Oppo A54s Review, Price, Specs, Design, Display, Camera, Performance, Battery life
The Oppo A54s is a bit slow and lacks 5G, but a reasonable camera and good battery life help it to be a better value. Still, it's not a phone that stands out.
Pros
- Good Performance
- Good battery life
- Reasonable camera
- Inexpensive
Cons
- Slow performance
- No 5G support
- Unexceptional in most ways
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OPPO A54s Smartphone
Oppo A54 (Starry Blue, 4GB RAM, 64GB Storage) with No Cost EMI & Additional Exchange Offers
See & BuyOppo A54s Review
With so many Oppo phones now, you can't help but wonder who the Oppo A54s are meant to appeal to. This is right. Just fine
Cheaper at around $179/£179/AU$299, it might look tempting at first, but for not much, you can have the Oppo A54 5G with 5G support and better performance. This makes you wonder why the Oppo A54s are worth anyone's time.
At least its camera helps with this. Along with a triple-lens rear snapper, its main sensor is 50MP and is quite capable. Faster to use than other parts of the phone, it's ideal for those on a tight budget desperate for fine photography at their disposal. Even if it overexposes a child.
Predictably though, the additional lenses - macro and depth - aren't so great. They aren't terrible and at this price, you probably don't have high hopes, but they aren't special either. However, as an all-purpose camera, the Oppo A54s is quite justified.
Available in Pearl Blue, Space Silver, or Crystal Black, it is quite stylish too. It doesn't have the obvious color-changing effect of something like the Oppo A54 5G, but there is a definite change when you manipulate it.
It is smooth and also comfortable to hold. It has a fair grip, even in this reviewer's small hands, while the 6.52-inch screen still means you have a great phone at your disposal. As is customary for the brand, the left side houses the volume controls while the right edge houses the power/unlock button which doubles as a fingerprint reader.
Screen - by the way - ok. Again, just fine. A resolution of 720 x 1600 is sufficient and it's suitably bright, but it's not exactly awe-inspiring.
There's no wireless charging functionality, but the Oppo A54s recharges fairly quickly thanks to USB-C. It lasts for more than a day's regular use without any problem. This may be because its performance is quite mediocre. Powered by the MediaTek Helio G35 processor and 4GB of RAM, even just multitasking can feel a bit sluggish.
It all seems like business as usual, the kind of phone that you quickly gobble up and buy when your current Oppo has a tragic encounter with concrete, and all you need is something that will work for now.
So, Oppo A54s is not the best then. Far from it, but it works. If you're on the lowest budget, it'll work, but it's no surprise. The lack of 5G and wireless charging is far from the main problem here. Instead, it is the sluggish performance that will make you angry. Though if you're in a bind, at least it looks good, and the camera isn't bad at all.
Oppo A54s price and availability
- Available now in the UK and Australia
- Retails at about $190/£179/AU$299
The Oppo A54s are available in the UK and Australia, starting at £179/AU$299. It's not available in the US yet but is expected soon, with an estimated price of around $190. The Oppo A54s are available from all third-party retailers as well as directly from Oppo.
As it has been recently launched at the time of writing, there are no discounts yet, but it looks like we may see some minor price cuts down the line. With the option of three color schemes, if nothing else, one of the three is likely to be discounted.
Oppo A54s Design
- Plastic finish
- No water or dust resistance
- Smooth grip
The Oppo A54s look like a lot of Oppo phones. The company has mastered the concept of offering a budget phone that still feels heavy in your hands. We had time with the Pearl Blue model, and it looks great. Bright but smart, it doesn't show as many fingerprints as phones often do.
In typical Oppo fashion, the display is punctuated by a notch for the selfie camera. It is placed in the center of the screen, but it is quite small and can be seen easily.
The fingerprint sensor is placed on the right side of the phone instead of the power button on the back of the device. It's not as convenient as it used to be embedded under the display, but we found it would be easier to use than the one on the back.
At the back is the rear camera array of three lenses. These stick somewhat (so you'll want to budget for a case to keep them safe) but it's not a big issue. There's also the ever-present Oppo logo in the bottom right corner, which is still stealing a little more attention than we'd like.
