4G version of Oppo A55 debuts with 50MP camera and Helio G35 chipset

The Oppo A55 5G was announced in January with a Dimensity 700 chipset, but it never made it to India. Instead, the country is getting a 4G-only A55 model, though the name exaggerates how similar these two phones are. For example, the 4G model has a much better camera and faster charging.

The Oppo A55 is powered by the Helio G35 – far from dimension, this 12nm chip has eight Cortex-A53 cores and a PowerVR GE8320 GPU. It can be configured with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage or 6/128 GB. The triple card slot allows you to add additional storage space even if you are using two SIM cards.

Thus, the phone loses some performance, but gains a 50 MP sensor for the main camera (compared to 13 MP for the 5G model). It has a brighter aperture, f / 1.8 versus f / 2.2, and pixel binning, giving it a head start over its 5G counterpart in low-light performance. 1080p video recording tops out at 30 fps, but the A55 5G doesn’t do any better despite its more powerful chipset.

The front camera has also been improved, now with a 16 MP sensor (instead of 8 MP). This one can also record 1080p / 30 fps videos. And in case you haven’t noticed, this camera is inside a punch hole instead of a notch.

Then the screen. Not much has changed here, it is a 6.51 inch LCD screen with a resolution of 720 x 1600 px (20: 9). It covers 70% of the NTSC color gamut and promises a contrast ratio of 1500: 1. The display operates at a refresh rate of 60 Hz and a touch sampling rate of 120 Hz. The display is protected by NEG T2X-1 chemically reinforced glass.

The Oppo A55 works with a 5,000mAh battery, like its 5G sibling. However, it supports 18W (9V / 2A) fast charging, so it fills up faster – 17% in 15 minutes, 33% in 30 minutes. Optimized nighttime charging will keep the battery at 80% while you sleep and complete the charging process in the morning.

There’s also the nightly sleep mode, which only loses 1.37% charge over 8 hours, so you’ll wake up with virtually the same battery charge as last night. Oppo boasts of what the A55 can do with just 5% battery power – you can chat on WhatsApp for almost an hour or make an old-fashioned phone call for almost an hour and a half.

A few other things to note. First of all, there is a side fingerprint reader, but you can also use the face unlock. The USB-C port is wired for 2.0 speed and there is a 3.5mm headphone jack. You can also use Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX and LDAC support. Wi-Fi 5 (ac) is supported, but not NFC. Finally, the phone is running ColorOS 11.1 (based on Android 11) out of the box.

The Oppo A55 (4G) is available in Star Black and Rainbow Blue • The Oppo A55 5G

The Oppo A55 is currently on pre-order in India. The 4/64 GB version will arrive on October 3 and cost you INR 15,500 ($ 210 / € 180). If you want more memory, the 6/128 GB version arrives a bit later, on October 11, and will cost INR 17,500 ($ 235 / € 205).

You can pre-order on the Oppo official store, the phone is also coming to Amazon in India as well as to brick and mortar retailers. Note that there are discount and refund offers.