Oppo A74 5G

The Oppo A74 is a reasonably priced 5G phone with a fluid 90Hz screen and a big battery. It's pretty crowded in this price range so we're going to find out for you here whether the A74 5G is a good buy or not.

Decent screen offers just that little bit more

In the basics, this A74 5G does quite well. There is a smooth screen that, with 6.5 inches, can just be called handy. Transitions such as scrolling look smooth due to the 90Hz display. It is an LTPS panel with a maximum brightness of 550 nits. This is sufficient, but it is not overly bright. Colours are displayed true to life and sharp thanks to the 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut and the Full HD+ resolution. There is a punch-hole for the single 16 megapixel camera. This features a reasonably bright f/2.0 lens and has its own nite mode but also knows how to take portrait photos.

Unnecessary cameras

On the back of the otherwise beautifully designed A74 5G, we find a quadruple camera system. Unfortunately, we see here again 2 cameras that we now prefer to get rid of. A 2MP macro and 2MP mono camera. Oppo claims to be able to take extra nice portrait photos with it and that will. Google has proven that you can do this with software too so it's more marketing than anything else. The 48MP main camera doesn't do too badly in day-light. In the dark, it gets tougher; the nite mode doesn't manage to wow us. Even the addition of some camera features like panorama and the AI scene enhancement 2.0 don't manage to disguise the fact that this is a basic camera.

Most important Oppo A74 5G specifications

• 6.5-inch screen with 90Hz display and FHD+ resolution
• 48+8+2+2MP camera with 119° ultra-wide angle, 4K video and portrait mode
• 16MP front selfie camera in modern punch hole
• Entry level Snapdragon 480 processor with 6GB of RAM memory
• High 128GB of storage, also expandable
• 5000 mAh battery with 18W Flash Charge
• Room for dual nano SIM card (Dual SIM)

Above average storage

Inside the A74 5G, Oppo uses a Qualcomm processor with 5G support. Unfortunately, they did grab the absolute entry-level model; the Snapdragon 480. Competitors with the same price have more powerful ones. In itself, Oppo has done various optimisations to ColorOS 11.1 to make the A74 5G still feel 'snappy' but you notice that it has few reserves left. The battery does have those. With a capacity of 5000 mAh, you can easily make it thru the end of the day with it. There is even an 18W fast charge, altho that is not too fast either. In terms of memory, the A74 5G does have an edge; the 6GB RAM memory and 128GB storage memory are above average.

Pro and cons Oppo A74 5G

• Smooth 90Hz playback
• Entry-level 5G phone
• Long battery life
• High 128GB storage

• Competitors are more powerful