At the bottom are a 3.5mm headphone jack and a speaker. Don't count on the speaker's great performance, but we'll get to that later. In terms of dimensions, the Oppo A54s measures 163.8 x 75.6 x 8.4mm and weighs 190g. It's a bit taller and wider than the Oppo A54 5G but it's barely perceptible and still feels fairly easy to hold.
This isn't a phone for an active or clumsy lifestyle as there's no water or dust resistance here, alas, but then again it's pretty cheap.
Oppo A54s Display
- 6.52-inch 720 x 1600 IPS LCD screen
- Thin bezels
- 480-nit brightness
Generally, Oppo phones have pretty bright displays, and the same remains the case with the Oppo A54s. Its resolution comes in at 720 x 1600 (for 269 pixels per inch), so it's not the sharpest screen, but our time watching Netflix didn't bother us much.
As expected for a budget phone, there's a modest 60Hz refresh rate here, so don't count on any extra smoothness when browsing. Still, we didn't notice any lag while watching videos or playing games.
It is reasonably capable of being used even in bright weather.
Oppo A54s Camera
- 50MP + 2MP + 2MP rear camera
- 8MP selfie camera
- HDR support
Oppo A54s has a three-lens camera setup. Its main camera offers a resolution of 50MP and a digital zoom of up to 5x. This is the main attraction of all three.
There is also a 2MP macro lens and a 2MP depth sensor. Both are quite weak to use and not worth your time unless you are desperate.
On the front, there is an 8MP selfie camera, which is good enough for video calls or selfies. Both the main and front cameras also deliver video up to 1080p at 30fps.
As expected, the Oppo A54s is good at point-and-shoot photography. When taking photos of the local beach, it captured important details reasonably well. The digital zoom is a bit weak though. At 2x zoom, it's capable of enough, but beyond that, and definition is soon lost.
Oddly, the phone's 50MP mode is turned off by default, but flick it through the options and you'll get a better image from it.
Also, expect some overexposure. The Oppo A54s delivers suitably colorful and vibrant imagery but it is over the top at times. For example, it can make green grass too bright. For a memorable photo, this isn't a big problem, but it will haunt anyone looking for more authentic photos.
It includes a night mode, but it's not the best. It takes a few tries to take better pictures in low light conditions than in the regular camera mode, but the results are usually a bit fuzzy or not as defined as they should be. This is the last resort option.
As is the case with other Oppo phones, there are also a lot of software tools including filters that provide some entertainment. That said, this stuff can all be overlooked, and you'll often get reasonable photos, even if you just point and shoot.
Oppo A54s Performance and specs
- Powered by the MediaTek Helio G35
- 128GB of storage
- Slow performance
The Oppo A54s uses the MediaTek Helio G35 chipset and it isn't quite that fast. Backed by 4GB of RAM, it's far from a fast phone.
Such a combination means it's not very good at multitasking, while heavy-duty gaming is slow and long-lasting, to begin with.
In our Geekbench 5 tests, the phone only achieved a single-core score of 172, while it managed a multi-core score of 991. It's short, which explains the hesitation you'll feel that it offers you almost anything at any given time.
For comparison, the slightly more expensive Oppo A54 clocked 524 and 1,664 in single-core and multi-core respectively, while the comparably priced Moto G9 Power managed 311 and 1,371.
The Oppo A54s comes with Android 11 as standard, along with Oppo's ColorOS. It's a reasonable reduction in bloat which is something. We also appreciate the 128GB of storage, which means you shouldn't be running out of space any time soon.
Oppo A54s Battery life
- 5,000mAh battery
- No wireless charging support
- Decent battery life
The Oppo A54s packs a 5,000mAh battery, which is doing pretty well, especially given the specs aren't exactly power-hungry here. The phone easily lasts for a day even after heavy usage.
The downside is that there's no wireless charging support, so you'll need to take out an unsightly cable, but at least you won't have to do it very often. Combine good battery life with the phone's battery-saving mode and you are a winner here.
Do you want cheap and cheerful
Oppo A54s is fine and nothing else. If you want a capable and reliable device and speed is not an issue, this will do the job on a low budget.
You want an easy to use the camera
Not bothered about the finer details? It's an easy-to-use point-and-shoot camera that means you can spend more time taking photos and less time arranging things.
You want reliable battery life
The battery life of the Oppo A54s is quite good and its sluggish performance helps. This is quite helpful in case you forget to recharge.