Oppo Find X5 Pro review: Hot camera and performance, spicy price

Where to buy

Over the last few years, Oppo has become one of the most interesting phone manufacturers in the world. From creating phones with pop-up shark fin selfie cams to naming other devices "onion" and "garlic", Oppo dares to be different. But with its flagship devices, the Find X5 Pro in this case, the company is a little more demure.

Instead of funky design and features, you'll find beefy specs and a more modest chassis to cater to a mainstream audience. It's clear that the company is now truly trying to compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung, even putting itself in their price bracket this time around.

But is the device worth it?

Design

Image: Tegan Jones/Finder

I quite like the design of the baked-in camera bump. It's far less gratuitous than some other brands in recent years and gives it a bit of a gamer vibe. I didn't think it would win me over, but it has.

Like so many modern devices, it's a bit slippery thanks to being ceramic. While the chassis is lovely and slick to the touch, I can already see it slipping off many a surface. So make sure you get a case for it.

The 6.7-inch 3216 x 1440 (QHD+) display has more than a 97% screen-to-body ratio and is a dream to use. The device is large enough to comfortably watch things and game on. And it looks great doing it thanks to the 525 pixels-per-inch pixel density, 1,300 nit peak brightness and 120Hz refresh rate. The picture is crystal clear, the colours pop and the response time is swift.

Elsewhere on the phone, you'll find an IP68 rating so it can handle a bit of dust and water. It also has Dolby Atmos capable speakers which make for a nice (and quite loud) content consumption experience.

As for the colourways, there's just your standard black and white colour options. And this is a shame because Oppo has been a market leader in having fun and hot colours in the past. Please bring them back!

Oppo Find X5 Pro review: Performance

On the performance front, the Oppo Find X5 Pro has some tasty specs to lean on – Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 as well as 12GB of RAM.

And for the day-to-day stuff it did just fine. I used it for gaming, streaming video, social and work without it skipping a beat. And it did so without getting warm in the hand at any point.

But when it came to the raw numbers, it told a slightly different story. In my Geekbench 5 tests it got a single-core score of 981, which was well behind its Samsung, Apple and Google Pixel competition.

It fared slightly better with its multi-core score. While it still lagged behind Apple's flagships, it just beat out the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and was above the Google Pixel 6 Pro.

Still, I honestly didn't notice a difference when it came to day-to-day use. The Find X5 Pro never struggled.

Where it really shone was in the 3DMark Wildlife test, scoring 9811, which put it at the top of our testing list, just beating out the iPhone 13 Pro models. It also had an average frame rate of 58.7 fps. This is a great result and indicative of the Oppo Find X5 Pro being a pretty damn good option if mobile gaming is your thing.

This is helped along by the integrated game mode that ColorOS provides. This optimises its performance (hello 120Hz) and limits notifications while you're playing.

Oppo Find X5 Pro review: Camera

Image: Tegan Jones/Finder

For killer features, the camera sits at the top of the list. Well, mostly. But we'll get to that.

Oppo has been doing incredible things in this space for a while now, so this isn't particularly surprising. While I was a little let down by the Find X5 Pro having the same camera hardware as its predecessor (50MP wide, 50MP ultra-wide and 13MP telephoto lenses, and a 32MP selfie cam), the company seems to be making the most of its new Hasselblad partnership, as well as some other software upgrades.

And this is certainly evident with low light photography. The camera does a great job of pulling in as much light possible and highlight the subjects with little to no graininess (unless the conditions are quite bad, but that would happen to any phone camera).

Image: Tegan Jones/Finder

Image: Tegan Jones/Finder

Image: Tegan Jones/Finder

Image: Tegan Jones/Finder

Image: Tegan Jones/Finder

Image: Tegan Jones/Finder

Image: Tegan Jones/Finder

The portrait modes on the front and rear cameras are also fantastic. However, like previous generations, the default beauty filters can be quite intense, especially with smoothing out your facial features. Similarly, while regular point and click shots are generally great, they could be considered over-saturated compared to the Google Pixel 6 and iPhone 13 Pro models.

So if you're not a fan of either of these defaults, be sure to play with the settings or edit in post.

The camera did have a little trouble focusing in some instances. This included taking outdoor shots as it started getting darker and when taking a selfie in portrait mode. That being said, it's worth remembering that this was a pre-release device. So I'm hopeful that a software update will sort this out.

Image: Tegan Jones/Finder

The only major letdown I had with the camera was the zoom. Oppo has decided to once again opt for a 2x optical zoom – despite the fact the Find X2 Pro had a more superior 5x offering.

This means that you can't really go past 5x zoom without the image quality falling apart. And this is a shame because zoom tech in camera phones can be excellent, and has been for a few years now. Samsung's S22 Ultra is a stand out in the current generation of flagship Androids, but even Huawei was pulling this off years ago.

That being said, if you don't really use zoom this won't be an issue because you're otherwise getting a camera backed by great hardware and software.

Oppo Find X5 Pro review: Battery

Another big plus for the Oppo Find X5 Pro is the battery. It's 5,000mAh, which is nothing new in the flagship phone space. But it did a good job of getting me to the end of the day.

During our battery rundown test (streaming content for an hour at full volume and brightness) it landed on 94% which is quite good, but not best in class – it was bested by the iPhone 13 Pro Max, the Google Pixel 6 Pro and regular Google Pixel 6. Still this is a great result and puts it level with last year's Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. Even as a power user I had no trouble getting through the day.

But the real hero here is the 80W SuperVOOC charging. According to Oppo it allows you to charge from 0 to 50% in 12 minutes, and I found that to be about right. So even if you do flog your battery and need a quick top up before heading out, you can.

It's incredibly convenient, but I do wonder what impact this may have on the lithium ion battery. Battery degradation is a very real problem in phones, and fast charging has been found to impact it further. It's definitely something to keep an eye on.

Wireless charging has also gotten a bump from 30W to 50W thanks to the new AirVOOC charger. This allows you to charge to 100% in just under 50 minutes.

However, it's worth noting that this is only the case with Oppo's on proprietary wireless charger offering, which means forking out more cash. If you're rolling with a different brand, it's going to be slower.

Should you buy it?

Image: Tegan Jones/Finder

At $1,799, the price is certainly bold. It's a mere $50 cheaper than competitors like the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and iPhone 13 Pro Max. It's also well above the Google Pixel 6 Pro which is just $1,299 and an insanely good phone.

And while I'm a fan of Oppo, they're still comparatively less known to a lot of Australians. It's also a massive jump up from last year's model, despite a lot of the specs being the same.

That's not to say that the software won't be optimised to make up for this. As the performance, battery and camera results show, this is a cracking phone that outpaces other brands in some areas. But it could still make it a harder sell.

Still, if you love Oppo phones or are an Android fan looking for something other than a Samsung or Pixel, the Oppo Find X5 Pro is a great option if you can find it less than the RRP.

Oppo Find X5 Pro review: Pricing and availability

The Oppo Find X5 Pro starts at $1,799 in Australia.

Price

RRP: $1,799.00

Where to buy

Check price at eBay

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How to buy the Oppo Find X5 Pro on a plan

You can buy the Oppo Find X5 Pro on a 12-, 24- or 36-month repayment period with a mobile plan from Telstra, Optus or Vodafone.

Specifications

How we tested:

The Oppo Find X5 Pro was tested extensively over a 3-week period as the author's daily driver. She has been testing and reviewing phones for over 5 years and won best reviewer at the 2021 Australian IT Journalism Awards.

Images: Tegan Jones