INTRODUCTION
The Oppo Find X5 Pro was just unveiled, and since we've owned the phone for a few days, we've compiled a list of the most essential new features.
With the simultaneous introduction of closely comparable phones like as the Oppo Find X5 Pro, Realme GT 2 Pro, IQOO 9 Pro, and the impending OnePlus 10 Pro, it is clear that product planning in the BBK Electronics group of companies is more important than we previously assumed.
Even a child can tell that the otherwise separate manufacturers have all built their flagship goods on the same platform - a flagship curved 120Hz AMOLED screen, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 CPU, and an approximately 5000mAh battery - all meticulously combined with hand-picked features.
Each of these phones receives a unique combination of cameras and charging rates, which are carefully matched so that the phones don't eat each other's pie.
As a result, BBK has not one, but four flagship devices - five, if we consider the vivo X70 Pro+ - and the lucky buyer may choose the formula that best meets their expectations.
Today, though, we are not just focused on Oppo. Despite the missing number 4, the Find X5 Pro is the successor of the Find X3 Pro and follows the formula from the previous year to the letter.
You get the most recent generation LTPO AMOLED screen - it doesn't get much more cutting edge than that, not even in Samsung's camp. You will be able to use the most recent Qualcomm silicon (with the international model, at least). This year's battery is much bigger, and charging is faster. You also get all of the most recent Oppo camera improvements. Okay, almost all of them. As it turns out, this year's camera advances are tiny and difficult to discern. In fact, if you simply skimmed through the stats, you'd be forgiven for thinking this phone had the same camera as last year's Find X3 Pro.
But, if Samsung can do it with the S22 Ultra, why can't Oppo? Okay, we're not doing either company justice. Although the hardware specifications haven't changed much, these camera systems are as polished as it gets on a mobile phone, and you'd be hard pushed to find better ones elsewhere. Only... Oppo, where is the long-reach zoom camera? Oh, you say Vivo got it? That's unfortunate. So, returning to our main argument, keep in mind that no one flagship smartphone in the BBK group of manufacturers get the best of everything. All of these brands need to stay in business.
Here's a short rundown of the Find X5 Pro's specifications.
As you can see, these specs aren't to be sneezed at. As long as you don't mind the fact that the only significant change is the new silicon. The battery isn't any bigger, but that's presumably because the new CPU is more power-hungry. There is enhanced passive cooling, but it is just there to keep the new processor from overheating.
If we were more particular, we may even say that the brief list of enhancements is lacklustre. Fortunately, this isn't our whole evaluation, but rather a summary of the product's highlights. Perhaps there is more to the Find X5 Pro than meets the eye, and it deserves to be Oppo's flagship yet for another.
UNBOXING THE FINE X5 PRO
Oppo's 80W VOOC charger and the matching thick cord were spotted inside the retail packaging. There's also a beautiful, slim protective case to get you started.
The screen also features a factory-applied screen protector.
Join us on the following page as we go through what's new in this model vs the Find X3 Pro.
What's new compared to find X3 Pro?
The design language of the Oppo Find X5 Pro is a clear continuation of that of the Find X3 Pro. The curved camera bump is now more asymmetric, making it appear more appealing and interesting.
The back is now constructed of ceramics, a material that is more tougher than glass, so scratching this one will be difficult. Because to the use of ceramics, the phone is only available in White or Black. There won't be any bright colours this time, but that's a trade-off we're willing to make.
When you combine the Corning Gorilla Glass Victus utilised on the front of the new model, you should get better drop and scratch resistance across the board.
Like last year, the phone is IP68-rated for dust and water protection. There are additional stereo speakers on board, with sound supported by Dolby Atmos.
The new model has the same display type and dimensions. It's said to have the same peak brightness of 1300 nits as previously. And the resolution remains the same as before - WQHD+ resolution. Even the promised colour accuracy is of the same high calibre.
The LTPO 2.0 technology has enabled the variable refresh rate to be as low as 1Hz on the panel (previously 5Hz on the old model).
