Oppo Mobile has today announced their latest entry level phone, the AX5, will touch down in Australian on September 10th from a range of retailers with possible carrier launch coming soon.
The phone is an entry level model, but comes with a large 6.2″ HD+ resolution display (yes, it has a notch) which covers most of the front of the phone offering an impressive 88.8% screen-to-body ratio. The phone has a massive 4230mAh battery which when combined with the HD+ resolution display and the lower power Snapdragon 450 processor should allow for all day use.
As befits Oppo’s history as a camera smartphone maker, there’s an emphasis on the camera with a dual rear camera array featuring 13MP and 2MP sensors, while on the front an 8MP camera will take all the selfies you need. The front-facing camera also supports OPPO’s AI Face Recognition Technology, which they say removes ‘the need for a fingerprint sensor’.
Full specs for the phone include:
- 6.2″ HD+ 720×1520 resolution display
- Qualcomm SDM450, Octa-Core 1.8GHz
- 4GB RAM
- 64GB onboard storage with microSD card slot up to 256GB
- 13MP (f/2.2)+2MP (f/2.4) rear camera
- 8MP (f/2.2) front-facing camera
- Bluetooth 4.2 and WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
- 4230mAh Battery
- Android 8.1/ ColorOS 5.1
- 156.2 x 75.6 x 8.2mm @ 168grams
You’ll note the absence of NFC on the phone, somewhat of a sticking point for the Australian market where Tap & Pay has become a comment payment method. The phone also doesn’t support their VOOC fast charging, which is a disappointment.
Michael Tran, Managing Director at OPPO Australia said of the AX5
Our A Series continues to be extremely popular within Australia. We’ve continued to evolve and innovate key elements of the device, such as the camera and the screen, so we expect the AX5 to be a major hit locally.
The phone comes with Android 8.1 on board and runs Oppo’s custom overlay: ColorOS 5.1 on top. We’ve had concerns over some of Oppo’s decisions software wise over the past few years, but based on feedback there are signs of improvement in ColorOS.
The AX5 will be available in two colours: Diamond Blue and Diamond Pink, which utilise a unique, stylish diamond-shaped design on the back cover which includes individual cut-glass sections that reflect in the light.
The phone will be available in Diamond Blue and Diamond Pink from JB HiFi and Retravision, or in Blue only from The Good Guys, TeleChoice and Officeworks from the 10th of September. Woolworths and MobileCiti will be offering both colour variants from the 17th September. Oppo has advised that carrier details are to be confirmed at later date.
ColorOS is the worst UI I have ever used or seen. It is an iOS clone and reduces Android to a steaming pile of crap. Sure, it looks alright for a week or so, but after that it will irritate then annoy and finally drive you to distraction.
Buy at your own risk but you have been warned.
A lot of OPPO’s hardware looks great. I just wish they’d embrace the Android One program… ColorOS be gone!