It’s a reasonably clean and smooth take on Google’s OS, albeit one that suffers from garish icons and somewhat jumbled menus. We question the presence of the dedicated Night mode here since you don’t even get the forced ramp up in brightness seen with slightly more expensive phones – just a whole lot of murk and noise. There isn’t much in the way of bloatware either, and Google’s Chrome, Calendar and Gmail apps handle their respective duties in place of inferior alternatives.

An hour of Netflix streaming with the screen set to full brightness sapped between 5% and 8% in our tests – which is weirdly variable, but generally pretty strong. The Oppo A15 comes with an ostensible triple camera setup, featuring a primary 13-megapixel lens supported by a 2-megapixel macro and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. At just 720 x 1600, this is HD+/720p as opposed to the FHD+/1080p resolution that most phones shoot for. You’re unlikely to be indulging in hours of gaming given that humble processor, and even if you’re a total video-streaming hound, the 720p output shouldn’t prove too taxing.The A15 has truly gorgeous design features, including a beautiful molded glass rear panel so why not show off some of that aesthetic with a clear or semi-clear case. Meanwhile, a teardrop notch makes the phone feel a little dated at a time when hole-punch notches have become more the norm in the budget sector.

Talking of closer scrutiny, we found that close-up portrait shots struggled to get our subject in full focus, both in normal shooting mode and in the dedicated Portrait mode. A fairly large 4,230mAh unit serves those modest components well, happily taking you into a second day of use before needing a top up. And while there is a Night mode here, it really doesn’t seem to do much good in low-light conditions.

And sure enough, using the Oppo A15 is a far from a smooth experience, with small but frequent delays when moving between apps and scrolling through web pages. The camera also struggles with HDR situations, overexposing elements such as the sky in the background. The Oppo A15’s MediaTek MT6765 CPU is one of the humblest on the market, and it’s supported by a scant 3GB of RAM. The Sony Xperia L4 lost 12% under the same circumstances, while the A15 also pips the likes of the Honor 9A (which lost 8%) and the Realme 5 (on 9%). Put simply, there are far better phones available for the same – or just a little more – money, including the Moto G8 and the Oppo A5 2020.

A relatively large 4,230mAh battery, in conjunction with a low-res display and low-power CPU, ensures ample stamina. The Oppo A15 is powered by a 4,230mAh battery, which is ample for a phone at this end of the market.But if there’s a certain minimum standard you’d expect from a smartphone, the A15 only barely meets it. Having to go into the Settings menu to show your remaining battery percentage is a persistent bugbear of ours, too. If you’re looking for some basic protection with a whole lot of different style options, then a back cover might be just what you need.