OPPO A60 Review: Tough!

I don’t think a company has ever been so confident about their device being able to withstand abuse like OPPO was when they sent over the OPPO A60 for review. OPPO told me that this phone has passed the MIL-STD 810H military-grade shock resistance test, which includes multi-angle drop tests, high-intensity impact tests, and other high-standard tests.

When unboxing it, I thought to myself, maybe it’ll be a rugged device. But then there it was on my desk, looking like any other normal phone. I was surprised. I expected something thick or something reinforced and boring-looking. But here it was, and it looked nice and well-built, with a very nice purple finish.

So the first thing I did after unboxing it was take it through its paces. I made a short video – which you guys should watch before the review – throwing the phone around, hitting the screen, driving on it, and just trying to see how serious the certification is. Spoiler alert, it survived everything well enough – apart from a tiny dent on the side. It’s important to say, no one will mistreat their phone to this level. This is pretty much just assurance that you can have a phone that can withstand accidental drops and more without any issues.

Now that I had verified the certification claim, I needed to know what corners OPPO cut to make the OPPO A60 cost just KES 30,000. Because, honestly, to brag about that certification and then offer 8GB RAM and 256GB storage at that price, there must have been a couple of corners that had been cut. In this review, I will tell you those corners, and you will then be able to decide if you love the device as it is, or if it isn’t for you.

Let’s start with value for money: At this price point, competition is very tight. We have devices from almost every other manufacturer with a presence locally. Customers want the best value for money offer in the market. You want to be confident that you’re spending your money on what will give you the best specs, the best performance, and the best design at that budget.

In this regard, OPPO A60 stands because of five things it does differently:

1. RAM and Storage: You’re getting 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. That’s the only variant in the market. And that storage is, excitingly, expandable using a microSD card. So you’re getting what higher-end smartphones offer but at affordable pricing. 
2. Memory Technology: OPPO A60 is using DDR4 RAM and UFS 2.2 storage. This means pretty good read and write speeds. This is the same tech in many mid-rangers and wannabe flagship killers.
3. Fast Charging: You’re getting 45W fast charging with the charger included in the box. Something companies like Samsung cannot even compete with. I’ve said this many times, fast charging is a game changer, you’re never the same. In around 30 minutes, the OPPO A60 will get from zero to 50%.
4. IP Rating: Finally, you’re also getting an IP54 rating, meaning you can be confident the phone will handle splashes of water and dust concerns without issues.
5. Dual Speakers: Tell me why this phone has dual speakers at the top and bottom frames , but a more expensive Reno device doesn’t? 

I was quite shocked myself when reading the reviewer’s guide and then looking at the phone and wondering why this felt like a better deal compared to the RENO series from OPPO. I was at the same time using the RENO 11 F 5G. So, to me, from the specs and the price, and the fact that I had just thrown around the device, hit it on my tripod, and even driven on it, it felt like the OPPO A60 was very much the better value phone to recommend.

But there are corners cut with the OPPO A60. And these are:

1. Display: Although you don’t notice it – I also didn’t just after unboxing – this is an inferior display to the RENO series because of the tech used and the resolution. It is an IPS LCD display with an HD+ resolution. In contrast, a RENO device has an AMOLED panel with Full HD resolution. What’s good about it is the 90Hz refresh rate of the panel and the fact that it can hit 950 nits of peak brightness. I think those two make you forget that it’s not Full HD. 
2. No 5G: I mean, at this price point, you can excuse the lack of 5G to some extent, and OPPO is also targeting Qualcomm lovers with the Snapdragon 680 processor. But then, this is 2024, and that’s a 2021 processor. Anyways, in terms of performance, I’ve had no issues with my usual social media and browsing. You will only notice a couple of slight delays when switching between apps, but that’s not an issue, to be honest, because a lot stays in memory.
3. Bloatware: This is the first time in a while loading up a new OPPO phone and seeing many games installing themselves after setup is complete. I am guessing this is one of the ways OPPO is making money from this hardware. Gladly, these apps are easily removable.
4. Cameras: This is a weird thing to say because the 50MP camera is quite okay. But I am adding it here because it isn’t really outstanding at this price point. Like, you will take good photos and okay videos, but there’s just something in it that isn’t top class. See the photos I took, and you get what I mean. Also, there’s no 4K recording, just 1080p max for both rear and selfie cameras.

The thing is this from these corners – and I am guessing OPPO thought the same when greenlighting the OPPO A60 pricing: the lack of 5G isn’t a big deal breaker for many people at this price point; also, people have proven many times to not care about bloatware – I mean Transsion phones do well; also, some people love the name Snapdragon over the name MediaTek, and the display and cameras can be said to be almost similar in quality to the competition. So, OPPO is confident with the positioning of the OPPO A60 at 30k, maximizing on the military rating, the fast charging, and the RAM and storage.

Personally, I think that works for the company. People will see the marketing, see the videos about the phone falling and not cracking, see the phone in person and notice the build quality, hear about the RAM and storage, and then the Qualcomm processor, and be ready to spend. I think it is an okay device at its price point, and I’ve loved having and using it, and knocking it and throwing it around.