OPPO A53 & OPPO A53s Review: Nailing the basics

Not much separates the OPPO A53 and the OPPO A53s specs wise or practically speaking. The two handsets are ostensibly the same device but with varying levels of storage and different colour schemes.

The A53 comes with 64GB internal storage and is available in Electric Black and Mint Cream, while the A53s has 128GB storage and comes in Electric Black and Fancy Blue. These differences, and a $50 price discrepancy are the only things that separate the A53 and the A53s.

Performance wise, they are both excellent budget handsets that are easy to recommend. What is difficult to recommend however, is paying 16% more for 64GB more internal storage, especially when both handsets accommodate a 256GB microSD card. Of course if you’re already pushing a 64GB capacity on your current handset then by all means throw some extra money at the problem and upgrade to the A53s. Otherwise I’d suggest starting with the A53 - You can nab a 64GB microSD for $15 on Amazon if you need it later on. That, and the Mint Cream colour is actually adorable.

Each sports a crisp, vibrant 6.5-inch LCD display with a standard bezel around the edges. While this is the same size as OPPO’s latest flagship the Find X2 Pro, these handsets have flat displays rather than a curved waterfall edge that was prevalent in flagship smartphones last year. 

There are plenty of reasons to love a flat display over a curved one, one of them being better screen real-estate. Although the bottom bezel is a touch larger than other handsets, the A53 maximises the use of the display making it comfortable to play, watch, and type on.

OPPO has also upped its screen refresh game on both phones from the usual 60Hz refresh rate up to 90Hz. Refresh rate refers to how many times the screen refreshes in a minute, the quicker the rate the smoother the human eye sees transitions, so scrolling through on the A53 is less jarring when compared to handsets with lesser refresh rates. They're actually the most affordable phones with a 90Hz display around. 

Faster refresh rates can be synonymous with draining battery, we’ve already seen the Samsung Galaxy S21 struggle to make it through the day with its 120Hz refresh rate enabled. The A53 and A53s however both last around five and a half hours of screen time between charges with the higher refresh rate enabled. For most people that means you will easily survive a full day without the need to top up throughout.

Enabling power saving mode reduces the screen refresh rate, and minimises background data use, which in turn ups the screen time to around six to seven hours between charges. Either way you’re safe to leave the house with a partially charged handset.

Even so, both phones have fast charging and go from zero to 100% in less than half an hour when using the charging cables and wall socket including in the box. OPPO genuinely does a great job with battery life across the board. TLDR - its no surprise that the A53 range performs this well.

Now it’s not all peaches and mint cream because there are a couple downers which come part and parcel with the A53 and A53s. Firstly, the speakers leave something to be desired. Audio can be distorted and one dimensional which is a problem if you’re listening to music or watching something on your phone. An easy fix is to use the headphones that come with the phones, or you could upgrade to OPPO’s wireless earbuds, dubbed Enco W51. Phone calls still sounded fine on the phones, however. 

There is also no in-screen fingerprint biometric, and instead uses a touchpad on the rear of the handset like we see on the Pixel range. You’ll still have the option to use a passcode, facial recognition or an on-screen pattern however. Each of these work reliably and take pretty much the same length of time to get into your phone - so you can choose your own adventure.

Each phone has the same tri-camera set up featuring a 13MP primary lens, a 2MP depth lens and a 2MP macro lens. Overall the photography is great for this price - there are pain points such as capturing moving subjects  and lowlight which is standard in cheaper phones, but all around the photos have a great colour balance and clarity worthy of your Instagram story.

Thanks to the depth sensor, portrait mode is especially crisp just take a look at these comparisons below.

Portrait mode off

Portrait mode on

Where portrait mode is enabled you can clearly see the bolder focus on the succulent skull, even to the point of it’s leaves (which for this purpose demonstrate hair) having the same sharpness as the face for the most part. The handset does a great job differentiating between the background and the foreground to create that depth.

There is also an option called Dazzle Colour which automatically increases the contrast and saturation of your images. Using this mode does take an extra second or two in order to snap a photo, so it’s probably best to avoid if you’re shooting moving subjects. It does add that little bit more pop to the image as demonstrated below.

Dazzle Colour off

Dazzle Colour on

Note that neither the A53 nor the A53s have a night mode and the primary camera does not operate well in lowlight. The snap below was taken at dusk - not quite dark enough to warrant turning on a light yet - and it came out as grainy, near pitch darkness

Lowlight sample

Sample brightened by 50%

OPPO A53 and OPPO A53s - Final thoughts

Both the OPPO A53 and OPPO A53s are solid handsets that nail the basics. While the choice to separate the two into separate models as opposed to just internal storage sizes is perplexing, practically speaking they are great phones for the price.

Which one you need will mostly depend on how full your current phone is. Already have an SD card that you’ll just switch over? Go with the A53. Don’t like external storage and want everything in one package? Nab the A53s. Blue is your favourite colour? A53s. Prefer pastel green? A53. Want to buy it on a plan? Pick the A53s OR the A53.

Regardless you’ll end up with a capable, incredibly battery efficient phone which delivers excellent value in its price bracket.

OPPO A53 & OPPO A53s camera samples

Anula Wiwatowska

Offsite Editorial Lead | Instagram

Anula is the Off-Site Editorial Lead for WhistleOut Australia, and an award winning tech journalist. She has been writing about the Australian telco industry, and consumer technology for over five years, and has been known to tell her Uber driver which phone they should upgrade to next.

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