Oppo A57 4G Review Part II

Now this is where the fun begins

PERFORMANCE:

The phone uses a MediaTek Helio G35 chipset. Oppo’s favourite chipset to use in almost all of their A series budget phones (even the newer ones). We’re not really sure why Oppo is sticking to it and slapping a golden price tag on it, it certainly can sway people away. This has 4GB RAM with 64GB internal storage. You could expand the RAM virtually, up to 8GB (restart the phone for it to take effect), and the MicroSD card expands the internal storage.

With the given 64GB, you could use about 48GB of storage as the 15.7GB is occupied by Android (and the ColorOS 12.1 skin) and updates. With this limited amount of storage, to test out as many games as possible, we constantly have to uninstall them right after playing, with only a select few staying after we played the games.

We actually tested them both with Virtual RAM and without Virtual RAM. That way we can test whether it does have an effect towards performance.

When we played the games, unlike other HD+ phones we’ve tested in the past, the graphics don’t look pixelated and in fact, look high quality. That’s pretty much the only good thing about the performance side, and we can just add this as part of the display review.

Asphalt 9: Legends

Asphalt 9 is surprisingly (or not) the least demanding game and the game that costs the least storage for us to download, only about 3GB. While other games like Mobile Legends demanded 12GB and Tower of Fantasy 20GB storage and more.

With that said, the game is played in HIGH graphics, first with the 4GB Virtual RAM enabled. The game ran a little smoother though thanks to the ageing chipset, it still is plagued with frame drops and hanging, especially when recording it. The game is recorded in FullHD which, added with the low RAM and internal storage, caused it to lag. Outside of recording, the game ran adequately okay. Not something to brag about

When playing the game normally, nothing much changed. Except that the game actually ran with more problems. We’re lucky it did not force close. As you can see, the frame drops here happen much more frequently. And yes, even without recording it, the game still suffers from performance problems. ColorOS is optimized so we’re putting the blame on the choice of chipset Oppo used for the A57.

It’s still playable but we recommend saving some space and enabling Virtual RAM so the game will run a little smoother.

Call of Duty Mobile

Playing Call of Duty Mobile on this phone ran smoother than expected. It’s on its default LOW settings and the phone uses a MediaTek Helio G35 chipset which I don’t expect to run well with the game. The video unfortunately has some audio issues which we tried to remedy with Handbrake but it was futile. Without Virtual RAM, you should obviously expect constant frame drops even without recording.

With Virtual RAM however, the performance significantly improved. Although we recommend still sitting with low settings due to the chipset’s limitations. The game with all its assets downloaded has taken over 12GB of space. Since the phone only gives you 48GB, that means 1/4 of the storage was taken over just by Call of Duty alone. In addition, the Virtual RAM takes over 4GB more and will not work if you have less than 8GB of storage.

As recording uses a significant amount of resources, playing the game plainly would make it run smoother if you have Virtual RAM enabled. There are still frame drops but they are far more reduced and makes the game more comfortable to play

League of Legends: Wild Rift

League of Legends Wild Rift generally isn’t a highly-demanding game. For the most part, the game ran smoothly with little to no problems. Except when it’s teamfight time, where the chipset could not keep up with the intensity of the chaos of the fight so it started lagging. The game lacks any sort of customizable settings. For the graphics, you could choose between low or medium but you can have super high resolution. Also, your choice of FPS is 30 or 60.

This applies even when you have Virtual RAM enabled. Remember Virtual RAM does not replace or improve your chipset’s performance in its entirety, but will definitely help in handling heavier tasks much easier. And speaking of Virtual RAM, As League is not that much of a demanding game, it ran much more comfortably, at a constant and steady 24fps. There is no sign of compression or artifacts. Still though, it’s not consistent, the game will still lag from time to time especially during team fights.

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang

Mobile Legends is actually the second heaviest game I have downloaded, right behind Tower of Fantasy. The game has several assets including hero models, animations, music, game modes, and the overall game itself. Here, it shows. It shows how demanding it is and how uncomfortable is to play. Aside from Tower of Fantasy, Mobile Legends is the one game I will NEVER play on this phone. Virtual RAM can’t save this one.

Tower of Fantasy

You may be wondering… why Tower of Fantasy and not Genshin Impact. I have a few reasons. But mostly because the game is relatively new so the game will not eat as much storage as Genshin Impact would and I thought it would be nifty reviewing or including at least one new release, especially if it’s still fresh from the oven. I wouldn’t want to miss out on that sweet free clicks. Sticking to trends keep reviews relevant and healthy. That’s just facts, pure transparency.

So how did it fare? Well… imagine adding a V8 turbo engine on a 60s Corolla. That’s how much it works. This is by the way without the Virtual RAM stuff and it already shows so much suffering. So much the phone would probably die of heat stroke. For sure, even with virtual RAM enabled at 4GB, the difference would be linear.

The game lags so much (it probably runs on at least 5fps constantly) that the text couldn’t keep up with the dialogue. Imagine playing Genshin Impact with this. It’s going to be a terrible experience. Again, blame the chipset.

BIOMETRICS:

The Oppo A57 4G features a side-mounted fingerprint scanner (the original had it on the front and worked as the home button too) and also supports face unlock.

The fingerprint sensor is placed just right. Not too high or not too low. Although it can get annoying how you can touch it accidentally and the phone will scan your fingerprints. So there’s a decent chance you might lock yourself out just by unconsciously or unintentionally holding the phone naturally. Also, this opinion is coming from someone that got used to the rear fingerprint scanner. For a first-time user, we like the position of the fingerprint scanner.

