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The OPPO A96 really is both pretty and powerful

Under the popular A-series, the A96 may look like your usual OPPO phone but the company’s recent release is supposed to be a very efficient and powerful all-rounder.

But with many similar devices flooding the mid-range market, there are a couple of things that make the OPPO A96 stand out.

Not afraid of glitz and glamor

If there’s one thing that can help you easily identify an OPPO phone, it would have to be through its design. You’re sure to see a device that’s elegant — especially if it’s sporting the signature OPPO Glow Design.

We have the Pearl Pink color here and it’s as gorgeous in real life as it is in photos. It’s prominently a silver-like color with a pink/yellow//blue gradient glow depending on the light available.

I absolutely love how gentle-looking this phone is and it also has a great in-hand feel and grip thanks to the slight curves on the body.

It’s light and thin, making great to tout around in my pocket, too.

But if you’re not into iridescent designs, the Starry Black may be a better option. I also really love how OPPO is able to execute its design language even with neutral colors like this one. Where other phone makers would probably make its neutral options simple and often untextured, OPPO decides otherwise.

Moving from the back to the front, we also get a very comfortable experience. At 6.59 inches, the display is perfectly sized to handle all my everyday duties.

Whether it involved answering emails or editing photos, the OPPO A96’s screen provided adequate room.

It’s not too great at split-screen, however, since it isn’t that large and can make two apps feel cramped. Sticking to one app at a time became the better choice for me.

But overall, I like the build and design of the A96. It hit the right spots in terms of weight and size to make it easy to use even with one hand.

Power-packed and optimized

Needless to say, day-to-day activities are easily handled by the OPPO A96’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 processor.

But combine the A96’s smooth performance with its well-optimized 5000mAh battery and you’ll be getting a device that works alongside you the whole day and then some.

The Snapdragon 680’s efficiency combined with OPPO Color OS shines on this device as it’s able to last more than a day with the usual workload and even longer when on standby.

This is something I appreciated as I was able to work continuously without even thinking about charging the A96.

And for those who’ve read or watched my reviews on YouTube, you’ll know that I’m lazy to charge so I’m also glad to have 33W SUPERVOOC charging on this phone.

There was one time that I forgot to charge my phone but had to head out of the house.

Luckily, we stopped by a coffee shop for breakfast where I got a chance to plug in and top up my phone. In about 30 minutes or so, my phone had a little more than 60% of juice which was enough for me that day.

If you’re like most people, you charge your phone at night when you’re asleep. OPPO kicks in some optimizations during nighttime charging as well.

With the help of AI, it will be able to analyze and study your charging patterns.

When it senses that a phone is idle for a long time, say during a good night’s sleep, it will charge to about 80% then it will switch to trickle charging which slowly fills up the battery until the time you usually wake up.

This really helps to preserve the integrity of your battery.

Moving on. OPPO says that this phone is designed to be powerful and so far it’s proven just that through its long battery life and performance with daily-use apps.

But what can this “powerful” phone do?

My mobile gaming library consists of rather casual games including Pokémon Go, a bit of Genshin Impact, and a little bit more of Mobile Legends.

I could easily play Genshin Impact on low graphics settings but could crank it to medium, sometimes high, and still get relatively smooth movement. More so when running on Pro Gamer mode.

The OPPO A96 also offers virtual RAM which borrows up to 5GB from its internal storage (256GB) to boost phone performance during more intensive sessions or workloads.

Mobile Legends and Pokémon Go aren’t too demanding to begin with and were able to hold stable frame rates. Having a high refresh rate also made these games more enjoyable to play.

More than that though, I was pleasantly surprised at the load this phone can handle.

I’ve seen other devices with the same processor that didn’t perform as well as this phone did in the games that I did mention. Although, it might be best to still keep your expectations in check considering its segment.

You may be spending a bit more, especially when pitted against other devices in this price range, but what I feel you’re getting in return is a more optimized phone that’s been, as OPPO puts it, designed to be powerful.

Wish it had better cameras

There are many things that are great about the A96 but it’s quite obvious that most of those are centered around performance upgrades which leave me wanting in the camera department.

OPPO goes for a dual-camera setup with a 50-megapixel main and a supporting 2-megapixel depth sensor.

The main shooter is capable of pretty clean and sharp photos but you will have a harder time in low-light conditions which isn’t unexpected.

There’s a good dynamic range and you’ll still be able to make out details even in the shadowy parts of the photos.

The shutter button is slow, though, making it hard to catch fleeting moments. I made many attempts to take photos of my cat, Puff, but it was hard since the device took a while. Fortunately, when I was able to get a couple of snaps, they looked really good.

For selfies, you’re in good hands with this device. Portraits come out great from the 16-megapixel shooter but, like the rear, it has a harder time in low light. But otherwise, details come out clean and colors well-saturated.

Beautification is automatically turned on when you switch to the front camera and there are enough options and parameters to help you get the look you want.

So does that mean the cameras are bad? No, of course not.

The dual-camera system would be absolutely fine for everyday snaps. It may just be that OPPO had to cut corners in the imaging department to provide a device with better performance and efficiency.

Daily dependability

What made having the OPPO A96 a great experience was its smooth performance as a daily driver. It worked well both as a personal and a work phone.

I liked its small and thin form factor, its eye-catching design, and the fact that it can last through the day.

For usual work tasks like checking emails, editing articles, updating our social media, and the like, the device worked free of drops or lags.

This remains true when I’m off the clock and checking on my personal socials or even watching an episode or two on Netflix or HBO GO.

Its speakers are loud which is great if I want to watch alone though I found the sound a little too thin at times. There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack for wired peripherals if needed, too.

A couple of things I do wish it had are 5G support, slightly better cameras, and NFC to make it just a little bit more futureproof.

But in the here and now, the OPPO A96 comes out as a very dependable choice for a non-5G device as its best features, most notably its long battery life and optimized performance, make it a practical pick for an everyday phone.