Oppo A9 2020 Vanilla Mint Color Launched

Oppo A9 2020 Vanilla Mint color variant has been launched in India. The new option comes in line with the existing Marine Green and Space Purple colors that both debuted at the time of the Oppo A9 2020 formal launch back in September.

The Vanilla Mint color variant of the Oppo A9 2020 is claimed to offer a greenish-blue color tint on the 3D gradient back design that is made using nano-optical light color technology. Oppo claims that the new color is inspired by a "calm sunny afternoon in a bedroom overlooking the ocean." Hardware-wise, the new Oppo A9 2020 variant doesn't have any changes. The phone is powered by the octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 SoC and sports a waterdrop-style display notch.

Oppo A9 2020 Key Specs

Operating System

• Android v9.0 (Pie)

Display

• 6.5 inches (16.51 cm) bezel-less display with waterdrop notch
• Gorilla Glass 5 Protection

Design

• Plastic Back

Performance

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 Octa-core Processor
• 8 GB RAM
• 128 GB internal storage, expandable up to 256 GB

Camera

• 48 + 8 + 2 + 2 MP Quad Rear Cameras
• 16 MP Front Camera

Battery

• 5000 mAh battery

Connectivity

• Dual SIM: Nano + Nano with VoLTE support
• SIM1: Supports 4G, 3G
• SIM2: Supports 4G, 3G

Special Features

• Rear Fingerprint Sensor
• Face Unlock
• 3.5 mm headphone jack present

Apart from the new color experience, the specifications of the new Oppo A9 2020 variant are identical to what debuted through its original models. The dual-SIM (Nano) smartphone runs Android 9 Pie with ColorOS 6.1 on top -- upgradable to Android 10 with Color 7. The phone is powered by the octa-core Snapdragon 665 SoC, paired with up to 8GB of RAM.

The Oppo A9 2020 sports the quad rear camera setup that consists of a 48-megapixel primary sensor and an 8-megapixel secondary sensor. The smartphone also has a 2-megapixel monochrome sensor as well as a 2-megapixel depth sensor. For selfies, the Oppo smartphone has a 16-megapixel selfie camera sensor at the front.

In terms of storage, the Oppo A9 2020 has 128GB of onboard storage that is expandable via microSD card (up to 256GB). Connectivity options include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS/ A-GPS, and USB Type-C. The smartphone comes with a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. Besides, it packs a 5,000mAh battery.

Oppo A9 2020 Features

OPPO A9 2020 is a mid-range smartphone that has a powerful processor, a good set of cameras, and impressive display quality embraced inside the stunning body. In addition to this, the smartphone is also provided with excellent battery backup and comes with a huge storage facility. Overall, the smartphone is one of the perfect options in the mid-range budget

Oppo A9 2020 Design

The Oppo A9 2020 feels a little taller than usual, and that's because of its relatively uncommon 20:9 display. We did notice that this phone stuck out of our jeans pocket a bit more than we would have liked. It's no narrower than most other phones and is also fairly thick at 9.1mm as well as heavier than average at 195g. All in all, we found that it wasn't the easiest to hold and use.

Oppo has made a few design considerations such as placing the power and volume buttons in the middle of each side of this phone so they're within reach, but any button or icon within the upper quarter of the screen requires quite a stretch to get to. The rear is a little slippery but so much that we were afraid the phone would fall. The fingerprint sensor was just barely within our reach, but it's a bit small and narrow so others might have trouble with its placement.

As for design, there isn't anything really new or different about this phone. It has a waterdrop notch and prominent chin on the front, and our review unit had a pre-applied plastic screen protector. Oppo says it has used Gorilla Glass 3+ on the front side and also on the back of this device.

Our Space Purple unit had a slick metallic gradient across the rear, moving from deep blue on the left to purple on the right. The only other option is called Marine Green. The glass is highly susceptible to picking up smudges and fingerprints though. The camera module sticks out quite prominently – three of the four rear cameras are within it, while the fourth is to one side, just below the flash.

There's a USB Type-C Port on the bottom along with a 3.5mm audio socket and a speaker (which works with the earpiece as a stereo pair). The tray on the left has slots for two Nano-SIMs and a microSD card. Oppo supplies a plastic case, a 10W charger, a USB Type-C cable, and even a wired headset in the retail box.

Software

Like many newly launched mid-range smartphones, the Oppo A9 2020 uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 processor. This octa-core model succeeds in the popular Snapdragon 600 and claims to offer better power efficiency also the graphics performance.

You get a 5000mAh battery but there's no mention of support for fast charging. On the other hand, Oppo is promoting reverse charging, which will let you use this phone as a power bank to charge other devices as long as you have the required cable or adapter to use with the Type-C port.

There are two variants: one with 4GB of RAM ­– which was launched at Rs. 16,990 but officially reduced to Rs. 15,990 just a month after launch ­­– and the other with 8GB of RAM priced at Rs. 19,990. Oppo sent us the latter for review.

