First look at OPPO A31 - a new smartphone with a bright design for 12 thousand rubles

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

It's a pity that everything is less interesting inside than outside.

In recent years, OPPO smartphones have gained considerable popularity. We have already talked about the flagship model of the company Find X2 and the less expensive Reno3. Now let's get acquainted with the budget novelty OPPO A31.

Design

OPPO A31 case is a plastic boat without seams and joints. This design feels more reliable than a sandwich of several panels, and also removes questions about build quality. The smartphone is literally monolithic.

The plastic itself is matte, pleasant to the touch and does not collect prints. The novelty is available in black and white, the latter being played up with a mint gradient and gold accents. It looks very unusual.

Almost the entire front panel is occupied by a display with a teardrop notch for the front camera. The corners of the screen are rounded, between the body and the front glass there is a black plastic edging, smoothing the transition.

The budget "rock" is given by the absence of an oleophobic coating: the glass quickly becomes covered with stains, and the finger slides with obvious effort.

On the back there are three cameras and a fingerprint scanner. The latter is located quite high, which is why it is inconvenient to reach for it. There are no complaints about the scanner's operation: the print is read quickly and accurately.

There is also a face recognition function, although it is useless in the dark. It also does not work if the eyes are closed. The good news is that the system could not be fooled by photography.

The power and volume buttons are spaced along the right and left sides, so they won't be confused blindly. On the left there is also a tray for two SIM cards and microSD. The bottom end is occupied by an audio jack, a multimedia speaker and a microUSB port.

Screen

OPPO A31 received a 6.5-inch IPS-display with a resolution of 1600 × 720 pixels. The pixel density is 270 ppi - not much, but most of the time graininess is not striking. You can notice a drop in sharpness in small print at close range, which is hardly a standard use case.

The margin of brightness is sufficient for the picture to remain readable in the sun. The color rendition is balanced, the screen does not turn yellow or blue. You can not find fault with the viewing angles. But the contrast level is poor. Still, we have a budget IPS, and this imposes its own limitations.

Sound and vibration

Music lovers OPPO A31 will not be able to surprise: the only multimedia speaker is at the bottom, plays very dull and easily overlaps. Nevertheless, its volume is enough not to miss a call.

Also, the smartphone retained the audio jack. The headphones were not included in the kit, which, however, is not critical.

The vibration motor in the new product is as simple as possible. Tactile feedback is weak and indistinct, you will not find any gradation of response here. It would be better if vibration was turned off by default.

Cameras

OPPO A31 is equipped with three rear cameras: a standard 12MP, 2MP macro camera and a depth sensor. The front camera is equipped with an 8 megapixel sensor. The picture quality is satisfactory in daylight.

Standard camera

Standard camera

Standard camera

Standard camera

Portrait mode

Selfie

Other features

The novelty is based on the MediaTek Helio P35 chipset, and this is the main drawback of the smartphone. In fact, OPPO A31 is powered by a budget chipset released in 2018. For comparison: the similarly priced Realme C3 is equipped with a fresh Helio G70, which provides a significant boost in performance.

It is also frustrating that the smartphone runs Android 9 with the old version of the ColorOS 6.1 shell. Whether OPPO plans to update it to Android 10 with ColorOS 7 is unknown. Finally, the model is not equipped with NFC, which puts an end to the possibility of contactless payments.

Well at least the manufacturer did not stint and put 4 GB of RAM. The volume of the internal storage is 64 GB, and if this is not enough, you can install a card up to 256 GB.

Despite the outdated chip, the system works smartly. Perhaps that's why OPPO settled on the ninth version of Android. Programs start quickly, although playing on such hardware is already uncomfortable. 2D-casual games like Doodle Jump - the maximum that a smartphone can pull.

Low performance also means low power consumption. The battery with a capacity of 4,230 mAh is more than enough for a day of work. The included adapter delivers up to 10 watts of power and charges the smartphone in 2.5 hours.

Subtotals

OPPO A31 clearly does not mark the king of the budget segment. It is strange that the company has already released a similar smartphone - and then they did everything right. We are talking, of course, about the Realme C3 from the OPPO sub-brand.

The new products have a lot in common: dimensions, arrangement of elements, screen and main cameras. The cost differs by only a thousand rubles, but behind the attractive design of the A31 hides outdated hardware and the lack of NFC. In general, the smartphone is mediocre even by the standards of the budget segment.