Oppo Find X5 Pro hands-on review

Introduction

The Oppo Find X5 Pro has just been announced and since we've had the phone for a few days already, we've rounded up the most important new points.

With the concurrent release of closely related phones such as the Oppo Find X5 Pro, the Realme GT 2 Pro, the IQOO 9 Pro, and the upcoming OnePlus 10 Pro, it has become obvious that product planning in the BBK Electronics group of brands is more central than we've thought before.

Even a kid can see that the otherwise independent brands have all based their flagship products on one and the same platform - a flagship curved 120Hz AMOLED screen, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, and an about 5000mAh battery - all carefully mixing those with hand-picked features from the company's R&D lab.

Each of these phones gets a different set of cameras and charging speeds - all carefully mixed and matched so that the phones don't eat each other's pie, so to speak.

This way BBK has not one but four flagship devices - five even, if we count the vivo X70 Pro+ - and the lucky consumer is able to pick the recipe that matches their expectations the best.

Today, however, we are not focusing just on Oppo. Never mind the missing number 4, the Find X5 Pro is the successor to the Find X3 Pro and it follows the last year's formula to the letter.

You get the latest gen LTPO AMOLED screen - it hardly gets more cutting edge than that, not even in Samsung's camp. You get to enjoy the latest Qualcomm silicon (with the international model, at least). The battery is even larger this year and charging is faster, too. And you get all the latest Oppo innovations in the camera department. Okay, almost all. As it turns out, the camera innovations this year are minor and harder to spot. In fact, if you were just skimming through the specs sheet, you'd be most certainly left with the impression this phone has the same camera as last year's Find X3 Pro.

But hey, if Samsung can pull it off with the S22 Ultra, why not Oppo? Okay, we're not being fair to either company. The hardware specs may not have budged much, but these camera systems are as refined as it gets on a mobile phone and you'd be hard-pressed to find better ones elsewhere. Only... Where is the long-reach zoom camera, Oppo? Oh, vivo got it, you say? Hmm, that's too bad. So yes, circling back to our original point - remember, no single flagship smartphone in the BBK group of brands gets the best of everything. Gotta keep the business going for all of these brands.

Here's a quick recap of the specs that the Find X5 Pro offers.

Oppo Find X5 Pro specs at a glance:

• Body: 163.7x73.9x8.5mm, 218g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass Victus), Ceramic back, aluminum frame; IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 mins).
• Display: 6.70" LTPO 2.0 AMOLED, 1B colors, 1-120Hz, HDR10+, 500 nits (typ), 1300 nits (peak), 1440x3216px resolution, 20.1:9 aspect ratio, 526ppi.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM8450 Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (4 nm): Octa-core (1x3.00 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3x2.50 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4x1.80 GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 730.
• Memory: 256GB 12GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
• OS/Software: Android 12, ColorOS 12.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.7, 26mm, 1/1.56", 1.0µm, multi-directional PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 50 MP, f/2.2, 16mm, 110˚, 1/1.56", 1.0µm, multi-directional PDAF; Telephoto: 13 MP, f/2.4, 52mm, 2x optical zoom, PDAF.
• Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.2, 22mm (wide).
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps; gyro-EIS; HDR, 10-bit video; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
• Battery: 5000mAh; 80W SuperVOOC flash charging, 50W AirVOOC fast wireless charging, 10W Reverse wireless charging.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); Stereo speakers; NFC.

As you can see, these specs are nothing to scoff at. As long as you are okay with the fact that the new silicon is the only major upgrade. Sure, the battery is no bigger, but it's probably to account for the fact that the new CPU is more power-hungry. There is improved passive cooling, but again, it's there to make sure the new processor doesn't overheat.

If we were more of the picky type, we might even go as far as calling the shortlist of upgrades underwhelming. Good thing this is not our proper review, but more of a glimpse of the product highlights. Perhaps, there is more than meets the eye with the Find X5 Pro and it deserves to be Oppo's flagship for yet another year.

Unboxing the Find X5 Pro

Inside the retail box, we found Oppo's 80W VOOC charger with the correspondingly thick cable. And there is also a nice and thin protective case to get you going.

The screen has a factory-applied screen protector as well.

Join us on the next page where we discuss what's new in this model compared to the Find X3 Pro.