The OPPO A92 is a phone that left a lasting impression on us. From the initial review to our first comparison with the Samsung Galaxy A51 where the OPPO really had an edge.

The phone stands out thanks to its beautiful design, huge battery and beefy specs underneath the shell. The cameras aren’t bad either, especially the selfie camera which does some magic that phones with more megapixels struggled to reproduce.

Despite these songs of praise, the OPPO A92 does not exist in isolation. When you’re out shopping for a phone, naturally you consider options from different brands. With the A92 costs KES 30,000, we have put it up against string contenders in this price range to see how well the phone does:

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The Specifications Comparison

	OPPO A92	Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro	Huawei nova 7i
Display	6.5" 720P IPS LCD	6.67" 1080p IPS LCD	6.4" 1080p IPS LCD
Software	Android 10	Android 10	Android 10 without Google Services
Processor	Octa-core	Octa-core	Octa-core
RAM	8GB	6GB	8GB
Internal Storage	128GB	128GB	128GB
Main Camera	Quad 48MP + 8MP + 2MP + 2MP	Quad 64MP + 8MP + 5MP + 2MP	Quad 48MP + 8MP + 2MP + 2MP
Selfie Camera	16MP	16MP	16MP
Battery	5000mAh	5020mAh	4200mAh
Price	KES 30,000	KES 28,000	KES 30,000

The Slightly Cheaper Phone

While the Redmi maybe 2K cheaper than the OPPO, it does suffer from one major thing that’s hard to ignore – it’s a less popular brand. While enthusiasts might know the brand very well and appreciate it, the common mwananchi will need a bit more convincing to settle on a Xiaomi phone.

If one can overlook the brand and focus on what is on offer the Redmi Note 9 Pro is quite something. It has faster charging than the OPPO A92 (almost double the charging speeds), and the cameras seem superior at least on paper.

However, the Redmi has its own shortcomings. It has less RAM than the OPPO A92 and the software, MIUI might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

The Best Camera of the Three

Without fail, the Huawei nova 7i has the best camera among the three. The device also matches the A92 spec to spec, even in the high capacity RAM. For those who appreciate small phones, the nova 7i will most likely appeal to them since its the smallest.

Despite all this, the nova’s biggest fail is its software which lacks google services. While Huawei might try to convince you that this is not a big deal, in our review we found that the lack of Google services was a big pain in the a**.

A lot of things that we do on our phones and apps that just work are not possible with the nova 7i. So, as much as it might have a better camera, the software situation becomes a dealbreaker.

Conclusion

Thanks to Huawei’s unfortunate software situation, we would not outrightly recommend getting the phone unless you’re willing to jump through hoops. This leaves the battle between the Redmi Note 9 Pro and the OPPO A92.

The decision isn’t that easy, to be honest, so it boils down to preferences. The biggest flex with the Redmi is the 2K savings you will be getting and faster charging but the OPPO A92 does come with significantly more RAM and thus better performance making that 2K difference worth it. And oh, despite the Redmi camera looking better via specs, our tests show that the OPPO A92 does produce better photos all around.