Black Friday cheap phones - recommend me

Forums › Android › Black Friday cheap phones - recommend me - looking at Oppo A5

CokemonZ

1051 posts

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#280092 26-Nov-2020 08:50

Hi all,

My son (11) is starting intermediate next year, and him and his mum have decided he needs a phone.

I'm not keen to spend a lot of money due to propensity to lose stuff, and I don't have any ready hand me downs.

I've seen this Oppo A5 (https://www.warehousestationery.co.nz/product/W2645318.html) which hits the key points of

1: budget

2: Ok performance

3: good battery (with USB-C charging to boot)

Reviews are decent.

In this price bracket is there anything materially better?

MurrayM

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#2610952 26-Nov-2020 09:29

I've got the Oppo A5 2020, the one you've looked at. Battery life is great. It comes with a screen protector already applied, which I liked but after 8 months of use it has developed a scuff mark that I can feel under my finger, not sure if I somehow damaged the screen protector (although I'm usually really careful with my phones, they're never put near keys or anything else that might scratch them) or if it's just a cheap protector.

The one thing that really annoyed me with this phone is that it's very aggressive with its power saving. It constantly wants to close apps that are running in the background (I have a few apps that want to always be running, eg I use IFTTT to automatically turn my phone to silent when I get to work and reverse this when I leave work, etc). Even things like Gmail weren't notifying me of new emails as they arrived, I'd only get the notification when I activated the screen. I found where in the settings you can tell the phone to always allow an app to run in the background, and I've done this to all the apps that I need this for, and that's pretty much fixed them but the phone still complains about them (I get notifications every day saying that the phone has found 5 apps that are using power in the background and asking for permission to kill them, and there's no way to turn these notifications off). I've got no idea if this aggressive power saving is an Oppo thing (eg built into ColorOS) or if it's a new Android thing (the phone is running Android 10 and it's the first phone I've owned running Android 10). None of my previous phones ever did this.

For the most part the phone is pretty responsive, but playing Pokemon Go it occasionally stutters and freezes for a few seconds before bursting back into life.

Other than these problems I'm happy with the phone.

esawers

551 posts

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#2610965 26-Nov-2020 09:58

Probably wont be a popular suggestion with your son, but we have bought our 10 year old a Mobiwire Dakota

It's only a feature phone (no touch screen) but the battery lasts over 7 days

sdavisnz

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#2610997 26-Nov-2020 10:49

For the same price you can get a samsung a21s.

Thats where I'd go. Newer OS to boot.(android10)

Voice gives context

CokemonZ

1051 posts

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#2611000 26-Nov-2020 11:00

Thanks @MurrayM - perfect review.

Protector out of the box is a nice bonus, and I don't think aggressive battery management should be a huge issue, in fact may be a bonus.

@esawers - great minds think alike, we have a samsung flip phone for emergencies, and my first suggestion was to give him that. Apparently that would be worse than having no phone 🤣

@sdavisnz - cheers, looked it up. For $50 more, and 1/2 the storage, or $120 more for the same storage and 1gb extra ram, with middling performance on both I'm not sure there is much of an advantage? The camera seems to be a bit better, but that's not a huge driver for us.

cb1

336 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2611124 26-Nov-2020 13:13

Look like a good phone. $188 at JBHifi

Let me know if it has a FM Radio - some sites list it but others don't

Good Luck

esawers

551 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2611129 26-Nov-2020 13:23

The Xiaomi Redmi phones are very nice in that price range.

My brother has had a Redmi 5, 8 and 9 and they have all impressed me.

Looks like the 8 is instore only though

Redmi Dual SIM Smartphone 8 - Mi Store NZ (mi-store.co.nz)

CokemonZ

1051 posts

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#2611181 26-Nov-2020 14:21

esawers:

The Xiaomi Redmi phones are very nice in that price range.

My brother has had a Redmi 5, 8 and 9 and they have all impressed me.

Looks like the 8 is instore only though

Redmi Dual SIM Smartphone 8 - Mi Store NZ (mi-store.co.nz)

Thanks I have a Xiaomi and have had good experiences.

I checked this one out, and it looks pretty similar, but with a much worse CPU, 1GB extra ram, and a bit better camera. It's also $60 more expensive.

Has better Gorilla glass though which would be good for drops.

I think the Oppo remains the one for the moment at this price.

Sharesies kids

Free kids accounts - trade shares and funds (NZ, US) with Sharesies (affiliate link).

cb1

336 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2611186 26-Nov-2020 14:28

esawers:
The Xiaomi Redmi phones are very nice in that price range.

My brother has had a Redmi 5, 8 and 9 and they have all impressed me.

Looks like the 8 is instore only though

Redmi Dual SIM Smartphone 8 - Mi Store NZ (mi-store.co.nz)

Just another query. I remember hearing something about some Oppo phones not being compatible with the NZ Covid tracer app. Any comments from existing owners?
Possibly not a issue for your son as u would probably do any scanning

MurrayM

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#2611203 26-Nov-2020 15:09

cb1:

Let me know if it has a FM Radio - some sites list it but others don't

Yes the Oppo A5 2020 has FM radio. I knew there was an "FM Radio" app but I had never tried it, so I tried it just now and it works fine.

MurrayM

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#2611205 26-Nov-2020 15:11

cb1:

Just another query. I remember hearing something about some Oppo phones not being compatible with the NZ Covid tracer app. Any comments from existing owners?
Possibly not a issue for your son as u would probably do any scanning

I've never had any problems using the NZ Covid Tracer app on my Oppo A5 2020. I use it pretty much every day and have done since it first came out.

cb1

336 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2611506 27-Nov-2020 06:51

MurrayM:

cb1:

Just another query. I remember hearing something about some Oppo phones not being compatible with the NZ Covid tracer app. Any comments from existing owners?
Possibly not a issue for your son as u would probably do any scanning

I've never had any problems using the NZ Covid Tracer app on my Oppo A5 2020. I use it pretty much every day and have done since it first came out.

Thanks for the replies MurrayM. Looks like I'll make a purchase too. Just joined TheMarket to make use of CYBER10 coupon black Friday sale price

CokemonZ

1051 posts

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#2613152 30-Nov-2020 11:18

Ordered one too.

I'll charge and update it before Christmas day so it's ready to go.

Thanks for the feedback.

old3eyes

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#2613154 30-Nov-2020 11:23

MurrayM:

cb1:

Let me know if it has a FM Radio - some sites list it but others don't

Yes the Oppo A5 2020 has FM radio. I knew there was an "FM Radio" app but I had never tried it, so I tried it just now and it works fine.

How does the 720p screen look compared to a 1080p screen??

Regards,

Old3eyes

MurrayM

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#2613870 1-Dec-2020 10:55

old3eyes:

How does the 720p screen look compared to a 1080p screen??

To my old eyes it looks fine. But I don't watch videos on it and you're talking to someone that thinks his HD TV is just fine and why would anyone want a 4K TV, so you might not want to trust my opinion! 😁