And the touch sampling rate is somewhat greater, with a nominal value of 300Hz (up from 240Hz) but the capacity to spike to 1000Hz for brief periods of time.
Color OS 12 is included with Android 12. It includes all of the new Android security features, such as the Privacy Dashboard, Approximate Location Sharing, Microphone and Camera toggles and indications, as well as a few more data protection features.
In comparison to the Find X3 Pro, there is now an upgraded system-wide haptics engine dubbed O-haptics, which feels more stronger and sharper.
Another new Oppo feature is the ability to project the phone's screen to the Windows PC desktop and utilise it from there.
The SIM card slot is located at the bottom, close to the USB-C connector, and it supports two SIM cards. The Find X5 Pro should be able to offer 5G dual SIM network connectivity, although the previous model did as well.
Oppo claims to have considerably improved the directionality of the phone's antennas. There are multiple antennas incorporated throughout the whole frame - both mobile network and Wi-Fi, allowing you to obtain the greatest reception regardless of how you hold the phone.
SuperVOOC 80W charging speed test
The battery of the Find X5 Pro has been increased to 5000mAh from 4500mAh on the Find X3 Pro.
It is the first device to use Oppo's latest smart charging technology, Battery Health Engine. It guarantees a lifespan of twice as many charging cycles 1600 versus the purported "industry standard of 800" before the battery capacity is irreversibly dropped below 80 percent by taking better care of the battery's health.
Furthermore, the Find X5 Pro now offers improved, 80W SuperVOOC Flash charging, which should recover the battery from near-empty to 50% in just 12 minutes.
In addition, you get 50W AirVOOC wireless charging. It can be charged from near-empty to full in 47 minutes.
We didn't have an AirVOOC wireless charger on hand, but an 80W SuperVOOC charger was included in the box, so we decided to put their promises to the test.
Unfortunately, we could not achieve the claimed charging speeds, with the battery indicating 40% after roughly 12 minutes.
Moreover, despite the fact that SuperVOOC Flash Charge is one of its most powerful implementations here, because the Find X3 Pro has a smaller battery, its charging times are actually lower, even if it only supports 30W VOOC charging.
Performance benchmarking the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
The Oppo Find X5 Pro international variant (sold outside of China) is powered by Qualcomm's newest 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 flagship processor. It has the same 12GB+256GB storage combination as the Find X3 Pro.
Oppo claims that the new phone will have up to 30% more performance and up to 25% greater power efficiency than the previous generation, not to mention increased AI and network capabilities, thanks to the next-generation chipset.
We'd already met this chipset on the recently reviewed IQOO 9 Pro, but we were curious to see how it performed on the Find X5 Pro as well.
In a nutshell, we saw enhanced performance over last year's silicon, but the phone was also fast to heat up and equally quick to throttle down its performance, scoring roughly 20% worse on Geekbench 5 and Antutu 9. Despite the additional huge vapour cooling chamber that BBK flagship is placing on the rear of this year's flagships, this is not the case.
Nonetheless, the improvement in graphics performance provided by the new Adreno 730 is clear and significant.
Camera impressions
The primary and UW cameras on the Oppo Find X5 Pro are much the same as previously, as is the telephoto lens. The microscope camera from the Find X3 Pro is no longer available, but it was fairly cumbersome to shoot with anyhow, so it won't be missed. For the second year in a row, we will be disappointed if Oppo's flagship does not have a zoom camera with a greater reach. Even the Find X5 Pro's 2x zoom camera lacks OIS, and its focusing is far from brilliant.
But that doesn't imply there aren't any advancements. So let's have a look at them.
The Find X5 retains its primary camera and ultrawide cameras, both of which feature similar high-end Sony IMX 766 sensors with omnidirectional all-pixel focusing, which is still as quick as it gets.
