A week with Oppo Find X5 Pro: high performance (the price as well)

A winning team does not change, it seems obvious to me, but in this case Oppo has even “merged” two excellent teams and thus brought together the best solutions on the new generation which has the new Find X5 Pro as its representative. and video graphics shown last year, at the NPU Marisilicon X developed in house and the partnership with Hasselblad which participated in the engineering of the new cameras.

The latter comes after Oppo took over OnePlus last summer, adding further value to the group that now has broader shoulders than ever. In short the conditions for a new series of the highest level are all therehaving been lucky enough to try the Find X5 Pro for more than a week I will tell you my first impressions in this article.

This is not the time to delve into certain details, we will do it in due course in the review, so today I want to focus on the main strengths of this smartphone and its possible weaknesses, few, but present.

For the technological development and the rise that Oppo has made in these few years of presence in Europe. I am certainly not referring to market shares or other sales successes, but rather to the innovations and the role that the Chinese company has had and is having on the international level. With the fall of Huawei’s star (in mobile) it was necessary for someone to take his place, contributing to the technological development of the entire sector. The Find X5 Pro brings together everything Oppo has at its disposal a littleand it does so with its head held high, aware of the intrinsic strength of the most feisty competition.

For example, I like the development of super-fast charging, the real one, with SuperVooc technology that raises the bar even more and brings the power of the adapter (included in the package) to 80W. Let’s say that compromises do not exist on this front, with the 50W maximum wirelessly that “stripping” any wired solution from Apple and Samsung. Moreover, the capacity of the batteries has been increased for a total of 5,000mAh, therefore a necessary step forward compared to the Find X3 Pro (4,500mAh) which had a small crack in its autonomy. The compromise? I’ll tell you below.

The experience accumulated at home and that of excellent partners such as Hasselblad then bring that attention to the photographic sector that is expected from a smartphone of this caliber (also in the software). The 5-axis stabilization on the main (which has glass and resin lenses), the “team” of the two Sony IMX766 image sensors further optimized and managed now by the dedicated chip Marisilicon X make a deadly match. It doesn’t matter if you don’t go beyond 4K at 60fps, the videos are great and boast record-breaking vibration compensation, especially with the main one. But here is an example shot with the wide angle at dusk, note the almost total absence of background noise.

We are not at the levels of Galaxy S22 + and Ultra but I see the step forward compared to last year. I’m talking about the display, a 6.7-inch Amoled in WQHD + 10-bit at 120Hz (max) that gains in brightness but certainly doesn’t upset the experience. It is therefore part of the positive things but for absolute excellence you have to go through South Korea.

• Display: 6.7 “AMOLED LTPO WQHD + (3,216 x 1,440 pixels), 10-bit, variable refresh (maximum 120 Hz)
• SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 with Adreno 730 + Marisilicon X GPU
• RAM: 12GB
• Internal memory: 256 GB UFS 3.1 (1780 MB / s read and 1250 MB / s write)
• Cameras:
  • Rear main wide angle: 50MP, Sony IMX766 aperture f / 1.7, Five-axis OIS
  • Rear ultra-wide angle secondary: 50 MP Sony IMX766 aperture f / 2.2, FOV 110 °
  • Rear secondary telephoto: 13 MP f / 2.4 2x zoom
  • Front wide angle: 32 MP, Sony IMX709 RGBW f / 2.4, optical stabilization, FOV 80-90 °

• Battery: 5,000 mAh dual-cell
• Refill: 80W wired, 50W wireless, 10W reverse, compatible with USB PD at 30W and Qi at 15W
• Connectivity: 4G / 5G SA, Dual SIM 5G, eSIM, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC
• Audio: stereo
• Other: IP68 certification, ceramic material, Ceramic White and Black colors
• OS: ColorOS 12.1 based on Android 12
• Dimensions and weight: 163.7 x 73.9 x 8.5mm / 218g

The weight has increased considerably, in fact, we went from 193g last year to 218g today and, for those like me who used the previous generation a lot, the “backlash” is felt all right. Twenty-five grams more explained mainly by the more capacious batteries and the ceramic back cover; precious material, reserved only for the highest range but guilty of an impact on the scale. It is up to you to decide whether the compromise is worth it or not.

The price is high, very high. I certainly don’t expect the best technologies and the finest materials to be given away, but 1,299 euros is really a lot, maybe too much. On the one hand we have little to complain about, on the other a competition that still tries to offer a lot and stay under the thousand euro wall despite the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip costing an arm and a leg. The devaluation then runs and seeing last year’s flagship below or around 800 euros always makes me think that, sometimes, it is better to wait a bit before launching into purchases.

I would have expected a bit more boldness among the camera options, such as timelapses in 4K and slow motion over Full HD. In short, all these horses between the Qualcomm chip and Marisilicon X and then we can’t go beyond the “standard”? They are small details, it is true, but the hardware is there and I am sure that an update would be enough to expand its capabilities in this direction too.

Oppo has always accustomed us to the care of materials and design, they experiment and often stir things up, which I like. Personally, I therefore appreciated the 75 ° cut that draws the camera module, an “eccentric” and distinctive element that I believe is necessary in a world of clones. But tastes are tastes and certainly there is no question of that.

I believe the Find X5 Pro is a real war machine, potentially one of the best smartphones of the year for concreteness and overall quality. Of course he is ready to play with everyone, with his head held high, but the challenge in this band Very high is tough with Samsung, Apple and other competitors who will decide to break through the thousand euro wall. To be truly competitive you need continuity (check), appeal (check) and the affection of the public who slowly trusts to spend such a figure (check still to be evaluated).

A more cautious positioning would certainly have helped in the latter point, the Find X5 Pro arrives in Italy at € 1,299 in the next few days in the unique configuration that provides 12/256 GB of memory and two colors: Ceramic White and Ceramic Black.