In the highly competitive smartphone market, where budget-friendly devices are sought after, OPPO has consistently impressed with its A-series lineup. The OPPO A74 5G is a prime example of how a smartphone brand can deliver great value without compromising on performance or essential features. With its 5G capabilities, sleek design, powerful hardware, and strong battery life, the OPPO A74 5G is a standout choice for users looking for a smartphone that offers excellent performance without the premium price tag.
Sleek Design and Build Quality
The OPPO A74 5G boasts a modern and sleek design that belies its mid-range pricing. With a glossy finish and slim profile, the phone is both aesthetically pleasing and practical. The front of the device is dominated by a 6.5-inch IPS LCD display, and the slim bezels create an immersive viewing experience. The phone is available in two attractive colors: Fluid Black and Space Silver, both offering a sophisticated and premium feel.
At just 8.4mm thick and weighing around 190g, the OPPO A74 5G is relatively lightweight and comfortable to hold, making it easy to use for long periods. Despite its slim design, the phone feels durable in hand, and the plastic back panel maintains the device’s solid construction without feeling cheap. While it’s not made of metal or glass, the phone’s overall build quality and finish give it a premium look, which is a pleasant surprise at this price range.
Display: A Smooth Visual Experience
The 6.5-inch IPS LCD display of the OPPO A74 5G offers a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels, providing crisp visuals and vibrant colors. While it’s not AMOLED, the display is bright enough for everyday usage, including browsing the web, watching videos, and social media scrolling. The 90Hz refresh rate adds a touch of smoothness to interactions, making it easier to navigate through apps, scroll web pages, and switch between tasks. This refresh rate is a significant upgrade over traditional 60Hz displays found on many budget smartphones, providing a noticeable improvement in fluidity.
The screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3, ensuring that the device can withstand accidental drops and scratches. The OPPO A74 5G offers an immersive display experience that enhances multimedia consumption, whether you’re watching your favorite shows, playing games, or browsing photos.
Performance: Efficient and Future-Proof
At the heart of the OPPO A74 5G is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 5G chipset, which provides a solid balance of power and energy efficiency. The Snapdragon 480 is a 5G-capable chipset that offers substantial performance for daily tasks such as web browsing, media consumption, social media use, and multitasking. The addition of 5G connectivity ensures that the device is future-ready, allowing users to experience faster download and upload speeds, reduced latency, and smoother streaming.
Paired with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, the OPPO A74 5G offers smooth performance even when running multiple apps at the same time. The device handles light gaming, video streaming, and productivity tasks with ease. For users who need more space, the OPPO A74 5G includes a microSD card slot, allowing you to expand the storage by up to 1TB—a feature that is especially handy for those who store a lot of media and apps on their phones.
While the Snapdragon 480 chipset is not the most powerful in its class, it’s more than sufficient for everyday users who want solid performance without breaking the bank. The phone runs ColorOS 11.1, which is based on Android 11. The software experience is smooth, with several customization options and useful features, such as an app drawer, dark mode, and app cloning, among others.
Camera: Versatile Photography on a Budget
For photography enthusiasts, the OPPO A74 5G offers a capable quad-camera setup on the back, with a 48MP primary camera at its core. This main sensor captures detailed and vibrant shots, especially in well-lit conditions. The phone’s camera system also includes an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens, a 2MP macro sensor, and a 2MP depth sensor for bokeh effects in portrait shots. This versatile setup allows users to experiment with different types of photography, from wide-angle landscapes to close-up macro shots.
The 48MP main camera performs admirably in daylight, delivering clear, sharp images with good color reproduction. In low-light conditions, the phone’s Night Mode improves brightness and reduces noise, though it’s not as effective as more expensive devices. The AI scene enhancement mode helps optimize settings for various scenarios, automatically adjusting the camera to suit the scene for better shots.
On the front, the OPPO A74 5G features a 16MP selfie camera, which takes crisp and detailed selfies. The camera offers a natural skin tone and handles portrait mode quite well, creating pleasing depth-of-field effects in the background. It also includes AI beautification, which allows users to enhance their selfies by adjusting facial features or applying smoothness.
For video, the OPPO A74 5G supports 4K recording at 30fps with the rear camera, as well as 1080p video on the front camera. While the video quality is decent, the lack of advanced stabilization means that footage can be shaky in motion.
Battery Life: All-Day Power
The OPPO A74 5G is equipped with a 5000mAh battery, which offers impressive endurance for a budget 5G device. In everyday use, the phone can easily last an entire day on a single charge, even with moderate usage that includes web browsing, social media, watching videos, and light gaming. The phone also supports 18W fast charging, which is fairly standard in this segment, and it can charge from 0% to about 50% in around 30 minutes, offering quick top-ups for users who are in a hurry.
With the efficient Snapdragon 480 chipset, the large battery ensures that the device can easily handle long hours of use without the need for frequent recharging. The battery performance of the OPPO A74 5G stands out in its price category, making it an excellent choice for users who value long-lasting power.
Connectivity and Other Features
The OPPO A74 5G supports 5G connectivity, ensuring that users can enjoy faster internet speeds as 5G networks become more widespread. It also offers Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0, and NFC, providing a complete set of connectivity options for seamless communication and media sharing. The device also features USB Type-C for charging and data transfer, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is increasingly rare on modern smartphones but still highly appreciated by users who prefer wired audio.
Conclusion: A Solid 5G Option for Budget-Conscious Users
The OPPO A74 5G is a fantastic option for users seeking a mid-range device that delivers 5G performance, a high-quality display, and reliable battery life at an affordable price. While it may not have the cutting-edge features of flagship smartphones, it offers an excellent balance of design, performance, and value for money.
With its sleek design, powerful performance, and solid camera setup, the OPPO A74 5G is perfect for those who want to experience 5G connectivity without breaking the bank. It is ideal for casual users, students, or anyone looking for a budget-friendly smartphone that can keep up with their everyday needs while providing future-proof features like 5G.