OPPO Find X5 Pro 5G
RM4,999
Pros | Cons |
+ Sleek design | - Pricey |
+ Impressive camera performance | - Telephoto camera disappoints |
+ Long-lasting battery life | - Lack of expandable storage |
+ Fast charging | |
+ Beautiful and smooth 120Hz AMOLED LPTO display | |
OPPO has sent us a few Reno devices before and this time we're getting a premium Find X5 Pro 5G, which I really looked forward to since they announced the phone. It's the first OPPO device to feature the brand-new MariSilicon X imaging neural processing unit (NPU), which helps with computational photography and video, especially in low-light scenarios.
Design
In terms of design, the OPPO Find X5 Pro has a nanometer microcrystalline ceramic back, which OPPO claims to take 168 hours to build, creating a surface twice as hard as glass. Available in Ceramic White and Glaze Black, the back cover is reflective so while as premium as it comes, the ceramic surface sometimes appears like a plastic. Our review unit is the white model, which looks clean and sleek.
One obvious addition on the rear of the smartphone is the Hasselblad logo, whom OPPO collaborated with for the cameras, which we'll talk more about later in this article. The "Powered by MariSilicon" mark can also be found located on the camera island, marking the phone powered by the company's proprietary imaging NPU: MariSilicon X.
On the other side of the ceramic back, the front panel is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus, which is drop- and scratch-resistant. It is also IP68 rated for water and dust resistance. Unlike many flagship phones today, it still ships with a charger, much to my pleasure. There's also a special black card with a QR code on it, which will direct you to a Premium Service website, exclusively for the Find X5 Pro.
Read more about what's included in the box here.
Display and Audio
The Find X5 Pro boasts a pretty big 6.7" AMOLED LPTO display with a 3216 x 1440 resolution and a peak brightness of 1300 nits. It has a variable refresh rate that goes from as low as 1Hz to a super smooth 120Hz, depending on the content you're playing on-screen, from daily tasks to gaming.
By default, you get to enjoy a smooth 120Hz but it also offers a 60Hz mode if you need to save battery life. Overall, it's a great-looking display with bold colors, on-point contrast, and sufficient brightness. Under the display is an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, which is very sensitive and unlocks the phone immediately that I had no issues with it.
As for audio, you get exactly what you expect on flagship devices. The stereo speakers on the Find X5 Pro are great in delivering crisp and clear output. It's more than enough for Netflix binging or songs blasting. Also, you get the speakers on both the top and bottom edges of the device so that means you'll get balanced audio even in landscape use.
Cameras
The unique camera island on the back houses:
a 50MP F2.2 ultra-wide camera with a 110° field-of-view
a 50MP F1.7 wide camera
a 13MP F2.4 telephoto with 2x optical zoom
Before we look at some results taken from the cameras, let's talk a bit about the MariSilicon X NPU. The chip is built on a 6nm process, capable of providing AI computing power up to 18 TOPS and delivering a power efficiency of 11.6TOPS/W. According to OPPO, the chip allows the phone to capture HDR video with 20-bit color, 120dB dynamic range, and a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1. Basically, you'll notice how the cameras process shots much quicker than those on other devices, especially during night mode.
Using the same IMX 766 sensor, both the wide and ultrawide snappers are fantastic for taking images in daylight. Photos taken from the main camera are bright, colorful, and detailed, and thanks to OIS, they are clearer. It works the same for close-up shots, wide shots, and pictures taken at night or in low-light conditions.
Main camera
Ultrawide
Night mode
While the 50MP units are as good as they can be, the telephoto camera impresses less. If you want pretty zoomed shots, you're stuck with the 2x optical zoom - you'll notice a drop in quality for anything beyond that.
Telephoto
On the front, you get a 32MP F.24 camera for selfies on the top left corner of the screen. Selfies are sharp and have nice colors, and are certainly good enough for your daily social media. An interesting feature of the front camera is its ability to switch between a wider or closer field of view depending on the number of people in the frame.
When it comes to video recording, the Find X5 Pro has impressed me with its stabilization and the availability of 4K at 60fps even at 2x zoom. The video quality is superb and the colors are vivid too, with excellent details. The ultrawide camera also has stabilization and the result is just as good.
Videos taken at night or in low-light conditions are also sharp and detailed, with good color saturation too.
In collaboration with Hasselblad, OPPO has added a few filter modes, such as the Pro mode and XPan mode. The latter is my favorite; it takes shots in a wider aspect ratio with a grainy filter, resembling what you get from a 90s film camera. In the XPan mode, you can easily switch between color and monochrome, and it's fun to play around with.
XPan mode
Performance
The OPPO Find X5 Pro joins one of the many Android devices using the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, coupled with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. You can boost the memory with the RAM expansion feature, which allows you to add up to 7GB of virtual RAM. Unfortunately at this price, it doesn't offer a microSD card slot for storage expansion so you're stuck with the 256GB onboard. Still, this is a powerful smartphone for gaming and intensive tasks like image editing.
Packing a 5000mAh battery, the device can easily see through a full day of use, including hours of photoshoots and social media. If you're the kind who usually puts your phone aside, it can last for around two full days of use. With the 80W SuperVOOC charger, your phone's battery won't stay low for long. While OPPO claims that it can go from zero to 50% in just 12 minutes, our test took 35 minutes to top up from 10% - 100%.
The phone also supports 50W AirVOOC wireless charging, which can juice up to 100% in 47 minutes. Since we didn't receive the charging unit from OPPO, we'll just have to take OPPO's words for it. Still, charging is very speedy and I'm just glad that OPPO decides to include the charger in the box even though most manufacturers have started to drop them out.
Buy or no buy
The flagship competition is fiercer now than ever, even between Android devices. The OPPO Find X5 Pro 5G is definitely a great and powerful phone with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, a strong camera system, a smooth and beautiful screen, a long-lasting battery life, and fast charging.
Although the Find X5 Pro is good and all, it comes at a pricey RM4,999, which may be over your budget. Despite its perks, the telephoto camera is a slight disappointment since I expected a lot more from the cameras. At the end of the day, it's all up to you to decide what you need and want from a smartphone and what you can sacrifice.
