OPPO today launched the K13 5G smartphone in the K series in India. Even though OPPO launched the K12x smartphone in India last year, you can’t call the K13 as its successor since this is better in every aspect compared to it, and the main highlight is the huge 7000mAh battery. Is this a good phone for the price? Let use dive into the review to find out.
| Box Contents |
| Camera |
| Battery Life |
| Conclusion |
Box Contents
- OPPO K13 5G 8GB + 128GB in Prism Black colour
- 80W SuperVOOC fast charger
- USB Type-C cable
- Protective case
- SIM Ejector tool
- User guide
The OPPO K13 sports a (2400×1080 pixels) Full HD+ flat AMOLED display with 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. The display is bright, since it has peak brightness of 1200 nits, and the global default maximum brightness is 600 nits. It offers good colour output.
You can select from vivid, and Pro screen colour modes. There is no mention of PWM Dimming or DC Dimming. The display doesn’t have HDR support when some phones in the price range offers it.
The phone has a tiny punch-hole that houses a 16-megapixel camera. Above the display, there is an earpiece on the top edge that works as a secondary speaker. It has an in-display fingerprint scanner which is optical.
Coming to the button placements and ports, the power button is present on the right side along with the volume rockers. There is nothing on the left side. The dual SIM slot, primary microphone, USB Type-C port and the loudspeaker grill are present on the bottom. The secondary microphone is on the top, along with an IR blaster. It has a plastic frame.
The phone has a flat plastic back with a matte finish offering a solid in-hand feel, thanks to its boxy design, but it might be slippery.
In addition to the Prism Black colour that we have with a design theme of fragment cyber-style with a metallic feeling, fragment geometry and interlaced light and shadow appearance, it also comes in Icy Purple colour is inspired by glaciers that appear a faint purple color when compressed to extreme, the rhombic textures are more like the floating ices. The phone weighs 208 grams. It has IP65 ratings for dust and splash resistance.
Camera
- 50MP main camera with 1/2.88″ OV50D40 sensor, f/1.85″ aperture
- 2MP depth sensor with OV02B1B sensor, f/2.4 aperture
- 16MP front-facing camera with Sony IMX480 sensor, f/2.45 aperture
The camera UI in the ColorOS 15 is familiar. You get Night mode, Hi-Res, Panorama, Slo-mo, Time-lapse, Dual-View video, Sticker, and DOC Scanner.
Daylight shots were good, but wish it had a bigger sensor and a larger aperture for better low-light camera performance. Even though there is up to 10x zoom, the quality degrades when you go beyond 4x. The secondary camera is a depth sensor for portraits, so the portrait shots have good edge detection.
There are AI features such as AI clarity enhancer, AI unblur, AI reflection remover and AI eraser. The night mode is useful and the 16MP front camera is good.
It can record videos in up to 4K 30 fps, and the front camera can record 1080p 30fps videos. It doesn’t have OIS, but EIS does a decent job. The phone also has portrait video recording at 1080p from both the front and rear cameras that you rarely see in phones in the price range.
Software, UI and Apps
The K13 runs Android 15-based ColorOS 15 out of the box. The phone will get 2 Android updates and 3 years of security updates. ColorOS 15 brings minimalist aesthetic, featuring a visually harmonious and sophisticated interface, enhanced by integrating diffuse shadows, natural blurs, and dual-layer blending.
There are redesigned icons and widgets, the new Flux Theme that lets you customize layouts and effects to create a unique setup that seamlessly transitions between the Always-On Display, Lock Screen, and wallpaper. The UI is also smoother to use.
This also brings several new features such as AI Clarity Enhance that can enhance low resolution images, AI Unblur and AI Reflection Remover that can remove reflections from images. The AI features include screen translator, AI writer and AI summary.
Out of 8GB LPDD5x RAM, you get 7.3GB of usable RAM, and about 3GB of RAM is free when default apps are running in the background. It also has DRE or dynamic RAM expansion feature, which uses the built-in storage as RAM. This has up to 8GB of additional RAM expansion.
Out of 128GB UFS 3.1 storage, you get about 104 of free storage. In addition to Google apps, it comes preloaded with FinShell Pay, Facebook, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Truecaller and Spotify apps. Since it has an IR Blaster, it has IR remote app which is useful.
