Oppo Find X5 Pro review: slick Android storage from weak camera zoom | Smartphones | Tech US News

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The latest high-end smartphone from China’s Oppo aims to overtake Samsung as the best phone launched in 2022 with fast speed and a luxurious ceramic back that is almost identical and smooth.

The Find X5 Pro costs £1,049 and will not be sold in the US. It replaces last year’s Find X3 Pro (no X4) and is packed with everything you’d expect from a top-of-the-line phone.

The 120Hz 6.7in OLED screen is slick, crisp, bright and colorful, although it is too saturated in the default “vibrant” display color mode. Setting it to one of the many color options is better for my eyes.

Back of Oppo Find X5 Pro
Available in both white or black ceramic, glossy metallic like the back surface is a finger magnet, marred by letters and a string of company and custom logos that cheapens the nice Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

The back of the phone is unusual, with a design that wraps the entire camera package in one of the beautiful ceramic pieces. In its glossy black color it really looks and feels premium, but it is so smooth that the phone slides off everything that is not level, including my desk or chair, forcing to need a case.

It feels very well made and feels good in the hand, with a wide opening that makes it easier to use than some of its larger competitors, but it’s a touch heavy compared to similar models such as Samsung and others.

Specifications

  • screen: 6.7in 120Hz QHD+ OLED (525ppi)

  • Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1

  • RAM: 12 GB of RAM

  • Storage: 256 GB does

  • Operating system: ColorOS 12.1 (Android 12)

  • Camera: 50MP main and ultrawide + 13MP 2x telephoto, 32MP selfie

  • Connection: 5G, eSIM, wifi 6, NFC, Bluetooth 5.2 and GNSS

  • Water resistance: IP68 (1.5m for 30 minutes)

  • Size: 163.7 x 73.9 x 8.5 mm

  • Weight: 218 grams

Long battery life and fast charging

The USB-C port of the Oppo Find X5 Pro
The phone charges exceptionally quickly, reaching 50% in just 13 minutes and fully charged in half an hour with the included 80W USB-A power adapter. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

The Finder has the same top Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip as most high-end Android phones launched in 2022, well complimented with a fast interface and smooth gaming. However, he did very well during the short game.

The battery life is excellent, lasting more than 42 hours on average charges of using 5G for three hours and with the screen set to the default FHD + resolution and active use for almost six hours with more apps and Chrome. That’s about seven hours longer than Samsung’s closest competitor and about the same as Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro, meaning you only need to charge it every night with light usage. It lasts for five hours of screen-on time when the display is at its maximum QHD + resolution.

Sustainability

the ceramic back of the Oppo Find X5 Pro
Ceramic back is supposed to be harder to scratch than glass, but its finesse will likely be placed in the case. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

Oppo measures the battery for at least 1,600 full charge cycles using its 80W SuperVOOC system while holding at least 80% of its original capacity, which is at least twice as long as many others.

The phone can usually be repaired by Oppo with a replacement battery which costs about £30 plus labour. The company does business-in projects and publishes annual security reports, but not for products. Find X5 Pro does not include recyclable materials.

ColorOS 12.1

colorOS content option found on Oppo Find X5 Pro
ColorOS supports many customization options for the home screen, icons, colors, status bar and gestures. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

Oppo’s ColorOS is a heavily modified version of Android 12 with a design more familiar in Asia than most of the Android phones sold in the West.

Most of the system should be familiar to anyone who has used an Android device, however, and is packed with customization options to make it look and work.

It has some small differences and irritations, including the quick release of the camera requires double pressing of the volume button to change the power button, which is common in China but it does not work when playing music. To turn off the phone you have to hold both the volume and the power button for a few seconds, too, which does not work well, usually turn off the volume to the maximum.

Oppo will support the Find X5 Pro with software updates including three major updates and a full four years of security updates from the phone’s launch. That’s a significant improvement over last year’s model but lags behind Samsung’s five and Apple’s six years of support.

Camera

the hasselblad camera app on the Oppo Find X5 Pro
The Hasselblad camera app has many features, including full control and the ability to shoot 10-bit photos, but few devices or apps support them outside of the phone’s gallery app . Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

New for this year is a collaboration with camera-maker Hasselblad matching Oppo’s organization OnePlus’s from last year. The Finder has three cameras on the back and a 32MP selfie camera on the front, the latter of which is good but not great.

The main 50MP camera usually shoots excellent photos with excellent detail, handling various lighting conditions, including very low light, with aplomb. It will occasionally oversaturate some colors in an image, like it did before using the filter, but otherwise works well.

The 50MP ultra wide camera can be good but often produces images that look washed out. The 13MP 2x telephoto camera is good for what it is, but it’s clearly inferior to a dual camera and miles behind the competition at this price, which usually has 3, 5 or 10x optical zooms get your subject closer to your subject.

The phone also shoots high-quality video up to 8K resolution, with good stability in 1080p mode. Overall, the main camera is really good, but the wide range and weak zoom keep the Find low compared to similar or cheaper prices.

Price

The Oppo Find X5 Pro costs £1,049 in black or white.

For comparison, the Google Pixel 6 Pro costs £849, the Samsung Galaxy S21+ costs £949, the Galaxy S21 Ultra costs £1,149 and the iPhone 13 Pro Max costs £1,049.

Judge

The Oppo Find X5 Pro is a good-looking, slick phone.

It has many of the high-end features that you should consider, including the top-of-the-line Android chip from Qualcomm, good battery life, a great screen, an extraordinary back design and fast charging. very

Its main camera on the back is excellent, but the phone is let down a bit by its ultra-wide camera and its 2x telephoto camera is particularly weak compared with competition. The ColorOS software is improving, now with four years of support, but it still has a few niggles. The biggest problem is that the phone’s £1,049 RRP is just too high for what it has.

While premium competitors offer more than 4x zoom cameras for less or mega zoom cameras for a little more, five or more years of software support and screens of similar or better quality Again and design, Oppo still has a lot of work to justify its advanced questions.

Pros: good screen, top performance, long battery life, fast charging, interesting design, good camera, water resistance, fast in-screen fingerprint scanner.

Cons: Expensive, ultrawide camera inconsistent, no extended optical zoom for poor quality camera, only four years of software support guaranteed, ColorOS not polished enough, design marred by Ugly logos, the back is too smooth and slides around not-so-good. surface.

the fingerprint scanner on the Oppo Find X5 Pro screen
The in-screen fingerprint sensor is one of the fastest and most reliable you can get. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

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