Premium smartphones can be quite expensive and if they are beyond your budget price range, you should check out the much affordable Oppo A74 5G.
Oppo A74 5G is a good entry-level smartphone with features that you would expect to see in higher-end smartphone models. But, the phone is not for everyone.
In this video, I am going to unbox this phone and explain its features.
This is the Oppo A74 5G which usually sells for $399 in Australia.
Sometimes it can go on sale for $299, which is $100 cheaper.
The box has the phone model name and the picture of the front and back of the phone.
The back of the box mentions the main features of the phone.
It has a Qualcomm 5G SoC (System-on-Chip), 90Hz Hyper-color screen, 5000mAh battery.
This phone has 6GB RAM and 128GB storage capacity.
It supports dual-SIM as can be seen in the two IMEI numbers printed here.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX
Now, let’s open the box and see the content.
These are all the items from the box. The Oppo A74 5G smartphone, charging power adaptor, USB to USB-C charging cable, clear protective casing, earphones, SIM ejector pin, quick user guide and the warranty card.
The Oppo A74 5G comes pre-installed with a screen protector, so that is one less thing to worry about.
The front 16MP camera is on the top left corner.
On this side is the SIM card tray and the volume keys.
At the bottom is the earphone jack, microphone, USB type-C port and speaker.
On the other side is a key that functions as power key, screen lock key or fingerprint scanner.
If you look closely at the top of the phone, there is a receiver, and this tiny blue colored area is the proximity sensor and light sensor.
At the back are the camera lenses with 48MP, 8MP, 2MP and another 2MP.
This phone supports NFC which is built-in just around here.
PHONE SPECIFICATIONS
Before I show you how to get the phone up and running, I’d like to share the OPPO A74 specifications.
I’m using an app called DevCheck which is installed after setting up the phone.
Once you launch the app, it shows summary information on the Dashboard.
You can see each of the CPU cores’ current speed.
This phone’s model number is CPH2197 and it runs on Android 11 operating system.
The processor is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 SM4350 which has 8 cores CPU.
It is manufactured using 8nm process and should be very energy efficient.
The GPU or the graphics processor is the Qualcomm Adreno 619 which is a mobile graphics card for mid-range smartphones and tablets.
The GPU supports modern Vulkan standards which is an open standard for 3D graphics and computing. Vulkan is intended for higher performance and more efficient CPU and GPU usage compared to older OpenGL and Direct3D 11 APIs.
The display resolution is 2400 x 1080 and supports a frame rate of 90 Hz.
RAM size is 6 GB and it is LPDDR4X type.
Storage size is 128 GB.
It supports Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy.
This phone has other features such as USB host support, fingerprint scanner, face detection, NFC support and GPS as standard.
GETTING THE PHONE READY
Before using the phone, plug in the charging cable and the phone turns on by itself.
Once it loads, select your preferred language for the phone.
Click ‘Next’.
Select your region from the countries list.
Click ‘Next’.
Read the user agreement and terms.
You can untick the optional programs if you want.
I’m selecting all.
Click ‘Next’.
Select Wi-Fi to connect and enter password if required.
Once Wi-Fi is connected, click ‘Next’.
With Wi-Fi internet connection, the phone starts checking for updates.
If available, updates will be automatically installed.
Next step is to transfer apps, photos and contacts from another phone.
As I am not transferring anything over, I’ll click ‘Don’t copy’.
Next step is to sign in with your Google Account.
If you don’t have a Google Account, click ‘Create account’.
Otherwise, enter your Google Account ID and click ‘Next’.
Type your password and click ‘Next’.
You have the option to set up the phone for yourself or for a child.
If you are setting up for a child, the phone will allow you to set up parental controls.
I am setting up the phone for myself. Then, click ‘Next’.
I’m not going to add a phone number to the Google Account, so I am clicking ‘Skip’.
Read the Terms of Service and click ‘I agree’.
Go through the Google Services and tick or untick your choices and click ‘Accept’ to confirm your selections.
Click ‘Continue’ to continue setting up the phone.
You can set up Google Assistant here but I am going to skip this.
This is to allow Assistant to function on a locked screen. I don’t want this, so I’m skipping this.
You can add a payment card to Google Pay here. As this is a testing phone, I’m skipping this too.
You can perform additional tasks listed here, but they can also be done later.
So I am clicking ‘No thanks’.
Three phone unlock methods are listed here; Password, Fingerprint or Face. Select and follow the prompts to set up. Otherwise, click ‘Later’.
HeyTap Account is a 3rd party services platform. I’m not signing up with this now, so I’m clicking ‘Later’.
Next is the option to auto update the phone system overnight. I don’t like the idea of any system automatically updating itself. I prefer to know what the update is and then start a manual update.
So, uncheck the option and click the ‘Next’ button.
Now there is another option to import data from an old phone.
I’m not doing this, so click ‘Next’.
These are personalisations options such as wallpapers, icon style and font.
Click ‘Next’.
Once done, the ColorOS Android operating system loads.
Click ‘Get Started’ and you will now see the Android home screen.
The battery icon shows the current charging status. I would prefer to see the battery percentage.
Go to the phone ‘Settings’.
Scroll and click ‘Battery’.
It is showing the battery percentage here.
Scroll down and select ‘More battery settings’.
Click to turn on ‘Show battery percentage on status bar’ option.
Now the battery icon on the status bar is showing the battery percentage which makes it easier to keep track.
The screen is quite sharp and bright enough.
These are the apps that came preinstalled in this phone.
Tools category has some useful apps.
Google category has some standard Google apps.
On the next page, there are a few more apps here.
Social media apps like Facebook, TikTok and LinkedIn are already installed.
Holiday accommodation Booking.com and Amazon shopping apps are also here.
CONCLUSION
I used this phone while traveling to 2 different countries in Asia. Being a dual SIM phone, I was able to use SIM cards from the 2 countries. It made traveling easier as I only had to carry a single phone. At the same time I could receive SMS texts such as OTP or PIN while being away.
The phone worked flawlessly for all the apps that I used while traveling. Browsing, communications, messaging, video calls, navigation, banking, shopping and video streaming. Everything was fast and responsive. For general use and video streaming, this is a great phone in its category considering the low price.
I did not test gaming much but I’ll show you a car racing game and you can judge its performance and quality. Thank you for watching and I hope to see you in my next video.