Fingerprint sensor and Face unlock
It has an in-display optical fingerprint sensor that unlocks the phone quickly. You can add up to 5 fingerprints. You can also use the fingerprint for app local and payments in apps.
Furthermore, you can change the fingerprint animation and also disable it, and also enable quick launch option to launch apps directly from the lock screen by holding the fingerprint. The phone also has face unlock feature.
Music and Multimedia
It has customizable Smart, Movie, Game and Music modes. It doesn’t have FM Radio support. Audio through the stereo speakers is good without any distortion even in full volume. Audio through earphones is good as well.
This has Widevine L1, so that you can play HD content on streaming apps. However, there is no HDR support in the display, so you don’t get HDR in any streaming apps or YouTube, which is a bummer.
Dual SIM and Connectivity
The OPPO K13 has support for several 5G bands. It has VoWi-Fi, 5G VONR and VoLTE, with support for Carrier Aggregation on 4G. Other connectivity options include Wi-Fi 6 802.11 ax (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5.3, and GPS / GLONASS/ Beidou. There is no NFC support.
It has game-exclusive antenna layout designed to prevent signal drop when holding the phone horizontally, the OPPO’s AI LinkBoost 2.0 uses a 360° annular-ring antenna system combined with intelligent network switching to maintain strong connectivity even in traditionally weak-signal areas like basements, elevators, or crowded public spaces, said the company.
Moving on, the call quality is good, and we did not face any call drops and the earpiece volume was loud. You get the default OPPO dialer with call recording and OPPO messaging apps. There is also AI summary feature.
The OPPO K13’s body SAR is 0.636W/Kg and head SAR is at 1.191/Kg that is well under the limit in India, which is 1.6 W/kg (over 1 g).
Performance and Benchmarks
It is one of the first phones to be powered by Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 Mobile 4nm Platform in India. This has Octa-Core Qualcomm Kryo CPUs that has 1 x Kryo Prime CPUs (Cortex A720-based) at up to 2.3GHz, 3 x Kryo Performance CPUs (Cortex A720-based) at up to 2.2GHz, 4x Kryo Efficiency CPUs (Cortex A520-based) at up to 1.8GHz. This is more like an underclocked Snapdragon 7s Gen 3.
There is Adreno 810 GPU that decent gaming performance. It even has 5700mm² Vapor Chamber and a 6000mm² graphite sheet for cooling that you rarely see in phones in the price range. You can play graphic-intensive games like COD, BGMI and Genshin Impact. In BGMI HDR Extreme works.
In 3D Mark wild life stress test, it scored 99.7% which is good. The temperature increased from 33 to 39 degrees, which is not much. That said, check out some synthetic benchmark scores below.
Battery life
Coming to the battery life, the phone packs a whopping, 7000mAh (typical) graphite battery. It can easily last for a day, even with heavy use on 5G and for 2 days with typical use. OPPO promises battery capacity retention rate of more than 80% after 5 years of use.
I got over 9 of screen on time with more than a day of heavy use both on 5G and Wi-Fi. Since the phone has support for 80W SuperVOOC fast charging, it can charge from up to 100% in less than an hour, and 50% charge takes about 20 minutes. There are smart charging, option to stop charging at 80%, and the smart rapid charging can charge the device faster if the battery is too low.
Conclusion
At a starting price of Rs. 17,999, the OPPO K13 5G is a solid phone if you want a big battery and good performance offering a smooth user experience. The main camera is good in daylight and ave, but the phone doesn’t have an ultra-wide camera, which might not be a huge deal-breaker.
Pricing and availability
The OPPO K13 5G is priced at Rs. 17,999 for the 8GB + 128GB model and the 8GB + 256GB model costs Rs. 19,999. It will be available from Flipkart, OPPO India online store and offline stores starting from April 25th. With bank offers, the effective starting price is Rs. 16,999.
Alternatives
At the same price for the 8GB+128GB model, the realme P3 with the same chip is a good alternative that has IP69 ratings, but it has a smaller 6000mAh battery and only 45W fast charging. If you spend a bit more, there is iQOO Z10 with a curved screen and a slightly bigger battery, but it lacks stereo speakers.
Pros
- Smooth performance
- Decent 120Hz AMOLED display for the price
- Solid build quality, IP65 ratings
- Excellent battery life, 80W fast charging
- Decent camera performance in daylight
Cons
- No HDR support for the display
- No ultra-wide camera
