Oppo A11K: One of the Best Low Budget Smartphone

As you are looking for a low-budget smartphone, then Oppo A11K is one of the best deals right now that is recommendable! Why have I made such a statement? There are a couple of reasons behind-

            1. Even if the phone holds a low-budget price tag, it can handle moderate-level gaming.

            2. The phone was released in 2020. Now in 2021, the price of this phone has significantly been reduced. And that made this phone a great deal in the price range.

Considering the specs and price, the phone is decent. But what about the real-life performance? That is the central part of the discussion, which will help you make a mature decision before purchasing.

Let’s get a detailed breakdown of this phone that will act as a buying guide for you in this case.

Box Content of Oppo A11K

When you grab the box of Oppo A11K mobile, you will get the traditional feel that almost every typical smartphone holds. I mean, the package is normal-sized. That indicates the charging adapter is included in the box, and that is good news.

I am highlighting this subject because most high-budget smartphones such as Mi 11, Samsung Galaxy S21, etc., are not offering charging adapter with the phone. But you are getting a 10W charger in the box.

Okay, nothing further assuming; let’s open the box and see what other things you are going to get with the phone. With unboxing the box, you will get-

• The phone itself
• A transparent back cover
• A SIM ejector tool
• Micro USB 2.0 data cable
• Instruction manual and other papers (That will never going to read!)
• Not but not least, the 10W charging adapter.

Oppo A11K First Impression - Design and Look

Generally, the first impression of low-budget smartphones is not impressive. But in the case of this phone, you will experience something different. Yes, I know some significant drawbacks of this phone are highly noticeable. Such as-

• The whole body of this phone is plastic built
• The thick water-drop notch is visible at the front panel
• Noticeable camera bump at the rear panel

But the oval-shaped and matte-finished design language will give you a comparatively less cheap feeling considering the price range. I want to express this phone’s overall design language by mentioning some points that will help you get a clear impression of this phone.

Curved Design

When you grab the phone, you will experience the advantage of this design language. The curvy shape at the edges of this phone was implemented for improving your one-hand usability. Another significant advantage is, this design prevents your smartphone display from being broken when you accidentally fall it from your hand.

The Back Panel

In the rear segment, you will get a dual-camera setup. Next to the lenses, the LED flash has been implemented. The rear-mounted fingerprint scanner is also placed at a convenient position, where your pointing finger can reach easily. Right below the fingerprint scanner, you will see the eye-catchy OPPO branding.

The Water-Drop Front Camera

It’s an open reality that punch-hole technology is the most convenient way to place the selfie camera without sacrificing a significant portion of your display. But it’s not that cost-effective process. If your primary concern is cost-effectiveness, then implementing your selfie camera with a water-drop notch is the second-best option. For cost-cutting, Oppo did the same thing, and that is acceptable considering the price range.

The Physical Overview

The brief discussion I have conducted above covered the overall overview of the phone. But in this section, I want to be more specific. Let me express the overall physical overview in detail that you can check out.

• Volume Rocker Position: Side Mounted (Left)
• Power Button Position: Side Mounted (Right)
• 3.5mm Audio Jack Port Position: Bottom
• Loud Speaker Position: Bottom Firing
• Rear Camera Housing: Top-left corner in the rear panel
• Front Camera Housing: Water-drop camera at the top middle position

From the design perspective, there are multiple colors and designs available in the market. You can choose any of them considering your choice. Yes, we have unboxed the diamond-cut finished version. But if you are from India, then there are two colors available for you with an S-shaped design pattern. One is Oppo A11K Silver, and another one is Oppo A11K Blue.

Oppo A11K Specifications

In the table I have expressed below, the detailed specifications have been represented. Read the whole table and get a clear idea regarding what Oppo A11K is offering you at this price range.

Real-life Performance of Oppo A11K

The performance of any particular smartphone depends on some significant factors. Among these, some of the factors should be mentioned for sure.

• Specifications
• OS
• Software optimization

If you pay attention to the hardware specification part, you will see the phone is powered by Mediatek Helio P35, and 2GB Ram is included to support the processor. To perform graphical tasks, PowerVR GE8320 is included. This setup is decent in pen and paper, considering the budget.

But to know the actual performance of this phone, we have to test it in real life. Let’s do it together.

Gaming Performance

We can initially assume, the overall setup of the Mediatek Helio P35 processor, 2GB RAM, and the PowerVR GE8320 combined can’t offer you the top-notch gaming experience. WHY? The honest answer is, this is a low-budget smartphone.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t play any heavy game at all. Popular heavy games such as PUBG, Call of Duty, Asphalt 9, etc., all are playable on this device; but in lower settings. For example, if you are a PUBG fan, set your graphics and frame rate in medium and balanced respectively. These small tweakings can allow you to have a seamless gaming experience during heavy gaming.

I have tried several games with this device and got some information regarding the real-life gaming experience. I want to mention these here so that you can get an appropriate idea about the gaming performance of this phone.

• Graphics in PUBG and Call of Duty: Medium
• Frame Drop: Noticeable (If you play above medium or high settings)
• FPS: 35 (Average)
• Action Delay: Noticeable (Especially during the battle)
• Lagging: Not significant in low settings

Which Games are Seamlessly Playable With This Phone?

I will suggest you play games that are under 400MB in size. As your phone is offering 2GB RAM and holds a mid-level processor and a basic level GPU, your phone will definitely struggle if you constantly play heavy games with this phone. Instead, you can try the lite version of these heavy games if available.

