Who wants a Realme 2 in new clothing?

TL;DR

• Oppo has announced the Oppo A7, its latest budget-focused smartphone.
• The new phone packs a Snapdragon 450 chipset, dual-camera pairing, and 720p display.
• Oppo’s device shares plenty in common with the Realme 2 smartphone.

The Oppo A7x was announced by the Chinese brand a few months ago, packing a squarely mid-range chipset, full HD+ display, dual camera setup, and a 3,500mAh battery. Now, the company has quietly revealed the Oppo A7 (h/t: XDA-Developers), and it looks like a step below the previous phone in many ways.

Oppo‘s latest smartphone swaps out the MediaTek Helio P60 chipset in favor of a Snapdragon 450 processor. The Qualcomm chipset lacks the P60’s powerful CPU cores, using lightweight Cortex-A53 cores instead. The new phone also features a 6.2-inch waterdrop notch display, but with the resolution pegged at 720p instead of the A7x’s full HD+ screen.

The Oppo A7 has one major advantage over the A7x though: it packs a 4,230mAh battery. The capacity increase alone should result in longer endurance, but the lower resolution and more frugal chipset (in theory) should deliver even more power savings. So those looking for two days of juice might want to keep an eye on this device.

As for the rest of the spec sheet, you’re looking at 3GB/4GB of RAM, 32GB/64GB of expandable storage, a 13MP+2MP rear camera pairing, and a 16MP selfie camera. We’ve also got a rear fingerprint scanner, microUSB connectivity, Bluetooth 4.2, and Hyper Boost technology for better performance in selected games. The phone lacks NFC, but at least Oppo hasn’t removed the headphone jack.

If these specs sound familiar, that’s because the A7 seems like a Realme 2 in new clothing. From the chipset and display resolution to the rear-camera pairing and battery size, it’s clear Oppo is leaning heavily on its Indian sub-brand. There are a few changes though, such as a higher resolution selfie camera and waterdrop notch.

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The Oppo A7 also runs the company’s ColorOS 5.2 Android skin, offering Google Lens integration, a Smart Bar window for multi-tasking, and audio-only playback for local videos. Unfortunately, this skin is based on Android 8.1 rather than Android Pie, so don’t expect features like stock gesture navigation or adaptive brightness.

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