Oppo A15 was the brand’s cheapest Western smartphone offering yet

Two-minute review

At the end of a busy 2020 for Oppo, the Oppo A15 was the brand’s cheapest Western smartphone offering yet. As such, you should set your expectations accordingly.

The phone’s all-plastic body feels solidly built, if entirely unspectacular, and the presence of a micro-USB port is something of a blast from the past (to put it politely). 

While its rear-mounted fingerprint sensor isn’t exactly forward-thinking, it’s pleasingly quick and reliable.

Turning to the front of the phone, such a generously sized display on a budget device isn’t the norm. 

At 6.52-inches, and with a relatively high peak brightness, it certainly makes an impression.

It’s just a shame then that this display’s 720p resolution doesn’t seal the deal. Media and web content looks grainier than we’d have liked.

Talking of media content, avid gamers should steer clear of this handset. The Oppo A15’s MediaTek MT6765 CPU is one of the humblest on the market, 

and it’s supported by a scant 3GB of RAM. And as a result of these modest components, even general navigation takes a bit of a hit.

Oppo has opted for a suitably sparse camera setup in the A15 – something we wouldn’t necessarily be averse to at this price 

if it excelled at the basics. However, the camera setup’s lack of flexibility results in poor daylight shots. And while there is a Night mode here, it really doesn’t seem to do much good in low-light conditions.

One of the areas in which the Oppo A15 does deliver is battery life. A fairly large 4,230mAh unit serves those modest components well, 

happily taking you into a second day of use before needing a top up..

While it’s tempting to consider such a cheap, solidly built phone from this dependable brand, 

it’s worth separating price from value. Put simply, there are far better phones available for the same – or just a little more – money, including the Moto G8 and the Oppo A5 2020.