But the other small-sized popular games such as Clash Royale, Adventure of Tin Tin, Angry Birds, etc are seamlessly playable without any doubt. If you need more suggestions, I can recommend another article where I have mentioned the 10 best popular games that are comparatively small-sized and super fun to play. Just have a look. 

Benchmarking

Checking the benchmarking score with an android app can give you an approximate idea regarding a phone’s performance. In that case, almost all the tech reviewers’ recommendation is AnTuTu  Benchmark app. I have tested Oppo A11K with this app as well, and the device could score 89353.

DISCLAIMER: Benchmarking app only can provide you an approximate idea of the hardware performance of your phone. But sometimes the scenario comes, the score is satisfying, but the real-life performance is not. So, never come up with a decision to buy any particular phone based only on its benchmarking score. Consider the real-life performance as well.

Camera Performance

A dual-camera setup is included in the rear segment, where the primary camera is a 13MP shooter, and another one is a 2MP depth-sensing sensor. As a tech enthusiast, you know, in this case, the secondary camera’s role is only to sense the subject and blur the rest of the objects. That means this sensor is included to allow you to capture portrait images.
In the front segment, a 5MP selfie shooter is included, which is an f/2.4 aperture lens. This setup is enough to capture decent photos of your face. But we need to test in real life, right?

So what about the accuracy of all of these lenses? Let’s analyze separately.

The 13MP Front Shooter

Considering the images that I captured with this device, the primary 13MP shooter did a decent job. The color accuracy was good. The contrast ratio was decent as well. But sometimes struggle to maintain the accurate saturation level. In daylight condition, this shooter can capture colorful and vibrant photos for you. But when in the low-light situation, you will start losing details in your image. In that case, night mode can act as your helping hand to improve your photo quality.

The 2MP Depth Sensor

This lens can perform as you can expect from this. According to my real-life testing, it can almost accurately detect the subject. The edge detection is nearly accurate while taking portrait shots. Subject focusing speed is not that fast, but considering the budget, it’s okay. And there is no focus hunting issue as well.

After all, it can satisfy you with its performance if you consider the budget of this phone.

Front Camera Performance

Oppo A11K is introducing a 5MP lens as your selfie camera. You may consider this shooter is not updated considering the time. But the Oppo A11K price in India is 7999Rs. considering the price tag, it’s good.

In daylight condition, this shooter can take photos with accurate color tone. The saturation level is on point. But you will feel the presence of the super beautifying effect in all of your photos, which is the signature feature of Oppo.

In HDR mode, you can capture quality photos in imbalanced light conditions. But like as usual, you have to take pictures with steady hand so that you can avoid blurriness.

Battery Backup

4230mAh Li-Po battery is included in Oppo A11K. For assuming the actual backup from this battery, we should consider some points first that are mainly responsible for significant battery draining.

• The display type and resolution
• The power efficiency of the processor
• Software optimization

Now, if you pay attention to the device specification, you will surely notice the following thing-

• The display type is IPS LCD, and the resolution is 720 x 1520 pixels which an HD+ display.
• The processor is MediaTek Helio P35, which is a little bit power-hungry
• Software Optimization is decent. In my testing, I found no major issues.

Considering all, you will easily get more than one day battery backup if you use this phone with light pressure. If you consider using this device for heavy gaming, then you may have to grab your charging adapted before going to bed at night. That means you can easily pass your entire day with this phone if you take your phone in your hand in the morning with a full charge.

The Overall Advantages of This Device

After the detailed analysis and real-life testing, we can consider the following points as the phone’s advantages.

• 10W charger included in the box (at least, better than nothing in the box!)
• ColorOS 6.1, which holds some unique features that are still not offered by other smartphones in 2021
• Excellent weight distribution that improved the comforts while you use this device with one hand
• Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection in the display panel
• Li-Po battery with large capacity that can allow you to have a seamless user experience
• Moderate level gaming experience in the 7990Rs price range
• Almost all kinds of necessary sensors have been included

The Disadvantages

There are some disadvantages too. Before making a purchase, please keep the following points in your mind.

• The phone comes with some annoying bloatware, and some of these you can’t uninstall
• Camera performance in low-light conditions is not good
• Fewer features in the camera department
• Hitting issue when you do excessive gaming
• App throttling issue occurs when the phone temperature gets high

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q- Is Oppo A11k good for gaming?

• If you consider using this phone for moderate gaming, then it’s okay to use it as your daily driver. But this phone struggles to handle heavy gaming.

Q- Is Oppo A11k WaterProof?

• No, there is no official data claiming Oppo A11K is a waterProof device. But we have tested this unit by sinking it under the water. And surprisingly, it survived!

Q- Does Oppo A11k support fast charging?

• No, there is no official data claiming this as well. And our real-life testing result represents, it takes up to 2.30 hours to get fully charged.

Q- What are the pros and cons of the Oppo A11k smartphone?

• Reread the advantages and disadvantages sections. You will get an overall idea for sure.

The Final Guideline

I know Oppo A11K is the phone of 2020. Now the question occurs, Is this phone still recommendable in 2021? Well! The answer is “Yes” and “No”! 

When is it, yes? In a single line, if you need decent daily life performance such as multitasking, media content watching, downloading video from Youtube to enjoy, decent battery backup, etc., then you can still consider this phone in your buying list.

And the answer should be No when you expect heavy-duty gaming performance and pro-level camera performance from this phone. In that case, you can check out my other article, where I have listed 9 Greatest 8GB RAM Mobile Phones. But to get one of these, you have to spend more bucks from your pocket.

After all, the price tag matters. True right?