Hands-on review: OPPO A72, the budget phone with killer cameras

Over the past couple of years, OPPO have been climbing their way up the Android phone chain. Their flagship Find X2 and X2 Pro have been doing great. The A72, however, is their budget model. Is this device good enough or did it sacrifice too much in favour of the low pricetag?

Design

The A72 doesn't compromise at all when it comes to the design. It looks stunning. It offers a beautiful 1080P 6.5-inch Neo-Display that stretches across the entire screen with no notch and bezels so thin you will not notice them. I was impressed by this as usual budget devices get the thick notch and bezels on top to try and push people towards buying the flagships. OPPO did not do that here and I respect that.

The phone is available in two colours: Aurora Purple and Twilight Black. Both colours were inspired by the polar region, which is a nice touch.

Performance and battery life

The OPPO A72 is rocking the Qualcomm Snapdragon Processor with 64-bit Octa-Core. That with the 4GB RAM and 128GB ROM give the A72 the capacity to handle anything you would expect from a phone at that price. You can easily open multiple applications in the background while playing games with no problems at all.

The battery life is where I was really impressed. The phone has a 5000 mAh battery and comes with an 18W fast charger. I never expect budget phones to come with a fast charger, but this is another area where OPPO made sure to take care of the consumer.

Even with extensive use, the phone had no problem lasting a full day on one charge. On light use, the battery lasts up to two days easy. Even with the phone on standby, I was able to get a full week out of the battery – impressive.

Camera

The camera is probably the greatest selling point of the OPPO A72. The Phone has a 48MP AI Quad Camera. It has a 48MP main camera, a 119-degree ultra-wide lens, and two portrait style lenses. All four cameras work together to produce quality images you would not expect from a budget device.

The phone did a brilliant job taking pictures during the day, But I was most impressed by the quality of the Night mode.

Here are a couple of pictures that show how good Night Mode is:

I also wanted to see how good the Ultra-Wide camera worked at night without Night Mode and I was positively surprised. The camera still produced a stunning image that showed enough detail.

Verdict

For a budget phone, The A72 is a great device. It has a stunning screen, a decent processor, great battery life and an impressive camera. For just $499, the A72 is a brilliant deal.