REVIEW: Why OPPO A77s might just be your next 13th-month pay ‘budol’
MANILA, Philippines — The holidays are upon us and we all know what that entails: our highly-anticipated year-end extra cash, such as 13th-month pay and Christmas bonuses!
You’ve painstakingly waited the whole year for this moment, and you probably already have planned a list of things you want to do with your extra cash.
But if you want to reward yourself big, while indulging sensibly, this new affordable, mid-range phone might just be the right budol for you.
OPPO A77s: Style meets power
The new OPPO A77s has recently arrived in the Philippines at an unintimidating price of P13,999. With several good features and capabilities under its hood, the OPPO A77s is promised to be a value-for-money phone that covers the essentials and even goes beyond.
Since we got to spend some time with the OPPO A77s, here’s a rundown of what we liked about it and why we think it could be worth your 13th-month pay splurge—without necessarily breaking the bank!
1. Trendy, eye-catching look
OPPO has consistently put a value on both form and function, as proven by the awe-inspiring finishes they’ve put in the smartphones they’ve introduced over the past few years. The case is no different in the new OPPO A77s that puts their new fiberglass-leather material at the forefront.
A hiatus from the series of reflective, “glasstic” smartphones we’ve seen from almost all smartphone makers this year, the OPPO A77s calls back to the OPPO Find X2, and differentiates itself with a premium-looking faux leather back cover that looks and feels good.
Being used to the feel of plastic finishes on phones, the faux leather on this device certainly gives a new sensation. It feels like a soft and smooth rubber that is satisfying to touch and grip, complementing its compact, 8.044 mm ultra-slim form.
The unit we had is Sunset Orange, a fresh look, especially for those who want to go out of the muted tones and add a pop of color to their days. The Starry Black colorway, with OPPO’s signature Glow design, remains an option for those who love their gadgets dark and classy.
2. Promising set of snappers
OPPO A77s features a dual rear camera system that can capture high-quality images, especially in good lighting conditions.
At the back, it has a 50MP main camera paired with a 2MP depth camera, much like that of OPPO’s flagship cameras. They’ve put in key camera features for high-quality photos like the popular Bokeh Flare portrait for DLSR-like portraits and Extra HD that allows you to capture 108MP photos.
On its front notch, the OPPO A77s comes equipped with an 8MP camera which has an HDR feature for clear selfies and groupies.
For your reference, here are some photos we got to capture:
3. Great looker, good performer
Of course, this device is not all about looks but also has some great things under its hood.
Inside the OPPO A77s is a 2.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 octa-core processor. Such a chipset, for most occasions, is more than adequate to give you a lag-free experience—whether you're binge-watching on your favorite entertainment apps, enjoying games at optimal graphic mode or doom scrolling on social media.
It also has 8GB of RAM and128GB of ROM, which is expandable to up to 1TB more with a micro-SD card and all work well to allow you to store a load of files, run more apps in the background and switch between them smoothly. It also has a RAM Expansion technology to boost its performance, enabling up to 8GB more RAM.
Originally the RAM expansion technology only gives you an extra 5GB, but thanks to its recent software update, OPPO A77s' RAM can now be expanded up to 8 GB which brings a whole new level of efficiency and processing capabilities to elevate the user-centric OPPO experience.
4. Fast to charge, slow to drain
Need we say more? It’s not OPPO when it doesn’t charge fast.
OPPO A77s comes with the 33W SuperVOOC that can flash charge your device up to 50% in less than half an hour to lessen the downtime and keep you going with whatever you want to do with your device.
Plus, it packs a 5,000mAH battery for long hours of gaming and leisure. For a clearer picture, a 100% charge of this device gave us: 4.5 hours of Netflix, 3 hours of doomscrolling on Tiktok and Facebook, around 4 Mobile Legends matches, and some more spare energy for texting, taking photos and more.
5. Impressive audio and display
While the audio experience is often lackluster and changeless in other smartphones, OPPO takes it quite seriously in the A77s.
The device comes with Dual Stereo Speakers with Dirac 3.0 audio jack. Its Ultra-Linear stereo speakers deliver quality audio, along with Ultra Volume Mode that can amp up the phone’s maximum volume by at least 44%—which we found highly useful in busy environments such as our office.
In terms of the display, the OPPO A77s has a 6.56-inch Waterdrop Notch HD+ display for decent viewing and a 90Hz refresh rate for a smooth scrolling experience in different apps, and even in various games.
6. Built to last with reliable after-care services
OPPO also made sure that the OPPO A77s embodies the enduring quality that the brand is known for by featuring life-grade waterproof and dustproof design. It has also passed various stress tests and endured 20,000 USB insertions, 28,000 micro-drop with 1.0m drop testing, 500,000 power button presses and more.
Lastly, the brand also empowers users to enjoy a holistic smartphone experience by providing a reliable, after-sales service. You can check the OPPO Care Bundle at the OPPO Service Center which ensures a one-hour turnaround time for your gadget concerns.
You can also skip the line via OPPO Support page and MyOPPO app, plus you may even borrow a temporary phone from them while waiting for your repaired device through the Loan Phone Service.
OPPO A77s at P13,999
To be budol-ed or not? Well, your money, your rules.
But if you’re looking for a reward you will not regret in 2023, then a phone upgrade with the OPPO A77s would be great. Not only does it have promising capabilities in many aspects, but also rightly priced at only P13,999.
At this price, you’ll have an #AbsolutelyStylishandPowerful new smartphone you can use for the new year while letting you save up some of your year-end money for other important things.
For more information, visit www.oppo.com/ph and follow OPPO on Facebook at facebook.com/OPPOPhilippines.
