This is a lot of phone for the money, and it looks more expensive than it actually costs. It resembles most 2020 phones with four cameras on the back and a punch hole camera in the top left of the 60Hz 6.5in 1060p display, but a purple/blue gradient finish option will make it stand out. There’s also a black model. The phone comes with Android 11 on board and Oppo’s Color OS 7.1, which is thankfully a huge and noticeable upgrade on Color OS versions of the past. It’s great that it’s the same software you’ll find on the £1,099 Oppo Find X2 Pro. There’s also a fingerprint scanner in the side-mounted power key, NFC for mobile payments and cameras that can do wide angle shots and portraits. While Oppo says the phone is good to game on, you won’t find high-end games running perfectly given the Snapdragon 665’s distinctly lower-tier performance expectations, but it should be good for most mid-level gaming. That huge battery can be topped up with the 18W fast charger too, and it might even see you through two days before you have to plug it in. The A72 looks very similar to the Realme 6, a phone from Oppo’s sub-brand, though the Realme actually has a better screen refresh rate with 90Hz, and it faster charging at 30W. But if those specs don’t bother you, the A72 looks like a fine buy with a larger battery and a Qualcomm rather than MediaTek chip.
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Henry is Tech Advisor’s Phones Editor, ensuring he and the team covers and reviews every smartphone worth knowing about for readers and viewers all over the world. He spends a lot of time moving between different handsets and shouting at WhatsApp to support multiple devices at once.