OPPO A74 Review: handsome mid-ranger that needs to be priced lower

Today, we are going to check out the OPPO A74, the company’s most recent mid-range smartphone that’s also available in a 5G variant, though it might seem like an inferior device to its 5G sibling, it is quite the contrary. In fact, the OPPO A74 4G is equipped with a superior chipset and display, it also saves you RM200 if you decide to forgo the 5G feature, since you shouldn’t be too bothered about it as 5G is barely ready in Malaysia.

Compared to its predecessor, the OPPO A74 now takes on a more generic smartphone design that we have seen on other brands with a glossy plastic back, I personally still prefer the faux leather back on the A73 as the current one is a real fingerprint magnet and lacks uniqueness, although it does look handsome with its gradient finish.

The phone’s display is a colorful 6.43″ AMOLED panel with a FHD+ resolution, it however refreshes at 60Hz and is a let down, considering the fact that some similar devices like it are already fitted with 90Hz refresh rate panels, but nonetheless it isn’t going to disappoint if you are thinking to use it for content consumption, it is also fortunately bright enough to view the screen outdoors and better than most phones with IPS panels.

Powered by the same Snapdragon 662 SoC on its predecessor, the OPPO A74 also has the same amount of RAM and storage at 6GB and 128GB respectively, which is sufficient for everyday smartphone applications and I generally don’t find much performance issues with it during the review period, although it isn’t exactly snappy and flawless, this is all thanks to the great optimization that OPPO has done to ColorOS 11 that’s based on Android 11, there isn’t much bloatware or annoying ads throughout the experience, which ultimately makes it a really great device to use compared to the competition.

The most significant hardware change of the OPPO A74 over its predecessor is its main camera, though the camera array now sadly omits the ultra-wide angle lens, the 48MP main lens is now accompanied with a 2MP depth and 2MP macro lens.

In general, the OPPO A74 is a capable shooter in good lighting conditions, though colors can get too saturated at times, it barely gets the wrong white balance and doesn’t overexpose background which most mid-range phone cameras don’t usually do well.

However, the OPPO A74’s camera fall short when it comes to indoor and low light shots, even with the help of Night Mode, the picture above looks really noisy and isn’t on par with other mid-range phone cameras.

Even the 16MP selfie camera falls short as I can detect graininess in my selfie in good lighting.

The OPPO A74 has no problem lasting a full work day given its 5000mAh battery and its efficient SoC when I am doing some casual web and social media browsing, I am very thankful that it supports the 33W VOOC flash charging which can always be a life saver when I tend to forget to charge the device simply because it lasted so long on a single charge.

Retailing at RM899, the OPPO A74 is unfortunately not quite the value champ here considering some of its alternatives are offering more attractive specs and features, but in general this is a really decent mid-range phone you can’t go wrong with if you are familiar with OPPO’s clean software experience, furthermore I think it makes a pretty good fashion statement for those looking for a stylish device without spending over RM1000.

The Good

• Great display quality
• Battery life and 33W fast charging
• Clean and reliable software experience

The Not so Good

• Camera isn’t good in low light
• No 90Hz refresh rate
• Competition offer better features for lower price