Oppo A83 review: Impressive screen & a good camera, but the price is not right

Price: Rs 13,990

Rating: ***

Specifications: 5.7-inch IPS (1440 x 720 pixels), octa core Mediatek Helio P23 processor, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, microSD slot for storage expansion (up to 256GB supported), dual nano SIM slot, 13MP f2.2 rear camera with LED flash, 8MP f2.2 front camera, 4G, VoLTE, dual band WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, Android 7.1.1, 3,180mAh battery, 143 grams

Pros: Bright screen, sleek and lightweight design, good performance, great front and rear camera results, front camera bokeh mode, offers a fast face unlock feature

Cons: Feels expensive compared to competition, no fingerprint scanner, no fast charging, face unlock struggles in low light


The A83 is Oppo’s first sub Rs 15,000 offering with an 18:9 aspect display. They have the premium Oppo F5 which features a 6-inch screen, but this budget A83 has a 5.7-inch display. The benefit of this is that the size of the phone is about the same as a 5.2-inch device which makes it easy to handle. Add to that the fact that the phone is just 7.7mm thin and weighs 143 grams. We loved the matte finish on the back as it gives the phone a better grip and feels great to hold.

The screen impresses with slim side bezels, vivid colour and excellent brightness — it is easy to read under direct sunlight too. It comes with a preapplied screen guard which is always a welcome addition. The screen resolution of 1440 x 720 pixels keeps content fairly crisp but there are now cheaper phones with 6-inch, 18:9 screens that have a higher resolution of 2160 x 1080 pixels. This immediately started making the A83 feel overpriced.

The A83 has an octa core Helio P23 with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage — we faced no issues with performance on the phone for day to day tasks and even gaming. The phone’s navigation, app launch and switching between running apps (over 15 apps) is butter smooth with no visible lag or sluggishness. But in terms of hardware, the competition trumps the A83 quite easily. There are cheaper options with 4GB RAM (Honor 7X, Redmi Note 5) — these higher specifications are always more attractive for consumers. The A83 manages to last from 9 am to 9pm regularly with mixed usage. Although there is no official fast charge support — with a 2A charger we managed to charge the device from 10 to 90% in less than 2 hours.

Camera has always been a strong point for Oppo smartphones and the A83 is no different. You get a 13MP rear camera that takes great photos in daylight as well as indoors. The only issue we noticed is that due to lack of OIS you have to be careful as handshakes often leads to soft details on the images. We were surprised by low light images as Oppo A83 managed to keep noise at bay which resulted in photos that were good enough to share on social media. The front camera also delivered similar performance — good detail, low noise and rich colour. Oppo also has a depth effect mode for the front camera to add a blurred background effect for selfies. In this mode, the edge detection was not the best we have seen at this price, but the overall effect was good.



The A83 is Oppo’s first phone to skip a fingerprint scanner. This is because the phone comes with a face unlock feature, similar to the OnePlus 5T. It works almost as good as the OnePlus 5T as long as there is adequate lighting, but in low light it struggles to work. We like that Oppo has got this feature on a sub-Rs 15k phone but cutting out the fingerprint scanner is not the right move.

So what else can you get for Rs 13,990 or thereabouts? You can get the Honor 7x with a 6-inch 18:9 screen (2160 x 1080 pixels), 4GB RAM and dual rear camera at Rs 12,999. For Rs 11,999, the newly launched Redmi Note 5 offers a 6-inch 18:9 screen (2160 x 1080 pixels), 4GB RAM, 64GB storage and larger 4,000mAh battery with quick charge support.