Oppo Find X5 review

Competition

The Oppo Find X5 is a solid flagship with little to complain about. Its size can also be universally appreciated since it's not exactly big, and it's not in the mini flagship territory either. It might be using last year's Snapdragon 888, but that shouldn't be an issue for the vast majority of users. The display is great, fast charging is more than competitive, battery life is dependable, and the overall camera performance is great, except for some small daytime issues that can be easily fixed with a software update.

The problem here isn't the hardware or the feature set. It's the price. The Find X5 asks about €1,000, which puts it against the big names in the industry. After all, Oppo's brand recognition isn't high in Europe, and users tend to go for safer options such as Apple, Samsung or even Xiaomi. That's true, at least in the premium segment. In addition, Oppo is forcing European buyers to take the 8GB/256GB option, which raises the entry barrier even higher.

To make this assessment more fair, let's see what €1,000 gets you elsewhere.

Xiaomi 12 Pro • Google Pixel 6 Pro

The recently reviewed Xiaomi 12 Pro, which comes off a tad bigger, is selling for about €1,050. Its camera performance is comparable, has the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip and offers speedier charging on both fronts - wired and wireless. However, that comes at the expense of battery life, where the Find X5 has a clear advantage. Those two phones are pretty similar, so your personal preference between Xioami's MIUI and Oppo's ColorOS could be the deciding factor.

The Pixel 6 Pro is another premium option to consider with special attention to cameras. It's arguably the better choice of the two in terms of photography, and its telephoto camera has a further reach (4x optical zoom). However, the poor battery life and unimpressive charging speed could be a deal-breaker for some. Unless, of course, you are into vanilla Android experience, in which case, the Pixel 6 Pro is your only logical option. There's also the issue with availability as Google struggles to cover a wide range of markets.

Samsung Galaxy S22+ 5G • Apple iPhone 13 Pro • Realme GT2 Pro

Now off to some two popular and obvious choices in the €1,000 price realm - Samsung Galaxy S22+ and the Apple iPhone 13 Pro. The first one has a rivalling camera experience with a longer zoom. The display is also marginally better (it's a Samsung phone, after all) and has a more mature, highly customizable One UI software. The company also promises four years of major updates and one more for crucial security patches from Google. That's a huge deal for anyone looking for a long-term, future-proof smartphone. Sadly, the battery and charging departments are dragging behind Oppo's solution.

Speaking of software, Apple's iPhone 13 Pro, which sells for a little over €1,000 at various retailers, is a viable option. Especially if you are a past iOS user or looking for a break from Android. It has unrivalled camera capabilities, longer battery life, and impeccable display (save for the notch), and Apple's extended software support is a huge bonus. It may not impress with speedy charging, but that's not a deal-breaker.

Lastly, let's talk about some in-house competition - the significantly cheaper Realme GT2 Pro, which goes for anything between €650 and €750 and has arguably the same user experience. The GT2 Pro is a tad bigger, features a more budget-oriented build, doesn't have a telephoto camera and misses on the whole wireless charging thing. On the other hand, you will be getting an LTPO2 OLED instead of a standard one, a more powerful and future-proof Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC and practically the same OS. ColorOS 12 and Realme UI 3.0 are nearly indistinguishable from one another, as we already established. You must decide whether the wireless charging and the telephoto camera are worth the extra €200 or even €300.

Verdict

If the price was right, the Oppo Find X5 could have been an easy recommendation. It's a solid flagship with a decently-sized display with all the bells and whistles. If we need to get nit-picky, we would have appreciated a zoom camera with a further reach as most of the Find X5's competitors go beyond 2x.

But the sad reality is that Oppo's brand recognition is what gets in the way. The company is trying to sell the handset at a price close to €1,000, which is a barrier only a few manufacturers dare to cross. And those are usually the ones that made a name for themselves. Oppo may be a premium brand in China, but it struggles to compete with the likes of Samsung, Apple and even Xiaomi. In fact, the sister OEM OnePlus still hasn't crossed that line. If the Find X5 gets a significant price cut down the road, it might be worth considering. For now, it's asking way too much for being a nice phone but not a great flagship.

Pros

• Excellent OLED display - bright, 120Hz, accurate color reproduction.
• Great build and design.
• Long battery life, fast wired and wireless charging.
• Good overall camera performance, especially at night.
• Nice haptics, good-sounding speakers.
• Impressive sustained performance
• ColorOS 12 offers neat features.

Cons

• Inconsistent camera performance.
• A bit too pricey.
• Most rivals have longer zoom cameras.
• Most competitors have more recent chipsets.
• No ingress protection.