Mid-range gaming phones are certainly becoming more and more popular. As the prices of flagship smartphones rise beyond the PHP 20,000 mark, gamers have begun looking for cheaper alternatives.
This is where the Oppo A94 comes in. It’s been three months since its release, but the device still has the makings of a great gaming smartphone, complete with a sleek design, strong performance, and a neat camera for your social media needs. The big question is, does it still fare better than other mid-range phones in the market?
It’s time we find out.
United Colors of Oppo
The A94 is a great-looking device, specifically at its rear section. While the gradient aesthetic is prevalent in Oppo’s previous releases, the company’s usage of Flowing Light design for the rear section is simply mesmerizing. Depending on where you look, the phone will highlight shades of green, blue, or purple, along with a glossy design that makes the device more elegant than most smartphones. My only issue is that the unit’s gloss easily attracts more fingerprints than usual, so you may want to snag a silicon case or prepare tissues if you find it problematic.
The phone sports a 6.43-inch FHD+ AMOLED screen which can produce vibrant and bright colors for your viewing pleasure. The A94’s slim framework also makes it easier for gamers to hold the phone with one hand. The power button is accessible on the right side, while the volume rockers and the SIM card slot are located on the right side. Its bottom area consists of a speaker grill, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a USB-C port.
Neat Phone for Speedy Gaming
Oppo A94 features an eight-core MediaTek Helio P95 processor along with an 8GB-RAM capacity, which is pretty more than enough to juice up our gaming needs. Surprisingly, the chipset is powerful enough to handle multiple apps at the same time and run resource-heavy games such as Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, and even Genshin Impact.
We tested the phone’s benchmark performance, and the results are as follows:
While the A94’s single-core performance pales in comparison with other midrangers, the multi-core rate is truly considerable for a cheap mid-range phone.
The phone includes a new feature dubbed “Game Focus Mode.” The said option will allow players to easily filter notifications during game time and view important messages without disrupting their playthrough. Gamers can swipe the “Game Focus” tab at the left side of the screen to view various notifications and chats whenever they like. The Game Focus tab also shows the phone’s current CPU and GPU performance, which may alert the player if the A94 is about to heat up wildly.
We played Mobile Legends: Bang Bang to test if the phone can handle fast-paced MOBA titles smoothly. As expected, the OPPO A94 managed to run MLBB on “High” settings and display other visual features such as inking and effects without any problems, albeit there are times where the phone felt warm after a match or two. Lowering the graphic juice a notch down may solve the heating issue and lower the phone’s GPU usage.
The team tried out Call of Duty: Mobile to check if the A94 can display detailed environments and CG assets without compromising its framerate. Much to our surprise, we were able to max the settings up and it didn’t affect the GPU usage of the phone. Moreover, the A94 consistently ran CODM at 60 fps without any glitches and lags.
Sadly, the results were different when we ran the spec-demanding RPG Genshin Impact. While our playing experience was relatively decent at most, some cutscenes played glitchy and domain battles didn’t exactly pan the way the game’s PC version did. Lags occurred left and right, and there are considerable fringes at every asset. Fortunately, this result is to be expected as Genshin Impact demands higher specifications to run smoothly.
A Phone For Your Photographic Needs
The A94 comes with four rear cameras: A 48-megapixel f/1.7 lens, an 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide lens, a 2MP f/2.4 macro lens, and a 2MP f/2.3 depth lens. Judging by the aperture rates of each lens, we can definitely tell that the A94 is designed to meet casual shooters’ preferences. We took a stroll at BGC one afternoon, and we’re highly impressed by the amount of detail in each photo we took. The A94 can definitely go toe-to-toe with DSLRs in terms of shooting cityscapes.
Users may also opt to use the A94’s camera under low-light situations. There’s minimal grain with the toy photographs we took and the details remain intact. Our only nitpick is that some colors get oversaturated, but this can be dealt with by adjusting your settings or via post-processing.
Live Life at Full Speed With the A94
In conclusion, the OPPO A94 is a decent midranger built specifically for content creators and gamers alike. The phone will allow you to do everything you want with your device, just without all the bells and whistles of a flagship phone. Coupled with its sleek design and considerable performance, you can surely live your life at full speed with the A94.
Disclosure: OPPO provided us with an A94 unit for review purposes and we receive compensation from companies we review. However, our reviews and opinions remain unbiased and factual.