Oppo Find X5 Pro review: flagship by name, flagship by nature

If you’re looking for one of the best phones of the year, this Oppo Find X5 Pro review could be your answer. It's a flagship smartphone through and through. 

Oppo has made a big name for itself in the past few years, offering up some of the very best Android phones and the very best tech to go with it. In fact, the Oppo Find X3 Pro managed to pick up a coveted five-star rating in its T3 review because of how good it was in almost every area with a killer camera, powerful performance and swanky design. 

Unexpectedly, there wasn’t an Oppo Find X4 because that was replaced by the Oppo Find N foldable phone which was only launched in China, so the Oppo Find X5 Pro is their new top-of-the-line handset for 2022. 

Could it rival other flagships this year like the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra? You’re in the right place to find out. 

Oppo Find X5 Pro review: price and availability 

If you’re in the UK, you’ll be able to pre-order the Oppo Find X5 Pro from the 10th of March 2022 starting from £1,049. Take a look at the widgets on this page to see where. 

Unfortunately, this handset won’t be available in the US and we are yet to hear anything about when it will be available in Australia.

Oppo Find X5 Pro review: design and display 

If you like the idea of having a phone that looks a little bit more refined than the rest, the Oppo Find X5 Pro could be what you’re looking for, it absolutely screams sophistication.

Available to buy in either black or white, the design isn’t that dissimilar from its predecessor but it's now made from reflective ceramic giving it even more class than it had before.

It feels just as nice as it looks, helped by the soft curves around its edges. The camera notch on the back doesn’t sharply stick out either, instead, it’s smoothly integrated into the back of the device, curving upwards from the surface giving you a more natural indent to sit your finger in when you take photos - it also means you’re less likely to accidentally block one of the lenses.

The only significant problem with the design, in my opinion, is all of the printed information across the back, it’s far too visible and somewhat ruins the elegant aesthetics of the device. You will also be plagued by fingerprint marks on the back of the phone, but you can just wipe them away and that's easily solved by the protective case included in the box.

Thanks to its IP68 water and dust resistance, you should be fine to use the Oppo Find X5 Pro anywhere, even in the rain. 

The 6.7-inch AMOLED screen wraps around the edges of the phone, it looks absolutely stunning with a QHD+ (3216 × 1440p) resolution, 1.07 billion colours and a peak brightness of 1,300 nits. Colours pop and words are crystal clear, whether you’re online shopping, photo editing or watching Netflix, you’ll be able to see everything you need to with accuracy and vibrancy. 

The screen is big enough to use comfortably without making the phone feel clunky and difficult to hold - it measures 163.7 x 73.9 x 8.5mm and weighs 218g so while those with very small hands could struggle, most people won’t have any problems with its size. 

For mobile gaming, the Oppo Find X5 Pro's screen is excellent especially given the 120Hz refresh rate which makes scrolling and swiping feel smooth and effortless. The only downside is the fact that the glossy display does suffer from a fair amount of glare, even despite the effectiveness of its automatic brightness. 

To unlock the phone, you get the usual choice of pin, password, fingerprint and facial recognition. The in-display fingerprint sensor is my security of choice, it’s efficient and worked every single time I used it.

Oppo Find X5 Pro review: camera system 

Made up of three lenses, the rear camera system has a 50MP main camera, a 50MP ultra-wide-angle camera and a 13MP telephoto camera, on the front you get a 32MP selfie camera. Oppo has collaborated with Hasselblad in the development of the camera software featured on this phone.

I was lucky enough to be in Barcelona to test out the camera system, and the results were incredible. You can take a look at some of the photos I took below.

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The camera is able to pick up colours in a way that means you can see each shade of the sunset, and the detail is impeccable in the clouds above. The photos feel dynamic and energetic without looking unrealistic or exaggerated. 

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You get plenty of camera modes to play around with including a Pro mode, Pano mode, a High Res mode and there’s a 50MP setting to improve the amount of detail in the shot.

