The budget-friendly OPPO A57 from 2017 gets a new lease of life with the new OPPO A57 2022. Its new version retains the budget-friendly nature of the original while updating its specifications and design of the current year. It now looks much better than before and now comes with a MediaTek Helio P35, dual rear cameras, and aa 5,000mAh battery with 33W Fast Charging among many other upgrades.
| Chipset | MediaTek Helio G35 |
| Screen | 6.56-inch IPS, 1612 x 720, 100% DCI-P3, 96% NTSC |
| RAM | 4GB |
| OS | Android 12, ColorOS 12.1 |
| Rear Camera | 13MP f/2.2 Main, 2MP f/2.4 Depth |
| Front Camera | 8MP f/2.0 |
| Storage | 64GB, 128GB, MicroSD |
| Network | Dual-SIM, 4G LTE |
| Connectivity | WiFi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, USB Type-C, 3.5mm Audio Jack |
| Battery | 5,000mAh, 33W Fast Charging |
| Others | Side-Mounted Fingerprint Scanner |
| Dimensions | 163.7 x 75 x 8mm |
| Weight | 187g |
| Colors | Glowing Green, Glowing Black |
The OPPO A57 2022 comes in a bright blue-green box with OPPO’s branding and its name embossed. It is accompanied by a silicone case, 33W wall adapter, USB-A to USB-C cable, a SIM ejector pin, and documentation.
The OPPO A57 2022 now flaunts the brand’s Glow Design that gives the smartphone a glittery finish that hides its budget-friendly roots. The device does look good with the glitter effect hiding dust, scratches, and smudges that would have appeared on shiny devices. It also has flat edges and rounded corners for a striking look.
The power button has a built-in fingerprint sensor and is located at the right-hand side. The volume rocker and triple-cut SIM tray are placed at the reverse side. The latter is able to house two SIM cards and a MicroSD card at the same time.
The bottom houses its bottom-firing speaker, a USB-C port that supports 33W Fast Charging, a microphone for calls, and a 3.5mm audio jack.
Its screen is a 6.56-inch 1612 x 720 display with 60Hz refresh rate. We expected a higher resolution for the A57 or at least 90Hz refresh rate like some offerings in the budget segment. OPPO, however, is promising good color performance as the panel supports 100% DCI-P3.
Colors performance is indeed good to gain some ground from the low resolution and refresh rate. The display looks well-saturated under Vivid mode although it does slightly boost blue and red hues. Measured color coverage is close to the brand’s promise at around 94.50% DCI-P3.
Brightness is impressive at around 428.45 cd/m2 at maximum brightness, which should be enough for good display clarity while outside. Contrast is decent as well allowing the display to add detail lost from its low resolution.
Despite its price, the OPPO A57 2022 has two speakers – the bottom-firing speaker and the earpiece. The two work together to deliver good audio performance from a budget-friendly smartphone. The bass is punchy and there is some soundstage present. The volume can get incredibly loud at maximum though some of the details can get lost. Those who still want to preserve audio clarity will need to back off the volume.
The smartphone comes with Android 12 with ColorOS 12.1 out of the box. Everything is streamlined and intuitive. Customization is still the focus of OPPO with different options to make the smartphone yours like various icon styles, wallpapers, themes, and widgets.
User privacy is also being addressed with the Privacy Dashboard. This allows users to see what apps are running and their permissions. Of course, standard Android options are present like dark mode, multi-window, split-screen, and an easy-to-use command center.
The smartphone comes with a 13MP f/2.2 main lens and a 2MP f/2.4 mono camera at the back and an 8MP f/2.0 front-facing shooter. It is missing an ultrawide lens but this can be forgiven given its entry-level position in the market.
Its 13MP f/2.2 main lens takes good photos under good conditions. Details are sharp when the sun is out or if its in a well-lit area. Introducing a bit of shade in the photos reduces the quality by a bit. Noise is now noticeable in darker areas and details are now lost especially at the edges. Colors, however, look good and natural without obvious boosting of sharpness or colors.
Inside the A57 is a MediaTek Helio G35 with 4GB RAM and 64GB or 128GB of storage depending on the variant. We were surprised to see the G35 on the smartphone since it is a chipset that dates back to late 2020. Performance is mixed. There is some lag when loading heavy apps like games or when you fill up the RAM with background apps.
Benchmark performance is… terrible. Its chipset is starting to show its age as it fails to make any decent scores on benchmarks especially when compared to the ultra-competitive budget smartphone market. Some benchmarks wouldn’t even run as the P35 does not support the Vulkan API when it was released.
The P35 isn’t designed to handle heavy gaming. Graphically-intensive games like Genshin Impact will run like a slideshow even at the lowest settings. There is a silver lining, however, as the device can still run mainstream titles like Call of Duty Mobile, League of Legends: Wild Rift, and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang with some graphical tuning in the settings menu.
A 5,000mAh battery powers the OPPO A57 2022. Battery life is excellent thanks to its modest specifications with a single charge lasting around 2 days with average use. Unfortunately, PCMark Work 3.0 battery test to work on the device as the test always crashes just before it finishes.
The biggest upgrade of the A57 is the 33W Fast Charging. It can fill up the battery in around an hour and 20 minutes, which is pretty fast for a modestly positioned device.
Taken as a package, the OPPO A57 2022 is a decent entry-level smartphone. It has an eye-catching design, long battery life, good camera system, and surprisingly solid speakers. Performance, however, is lacking due to the under-powered processor. It would have been better if OPPO have chosen a more recent entry-level chipset.
If gaming is low on your priority list and prefer design and battery life, then the OPPO A57 2022 is a solid entry-level driver. But those who need speed on their side might want to look at something else.
The OPPO A57 2022 is now available in the Philippines for PhP 8,999 for the 4GB/64GB variant and PhP 10,999 for the 4GB/128GB. It can be had through the official Shopee and Lazada flagship stores and authorized retailers nationwide.
