meets the eye?
| Chipset | MediaTek Helio G35 |
| Screen | 6.51-inch IPS, 1600 x 720 |
| RAM | 4GB |
| OS | Android 11, ColorOS 11.1 |
| Rear Camera | 50MP f/1.8 Main, 2MP f/2.4 Macro, 2MP f/2.2 Mono Lens |
| Front Camera | 16MP f/2.0 |
| Storage | 64GB, expandable via MicroSD Slot |
| Network | Dual-SIM, 4G LTE |
| Connectivity | Dual-Band WiFi 802.11ax, Bluetooth 5.1, USB Type-C |
| Battery | 5,000mAh, 18W Fast Charging |
| Others | Side-Mounted Fingerprint Scanner, Face Unlock |
| Colors | Starry Black, Rainbow Blue |
The OPPO A55 comes with the bare necessities of a smartphone. Inside its blue box is the device itself, a USB Type-C cable, an 18W Fast Charger, a silicone case, documentation, and a SIM eject pin. Not much out of the ordinary here.
The A55 has a proper OPPO budget design that we have seen before. The rear is made out of matte plastic with a smooth finish that won’t attract fingerprints but might show oil stains overtime. The sides are curved for better handling while the top and bottom remain flat.
Its power button is placed at the right-hand side and comes with an integrated fingerprint sensor. Performance of the sensor is fast and seamless but the button itself lacks travel distance. The volume buttons are at the left-hand side and offer decent tactility.
At the top of the A55’s volume rocker is its triple cut SIM tray. You can fit it in 2 Nano-SIM cards and a microSD slot to expand storage at the same time.
The bottom houses the smartphone’s 3.5mm audio jack, USB Type-C port that supports 18W Fast Charging, and grilles for its microphone and bottom-firing speaker.
The OPPO A55 has a rather vanilla 6.51-inch 1600 x 720 display. There are no fancy stuff here like 90Hz or an AMOLED panel, which puts it at a disadvantage at some of the sub-PhP 10,000 smartphones in the market.
Despite missing some of the more attractive features, the A55’s screen has decent performance. Color gamut is okay and brightness breaches the 400cd/m2 mark but the sub-FullHD resolution means that some details are not as crisp to the eye especially with a large display. Blacks are not as deep as AMOLED screens but contrast ratio is fairly good.
The smartphone only has a single-bottom firing speaker for audio. It lacks depth and soundstage but it has volume. Bass is a tad weak to our liking though the highs don’t get tinny and vocals remain clear even at maximum volume.
The OPPO A55 comes with Android 11 with ColorOS 11.1. The whole OS itself feels familiar like most devices from the brand and have added more customization options on top of vanilla Android.
ColorOS adds icon customization, which includes various icon shapes, sizes, and icon styles. Various themes can be obtained via the Theme Store and animations do feel smoother compared to previous iterations of the OS.
Long-standing features are still present such as Dark Mode, improved gestures, and privacy options. The device can also take advantage of split-screen, multi-window, and floating windows to improve efficiency in switching apps.
Game Assistant and Game Space returns to make improve gaming performance. The former acts as a quick manager while playing games by swiping left while you can easily arrange games and automatically close all apps with Game Space.
The OPPO A55 comes with a triple camera setup at the back: a 50MP f/1.8 main lens, a 2MP f/2.4 macro lens, and a 2MP f/2.4 mono lens. At the front is a single 16MP f/2.0 selfie camera. Its camera app has all the standard photo options like Night Mode, Portrait, Expert, Time-Lapse, Macro, Sticker, and Panorama. Of course, HDR and 50MP mode is also supported by the device.
Its main camera natively takes 12.5MP photos but it seems that the camera app is missing a 50MP mode at the time of review thus the device isn’t able to upscale photos to 50MP.
Photos taken by its main lens is mixed. Those taken in proper lighting will have good details and okay colors. Introducing a slight overcast even in daylight will introduce some noise in photos but it won’t be noticeable from less critical eyes.
Pictures from the evening or low light areas will have less detail than its daylight counterparts. Fortunately, colors are still pretty good but autofocus may encounter problems in incredibly dim areas.
The A55’s 2MP f/2.4 macro lens only adds another camera on the spec sheet and doesn’t perform with any kind of redeeming qualities. It will get you close to subjects at 4cm but details are not sharp due to the low pixel count and colors are washed out.
At the front of the A55 is a 16MP f/2.0 selfie lens. It is able to take decent selfies with good color rendition and nice contrast in good lighting conditions. Quality does take a dip in darker scenes and the AI beautification can get aggressive even in default settings.
The OPPO A55 is powered by a MediaTek Helio G35, which is an odd choice since it is positioned at the PhP 9,999 mark. Most devices that sport this chipset are entry-level smartphones near the PhP 7,000 price point.
Synthetic benchmarks are unimpressive to say the least. The chipset is only able to score 5,065 in PCMark Work 3.0 and is nearly able to reach only the 100,000 mark in AnTuTu Benchmark, which is somewhat expected from a budget-oriented chipset.
Most games will be able to run on the A55 at medium or low settings. Mainstream MOBA and FPS games run at a steady clip but dips below the 60fps mark and have occasional stutters. Playing graphically-intensive games such as Genshin Impact is unrealistic and will lead to unplayable framerates.
Battery life is perhaps one of the strong suits of the OPPO A55 as it packs a hefty 5,000mAh battery and is paired with a rather power efficient chipset. We were able to use the device comfortably with medium use for more than a day before it dropped to 20 percent. Running PCMark Work 3.0 battery life test produced a good 18 hours of usage.
Its 18W Fast Charging capabilities is standard for this tier of device and can fill up its tank at around 2 hours from 0 – 100 percent.
Priced at PhP 9,999, the OPPO A55 is placed at an odd position in the market. It sports a MediaTek Helio G35 that some might consider reserved for a lower price point and that is reflected in its benchmarks and gaming performance. The display will also turn off others with its lack of 90Hz refresh rate and sub-FullHD resolution.
Its main lens is decent in good lighting but will introduce noise in slightly shaded areas and significantly more in dimly lit scenes. It also currently lacks the ability to upscale photos to 50MP which is one of the main highlights in its marketing, but this can be fixed via software update in the future.
It does have some redeeming qualities, however, like its large 5,000mAh battery that can last more than a day, decent charging speed, and a fairly complete set of software features that will serve most users.
Overall, the OPPO A55 might not be a smart buy at its current price. It is a solid entry-level smartphone but we believe it should priced lower than it is now. It will only be worth the money if you are able to snag it at a low price on a sale or on a promo.
The OPPO A55 is now available in the Philippines through its official Lazada and Shopee stores. You can also get it through OPPO brand stores and authorized retailers nationwide.
