OPPO A1K

OPPO A1K sets itself as a budget phone as it does not look any different. Priced at Rs 8,490, the selfie king looks packed enough to be the next budget marvel, competing with the likes of Xiaomi.

The OPPO A1K has most of the budget aspects running well for it. It has a decent processor and also, sets out of the budget features by ordering a software-enabled bokeh mode. It can be an ideal handset for any budget user looking for both performance and good-looking selfies.

The OPPO A1K comes with a matte finish and budget look to it. It won’t be surprising you as it does not have any striking feature added to it. On the back, it has a bland finish with only the branding and a single camera on the top corner. The power button looks well-placed on the right side while the left side houses the volume rocker button and the SIM tray. It is not a standard design since most phones have the power button and the volume rocker button on the same side. The phone also has a headphone jack and a micro-USB port for charging. While the design is not handsome in any sense, the phone does fit in hand comfortably and can be managed well without an issue. The bland design on the back proves the phone does not have a fingerprint scanner.

The OPPO A1K has a 6.1 inches IPS LCD screen with a beautiful 720×1560 resolution. The pixel density is around 282ppi. The pixel density is quite low, and that’s why you may not get the sharpest display on this phone. The colours are excellent, but it is not entirely accurate and may appear a bit washed out. The viewing angles remain decent. The phone is quite bright when tried indoors, but taking it outside in bright sunlight will result in a fall in the legibility of the set. It has a waterdrop notch, which is a beautiful finding at this price range, along with minimal bezels, making it a phone with a lot of usable screen space.

The phone arrives with a MediaTek Helio P22 processor which is clocked at 2 GHz. This processor is quite common in low mid-range phones, and so, it is surprising that this processor could be found in a budget set like the OPPO A1K. The processor is decent and can perform moderate multitasking without facing any lag. It is paired with a 2GB or 3GB variant RAM. The 2GB variant can falter with multitasking, but the 3GB runs well and can make switching between apps smoother. Casual games can run on the phone well, but high-end games are not supported and are not recommended too.

In terms of the camera, the OPPO A1K arrives with an 8MP primary camera with LED flash. The camera is decent enough for a budget phone. The daylight shots appear passable with adequate details getting captured. It also has a software-enabled portrait mode. Regarding the portrait mode, the edge detection is poor, and the blur does not work correctly. It is weak in terms of clicking portraits. Night-time shots are poor and fail to capture enough details.

The phone has a 5MP front camera which clicks decent selfies. Here, the portrait mode works better by blurring the background, but due to it being software-enabled, the edge detection is not accurate. The selfie camera works better than the rear cameras.

The OPPO A1K has a 4000 mAh battery. It is one of the best features of this phone. The battery is more than adequate for the 720p display that the phone comes in. Unlike many other budget phones, the battery is non-renewable. It can still chug the phone for a long while, and with moderate usage, you can get about a day’s worth of battery runtime.

The OPPO A1K is a good budget phone. It will not draw your eyes because of its lacklustre design, but it has proper hardware that makes up for it. The phone has a potent processor and a decent battery paired with it. The cameras are not the strong point of this phone, and that is acceptable since it is a budget phone and does not bank on cameras. If you are going for decent performance, then this phone is a great find. A reliable alternative for this phone is Realme 3, which is priced a bit higher than this model but has better performance and looks.