The OPPO A9 2020 became one of the most popular smartphones in September 2019 because of its 48MP quad-camera setup, 8GB RAM, and massive 5,000mAh battery. Those numbers are impressive!
I have used the device for a month to test its gaming performance, camera quality, battery life, build quality, and overall user experience. Here is my full review of the OPPO A9 2020 smartphone.
Design and Display
USB Type-C port of the OPPO A9 2020.
I reviewed a Marine Green color variant of the OPPO A9 2020. Its glossy back has a deep green color on the sides that goes to a deeper shade towards the middle. The OPPO logo, fingerprint scanner, and three of its quad cameras are also lined-up nicely in the middle.
The power button with a green accent color is on its right side while the volume keys and card trays are accessible on the left side. A USB Type-C port, 3.5mm audio jack, and loudspeaker are at the bottom.
The home screen of the OPPO A9 2020.
On the front of the device is a large 6.5-inch HD+ display with a small “Waterdrop” notch for the selfie camera. The screen itself is bright with decent color reproduction. However, some pixelation is noticeable with curved and diagonal graphics due to the HD+ resolution of a pretty big screen.
Overall, the design of the OPPO A9 2020 looks good and modern. It’s taller than most smartphones since its display has a 20:9 aspect ratio. This makes it more comfortable to use despite its large size.
Performance & User Experience
Mobile Legends on the OPPO A9 2020.
The OPPO A9 2020 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 chipset with 8GB of RAM. Most apps open quickly while scrolling through websites and social media apps are generally smooth with minor hiccups once in a while.
It uses the company’s own ColorOS 6 software with several customizations on Android 9 Pie. It has a minimalistic design language with plenty of white space and useful extra features.
HFR mode is present on the OPPO A9 2020!
In terms of gaming performance, the OPPO A9 2020 is able to run Mobile Legends: Bang Bang at a perfect frame rate of 60 fps. It also has an acceptable performance with Call of Duty Mobile at 39 fps. However, NBA 2K20 gives it a hard time with a meager 27 fps.
How did I test the phone’s gaming performance? There’s a separate article for that – the OPPO A9 2020 Gaming Review.
Measuring the Antutu Benchmark score of the OPPO A9 2020 at 2 am.
Lastly, let’s have the benchmark scores of the device. This can be used to compare its performance with other smartphones. It scored 163,421 points on Antutu Benchmark and takes 3.39 seconds to compute one million digits of pi using RealPi Benchmark.
You can download these benchmarking apps in your current smartphone to compare it with the OPPO A9 2020.
Camera Quality
This is the camera app of the OPPO A9 2020.
The OPPO A9 2020 boasts a quad-camera setup for its rear cameras. It has a 48MP main rear camera with an 8MP ultra-wide camera, 2MP monochrome camera, and 2MP depth camera.
You’ll mostly be using the main camera though. There’s an option to shoot pictures at the full 48MP resolution but the default setting is a 4-in-1 pixel binning technology which results in 12MP pictures.
Here are some sample pictures that were taken with the OPPO A9 2020:
A flower captured by the OPPO A9 2020.
La Trinidad souvenirs captured by the OPPO A9 2020.
Burnham lake captured by the OPPO A9 2020.
Tourists capture by the OPPO A9 2020.
Burnham Park captured by OPPO A9 2020.
Burnham Park captured by the OPPO A9 2020 with Dazzle Color.
Valley of Colors captured by the OPPO A9 2020 with Dazzle Color.
Ultra-wide sample picture from the OPPO A9 2020.
Night mode sample picture by OPPO A9 2020.
These sample pictures look good especially the close-up pictures of flowers and other objects. However, I expected more from the phone’s quad cameras. Some of the pictures I took turned out grainy and dull.
I had to turn on the Dazzle Color feature to make the colors more vibrant. I’ve praised OPPO for their accurate colors before but this is not the case here. A software update might be necessary to improve the phone’s image processing.
On the positive side, I like the phone’s execution of the ultra-wide camera. Its dedicated Night mode also produces bright low light pictures although the colors and sharpness can still use some refinements.
OPPO A9 2020 sample selfie.
OPPO A9 2020 sample selfie with beautification.
For selfies, the OPPO A9 2020 has a 16MP front camera that resides in a small screen notch. It can produce good-looking selfies with decent sharpness and colors.
Just like other OPPO smartphones, it comes with a beautification filter that removes blemishes and smoothens the subject’s face using an AI algorithm.
Connectivity, Audio Quality & Security
Sound comes out from the OPPO A9 2020’s loudspeaker and earpiece.
There are dedicated slots for two SIM cards and a single microSD card on the OPPO A9 2020. It can connect to 4G LTE and dual-band Wi-Fi networks.
It also maintains a 3.5mm audio jack for connecting wired earphones and a USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer.
I’ve already said this in the OPPO A9 2020 unboxing video – this smartphone sounds good! I’m talking about its semi-stereo loudspeaker system. Aside from the loudspeaker at the bottom of the phone, the earpiece on the top also outputs sound when playing music or watching videos resulting in a more pleasant audio experience.
For security, there’s a fingerprint scanner at the back of the device which is fast and quite accurate. I also turned on Face Recognition using the front camera for more convenience.
Battery Life & Charging
OPPO A9 2020 battery life test score.
The OPPO A9 2020 has a massive 5,000mAh battery and it can easily last almost two days on a single charge with my normal usage.
It achieved a PCMark Battery Life Test 2.0 score of 14 hours and 52 minutes! That’s one of the highest results among the many smartphones I have reviewed. As usual, the phone’s brightness was set at 50% and airplane mode was turned on during the test.
However, its long battery life is marred by a longer than usual charging time. Using the original 10W charger in its box, it re-charges from 0% to 100% battery life in a little more than 3 hours.
Conclusion
Are you going to choose the OPPO A9 2020?
The best features of the OPPO A9 2020 smartphone include its large display, long battery life, good gaming performance, and pleasant audio quality.
However, it would have been easier to recommend the OPPO A9 2020 smartphone if the quad cameras performed flawlessly. There’s just too much competition in the ₱15,990 price point.
OPPO A9 2020 Review Summary
The OPPO A9 2020 has an impressive battery life, good enough gaming performance, and large display but the quad cameras need some improvements.
- 6.5-inch HD+ IPS LCD Display (720 x 1600 Pixels), 270 ppi
- Android 9.0 Pie Operating System
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 Chipset
- 8GB of RAM
- 48 Megapixel Rear Camera with Dual-tone LED Flash
- 16 Megapixel Front Camera
- Dual SIM
- 128GB Internal Storage
- Expandable Up to 256 via microSD
- 4G LTE, 3G HSPA+, 2G EDGE & GPRS Networks
- Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac (Dual Band)
- Bluetooth 5.0
- USB Type-C
- 3.5mm Audio Jack
- Fingerprint Sensor
- 5000mAh Battery
- 10W Charging
- ₱15,990.00 Official Price in the Philippines
- ₱13,990.00 - Price drop on November 29, 2019 (including Vanilla Mint starting on February 7, 2020)
