Oppo A5x

At Rs. 31,999, the Oppo A5x is good value for buyers who put battery life, fast charging and toughness ahead of screen and camera quality.

• Strengths: a 6000 mAh battery, a 45W charger in the box, IP65 dust and water resistance, a microSD slot that works alongside two SIMs, a 3.5mm headphone jack and an IR blaster for remote control.
• Weaknesses: a 720p 90Hz LCD, average cameras, a 5 MP selfie camera and a cramped 4GB/64GB base model.

The Samsung Galaxy A07 (Rs. 35,599) is the main alternative: it has a stronger chip and six promised Android upgrades, but a smaller battery and slower charging. Buyers open to other brands can find AMOLED screens at similar money. Verdict: a sensible, durable all-rounder for battery-first users, not the best pick for screen or camera quality.

The Oppo A5x has a 6.67-inch IPS LCD with a 720 x 1604 resolution, a 90Hz refresh rate and up to 1000 nits in high brightness mode, protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 7i.

In daily use the screen is smooth for scrolling, colours look good for videos and social media, and outdoor visibility is mostly fine. The 720p resolution is the main weakness: text and fine detail look softer than on full HD screens, and budget rivals now offer sharper or AMOLED panels. Anyone moving from a 120Hz phone will notice it is slightly less smooth for the first few days.

The Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen 1 is an 11nm chip closely based on the older Snapdragon 662, paired with LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.1 storage, which is quicker than the eMMC storage used on the older Oppo A3x.

• Everyday use: social media, calls, messaging and light photo editing run without lag.
• Heavy use: with hotspot, mobile data and several apps running at once, some lag appears.
• Gaming: fine for light games; it is not built for demanding titles at high settings.

No reliable long gaming or heating test is available, so heavy gamers should look at phones with stronger chips.

The rear camera is a single 32 MP f/1.8 sensor with autofocus. It saves lower-resolution photos by default, and a HI-RES mode gives full 32 MP shots that hold detail when you zoom in.

• Daylight: decent detail and punchy colours. The phone takes a second or two after each shot to balance skin tones and dynamic range.
• Low light: noticeably weaker, as expected at this price.
• Selfies: the 5 MP front camera is fine in good light but struggles in dark rooms.
• Video: both cameras record up to 1080p at 30fps, with no video stabilisation.

The gallery's AI editor (clarity, eraser, unblur and recompose) helps rescue weaker shots.

The Oppo A5x packs a 6000 mAh battery into a 193 g body. Typical daily use gets roughly 8–9 hours of screen time per charge.

It supports 45W SUPERVOOC charging, and the 45W charger comes in the box. Official figures give 50% in 36 minutes, and a full charge takes about an hour and twenty minutes, which is very quick for this price. It also supports 33W PPS and 13.5W PD chargers. There is no wireless charging.

The phone runs ColorOS 15 based on Android 15, with the newer control centre customisation and a Share with iPhone feature for file transfers.

• AI tools: the gallery editor includes clarity enhancement, object eraser, unblur and recompose.
• Bloatware: a few preinstalled apps and games are present, though not many, and they can be removed.
• Updates: Oppo's official spec page does not state an update commitment for the A5x, unlike the Galaxy A07, which is promised six major Android upgrades.

For buyers who keep a phone for many years, that lack of a published update policy is worth weighing.