The primary camera now features a genuine glass front element, which is said to improve colour accuracy and eliminate chromatic aberration by up to 77%. Samsung has also just debuted a front glass lens with the S22 Series, so we're likely to see more of this trend throughout the industry - at least in terms of flagships.
In addition, the primary camera now sports a slightly larger aperture of f/1.7, compared to f/1.8 on the Find X3 Pro.
The primary camera has also been improved with a fresh new DSLR-level stabilisation technology. It is a blend of lens-based and sensor-shift-based stabilisation.
Although calling it five-axis OIS isn't strictly right, it's still amazing that they've managed to match a 3-axis sensor-shift + 2-axis lens-based optical stabilizations functioning in tandem. The ultimate product is said to be a mechanism that can counteract up to 3 degrees of shaking. The method is used in both photographs and videos.
Unfortunately, with the pre-release software that our unit received, this exciting configuration had not achieved its full potential, so stay tuned for our real-world observations in our comprehensive review.
Another new feature is Oppo's 6nm proprietary MariSilicon X Imaging NPU. The MariSilicon X chip, according to the company, delivers super-efficient AI computational capability, allowing for best-in-class 4K Ultra Night Video recording with both wide and ultra-wide cameras. Unfortunately, this pre-production programme does not have the 4K Ultra Night Video recording option.
According to Oppo, the strong ISP within MariSilicon X allows HDR video to be shot in a 20-bit dynamic range, which is allegedly 4x better than the Find X3 Pro. This entails real-time RAW processing at the pixel level with no compression, resulting in an 8dB increase in signal-to-noise ratio.
A new 13-channel spectral sensor on the rear replaces the old 5-channel RGBCW sensor on the camera bump to more precisely identify the colour spectrum of a scene and better adjust white balance and skin tones.
Oppo has also increased OnePlus' Hasselblad connection, and the phone proudly bears the photography company's insignia.
In Pro Mode, the OPPO Find X5 Pro also has Hasselblad Natural Color Calibration. The Pro mode's UI has been somewhat tweaked to resemble Hassselblad's, and the shutter sound is similar to that of the professional camera series.
As seen by the examples below, Oppo has once again done an excellent job of calibrating all three cameras to create equivalent colour and contrast results.
DAYLIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY
The 50MP primary camera delivers excellent results. In almost every situation, you get 12MP photographs with incredible quality and dynamic range. This camera is unquestionably among the best available.
NIGHTTIME PHOTOGRAPHY
We saw more of what we saw throughout the day at night. The Oppo Find X5 Pro boasts a fantastic camera system that can record night scenes as they appear to the eyes. However, we are hesitant to give it the edge over the Find X3 Pro because it appears to be similarly good.
We also took some test movies with the Find X5 Pro, but we were dismayed to find that two of the new camera system's headlining features - enhanced stabilisation and 4K Ultra Night footage - were not completely functioning on our pre-release software. Oppo has promised a camera upgrade with repairs and enhancements, which should arrive just in time for our comprehensive review.
Still, we'd say the movies we were able to get with the phone aren't exactly outstanding. The main drawback is that we got similar findings from the Find X3 Pro, which we had to compare directly. Let's hope that the latest software update for the Find X5 Pro brings additional significant improvements.
Finally, the Find X3 Pro's selfie camera is equipped with a customised Sony IMX709 sensor (as seen in the Reno7 series). It employs an RGBW(hite) subpixel matrix to increase light capture, allowing the sensor to catch up to 60% more light. In addition, the MariSilicon X ISP is said to process the White and RGB signals individually for increased Signal-to-Noise ratio and better images in low-light circumstances.
CONCLUSION
Overall, the Oppo Find X5 Pro is an excellent smartphone. Aside from the upgraded Qualcomm chip and the more robust design, we couldn't think of many reasons for customers to choose this over the older (and probably cheaper) Find X3 Pro.
Of course, we haven't begun our complete evaluation yet, so our opinion may alter as we gain more hands-on time with the device and have a better opportunity of seeing it in varied settings.
