OPPO has taken a leap of faith, launching a smartphone without a fingerprint sensor. With more entry level devices getting fingerprint sensors installed, OPPO has decided to ditch it with the mid range A83 to make way for facial recognition to rival OnePlus’ Face Unlock and Apple’s Face ID.
The OPPO A83 comes in an aluminum build which looks an awful lot like the OnePlus 5T. It comes sporting a 5.7-inch HD+ display on the front in 18:9 aspect ratio. Underneath the hood is an unknown 2.5 GHz octa core processor which is most likely a MediaTek Helio P23 chipset, along with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.
The OPPO A83 comes with a 13MP rear camera which can achieve 50MP images via stitching of multiple photos. The 8MP selfie shooter on the front doubles as a face scanner. OPPO claims its facial recognition technology to identify 128 points on the face, unlocking the phone within a speedy 0.18 seconds, which is significantly faster than the OnePlus 5T’s 0.4 seconds for its Face Unlock. It is however likely that OPPO is using the same technology as OnePlus since they both share the same parent company. OPPO forgoing the fingerprint sensor on this handset is a bold step to make.
OPPO has made the A83 available for pre-orders in China for CNY 1,399 (RM 872.08). What are your thoughts on OPPO’s decision?