Oppo Find X Review: The pop-camera is unique, but design is the king here

Oppo Find x review, price in India: In what could be one of the most unique-looking smartphones launched in years, Oppo Find X came to India last month with motorised pop-up cameras like never seen before. In addition, the smartphone comes with a bezel-less design on the front and gradient back. It sports an all-glass design that makes Oppo Find X look and feels extremely premium. But does it have what it needs to justify the price tag of Rs 59,990? We find out in our review.

Oppo Find X specifications: 6.4-inch (2340×1080) AMOLED display | Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor | 8GB RAM | 256GB internal storage | 20MP+16MP rear camera | 25MP front camera | 9.6mm thickness | ColorOS 5.1 over Android 8.1 Oreo | 186 g | 3,730mAh battery | 4G VoLTE

Oppo Find X price in India: Rs 59,990
Oppo Find X review: What’s good?
Let’s get one thing straight, Oppo Find X has a gorgeous design. It houses a first-of-its-kind motorised camera that makes a little bit of a mechanical noise while popping out from the back. The all-glass back with its gradient design looks stunning. We got both the standard Bordeaux Red and Glacier Blue variants to review and I am impressed by Oppo’s gradient spraying on the rear.

Some serious engineering effort has gone into the Find X. But more than the overall design and pop-up camera, it was the edge-to-edge arc display that impressed me because finally, someone has managed to get rid of the notch and the chin at the same time, resulting in a truly bezel-less experience.Oppo Find X crams in a premium 6.42-inch AMOLED screen featuring 2340×1080 pixels Full HD+ resolution in 19.5:9 aspect ratio. Oppo claims the Find X has a 93.8 per cent screen-to-body ratio, which is perhaps the highest in any phone so far. As a result, it feels relatively taller than any other smartphone in the recent days. Oppo Find X offers extremely narrow bezels and looks similar to the Apple iPhone X minus its notch. With this phone, users get ample real estate to consume more on content on the screen.Oppo Find X gets its grunts from Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 845 processor ticking at 2.8GHz and paired with 8GB RAM and Adreno 630 GPU for graphics. I had close to 25 apps running in the background including YouTube, Netflix, Saavn and more, still the multitasking experience was buttery smooth. Similarly, the multi-browser test did not result in any unexpected lag or stutter.

Oppo Find X recorded an AnTuTu score of 287781, which was higher than the OnePlus 6, Samsung Galaxy S9+, Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S and Asus Zenfone 5Z. Then, it scored 2316 (single-core) and 7889 (multi-core) points on Geekbench.

I enjoyed quite a few intense gaming sessions on Oppo Find X. I stressed my PUBG skills at the highest graphics level and observed no hiccups, frame drop or lag while rendering graphics. The handset barely heats up, and it never crossed the temperature of 35-degree Celsius during my usage. The audio performance was impressive as well. Speakers are on the bottom so the audio output did not get muffled while playing games or watching movies.

Oppo Find X runs Android 8.1 Oreo on top of ColorOS 5.1 and the UI is pretty clean. Although there is no app drawer, I was not disappointed thanks to Smart Assistant. Turning Smart Assistant on offers app recommendations depending on your activity. It seeks permissions to read your contacts and offers all the information at your fingertips.The handset packs a 3730mAh battery with support for the company’s proprietary VOOC flash charge technology and comes with a 5V/4A adapter that can recharge the handset up to 100 per cent in 1 hour 10 minutes.

Oppo Find X managed to deliver a day’s worth of life with moderate usage. However, if you are a heavy user and play a lot of graphics-intensive games through the day, it may not last a full day. For security, Oppo has implemented a face unlock mechanism, which is blazing fast.

The photography experience was great too. Oppo Find X houses 20MP+16MP dual rear cameras with support for optical image stabilisation (OIS) and phase detection autofocus (PDAF). Both the lenses have a similar f/2.0 aperture. Then there is a single-tone LED flash on the motorised unit on the rear. Its camera supports AI-based scene detection feature. So, it can recognise what object is being shot. For example, beach, pet, food etc.Oppo Find X also has a portrait mode for custom lighting conditions and background blur effect. Pictures came out really well. Colours were crisp and punchy and they managed to retain details to a great extent. It also has a wide-angle mode to capture scenes in landscape mode. Portrait shots were great too. During the night photography, colours were a bit unnatural due to off-target white balance. But the HDR mode made up for this.

On front, there is a 25MP selfie camera. During the selfies too, it managed to focus well and retained details quite impressively. But again, low-light shots need some attention. Overall, I am pretty impressed with Oppo Find X’s camera performance.

Oppo Find X review: What’s bad?
Although the design looks stunning and impressive, things get reasonably uncomfortable as far as ergonomics are concerned. The phone is tall and has an expensive glass unibody, and due to its motorised camera, there is an added width to its overall form factor. In the flagship segment, phones are naturally expected to be slimmer. But since this one is first of its kind smartphone to offer a unique pop-up camera module, I am willing to overlook this particular complaint.

Secondly, Oppo Find X has gotten rid of the fingerprint reader on the back, which is disappointing. The handset is certainly huge and practically impossible to operate using one hand. The volume rocker is on the left. So, if you happen to take selfies while holding the phone in your right hand, make sure to click the picture using your thumb because stretching the index finger from all over the rear towards volume down button is painful. It took me a while to get used to this form factor.

Durability concerns are the biggest dealbreaker. After all, at almost Rs 60,000 this phone is expensive. But again, pricing is not the only concern here. You need to be extra careful when handling this phone. Since it flaunts a glass back, it can be slippery at times and prone to accidental drops. Despite featuring a glass back, it does not support wireless charging. Neither is all this Gorilla Glass, which is highly surprising.

Other grouses: The Oppo Find X lacks any kind of IP rating, is a single-SIM phone without a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Oppo Find X review: Verdict
Overall, Oppo Find X is a great-looking smartphone with an attractive design that was never seen before. It has a very unique motorised pop-up camera that steals the show. It has all the flagship level features including 8GB RAM, 256GB storage and a Snapdragon 845 processor. The gaming and audio performance is top-notch and the camera experience in impressive. It supports VOOC flash charge that manages to recharge the handset pretty quickly.

But like any other smartphone, it has certain deficiencies to bear such as lack of Corning Gorilla Glass protection and wireless charging support. It also misses a 3.5mm headphone jack and IP rating for water resistance. Oppo has not specified a target consumer, which is why it is difficult to find this phone fit in any particular requirement. But if you are impressed by its design, display and pop-up camera, you may shell out Rs 59,990 for just the experience.