OPPO Find X review – Is this phone's breathtaking design enough reason to buy one?

The OPPO Find X is truly an engineering masterpiece that offers a phenomenal design (Image: Express Newspapers)

OPPO FIND X • £799 (as tested)

  • FOR – Easily the best-looking phone around • Gorgeous all-screen design • Vibrant 6.42-inch AMOLED panel • Laudably fast charging • Feels incredible in the hand
  • AGAINST – Middling camera performance • Frequent software bugs • Bloated Android skin • No wireless charging • No water resistance • Sliding mechanism longevity concerns • Hefty price tag • Does not run Android 9 Pie • Its display only offers a 1080p resolution

OPPO is a long-established and popular smartphone manufacturer from China that has only recently started selling its handsets in the UK.

The firm is positioning the Find X as its most premium device Android fans can get their hands on and its cost reflects the fact.

OPPO Find X comes in at £799, meaning it is priced to compete with staunch rivals such as the Google Pixel 3, Huawei Mate 20 Pro and iPhone XR.

But does the Chinese handset truly compete with the best or just excel on looks alone? Here is Express.co.uk’s full review.

Design and display

The OPPO Find X is truly an engineering masterpiece that offers a phenomenal design.

The hardware is easily the best-looking on the market thanks to its futuristic all-screen design and extremely stylish back panel.

Find X comes with a 6.42-inch AMOLED display that has the resolution of 1080×2340 and the density of 401-pixels-per-ich.

The screen itself is incredibly vibrant, offers great viewing angles and can get exceptionally bright.

But it is certainly the phone’s distinct lack of bezels that makes it noteworthy.

OPPO claims the Find X boasts an incredibly high screen-to-body ratio of 93.8 percent.

The phone’s lack of any kind of notch is certainly welcome and finally gives Android fans the all-screen design they have been craving.

In order for the Find X to achieve its impressive front design, OPPO has created a motorised sliding mechanism that houses its front and rear-facing camera systems.

OPPO Find X review

OPPO is selling the Find X for a hefty asking price of £799 (Image: Express Newspapers)

The module is quick to emerge and recede and certainly evokes an incredibly futuristic feeling every time it does so.

Find X’s motor is distinguishable when it is called into action; it is certainly not loud by any means but it is noticeable.

The biggest concern with the mechanism employed is its longevity; the first unit we were sent for review at Express.co.uk had to be returned because the slider stopped functioning correctly within hours of us receiving it.

Instead of emerging and receding within a second or so, the Find X’s mechanism took up to five seconds to rise in some instances.

Not only did this mean we were unable to take photos with the phone’s rear camera system in a hurry, but also that the phone’s facial recognition system did not function properly.

OPPO’s flagship has a 3D camera system housed on its movable panel that is designed to scan the user’s face as soon as it rises.

However the added delay from the defective unit meant it did not rise fast enough to see our face – instead the camera was only seeing the inside of the phone.

While the second unit this publication received for review has performed without any hiccups whatsoever, the durability concerns of the Find X are certainly palpable.

OPPO Find X review

The firm is positioning the Find X as its most premium device for UK customers (Image: Express Newspapers)

Express.co.uk asked OPPO to clarify exactly what was wrong with our first review unit and if the firm has a replacement or repair policy in place in case Find X units sold experience similar problems with the motorised mechanism.

In response, the firm insisted it “did not detect any issues” with the Find X unit that had evident problems with its motorised slider.

Moreover, OPPO advised any Find X owners that do experience any issues with its slider to contact its customer care team but did not discuss if it would replace or fix units experiencing abnormalities.

It is worth noting the OPPO Find X’s facial recognition system works extremely well.

The sliding mechanism houses a flood illuminator, infrared camera, ranging sensor, receiver, dot projector and front camera that delivers fast, secure and reliable face unlocking.

We attempted to fool the Find X with a picture of ourselves to no avail – a test that was not passed by many of the flagship’s rivals that rely on 2D facial scanning.

Find X does not have a traditional fingerprint sensor at all – however, just like Apple’s latest and greatest iPhones, we did not feel the absence of a reader because the facial identification works so well.

