One of China’s biggest smartphone manufacturer, Oppo, is starting off the year 2018 with a newly launched device, the Oppo A71 (2018).
The Oppo A71 (2018) isn’t a new device in its entirety but rather, the end product of Oppo fine-tuning an old product, the Oppo A71 to even better taste by bringing in new amazing features on board.
The Oppo A71 (2018) was silently launched (probably because it isn’t a flagship phone) in Pakistan in late days of January 2018 and specs of the device showed that not much has changed when compared to its predecessor. However, Oppo managed to make modifications in the System-on-Chip, front camera and other internal make-up of the device.
Let’s have a peek at the some of the highlight specifications of the Oppo A71 (2018).
Table of Contents
Oppo A71 (2018) Specifications
- Dimension: 148.1 mm x 73.8 mm x 7.6 mm
- Weight: 137 grams (with battery)
- Display: 5.2 inches 720 x 1280 pixels HD screen
- Processor: 1.8GHz Octa-core Snapdragon 450 SoC
- GPU: Qualcomm Adreno 506
- Operating System: Android Nougat v7.1
- RAM: 2GB
- Internal memory (ROM): 16GB
- Rear camera: 13-megapixels with LED flash
- Front camera: 5-megapixels with AI-powered Face Beautification
- Price: Rs 12,990 ($200)
Oppo A71 (2018): Design
The Oppo A71 (2018) comes with a finesse body build and finish. With an aluminum alloy body covering, the A71 (2018) reeks nothing but premium-ness, which of course is a feature to look out for in every modern day smartphone – phones with the plastic body are losing the interest of many. The device is available in Gold and Black colour variant only and is relatively slim at 7.6 mm thickness level.
When compared with the Oppo A71 that was released earlier (sometime in 2017), the new A71 (2018) offers the same design, dimension, position of buttons/keys and other components. Same old same old. Nothing was changed here. In fact, no new colours were introduced, but the likelihood of bringing in new colour options is still very much high.
On the rear of the A71 (2018), the primary camera and its assigned LED flash are embedded at the top right corner while the shiny Oppo logo in small letters is at the uppermost half of the device. When viewed from the front, the volume adjustment keys have left the side of the device while the power/lock button is on the left.
The 3.5mm headphone jack can be found on the top of the Oppo A71 (2018) while the USB port (micro USB) and speaker grills are positioned at the bottom. I particularly love the placement of the speakers at the bottom. This eliminates the need to turn your device upside-down to get the best audio and sound quality.
Display
The Oppo A71 (2018) comes with a 5.2 inches IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen. Compared to the latest display trends in the smartphone world – like minimal bezels, 18:9 aspect ratio – the Oppo A71 (2018) display isn’t much of a big deal. Why? – It doesn’t feature any of those trends.
However, the device’s display (its type, and quality) is pretty much very decent will give great image quality, colour production, and rendition. The display has an HD of 1280 x 720 pixels and a pixel density of 282 pixels per inch. The device has quite big bezels surrounding all four sides of the display and quite sadly, there is no protective mechanism of any sort; be it Corning’s Gorilla Glass or Dragontail’s – none!
If you consider buying or using the Oppo A71 (2018), you might want to purchase some accessories like a case, or an extern glass/plastic screen protector.
Processor & Storage
Regarding the Oppo A71 (2018) processor and other internal components, Oppo fine-tuned a whole lot. I mentioned this in earlier paragraphs. However, I’d be starting with what remained the same. Plot twist☺️
Like the Oppo A71, the operating system on the A71 (2018) is the Android Nougat, version 7.1. The built-in memory was also left at 16GB. This is small of course but can be expanded to as high as 256GB via micro SD card in the dedicated slot.
Sadly, the RAM was reduced to 2GB. I really don’t understand the logic behind this decrease as this device is meant to be an upgrade. Still, the device should multitask beautifully with 2GB – I’ve seen many 2GB RAM runs as many as 30 to 40 apps without glitches.
To the components that were upgraded: the Octa-core Cortex-A53 processor frequency has also been beefed up to 1.8GHz. This increment translates to nothing else but faster operations, the quicker launching of applications and fluid multitasking.
Also, on the A71 (2018), Oppo have dumped MediaTek’s chip and adopted Qualcomm’s Snapdragon. The device comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 SoC and Adreno 506 GPU to assist the SoC and for graphical representation. With these, the Oppo A71 (2018) would do well in handling heavy and multiple apps simultaneously without heating up or lagging.
Camera
The Oppo A71 (2018) comes with a 13-megapixel lens on the rear and thank the inherent Ultra HD technology, the rear camera can capture images of up to 32MP quality. The LED flashlight also provides, to an extent, brighter images under conditions of low light.
On the flip side, the front camera is present and is of 5-megapixel quality. However, the software part of the selfie cam is awesome.
The A71 (2018) launched with an exciting AI-powered Beauty Recognition Technology which takes a cue from a global image database to beautify the key areas on the face(s) of the subject to be captured. In addition, the selfie camera is incorporated with a bokeh feature that blurs out objects in the background and places total focus on the subject. With the A71 (2018), Oppo is revolutionizing the way we take selfies – taking it to a whole new level.
Battery
The device uses a Lithium Polymer battery with a capacity of 3,000 mAh. This battery backup is decent enough as the manufacturer states that it can give a talk time of up to 25 hours and thanks to the quick charge feature, charge time is somewhere between 1 to 2 hours.
Price and Availability
The Oppo A71 (2018) has been launched in Pakistan and its launch price is Rs 12,990. The device is expected to be available for global purchase in the coming week (before February comes to an end).
Pros
- Awesome AI-powered selfie camera
- Good design
- Decent battery
Cons
- No fingerprint sensor
- Big bezels
- Reduced RAM