Oppo Find X hands-on review

Introduction

Love 'em or hate 'em, notches spread like an infection from one phone to another. Now there's a cure - pop-up cameras. The Oppo Find X is the second phone in as many weeks to feature one and it's even more elaborate than what we saw on the vivo NEX S.

Instead of a small slide out, the whole top side of the phone moves up to reveal the dual camera on the rear and the selfie camera on the front along with other elements. And it needs just half a second to do so. When the slider is retracted, the bezels are quite thin, even the bottom one (Oppo boasts 92.25% screen to body ratio).

The 6.4" AMOLED screen is left with a regular outline - the familiar rounded rectangle. Taking a cue from the Galaxy flagships, the left and right side of the screen are curved, which helps keep the phone narrow enough to handle comfortably despite its screen size.

The Oppo Find X design is inspired by nature: crystals and flowing water

Perhaps Oppo over-complicated things. Did it really need to hide away the rear camera? And did we mention that there's no fingerprint reader? Instead you have to rely on the 3D facial scanning tech that is also mounted on the slider (which adds 0.5s latency to unlocking the phone as the pop-up mechanism does its job).

But we have to admit that it's a unique solution, even when you look at the NEX S from sister company vivo. This mechanism provides extra security for the camera - it keeps it from being scratched and if it senses that you dropped the phone, it will automatically retract to prevent damaging it.

Oppo Find X key features

• Body: metal and glass, reflective coating on the back
• Display: 6.42" AMOLED, 1,080 x 2,340 resolution, 19.5:9 ratio, curved edges
• Rear camera: dual 16 + 20 MP
• Front camera: 25 MP
• Software: Color OS 5.1 (based on Android 8.1); Google Assistant
• Chipset: 10 nm Snapdragon 845, quad 2.8 GHz Kryo 385 Gold + quad 1.7 GHz Kryo 385 Silver, Adreno 630
• Memory: 8 GB of RAM, 128/256 GB storage; no microSD slot
• Battery: 3,730 mAh, VOOC fast charging
• Misc: notchless design with cameras mounted on a slider; 3D face scanning (15,000 points)

The Oppo Find X is a curious contradiction of featureless and elaborate. We don't mean "featureless" as a bad thing, the clean glass-based design looks both futuristic and natural. The elaborate part is the slider - it's one of a kind in a sea of lookalikes.

PS. There's a Automobili Lamborghini Edition version of the phone. It's the first phone with Super VOOC charging and it comes with 512 GB storage plus a a carbon fiber looking back. We couldn't handle the unit - it was behind glass - but you can see a few photos from it on Page 3.