OPPO A78 First Impressions: An All-Rounder Entertainer that leaves no stone unturned

The mid-range segment has become the playground for OPPO where a slew of new smartphones has proven the ability of the global technology brand's knack for bridging unique, eye-catching designs with top-notch performance. The new OPPO A78 is no less and is a great example of this rare feat.

The OPPO A78, priced at INR 17,499, brings a minimalist runway design combined with immersive audio-visual experience, robust performance, long-lasting battery, and an outstanding triple camera setup. However, the vibrant AMOLED display at the core makes the A78 the literally king of entertainment in the segment. Here's our first impressions -

A treat to the eyes

The OPPO A78 features a 6.4-inch AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution and 90Hz refresh rate along with up to 180Hz touch sampling rate. The result is a vivid, immersive visual experience that keeps you glued to your favorite content across all OTT apps. The OPPO A78 comes with Widevine L1 certification so it supports high-definition video streaming from all mainstream video streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar and more.

The OPPO A78 also gets plenty bright, making content on the screen easily visible under direct sunlight. So, catching up on your favorite shows and films outdoors won't be an issue. The visual treat is complemented by rich audio from a pair of stereo speakers with Real Original Sound technology, that has been tested by Dirac for its Ultra Volume Mode that goes up to 200%. We didn't really need to plug in our earphones to enjoy watching movies on this phone.

All-Day Battery Life

The OPPO A78 packs a large 5000mAh battery for all-day entertainment. OPPO lab tests claim the battery is long enough for a 30-hour phone call, or a 658-hour long flight. Simply download your favorite movie or TV show and enjoy hours of entertainment on the go. Moreover, the battery capacity also ensures you never come up short, so don't bother downloading a mere handful of episodes, just que up the whole season of your favorite show.

And if you do run out of juice while consuming entertainment, the OPPO A78 is backed up by a fast 67W SUPERVOOCTM Flash Charge technology and believe us it charged up to 73% in 30 minutes, and a full charge in just about 45 minutes. It also delivered enough juice to finish a three-hour movie in 5 minutes of charge.

The battery life is ensured through the innovative Battery Health Engine that extends the lifespan to as many as 1,600 charge and discharge cycles, which is approximately four years. It is also optimized for all-day intelligent charging, especially for those who have a habit of plugging in their phone on charge all day while at work. The phone learns this habit and stops the charging at 80% and finishes the rest just before you're ready to leave.

The smartphone also has a 5-layer protective measure in place ensuring safety while charging. This includes protection from adaptor overload, flash charge condition identification, charging port, battery current/voltage overload, and battery fuse.

Unique, eye-catching design

The OPPO A78 looks stunning in the two-color finishes it comes with - Aqua Green and Mist Black. Both implement their own unique hand feel. We had the Aqua Green variant with us that uses a double-layer process to superimpose OPPO's first Diamond Matrix Design atop a water-green base layer. The Mist Black variant, on the other hand, comes with a touch of yellow-green to give a unique metallic gloss.

The OPPO A78 also features a unique runway design around the camera modules which are aligned vertically, to create a contrasting texture oval panel for a premium look. The side of the middle frame has been treated with C-angle treatment for an ergonomic grip.

The body itself is ultra-slim with a 2.5D right-angled middle frame and smoothened-out edges, which gives it a sleek appearance. The smartphone weighs just 180 grams and is 7.9mm thin. The design is heavily tailored towards providing a convenient entertainment experience to the user.

Every aspect of the phone is designed to make it feel comfortable in the hand, even after prolonged use. Moreover, OPPO has trimmed down the screen's bezels to ensure maximum screen real estate, allowing you to take full advantage of the vibrant AMOLED screen while consuming entertainment. The headphone jack is also perfectly positioned to ensure that the wire doesn't disrupt the viewing experience.

Oh, and did we mention it also comes with IP54 waterproof rating, so it can be resistant to splashes and spills.

This one's for the Vloggers

The OPPO A78 features a 50MP primary camera along with a 2MP depth camera for bokeh portraits, while on the front is an 8MP selfie shooter, with support for dual-view video where it can simultaneously shoot with both the front and rear cameras to combine them into a single frame. This feature single-handedly makes the smartphone perfect for budding Youtubers and vloggers who want to capture everything around them and layer them with their own reactions and commentary. We certainly enjoyed bringing out our inner YouTuber with this camera.

The OPPO A78 is also great for shooting portraits. It packs creative camera features such as Bokeh Flare portrait, AI Portrait Retouching, Flash Snapshot, and an ultra-clear 108MP mode to capture every little detail in portraits.

Selfies too come out great with an upgraded selfie HDR algorithm that is used with the Portrait Mode to bring out realism in the selfies, with vivid colors, natural skin tones, and life-like textures to your selfies.

OPPO said it has conducted user research to better understand local tastes and needs for portrait photography in different markets, making the results more personalized for users in India.

Butter-smooth Performance

The Snapdragon 680 under the hood of the OPPO A78 is combined with 8GB RAM, 128GB storage along with support for up to 1TB additional storage through a microSD card. The RAM can be further expanded by another 8GB using OPPO's RAM expansion technology, allowing more apps to be opened in the background and delivering improved performance when gaming. What makes this even smoother is OPPO's Dynamic Computing Engine, which can keep up to 19 apps alive in the background and improves app opening speeds by 1.42%. It is the same proprietary technology found on the high-end OPPO Reno smartphones, which should give you a fair idea of how smooth the UX feels.

The smartphone is also tested to guarantee a smooth experience for up to 4 years. So, whether you're browsing the web, watching videos on YouTube, or catching up on your favorite TV shows on-the-go, you are guaranteed long terms fluid, lag-free performance. Additionally, with storage expandable up to 1TB, the OPPO A78 offers enough space to house all your entertainment in Full HD resolution without having to worry about clearing space for future content.

On top of that, the OPPO A78 runs on ColorOS 13.1 based on Android 13, bringing increased efficiency and security. The A78 has the Auto Pixelate feature that automatically recognizes and pixelates sensitive information like profile photos and names on your chat screenshots with just one click. It also has Screen Translate, built with Google Lens, to translate entire screens with just one click from the sidebar across 105 languages. You can even use it on image-based text.

Final Impressions

With everything on offer, the OPPO A78 feels like a beautifully crafted smartphone that is a treat to the eyes in more ways than one. The smartphone's display is one of the brightest we have seen in this segment, with audio quality to match, for a theatrical experience in your pocket. The AMOLED display, slim bezels, and incredible speakers combine to deliver the best all-round entertainment experience in the segment. It also performs smoothly thanks to the powerful internal hardware and OPPO's software magic. Plus, there's no battery anxiety thanks to the fast 67W SUPERVOOCTM Flash Charge and a 5000mAh tank of a battery. This is going to be an easy recommendation for anyone looking for a phone that not only works smoothly, but also can be flaunted around.

Price, Availability and Offers:

The OPPO A78 is priced at INR 17,499 and is already up for sale across OPPO Store, Flipkart and mainline retailers. You can avail attractive offers mentioned below.

• Customers can avail a cashback of up to 10% (INR1500) from mainline retail outlets and no-cost EMI for up to 3 months from leading banks like SBI Cards, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bank of Baroda and One Card. Additionally, customers can enjoy attractive EMI schemes from leading financiers.

• Customers can avail instant INR 1500 discount on Flipkart from leading bank cardholders and a no-cost EMI for up to 3 months.

• OPPO customers can avail an Exchange + Loyalty Bonus of up to INR 500 from Offline and Online stores.