OPPO A98 5G 2023

The OPPO A98 5G 2023 continues OPPO’s tradition of well-made, fully-featured, and well-priced smartphones. This $649 mid-range offers excellent value.

We test over 70 aspects of smartphones, and here are the things in the OPPO A98 that stand out.

Let’s see how it performs.

We use Fail (below expectations), Passable (meets low expectations), Pass (meets expectations), Pass+ (near Exceed but not class-leading) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. These are based on the price bracket as well. You can click on most images for an enlargement.

Entry-level phones should at least score a pass mark against each category.

We strongly advise you to buy a genuine model with Australian firmware. It is easy to identify the Australian version – under Settings>About Device>Regulatory, there is an Australian RNZ C-tick mark. There is also an RNZ C-Tick on the box. They use unique Australian 5G sub-6Ghz and 5G low-band frequencies, requiring local activation first. Read Don’t buy a grey market phone (guide)

Oh dear, another glass slab. That is not a slight against OPPO – 99% of smartphones from all brands use this format as it delivers more cost-effective features. OPPO has made a feature of its Camera bump (like the new Reno 10 5G) and, as usual, put some pizzazz into the PMMA rear panel – Dreamy Blue or Cool Black. This smooth, shimmering surface resists fingerprints, scratches and wear.

The fingerprint sensor is on the right-side power button and is reliable. 2D Face ID is also available. The volume up/down buttons and SIM slot are on the left side.

The screen is protected by Panda 1681 tempered glass. It does a similar job to Gorilla Glass 3 in that it provides good levels of scratch protection. Neither brand offers impact resistance.

The screen is a Low-Temperature Polysilicon (LTPS) LCD screen, superior to other LCDs (IPS, TFT). It provides larger pixel densities, higher image quality and lower power consumption than standard LCD (TFT/IPS) screens.

This is a 2400 x 1080, 392ppi, 20:9, Adaptive 30/48/50/60/90/120Hz panel. It is very colour-accurate –the sRGB and DCI-P3 (movies) almost reach 100%. It is pretty bright at 550/680 Typical/HBM and will play HDR10 content downscaled to the screen’s Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) capability. It is daylight readable – not as much as AMOLED, but pretty good.

Summary: A bright, colour-accurate screen.

The OPPO A98 uses a Qualcomm SD695 5G System on a Chip (SoC), providing plenty of power for typical smartphone use. You can read complete benchmarks here.

It is not a gaming powerhouse – you need to buy an SD8 series, but it will play PUBG and browser-based games at 40-60fps on medium settings.

This has OPPO’s RAM expansion technology, which borrows up to 8GB of SSD for virtual memory; It helps smooth out multi-user Apps.

OPPO has nailed thermal management, and the SoC barely throttles. While it is not crucial for a mid-range, you can be a heavy user and still get full power.

It has a hybrid dual sim (one slot is microSD or sim). Not only does it find the four closest towers (few others do), but the phone’s signal strength is also excellent, reaching over 6pW (picowatt). Even the fourth, furthest tower away records usable strength signals.

Phone Summary: The OPPO A98 is for the city, suburbs, regional and rural use.

It has a 5000mAh battery and a 67W charger that fills it in 43 minutes – superb.

The battery tended to charge at 33W until 50%, then dropped to 27W to 75%, and 18W for the remainder. This means the 67W charger is overkill (more about bragging rights), and 33W is enough. Ten points to OPPO for including the charger inbox.

In premium OPPO models (including this), it uses a custom-designed chip, Smart Battery Health Algorithm and Battery Healing technology called Battery Health Engine to extend the recharge cycle life to over 1600 and still hold 80% of the charge. This is in comparison to most Lithium-Ion batteries at 300-500 cycles. Apart from a longer battery life (well over four years), OPPO smartphones with this technology will retain better trade-in value.

Typical users will get two days between charges, and even heavier users will get over a day. At 43 minutes for a recharge, who cares?

Read – How to extend your smartphone battery life (guide)

The OPPO A98 has an earpiece and bottom-firing speaker – a typical stereo phone setup. It uses the Qualcomm Aqusitic amplifier that can produce a maximum of 80dB (loud enough).

Real Original Sound by Dirac includes smart, movies, games, and music EQ settings. This works for speakers and headphones, although it impacts the latter most.

Hands-free is good, and two mics provide some noise cancelling.

Unfortunately, it has no low-or-mid bass and very slowly builds from 100Hz (high bass) to 700Hz. It is very Mid-centric: (bass recessed, mid boosted, treble recessed) – for clear voice only.

The sound stage is as wide as the phone in landscape. But a distinct bias to the bottom speaker means poor Left/Right separation.

Bluetooth 5.1 BLE is very good with SBC/ AAC/aptX/aptX HD/aptX TWS/LDAC Codecs.

OPPO has always had a class-leading build standard, and its resultant reliability is about 99% in an industry that thinks anything over 90% is good. Add a two-year warranty and excellent local after-sales support; you can see why it scores so highly in customer satisfaction ratings.

The OPPO A98 t is beautifully built, with Panda 2 front glass (like GG3), an iridescent and tough PMMA back, and only lacks a formal IP rating. While that is important, I can live without it – I have never toilet-dunked my phone.

OPPO’s policy is now 2+2+3 – two years warranty, two OS upgrades and three years of quarterly security patches. This is great for a $649 phone.

ColorOS 13.1 is a valuable light overlay on Android 13 – it papers over the pure Android cracks.

It has all the Google Apps and OPPO substitutes (as OPPO cannot use Google Apps or services in China). OPPO has also drastically reduced bloatware, removing pre-installed Facebook, TikTok, etc.

It has a 64MP (bins to 12MP) primary wide sensor. The 2MP depth is for Bokeh shots only, and the 2MP 20/40X Microscope is for fun – it works.

There is no ultra-wide angle; the digital zoom is 6X, and there is no OIS (but Qualcomm EIS). It is a good point-and-shoot camera. Video is a maximum of 1080p@30fps with EIS.

Camera Summary: Versatile smartphone point-and-shoot camera. Exposure, dynamic range, colour, autofocus, and textures are all above par for this phone’s price level.

For the price, it is an excellent Qualcomm Snapdragon device, has a terrific camera, long battery life (and a 67W charger inbox), incredible phone reception and Applesque enough to make people think it is one.

It gets our buy recommendation.

The $600-699 space is crowded with 2023 and 2022 run-out models.

The fact is that these are all excellent phones, and you would be happy with any. The OPPO A98 5G 2023 and Motorola Edge 30 5G 2022 are best for rural and remote area use.

We review most Australian smartphones. Some excite (OPPO Find X5/Pro), some are meh, and some are just good phones. The OPPO A98 is a good phone with no downsides. The excitement comes from knowing you got great value from a well-made, Qualcomm-based phone that will last the distance.

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