OPPO Find X5 Pro Review: Premium Digital Imaging?

Over the past week, we have gotten the chance to try out OPPO’s new premium-tier smartphone, the OPPO Find X5 Pro. Top tier imaging performance was promised but did the Find X5 Pro live up to it? Well, we think…it really depends!

The Find series is back again this year with the X5 Pro, which is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SOC which houses an Octa-core CPU along with the Adreno 730 GPU, that's similar to the OnePlus 10 Pro that we reviewed before. But unlike the 10 Pro, there is also a non-pro variant of the Find X5 available. So if you guys are interested in us covering that as well do let us know!

Alongside the SOC is also a neural processing unit called the MariSilicon X which handles all the image processing for the Find X5 Pro. Now, this is so important, that they made sure to list it in the ‘About device’ setting that even shows you a video of supposedly how awesome it is. But is the camera really that good? We’ll get to it.

Bringing all the internal hardware together is OPPO’s ColorOS 12.1 and all its customizable goodness. If you are already used to Android then there’s not much to mention here, but if you are a longtime iPhone user, you’ll definitely find some nostalgia in ColorOS with all your installed apps on the home screen without the app drawer, although the setting can still be switched on if you wish to only have essential apps sticking around.

The fingerprint scanner and face unlock work flawlessly in our experience with the Find X5 Pro, even with our mask on. Not sure if that's a good thing but it sure is convenient.

For those who are dying to know, you can also set your own custom image in the always-on display as well.

Now in order to marvel at your always-on display, you’ll definitely need a good screen for it, the Find X5 Pro is equipped with a 6.7-inch WQHD+ AMOLED LTPO2 panel with a variable refresh of up 120hz for all your social media browsing and especially gaming.

Not all games will take advantage of the 120hz however, but with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, it will hold its own with most games and more, so nothing to worry about for you gamers out there, performance is top-notch.

Much like other phones, the Find X5 Pro will get pretty warm after a few sessions of Call of Duty but nothing out of the ordinary. Performance doesn’t really throttle, it’s pretty great.

If you are always out and about, the display is also able to hit a good 1300 nits peak brightness so you needn’t worry about that, viewing of content is of no issues whatsoever.

Speakers are positioned in your standard front and bottom firing placements, for a premium level smartphone, the speakers are a little bit average, with adequate loudness but lacking in bass and mids, it’s not really that impressive here so let's move on.

Housing this mean machine is a scratch-resistant ceramic back panel along with a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus front panel. The power and volume buttons are located on opposite sides with the Type-C port and dual sim slot at the bottom.

It’s curved around the camera area much like its predecessor the Find X3 Pro and we gotta say, this feels really premium to hold. The only thing about it is that it gets smudges very easily from fingerprints or oil stains, so if you are bothered with that sort of thing we definitely suggest immediately slapping on the case that’s included in the box.

What's also included in the box is the 80W SuperVOOC charger that charges the Find X5 Pro from 1 to 50% in about 12 minutes! The battery life is also nothing if not reliable, getting through the day with general usage on 120hz and QHD+ resolution, along with Bluetooth, location and always-on display, with no issues at all.

Of course, if you do a little bit more gaming then you will drain the battery out before the day ends but hey, that's where the fast charging really comes in handy!

But now on to the main highlight, the cameras and image processing. The Find X5 Pro is equipped with a 50MP f/1.7 main camera, a 50MP f/2.2 ultrawide and a 13MP f/2.4 telephoto lens.

Much like the OnePlus 10 Pro, the camera was developed in collaboration with Hasselblad so you’ll notice similarities in the way it handles colours with vibrant blue skies and green grass. Skin tones are handled well with just a slight saturation and blacks are crushed giving most images strong contrast. Under most daylight conditions this camera will definitely nail both portraits and landscape shots.

The photo mode also comes with 3 exclusive filters dubbed the Master Filters designed with Hasselblad, namely Radiance, Serenity and Emerald. Personally, we like the look of the Radiance filter as it makes the colours pop in a very 90s and stylish way but we’ll let you be the judge of that! Serenity and Emerald do look really interesting as well.

One thing to note is that you have to set the filter when you are shooting the photo and you can’t apply it after the photos have been taken. However, there are still a bunch of interesting filters that you can use to make your photos stand out!

The camera system is also capable of shooting up to 4K videos at 60 fps. As far as smartphone videos go it’s pretty alright. It does also feature 5-axis Optical Image Stabilization which makes the videos plenty stable even without the Ultra Steady mode, but it’s there if you need it which will add on that additional layer of digital image stabilization.

Night shots in particular are handled pretty well, especially in video mode where it can actually catch details even in dimly lit places and we have the MariSillicon X to thank for it. In some cases for photos, there is almost no visible difference in the image whether or not night mode is on.

Lastly, the 32MP selfie camera, it’s there if you need it and you can use it to make your Omoji do facial expressions, and that's about it for our take on the OPPO Find X5 Pro.

Now, the phone will go on pre-order in Singapore from 16 April and will be available islandwide on 30 April at S$1699 for the 12GB RAM and 256G storage option.

Overall we really find the imaging in the Find X5 Pro to be really pleasant and definitely walks the talk, but whether is it worth the premium price tag will really be dependent on if you are willing to shell out your hard-earned money just to really be able to take photos and videos at night, and have some cool filters to go along with it. In any case, we feel that there is some area where it could be better but it’s still a solid smartphone overall.