The same can be said about the face unlock. It doesn’t work with a mask on or anything that covers your face and it doesn’t get fooled by using images. That’s pretty cool, at least non-owners can’t just easily bypass it. It’s annoying how it tries to scan your face. It’s quite a sensitive feature as even a slight detection of your face, the phone will unlock, so we had a hard time recording the lock screen. It’s useless even if we cover our faces as the lock screen will turn itself off after a few seconds.

Nonetheless, it’s a feature that works, and when it works, it works fast and accurately.

BATTERY:

The phone comes equipped with a 5000mAh battery and 33W of SuperVOOC (What does that mean Oppo?) fast charging. It ships with a 33W charging brick and USB-C cable so that’s a plus. It is, after all, the phone’s main highlight. Its long-lasting battery.

Normally I would test the battery endurance with PCMark but it just keeps failing on me. So to determine the battery endurance, I did something more traditional. Use the phone on the daily until it dies out, or reaches 10%. I fully charged it and then have it on the go.

My record clocked at 14h. At least, that’s what the battery settings told me, and I further confirmed this by using the phone with data, with a hotspot, and listening to music as well as watching videos and gaming. So basically, an everyday mundane use. A 14-hour record is pretty impressive, and the battery itself does not depreciate quickly if it’s on stand-by for a long time. The HD+ screen and 12nm process might have helped that. Also, the phone uses AI algorithms to carefully learn your usual activities so that it can appropriately optimize apps that require a lot of power.

As for the charging, the phone charged relatively fast with the given 33W charger. Oppo claims 72 minutes but my record shows 70 minutes which is just what is advertised. That’s from an empty battery to full too. This is impressive as it is rare to see charging speeds above 18W on a budget phone. Even Samsung sticks with 25W even with their flagships.

SOUNDS and SPEAKERS:

Oppo claims this phone has stereo speakers. They may be seeing what I’m not because I don’t see a second speaker down there. There’s only one, on the left. And after that is the USB-C port, microphone, and headphone jack.

Regardless, the phone has pretty solid speakers which I used for vlogging and playing music. It’s pretty loud too. Even at only 50% volume it can rock a room. What more at 200? Yep, as if full volume isn’t loud enough, now you can party with the Oppo A57 4G.

One thing I don’t like is the lack of bass for the speakers. It is loud, but lacks clarity.

Bluetooth sounds good too, although that would depend on the type of headset you use. In my case, the Oppo Enco Air2 Pro. This is to keep things consistent. The specs sheet on Oppo said it has an aptX HD codec but Device Info HW says otherwise. AptX is unlikely because the phone uses a MediaTek chipset, not a Qualcomm one.

Regardless, obviously the Oppo Enco Air2 Pro provides a clear, rich sound. That’s a review for another day but in a nutshell, it sounds better than the speakers because it has a balance of bass, mids, and highs. It’s immersive. Also, its noise-cancellation feature would block almost any loud noises, 90% of the time. So the next time your mom calls you for dinner, you would definitely hear anger and shouting the next time you remove your earphones.

CONCLUSION

The Oppo A57 4G lived up to its predecessor, except with the selfie camera. The phone is another typical budget phone, but unlike those other typical budget phones, this one comes with a glamorously beautiful design, a strength Oppo is known for since the beginning.

It’s a shame though the front camera did not live up. However, that’s not the point anymore. The phone shifted focus to providing power, so in short, it’s now a power user’s phone. It charges rapidly and has a strong battery to include. You would tire yourself out just by using it. Its performance needs tweaking and we’re hoping Oppo would just stop using the Helio G35 and P35. Let it rest. The chipset is ageing and we believe it needs retiring. The G37 and the UNISOC T610 are there to replace it.

PROS:

• For a phone with an HD+ screen, it reproduces sharp and vibrant colours
• The design itself looks premium and deceptively metallic
• Decent photos given the fact it is only a 13MP sensor. It is bright and vibrant
• Surprisingly competitive night mode
• Front Camera can do panoramic shots that enhance viewing angles.
• Strong and long-lasting battery makes it ideal for power users
• Very fast charging. The phone charged within an hour from empty to full which is what is advertised
• Even with only 64GB space, you can have up to 4GB of virtual RAM.
• Side-mounted fingerprint sensor responses fast. Face unlock is not fooled by pictures
• Very loud speakers. Volume can be maximized to 200 and it gets really loud from there.
• Dedicated MicroSD card slot (2 NanoSIM + MicroSD card, up to 1TB)

CONS:

• Terrible performance. There is noticeable UI lag and the UI eats a quarter of the already low storage space
• Not an ideal gaming phone as common games like Mobile Legends suffers highly noticeable frame drops even on default settings.
• Too much bloatware. Thankfully, most of it can be removed as they are third-party (e.g. Facebook, TikTok)
• Lack of camera features. No Slow-Mo video nor 4K video either
• Portrait Mode feels artificial. it’s a hit-and-miss. Night mode only works in low-light areas
• The front camera has terrible quality and lacks colour reproduction and dynamic range
• Speakers lack clarity which is especially evident in louder volumes

AVAILABILITY:

The Oppo A57 4G is available for purchase now on Lazada, Shopee, and offline Oppo stores. 64GB isn’t enough these days but thankfully the phone has a 128GB version (still stuck at 4GB RAM though). It comes in Glowing Green (our review unit), Glowing Black, and Gold exclusively for the base 4/64 version.

Its prices are Php 8,999 and Php 10,999 respectively.

We hope you enjoyed reading our review. This was a fun and wild ride. Stay tuned as there is still a video version of it coming soon.