The rear of the Find X is as captivating as its AMOLED display; the phone comes in either bordeaux red and glacier blue finishes that both look stunning.

OPPO Find X review

OPPO Find X is easily the best-looking phone on the market (Image: Express Newspapers)

Either colour does not cover the entirety of the phone’s back panel – instead red or blue accents exist on the phone’s aluminium frame and on the outskirts of its rear.

The mid-section of the phone’s back panel is black and the contrast between it and either finish leaves the Find X looking decidedly premium.

One of the most underrated aspects of the Find X is just how superb the phone feels in the user’s hand.

Its front and rear panels seamlessly curve into its aluminium frame and combine with its tall but thin screen to make it easy to handle in one hand.

As is standard with most smartphones nowadays, the OPPO Find X does not come with a headphone jack.

However, the phone does have a USB-C port and a single speaker on its bottom.

OPPO Find X review

OPPO Find X’s sliding mechanism certainly raises durability concerns (Image: Express Newspapers)

Performance

While the design of the OPPO Find X is exemplary, the handset’s performance is certainly more of a mixed bag.

First and foremost, the Find X does not run Google’s latest and greatest Android 9 Pie software.

Instead, the phone is still limited to Android 8.1 Oreo, a characteristic that is simply inexcusably by this point.

While Android Oreo delivers a refined and fluid software experience, after having used 9 Pie it cannot help but feel like a step back thanks to its admission of Google’s newest features.

OPPO’s ColorOS runs on top of Android and is certainly one of our least favourite skins because of its lack of customisation.

One of the software’s biggest flaws is the fact you cannot enable a traditional Android app drawer in any capacity.

That means if you use ColorOS you are forced to display all of your applications on multiple home screens.

Moreover, the software also comes with a host of duplicate applications that cannot be deleted.

OPPO Find X review

OPPO Find X employs a motorised sliding mechanism to achieve its all-screen design (Image: Express Newspapers)

This means if the user prefers to use any of Google’s Android programmes instead they will have to contend with duplicate apps.

And, during our testing it appeared some Google applications were not allowed to function as they normally would when we enabled them as our default software.

For instance, we noticed when we enabled Google Messages as our default SMS programme we did not receive certain texts.

While it is expected that OPPO creates its own software and user experiences, they should not be forced upon the user.

ColorOS’s shortcomings meant for the vast majority of our testing we opted to use a custom launcher on top of Android.

It is worth mentioning we ran into a number of bugs during our time with the Find X.

Firstly, some programmes such as Spotify, appeared to clash with native apps on the hardware that tarnished our user experience.

For instance, if we had paused a song on Spotify and pressed a resume button on the headphones we were using, we were frequently hit with some pre-installed music on OPPO’s own music app that was unwanted.

OPPO Find X review

OPPO claims the Find X boasts an incredibly high screen-to-body ratio of 93.8 percent (Image: Express Newspapers)

Plus, in this scenario, when we attempted to unlock the phone and play Spotify again, the app would consistently crash and need to be restarted.

Other issues with the device include the device momentarily showing our home screen before we had entered our passcode.

Frequent software bugs like this did not massively hinder our experience with the Find X, but they certainly highlight the fact the phone does not present users with the smoothest software experience around.

With that said, performance across the board is generally snappy from the Find X.

The handset is powered by Qualcomm’s last-generation Snapdragon 845 chipset and has 8GB of RAM.

Moreover, the Adreno 630 GPU inside ensures the Chinese flagship can easily run the latest and greatest games from the Google Play Store.

The Find X’s single bottom-firing speaker is certainly not the best on a smartphone.

Audio sounds slightly too tinny on high volumes and can easily be covered up by accident.

OPPO Find X review

The OPPO Find X is certainly not a phone for most people (Image: Express Newspapers)

One of our biggest concerns with the Find X is the timing of its UK launch.

The handset debuted back in June last year and will surely be followed up with a successor at a similar time period in 2019.

For that reason it seems as though the phone’s reign as OPPO’s top-tier device is limited.

This is certainly one of the biggest things to think about before picking up a Find X.

OPPO Find X review

The rear of the Find X is as captivating as its AMOLED display (Image: Express Newspapers)

Battery

Battery life on the Find X is slightly disappointing – we were barely able to make it through an entire day of usage on a single charge.

