OPPO A78 5G Review: Surprisingly zippy

The OPPO A78 5G is a phone that feels far better than its $359 price tag suggests. It’s surprisingly snappy, and there's nothing cheap about the build quality. As a budget phone, it still makes some compromises, but the OPPO A78 5G great buy for anyone looking for a reliable device on the cheap. With some small caveats.

What we like about the OPPO A78 5G

Zippy enough. The OPPO A78 5G isn't a lighting-fast phone by any means, but it doesn't feel slow either. Day-to-day tasks and sufficiently responsive, with very little lag. Apps load from scratch more than you'd expect thanks to the small amount of RAM, but they load quickly so this isn't too much of an annoyance.

Surprisingly enough, the OPPO A78 5G can even handle more demanding games like Diablo Immortal. Admittedly, it can only play the game on the lowest settings - and you'll still get some stutter - but the overall experience was much better than what I was expecting.

Good battery. You can expect up to five hours of screen time per charge from the OPPO A78 5G. That's equivalent to about a day of moderate usage with a decent buffer at the end of the day. Most shouldn't be scrambling for a top-up.

If you do have a particularly big usage day, the A78 5G has fast charging, which isn't always a given at this price point. A 30-minute charge should take you from flat to just over 50%.

Nice finish. OPPO has always done a good job of making its budget phones feel better than their price tag suggests, and there are no exceptions when it comes to the A78 5G. It's solid, has nice clicky buttons, and a neat sparkly finish on the back.

Actually has some water resistance. The OPPO A78 5G is rated IPX4 for water resistance, which is the same as most earbuds these days. While this means the is only A78 5G rated to survive splashes rather than being submerged in water, any kind of water resistance on a sub $400 phone is incredibly rare.

What we dislike about the OPPO A78 5G

Poor camera quality. Photography is the only major concession you make with the OPPO A78 5G. It's just not very good. At $359, that's pretty understandable, but obviously still worth acknowledging.

Even in good lighting, images can look off-balance. Street photography on a sunny day came out overexposed. The melted cheese on my chicken parma blew out. The camera focused on my wine rack in the background rather than my dog.

Camera performance is even more of a mixed bag in low light. At its worst, nighttime photos have a 90s ghost hunting show aesthetic to them. Even when you luck out, you'll get images with very little detail, blown-out highlights, and motion blur.

You can get a decent photo if the lighting is just right, but the OPPO A78 5G

Low-resolution display. While the OPPO A78 5G is nice enough and has a 90Hz refresh rate, it runs a comparatively low 720p+ resolution. When combined with the generous 6.5-inch screen size, you get below-average pixel density. This results in less sharp text and objects when compared to a higher pixel density display and can be quite obvious if you're holding the A78 5G close to your face.

Only quarterly security updates. This is par for the course with more affordable devices, but the OPPO A78 5G only gets security updates on a quarterly basis, rather than monthly like pricier Android phones. OPPO is promising two major operating system upgrades and three years of security updates for the A78 5G.

OPPO A78 5G - Final Thoughts

The OPPO A78 5G is a great budget phone, provided you're not concerned about camera quality. While it can occasionally take a good photo, it’s too inconsistent to be useful as a camera on the go.

Fortunately, the phone's surprisingly snappy performance and solid battery life make up for this. You're naturally not going to get everything at a $359 price point, but what you do get is a reliable device for keeping in touch with the world.

OPPO A78 5G camera samples 

Alex Choros

Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor | X | Instagram | Threads | LinkedIn

Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

Read full bio