The display measurement is 6.5 inches diagonally but only has an HD+ resolution (720x1600) which is not great considering that sub-Rs. 10,000 phones with full-HD resolutions are not all that rare anymore. This will hurt Oppo's prospects, especially when considering that the higher-end version of this phone competes with some real powerhouses.

Oppo's ColorOS skin 6.0.1 runs on top of Android 9 with the October 2019 security patch. It has quite a lot going on, starting with a large amount of bloatware plus fake folders on the home screen that lead you to the app and game stores. Many of Oppo's own apps, as well as third-party ones, kept generating annoying ad notifications even before we had run them for the first time. It's possible, though tedious, to clean most of this up.

You can choose whether or not to use an app drawer, and tweak the home screen layout as well as the theme. Oppo's Lock Screen Magazine feature shows pointless and repetitive content on the lock screen, but at least we didn't see blatant ads here, and this can be turned off too.

There are heavy customizations in the Settings app, notifications shade, and many of the default apps, but things are generally where you'd expect them to be. Extra features include a Game Space optimizer, App Cloner which works only with certain social apps, and Oppo Cloud which gives you 5GB of free storage for syncing photos and messages, call history, and more.

Performance

Despite Oppo's heavily customized Android skin, the performance was very snappy, and even the animations didn't get in our way. We had no trouble at all using this phone for all the usual day-to-day tasks. Apps launched quickly enough and multitasking was also painless.

The navigation buttons on the bottom remain visible in their own bar while apps run unless you switch to using gestures. There are two different gesture schemes but we wouldn't recommend using either one since this was the only time we felt the A9 2020 lagging a little.

The low-resolution screen is a bit of a disappointment and the extra-tall aspect ratio might take a little getting used to. Videos still look good enough for most purposes and interestingly, Widevine L1 DRM has still been incorporated so you can stream HD video. The Oppo A9 2020 stands out from its competition thanks to stereo speakers. The earpiece isn't as powerful as the speaker on the bottom, but the sound is more immersive than we're used to on phones in this market segment.

We found that videos and casual games were very enjoyable. One advantage of the low-res screen is that games run better than we've seen on similar phones with the same processor and HD+ resolution panels since there are fewer pixels to push.

This is evidenced by benchmarks – GFXBench's T-rex and Manhattan 3.1 tests ran at 50fps and 25fps respectively. 3DMark gave us 1,149 points in its Sling Shot Extreme test and 23,307 points in Ice Storm Unlimited. However, PUBG Mobile still defaulted to its low preset, and gameplay was a little choppy. Asphalt 9: Legends also stuttered quite a bit and struggled in action scenes.

As for general benchmarks, we got 1,69,226 points overall in AnTuTu, as well as 305 and 1,305 respectively in Geekbench 5. These scores are pretty much on par with those of the Redmi Note 8 (Review), unlike the graphics scores which were affected by screen resolution.

The 5,000mAh battery got us through a full day of usage which involved some gaming, Web surfing, video streaming, and general usage, and we still had 40 percent left by the time we went to bed at night. Our HD video loop test ran for a very impressive 17 hours, 5 minutes.

This is the tradeoff we were hoping for after seeing this phone's low-res screen and bulky body. It also means that using the reverse charging functionality could actually be practical, in a pinch, though we did not measure how fast it is.

Cameras

One of these phone's biggest selling points is that it has four rear cameras, but we noticed something odd about the way that they have been implemented. Oppo considers them as a 48-megapixel primary camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, and two others for “artistic portrait effects”. It takes a bit of digging to learn that these are both 2-megapixel sensors for Mono and Portrait shots.

It's important to note that there is no depth sensor here; the Portrait camera is not the same thing. In fact, the A9 2020 does not use this camera for measuring depth in its portrait mode – that is applied in software, and we confirmed this by physically covering the additional cameras. It also means that you can't vary the intensity of the effect or adjust it after the shot has been taken.

The "artistic portrait effects" refer to the last two filters in the camera app's portrait mode, which are unhelpfully just labeled '06' and '07'. Oppo officially website offers “retro aesthetic” and “artistic vintage” as descriptions, which also tell us very little. The effects essentially look like monochrome and faded colors, respectively.

It seems that the Oppo really wanted to use the words “quad-camera” to market this phone without offering a lot of functionality. Potential buyers should understand that these words alone are meaningless without understanding the specifications and capabilities of each camera.

We discovered how to use these two effects purely through trial and error since the app does nothing whatsoever to highlight this. The effects are not especially compelling and we've seen similar looks from ordinary filters. These effects are no substitute for the dedicated macro and depth sensors, or any other types of cameras, that many other budget phones now offer.

The design of the app has other problems as well. When taking close-ups with the primary camera, the message “Macro Lens” flashed on the screen even though this phone doesn't have one and there's no way to switch to the effects cameras, not that they'd do any good in such situations. The toggle for the ultra-wide camera is in the top row, far from the shutter button, and you can't use it to record video at all.

Coming to image quality, Oppo has done a really great job with the primary 48-megapixel camera. We found that shots taken in the daytime were bright and crisp, with natural-looking colors and plenty of detail. The phone took no time to lock focus. The only trouble we had was slightly blown-out highlights when there was a lot of contrast between a subject and the sky in the background.