However, one of the biggest aces up the Find X’s sleeve is its SuperVOOC wired charging that refills the phone’s 3,730mAh capacity incredibly quickly.

In fact, the 50W charging offered by the Chinese OEM is by far the fastest around, surpassing the laudable speeds offered by the likes of OnePlus and Huawei.

OPPO claims the technology can charge the phone to 100 percent in just 35 minutes and this certainly conforms to the results we have seen at Express.co.uk.

OPPO Find X review

Unfortunately the OPPO Find X does not come with a headphone jack (Image: Express Newspapers)

Camera

The OPPO Find X certainly delivers middling camera performance and is especially disappointing in low-light conditions.

The Chinese OEM’s handset comes with a dual camera system that is comprised of a 16 and 20-megapixel lens.

Find X is capable of taking good shots when conditions are perfect, but certainly lacks the dynamic range, detail and overall clarity presented by its rivals.

In particular, the phone struggled in a number of HDR scenarios that left the background of certain images blown out.

We also encountered a number of instances in which the phone’s autofocus had trouble taking photos without blur.

One of the most notable scenarios we found was attempting to snap a picture of a flower that was blowing in the wind.

Instead of retaining high levels of detail, the phone captured an image that was slightly blurry and left some intricacies absent.

OPPO Find X review

The Chinese OEM’s handset comes with a dual camera system on its rear (Image: Express Newspapers)

OPPO Find X review

The OPPO Find X certainly delivers middling camera performance (Image: Express Newspapers)

It is worth emphasising the Find X does not take bad photos, instead it just feels somewhat antiquated when compared to the likes of the Google Pixel 3.

Find X can take great pictures, but you certainly need optimal conditions to do so.

The phone is also missing a dedicated night mode, meaning shots taken in low-light conditions come out looking incredibly smooth and with details missing.

OPPO’s 25-megapixel front-facing camera is a similar story; in light conditions the phone is capable of taking detailed shots but in low-light conditions quality takes a noticeable plunge.

The phone’s portrait mode shots are pretty decent and for the most part managed to correctly apply bokeh.

However, in a few instances the device did place the effect over items it should not have.

OPPO Find X review

OPPO Find X rear camera sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

OPPO Find X review

OPPO Find X rear camera sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

OPPO Find X review

OPPO Find X rear camera sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

OPPO Find X review

OPPO Find X rear camera sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

OPPO Find X review

OPPO Find X rear camera sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

OPPO Find X review

OPPO Find X rear camera sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

OPPO Find X review

OPPO Find X rear camera sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

OPPO Find X review

OPPO Find X rear camera sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

OPPO Find X review

OPPO Find X front camera sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

OPPO Find X review

OPPO Find X front camera portrait mode sample (Image: Express Newspapers)

Price

OPPO is selling the Find X for a hefty asking price of £799.

The device is only available in a single variant that comes with 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM.

That means the device is being sold for more than the likes of the iPhone XR, Google Pixel 3, Huawei P20 Pro and the OnePlus 6T.

Moreover, the hardware is also priced the same as the Huawei Mate 20 Pro that is now retailing widely in the UK for £799.

While the Find X easily outclasses all of its rivals mentioned above on a pure design front, it fails to attain similar victories when it comes to pure performance, battery life and photography.

OPPO Find X review

OPPO Find X (Image: EX)

Verdict

The OPPO Find X is certainly not a phone for most people.

The handset offers middling camera performance, battery life and is powered by Qualcomm’s last-generation processor.

Additionally, concerns surrounding the handset’s slider mechanism will be enough for some to ignore the hardware entirely.

But, for those that want a smartphone that genuinely makes you feel special every time you pull it out of your pocket and widens the eyes of anyone that gazes at it, the OPPO Find X is the only device on the market that fits the build.

We certainly feel OPPO deserves a huge applause for delivering a smartphone that is truly unique, ambitious and innovative.

For that reason we are extremely excited to see if its inevitable successor is able to build upon the phone’s solid foundation.

Because if OPPO can deliver a phone that performs as good as it looks, all of its rivals should be very worried.

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