Head-to-head: OPPO A39 VS Vivo V5 Lite

While there’s a lot of smartphone brands in the Philippines today, go to any SM Cyberzone and you’ll see two brands that have their name plastered literally everywhere – OPPO and Vivo. Both companies are pushing hard in the market with their selfie-centric phones, and it’s no surprise that OPPO dropped the price of their A39 selfie-phone to counter Vivo’s announcement and release of the V5 Lite locally. Both phones have similar specs, so it’l be interesting to see how both devices stack up against one another.

OPPO A39 Specifications

1.5GHz MediaTek MT6750 octa-core processor
3GB of RAM
Mali-T860 MP2 GPU
5.2-inch HD IPS TFT display; 1280×720 resolution, 2.5D Arc Glass, Corning Gorilla Glass 4
32GB of storage; expandable up to 256GB via MicroSD card
13-megapixel rear camera, LED flash, f/2.0 aperture
5-megapixel front camera, f/2.4
3G, LTE
Dual SIM
WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS
Android 5.1 Lollipop, Color OS 3.0
2900mAh battery

Vivo V5 Lite Specifications

1.5GHz MediaTek 6750 octa-core processor
Mali T860 GPU
3GB of RAM
5.5-Inch HD IPS Display; 1280×720 Resolution
32GB of expandable storage
13-megapixel rear camera, PDAF, LED Flash
16-megapixel front camera f/2.0 aperture
Dual SIM
3G, LTE
WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS
Android 6.0 Marshmallow, FunTouch UI
3000mAh Battery

When it comes to build quality, both phones are very similar in design and construction. The A39 and the V5 Lite both use metal bodies with plastic tops and bottoms, and both are extremely similar in their aesthetics, as both feature curved corners, slab backs and gold color options.

The A39 is a smidge smaller than the V5 Lite thanks to the smaller display though, as the A39 has a 5.2-inch display versus the V5 Lite’s 5.5-inch display. Both displays top out at HD resolution though.

The similarities don’t end on the outside though – both are powered by MediaTek’s 1.5GHz MediaTek 6750 octa-core processor, has 3GB of RAM and has 32GB of expandable storage.

The main differentiating factor on both devices is the OS – OPPO’s A39 is still powered by ancient Lollipop, while Vivo’s V5 Lite already has Marshmallow on board. That’s going to be an issue moving forward since both companies aren’t exactly known for pushing out timely Android updates. As far as the UI overlays are concerned, both the FunTouch UI and Color OS are similar in look and function, so it’s up to your preference really. The OPPO A39 takes a hit on the battery department, but not by much compared to the V5 Lite – 2,900mAh versus 3,000mAh.

The biggest appeal of the V5 Lite in the selfie department is the front facing camera. OPPO’s A39 only has a 5-megapixel front facing cam with an f/2.4 aperture while the V5 Lite has a 16-megapixel front facing camera with an f/2.0 aperture. Megapixel size isn’t everything, but from what we can see the V5 Lite has the A39 beat in the selfie department, at least on paper. Both phones have 13-megapixel rear cameras.