Review: OPPO Find X – A breath of fresh air

Does anyone else hate watching futuristic movies where computers are nothing more than holographic screens and every piece of technology is wonderfully sleek? There’s a burning envy that runs through my veins over how desperately I want that tech. Well, more so than ever before, I was able to experience this futuristic feeling – with the OPPO Find X.

The good

• This phone is ALL screen
• Pop-up camera mechanism is much faster/effective than anticipated
• Beautiful notification lights

The bad

• Adjusting to not having a fingerprint sensor is rough
• No aux port

The verdict

The Find X is the best OPPO phone to date. While it’s quite a bit more expensive than any of its predecessors, it’s undoubtedly an exceptional phone. Retailing for $1,099 and with some of the freshest features on the market – if you can deal with a slightly watered down version of Android, I highly recommend having a look at the Find X.

FULL REVIEW

Now look, this isn’t an opinion piece on mid-range vs flagship phones so I’ll steer clear of that territory. Instead we’ll look at the Find X as the leading OPPO phone that it is, still at a relatively low price.

When unboxing this phone, the first thought to inevitably run through your mind, as it did mine, will be; “WOW, that’s a lot of screen” – and with an insane 86% screen to body ratio, it’s not hard to see why the Find X stands out in a crowd. As a matter of fact, having recently just reviewed the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, comparing it side-by-side with the Find X, I found that the Find X was physically a smaller phone, but had more screen!

The camera on this phone, much like every other feature, is the best that OPPO have developed yet. But there is something extra special about the camera, and that’s the pop-up mechanism. When not in use, the camera is actually hidden inside the phone, popping up and down whenever required.

The Find X camera is equipped with every bell and whistle on the market, from the ‘portrait’/‘live focus’ mode to the timelapses and AR emojis. However just as every OPPO before it, lowlighting is kryptonite. While the low-light situation is getting better, auto-adjusting beyond user control is outdated.

OPPO have completely innovated notification lights – and they are BEAUTIFUL. Notifications have traditionally been limited to screen banners and small, persistent blinking LED’s, but no more! Welcome to the next generation;

How awesome does that look? They call it the ‘Curved Panoramic Light Effect’ and while only such a small feature of the phone as a whole, it’s the little things that OPPO have been doing well recently that really make their phones something special. This notification system can be changed from blue to either purple or orange.

To complement the curved panoramic light effect, the back of the Find X has a similar gradient beneath a glass screen that is quite aesthetic.

Much like every other new Android-based phone, the Find X is embracing the change to USB-C. Now some people I know are opposed to USB-C simply because they have so many microUSB cables, but USB-C is just that much better. Honestly the change is nothing to fear.

As they’ve always been, the earphones that come with OPPO phones are absolutely exceptional. A feature that in the mid-tier space is a wonderful luxury, but one that’s almost expected with a phone at this price point – and OPPO deliver.

A thing to note for those that haven’t used an ‘all glass’ phone is that they can get incredibly dusty and leave fingerprint marks everywhere. Despite every effort you can definitely still see this in the shots I’ve included here.

At $1,099 the Find X sits in unchartered territory for OPPO but they have really come to the party with this phone. While OPPO have always been known for mid-tier phones with gimmick like features, the Find X is a breath of fresh air in a market that often feels stale.