Interestingly, we saw that we could get some pretty good closeups with nice natural depth of field in the cameras standard photo mode. In Portrait mode, background separation was more dramatic and we did notice that edge detection was quite good. Wide-angle shots came out a little duller and grainer, and with a much cooler tone, than those taken with the main camera. If you care about photo quality, you'll avoid using this camera unless absolutely necessary.

Oppo has implemented a night mode that we found to be surprisingly effective. It not only brought out parts of our subjects that were completely in the shadows but also balanced colors better. It does take a bit of time to capture a shot, though, and also crops pictures so you might lose some of the frames that you are trying to capture. In the standard mode, shots taken at night were still decent and we were happy, apart from a few that came out with poor focus.

The front camera was just about okay. Beautification is on by default and it takes two taps to turn it off. Our skin texture didn't look too good but there was decent detail and the exposure was balanced well enough.

Video can be recorded at 720p, 1080p or 4K resolutions, but only up to 30fps at any of them. Switching video resolutions requires multiple taps through the Settings menu. As mentioned before, you can only record video through the primary rear camera, which feels like missed potential.

There's stabilization at 1080p and it really does make a huge difference. Colors were a little muted but the quality was otherwise fine. 4K video is very jerky and quality was not as good despite the higher resolution. Stabilization does cause a bit of artifact at night and we would recommend not using this phone to record video unless you're standing still.

Oppo A9 2020 Vanilla Mint Price In India

The Oppo A9 2020 Vanilla Mint color option carries a price tag of Rs. 15,990 for the 4GB RAM option, while its 8GB RAM variant is priced at Rs. 18,490. Both options will be purchased through various online and offline stores along with five percent cash back on purchases made through HDFC and ICICI banks.

To recall, the Oppo A9 2020 was launched in India with a starting price of Rs. 16,990. The phone, however, recently received an Rs. 1,000 price cut in the country.

Oppo A9 2020 Vanilla Mint Price In Pakistan

OPPO A9 2020 features 48MP CMOS Image Sensor. Dolby Atmos and Dual Stereo Speakers. Snapdragon 665 with Game Boost 2.0. 6.5'' New Waterdrop Sunlight Screen.

Finally, Oppo A9 2020

Oppo has refreshed its mid-range A-series in order to keep up with the competition. The device A9 2020 includes of four rear cameras, a capable processor, and a big battery. It offers a few neat touches such as reverse charging, stereo speakers, and a taller-than-usual 20:9 display. This phone is a bit bulky and difficult to use but it looks slick.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 processor is more common on the smartphone that price less than the Oppo A9 2020, which is particularly a problem for the higher-priced variant. You get 128GB of storage and either 4GB or 8GB of RAM, but competitors have more powerful models with better features and look at the same price as the 8GB RAM variant.

The screen is decent, and while the HD+ resolution is a bit disappointing for general use, it does help heavy games run relatively better. Oppo's Color OS skin has more features but there is a lot of bloatware and notification spam.

We found that two of the four rear cameras are only used for specific portrait filters, which means you don't get as much versatility as you might expect from a phone that boasts of a quad-camera setup. The primary 48-megapixel camera does take very good shots though.

If you looked at the overall, the Oppo A9 2020 is a mixed bag with some good capabilities, but other companies have much more to offer at around the same prices.

Oppo A9 2020 Full Specifications

General

Brand	Oppo
Model	A9 2020
Release date	11th September 2019
Launched in India	Yes
Form factor	Touchscreen
Body type	Plastic
Thickness	9.1
Weight (g)	195.00
Battery capacity (mAh)	5000
Colors	Marine Green, Space Purple

Display

Screen size (inches)	6.50
Touchscreen	Yes
Resolution	720x1600 pixels
Protection type	Gorilla Glass

Hardware

Processor	octa-core
Processor make	Qualcomm Snapdragon 665
RAM	4GB
Internal storage	128GB
Expandable storage	Yes
Expandable storage type	microSD
Expandable storage up to (GB)	256
Dedicated microSD slot	Yes

Camera

Rear camera	48-megapixel + 8-megapixel + 2-megapixel + 2-megapixel
Rear flash	Yes
Front camera	16-megapixel

Software

Operating system	Android 9 Pie
Skin	ColorOS 6.0.1

Connectivity

Wi-Fi	Yes
GPS	Yes
Bluetooth	Yes
Number of SIMs	2
Wi-Fi Direct	Yes
Active 4G on both SIM cards	Yes
SIM 1
SIM Type	Nano-SIM
3G	Yes
4G/ LTE	Yes
Supports 4G in India (Band 40)	Yes
SIM 2
SIM Type	Nano-SIM
GSM/CDMA	GSM
3G	Yes
4G/ LTE	Yes
Supports 4G in India (Band 40)	Yes

Sensors

Fingerprint sensor	Yes
Proximity sensor	Yes
Accelerometer	Yes
Ambient light sensor	Yes

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