Before we get started on the OPPO Find X5 Pro review, let me give you my verdict: The Find X5 Pro is likely going to be one of the most surprising flagship models since Snapdragon 8 Gen1 was released.
After reviewing so many Gen1 phones, we were pretty clear that the new chip didn’t bring any significant innovative upgrades in the latest flagships. Basically, those phones had a limited number of conventional upgrades.
However, after reviewing the OPPO Find X5 Pro, we saw something different.
The OPPO flagship comes with a brand-new imaging NPU chip, the Marisilicon X, which is also the world’s first 6nm independent imaging chip built inside a smartphone that works for all the lenses. Further, it debuted the brand’s first five-axis hardware-level stabilization technology, supporting 3° anti-shaking compensation and 0.7° rotational stabilization. You can also see the logo of Hasselblad on the OPPO Find X5 Pro. The cooperation has expanded to a range that’s not just limited to the sub-brand OnePlus.
Apart from the camera, the Find X5 Pro also brings an upgraded design. And personally, I would say that it has the best design among all the new phones released in 2022.
Find X5 Pro Review: Design & Display
The back of the phone is made of a whole piece of ceramic material. Compared to the glass cover on the Find X3 Pro, it feels much better with better scratch resistance and fingerprint resistance. And more importantly, it has made the phone visually more premium. Although we did see the use of ceramic material on other phones, this one-piece ceramic back cover surprised me like no other. And it is one of the few phones that make me truly appreciate the aesthetics of minimalism in recent years especially those with a camera bump.
I mean, of course, the camera module is still a bit protruding, but at the same time, the phone hides this discomfort with a design that makes the connection from the camera to the other parts much more natural.
At the bottom right corner, we have the bright logos of OPPO and Hasselblad, which reveals their first cooperation on photography algorithms has officially begun. As for its camera experience, we talk about it a bit later.
Now let me turn it over and look at its front face. The Find X5 Pro features a 2K 120Hz slightly-edge-curved AMOLED display with upgraded support of LTPO Adaptive refresh rate. The quality of the Find X5 Pro is almost the same as what we have on the OnePlus 10 Pro, which certainly is at the top-notch level in the industry. It also supports 1 billion colors with wide-dynamic-range HDR10+. So in 2022, among all the recent flagships, you should have no issues with this display.
The Find X5 Pro also comes with dual stereo speakers. Let’s listen to its sound performance.
This time the OPPO Find X5 Pro is released globally running on Color OS 12.1 based on Android 12. The global version comes pre-installed with a wide number of language options and all the Google apps. The Operating system supports the deep customization of the interface, like choosing live wallpaper, customized icon patterns, and layout arrangement. Other features like floating windows for multitasking and quick launch from the fingerprint unlock are also supported well.
The Find X5 Pro’s system has also got well optimized with great fluency and fast response. So far, it feels pretty reliable and stable in daily use.
Find X5 Pro Review: Performance & Gaming
As for performance, the Find X5 Pro global version in my hand is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset with 12GB RAM and 256GB Rom. In all the benchmarks we tested here, the phone performed as well as a new flagship model. Even in the 3DMark stress test of running 20-round Wild Life Extreme, it finished the challenge with maintaining a pretty good stability of continuous performance output, while the surface temperature remained below 43℃.
In the PUBG Mobile gaming test, the framerate could stably run at the best level.
While in Genshin Impact, the phone met performance throttle after the first 5 minutes and achieved an average framerate at 46.55fps for the 30min gaming test.
In another stress gaming test, Nimian Legends, we ran the gaming under 2K resolution with the highest graphic setting. The Find X5 Pro achieved one of the best results that we’ve tested in this game.
However, in all three gaming tests, the surface temperature was kept under 43℃. It seems that the phone adopts a more conservative strategy between temperature control and long-time performance output. For those who care much about gaming performance, hopefully, OPPO can update their software with a more aggressive gaming mode.
Find X5 Pro Review: Camera Performance
Now let’s talk about its camera performance. Just like we mentioned at the beginning, the upgraded camera system is the biggest surprise on the Find X5 Pro. The rear triple camera combination includes a Sony IMX766 50MP primary lens with five-axis stabilization, another 50MP ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 13MP 2x telephoto lens. And there’s another powerful Sony IMX 709 selfie camera on the front face. All the cameras are supported by the Marisilicon X NPU chip. With the assistance of the NPU, they could have a pretty decent improvement in night performance and 4K filming.
Main Camera
Now, let’s look at some samples. At first glance, I have to say the samples are really impressive with the energetic and emotional color style presented by the cooperation with Hasselblad. Most samples look more expressive with richer color levels. During the shooting, I especially became passionate about shooting reddish subjects on this phone. It’s very good at recreating natural colors with a wide dynamic range and good contrast.
2X and Telephoto
Not just the main camera, the advantage is carried over to the wide-angle lens and the 2x telephoto lens too. Both of them could present pretty decent colors with rich detail. And the wide-angle lens performs well, especially against imaging distortion and fringing issues. Even the 2x telephoto lens looks much better at presenting images with similar color performance as the main camera.
Night Camera vs Xiaomi 12 Pro
As for its night performance, we took the Xiaomi 12 Pro as a reference, and let’s see whether it’s as powerful as claimed.
Starting from its main camera, it’s quite obvious that the Find X5 Pro’s samples have slightly better clarity and more detail, and if we look closer at the bright areas, the Find X5 Pro still reserves more detail without being over-exposed. And thanks to the five-axis stabilization, it’s much easier for the X5 Pro to catch night images with sharp and clear detail, while the Xiaomi 12 Pro sometimes might not have enough stabilization for a clear image. Especially when shooting in extreme low light conditions, the Find X5 Pro’s images are usually brighter and clearer.
To find out their limits, we brought the two phones to the darkest environment that we could find. During the challenge, both of them had problems focusing. Eventually, the Find X5 Pro caught the flower in the dark and finished the challenge, while it seemed that this environment was too tough for the Xiaomi 12 Pro.
Now let’s check their 2x telephoto lenses. Well, in most samples they have pretty close performance. But the Xiaomi model sometimes could bring purer images, however, the Find X5 Pro is still better at correct exposure for both the dark and bright areas.
Ultra Wide Angle Camera
Now let’s look at the samples shot on their wide-angle lenses. Xiaomi’s image is not as good at noise control as the Find X5 Pro. And the OPPO phone still works better at giving correct exposure to the brightness.
So obviously the Find X5 Pro’s night shooting is a surprise. It can better handle most low-light scenarios with amazing exposure. And the software experience is fast and smooth. Even for the extreme low-light shooting, the whole shooting wouldn’t take you more than 3 seconds. It seems that the additional Marisilicon X NPU plays an important role in night shooting, as it delivers a more enjoyable experience than its predecessor.
Thanks to this imaging chip, you can also shoot decent night 4K videos with pretty good dynamic range, which was an area that Android phones struggled. Anyway, let’s watch some footage shot on the Find X5 Pro.
Find X5 Pro Review: Battery
The phone features a 5000mAh large battery with 80W fast wired charging and 50W wireless charging. With the included charger, the phone was full-charged in 30mins, while the wireless method could take a bit longer. As for its battery life test, you can check it here.
So that’s all about the Find X5 Pro in this review. The phone is a true premium flagship in 2022. No matter for its impressive design or the top-notch camera performance, it’s the most surprising flagship that we’ve reviewed in 2022.
We know the industry is having a hard time bringing an evolutionary machine, which is why we appreciate what the Find X5 Pro has achieved.
You can leave your comments down below and let us know if there’s anything specific you want to know about the phone. We’ll try to answer them in the comment down below.
