Optus Mobile Review ALDI Mobile Review Amaysim Mobile Review Belong Mobile Review Circles.Life Review Vodafone Mobile Review Woolworths Mobile Review Felix Mobile Review Best iPhone Plans Best Family Mobile Plans Best Budget Smartphones Best Prepaid Plans Best SIM-Only Plans Best Plans For Kids And Teens Best Cheap Mobile Plans Telstra vs Optus Mobile Optus NBN Review Belong NBN Review Vodafone NBN Review Superloop NBN Review Aussie BB NBN Review iiNet NBN Review MyRepublic NBN Review TPG NBN Review Best NBN Satellite Plans Best NBN Alternatives Best NBN Providers Best Home Wireless Plans What is a Good NBN Speed? Test NBN Speed How to speed up your internet Optus vs Telstra Broadband ExpressVPN Review CyberGhost VPN Review NordVPN Review PureVPN Review Norton Secure VPN Review IPVanish VPN Review Windscribe VPN Review Hotspot Shield VPN Review Best cheap VPN services Best VPN for streaming Best VPNs for gaming What is a VPN? VPNs for ad-blocking Still, it’s a nice looking phone that’s a comfortable size for your hand. It’s big, just not iPhone 13 Pro Max big. There’s a plastic protective case in the box—as is the standard with low to midrange Androids these days—which cheapens the look, but out of the box the OPPO A94 looks slick and shiny. Shiny is usually an indication that it’ll attract fingerprints. And it does, particularly with the Fluid Black model. Following the latest divisive trend in fingerprint ID, the sensor is found behind the display and isdesigned for your thumb rather than index finger. The downside to OPPO’s implementation is that it’s also where the ’end call’ button is when you’re on a call and I found myself accidentally hanging up on people when I was trying to unlock my screen. Unlike the Google Pixel 6, the A94 mercifully offers Face ID as an alternative, if that’s your preference (and in my experience, it probably will be). You’ll find the 3.5mm headphone jack, USB-C charging port and speaker down the bottom of the OPPO A94 5G, with volume controls on the left side and the power button on the right. I was pleasantly surprised with the camera capabilities and only really let down by the 10x digital zoom. It doesn’t give you a crisp picture when zoomed in that far by any stretch of the imagination (most of my zoomed photos looked more like abstract paintings a la Van Gogh) but it’s not the worst example of a digital zoom. I snapped a blurry photo of an Azure Kingfisher hiding in the mangroves on one of my walks, which was cool, but it’s not going to win me any photography awards. The issue is, OPPO’s website doesnt advertise any type of optical zoom at all which would be odd even at this price range. Another funky feature is the Dual Screen Video function. You can record video using the front and back camera at the same time. Fun if you need to film something, and also your face, at the same time. Maybe your reaction when you find an Azure Kingfisher in the mangroves? What I didn’t love was the default settings on the front camera for selfies. I couldn’t work out why my skin looked so… weird. With the rise and rise of filters permeating our social media, it still shocks me that phone cameras have airbrushing features built in now. But I want the choice, damnit. I felt uneasy that the default option was already applying an AI beautification filter. Likewise, portrait mode also airbrushes—sorry, ‘AI Beautifies’ you—as well as blurring your background and bringing you into focus. The colours are sharp and bright though. The Night Vision mode is decent, and I managed to get a considerable difference in the quality of the poison ivy climbing in my dark bathroom. For posting pics on your Insta story, the OPPO A94 is perfectly adequate. However, there are other midrange phones that offer the same or better cameras. It’s snappy and doesn’t lag and while I’m no avid gamer I did play a few casual rounds of Among Us and online Settlers of Catan with no issue. The phone kept up and felt zippy which is really all that matters for multiplayer mobile games that aren’t big on graphics. The screen looks vivid too, thanks to the AMOLED tech that the A94 uses. Lastly, there’s no wireless charging in the A94 5G which isn’t too surprising at this price range but still a bit disappointing (especially if you’ve already forked out for a Qi wireless charger).