You’ll get up to 20x zoom here, which is a long way off the 100x zoom on the best Samsung phones, Oppo has chosen to focus on stable 4K video as well as their low light shots, rather than on their telephoto zoom. But even so, the zoomed-in shots are pretty good and unlike a lot of other handsets, they’re actually useable as well.

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Another area where this camera is able to hold its own is in low lighting. It’s able to boost the colours of the image and brighten the scene so you can take the same quality of photo no matter what time of day it is.

Video footage can be filmed in resolutions up to 4K with options for slow-mo and zoom during filming as well as Ultra Night Video. The footage came out looking sharp and steady - something that will be sure to please content creators and avid social media users in particular.

Oppo Find X5 Pro review: performance and battery  

Running on the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor along with an Adreno 730 GPU, 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, this has all the makings of a powerful piece of kit. It certainly feels like it when you use it, apps open almost instantly and games barely take any time to load. Everything feels quick and easy with the Oppo Find X5 Pro, there’s no MicroSD card slot to expand the storage here though.

To compare it to other phones out there, I ran the Geekbench 5 benchmarking test. It managed to pick up scores of 977 in single-core and 3,395 in multi-core which matches up to other flagships this year including the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra as well as popular devices from last year like the OnePlus 9 Pro. It’s even a step ahead of some devices, like the Googe Pixel 6 Pro. 

As you’d expect, the Oppo Find X5 Pro supports both Wi-Fi 6 and 5G so you’ll be able to make the most out of lightning-fast connectivity where it’s available.

When it comes to the battery there are two series-connected cells which are the equivalent of 5,000mAh. I was able to use this handset for more than a day, even up to two days, before it needed to be plugged in again. To test it out more accurately, I cranked the brightness up to its full capacity and ran a local video over the space of two hours. In that time the battery level only dropped by 10% so would have lasted about 20 hours in total, that’s tonnes by any standard and certainly one of the best results I’ve ever seen.

Using the 80W SUPERVOOC Flash Charge included in the box, it only took about 38 minutes to charge the battery from empty to 100% - that’s really impressive and means you won’t need to wait around for it to charge before you can leave the house. You can also charge the Oppo Find X5 Pro wirelessly if you own a compatible charger. 

ColorOS 12.1 sets the scene, it's based on Android 12 and out of all of the Android skins there are, this is one of the better ones. Admittedly it’s not as sharp as Samsung’s One UI but it’s not that far off either. Full of colour with simple fonts and intuitive navigation, it very easy to get used to, whether you use buttons or gestures to find your way through it.

Oppo Find X5 Pro review: verdict 

I think it’s safe to say that the Oppo Find X5 Pro is out to impress. While its price tag won’t be for everyone, it’s hard to argue against because everything about this phone feels premium whether that’s the curved ceramic design, its sophisticated camera system, the battery life that lasts for days or its ultra fast performance and speedy charging. 

So what are the downsides, other than the price? Well, there aren't really many at all, and none of them are dealbreakers.  If you have small hands then this may feel like a bit of a giant to you, and if you tend to use up a lot of your phone storage very quickly then you might be put off by the fact that there’s no way to expand it using a MicroSD card, although not many flagships do have that now. Another reason you may not like it is the fact that the interface isn’t quite as sleek as stock Android, but even then, you’ll soon get used to Color OS. 

All in all, the Oppo Find X5 Pro is a fantastic piece of kit that is bang up to date in just about every area - quite frankly, it would be hard not to love it. 

Oppo Find X5 Pro review: also consider  

For most people, the best phone you can buy is still the Apple iPhone 13 because it’s well-priced with a great set of features, an elegant design, a stunning screen and a fantastic camera system. Not everyone is keen on iOS but if you already own other Apple products then it’s a no-brainer. 

If you’re looking for something a little more modestly priced but you still want the cream of the crop then the Samsung Galaxy S22 could be a better fit. It’s right up to date and packs in just about everything you could need and more. For those concerned about size, it’s a much more compact device than the Oppo Find X5 Pro as well.