You know how the WOW factor, in terms of hardware, from all modern smartphones is vanishing? We are so used to seeing either notch displays or close to bezel less displays that every phone seems to have the same boring screen. But with companies like Oppo, you can see this beautiful and much needed change; there are obviously other companies like Xiaomi, Vivo and Huawei who are chipping in on this change as well but I personally think Oppo took it up a notch (hehe, get it) with the Find X. This interesting device is definitely something new and different but let’s find out if it’s worth all the hype.
The Intangibles AKA The Geek Stuff AKA The Hidden Goods AKA What’s Under The Hood
I’m going to start off with something that impressed me the most, the 3730mAh battery! This was a huge upgrade for me from my previous S7 Edge(yes, I know – I needed an upgrade) which used to give up on me by evening and all of midnight Netflix plans had to be scrapped. For starters, Oppo’s background app management is very aggressive letting only the apps you need run. Then it’s just that battery itself that does not disappoint, I found myself with at least ~30% of battery remaining before I could call it a day. And I did all of the normal stuff, a bit of netflix and spotify on my commute to and from work, lot of social media, chunks of youtube throughout the day and catching up on messages + emails. I was a bit surprised when I found out that Oppo actually went ahead and made two versions of the phone and the only thing that differentiated them was, ahmmm.. the battery! It didn’t make much sense to me but I guess that’s what OnePlus did with the McLaren version, but that obviously offered a sleeker design, more RAM power and McLaren branded accessories. The Find X Super Flash Edition has a smaller battery of 3400mAh but has 50W SuperVOOC Flash Charge, claiming to give you a 100% in 35mins. Since we’re on the Flash Charge, I think it’s important to point out that the only variant available in this is the 256GB option. Getting back to the Oppo X, it has all the fundamentals of a superior flagship. We’re talking 8GB RAM, a crisp 6.42” AMOLED screen layered with the famous Gorilla Glass 5 and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845. Oppo definitely checked all the boxes in terms of flagship spec requirements with the Find X which translated into a smooth experience throughout, no matter what I threw at it.
What You See The Most But Can’t Touch But Also What’s Very Important That It Deserves Its Own Section
If the section heading didn’t give it away, this is where I talk about what matters the most (at least for me) – it’s what living pioneers of the mobile industry Andy Rubin, Nick Sears and Rich Miner created; the Android OS. I might knock myself in the head when I read this piece a few months from now but I actually liked Color OS, not so much so to replace my love for Stock OS but the chinese manufacturers did decently okay here. It’s not as loaded and bulky as EMUI and it’s also not as clean as Stock OS/Oxygen OS or Android One but it does a decent job of sitting somewhere in between. I used the Find X without any launcher for the first half of my time with it and then switched to Nova Launcher with my stock-ish settings, but to be honest I didn’t notice much of a difference. Color OS does not give you an app drawer and the icons are chunky and bright, they definitely pop in your face. Something I took careful note of was the clock icon on Color OS, the icon is actually a clock and the hands move according to what the current time is – I was very delighted on seeing this, it’s the little details. The OS is smooth, snappy and works in a way that benefits in giving you optimal performance of the phone. Color OS has something called Smart Assistant which basically acts like Google Cards on swiping to the left most screen on the homepage, it gives you a few panels which have quick functions to load favorite apps, weather details and a few more neat triggers. I didn’t bother with the themes from the Theme Store cause they all seemed way too childish but I don’t think I needed one to begin with. The model I had ran on top of Android 8.1.0 so that was a tad bit disappointing but Oreo stood firm to all my dunks. 😉
What You See First AKA The Thing You Hold AKA The Shiny Colors
If not the best, the Find X is hands-down in the top 5 best looking phones of 2018. With the bezel less display, baring a bit of chin towards the bottom of the screen – the screen is just beautiful. It boasts nearly a 87% body to screen ratio which is decent followed by a 19.5:9 ratio which is becoming the standard with smartphones. I spent my time with the Glacier Blue variant and boy did it look like a phone from the future, it also comes in a red-ish/maroon color which they’ve termed as the Bordeaux Red variant. If you see most of the marketing and branding material by Oppo on the Find X, it all has a very futuristic theme to it which stays true to how the phone actually looks – even the actual branding of the model name on the device looks very futuristic. Most of the back is black but as you keep going towards the edges, you start noticing a thick coral blue tint that reflects and dances with light. The phone is easy to hold, fits snug in your hand but also seems very delicate with the front and black glass. I was too scared to let it free so it sat inside the hard plastic clear case that comes with the phone. Something that you won’t notice on the phone is a fingerprint sensor and NOPE, this one doesn’t have an in-display fingerprint sensor as well. I’m an extreme minimalist, so I’d prefer stepping out with only my phone and probably leave my wallet, bag, keys at home/ in the car but.. The Find X does not support NFC and this was a deal breaker for me. I was a heavy user of Samsung Pay and Google Pay on my S7 Edge and with e-wallets and mobile based payments on the rise I still can’t wrap my head around why they decided to skip NFC on this flagship.
The Motorized Madness AKA The Moving Piece AKA The WHOOA.. Your Camera Pops Up!!
You were probably looking for this part but I save the best for last, that motorized camera. If not a great camera, let me tell you this moving piece will definitely get you some attention. I’ve had at least 5-6 people jaw-drop on seeing how the camera piece moves on triggering face unlock or loading up the camera. Since there’s no fingerprint reader, the only way you “lock” your phone is via face unlock and your standard fail-safe options. You can choose from 3 cool “effects” when you trigger the camera piece, which give it a mini light show with subtle sound effects. With the speed it unlocks your phone, be it in broad daylight or lights out darkness, you know that Oppo spent some serious time in nailing this. It takes probably a few milliseconds more than your standard fingerprint unlock but it gets the job done, in style. Now I come to why this won’t work that well in the long run, even though Oppo claims that this motorized piece can withstand upwards of 300,000 moves; I don’t think it’s durable in a desert like ours. I’ve used my review piece as my primary driver for 2 weeks and the entire motorized piece is full of dust. Moving pieces on a phone just don’t work well and that’s why we seen so less of it but props to Oppo for doing something different and trying to introduce a cool and funky concept.
Coming to what’s inside this moving piece, it sports a dual camera on the back; one with a 16 MP lens and the other is a 20 MP lens, both with an aperture of f/2.0. It comes with a LED flash, HDR, panorama capability and OIS, which all work up to making it a suitable camera that can snap some crispy shots.
Most of the camera features rely on AI scene detection which works most of the times but I’ve had it recognize a heavy lit night shot as indoors. The night pictures were not the best, missed a lot of detail and looked a tad bit mushy with all the colors blending in. Indoor shots were okay with colors popping out very well and details could be easily spotted. It also has the capability of shooting good video in 2160p@30fps. I didn’t find much to manipulate within the camera setting, in terms of resolution of photos and all the nerdy bits but it does support the usual modes : Portrait, PRO, Timelapse, Slo-Mo mode and also something called Stickers which is blend of face filters and AR Emojis. Moving to the front, it holds a 25 MP, f/2.0 lens which also relies heavily on AI. I’m not an avid selfie taker but with whatever time I spent on it, it has the ability to manipulate your selfies according to various AI/smart modes that obviously help you look fresh and fly in your self portraits.
What Do I Think AKA Final Verdict AKA Moment Of Truth AKA Should You Pick It Up
Given the price point and the features it’s skipped out on (fingerprint sensor and NFC), I wouldn’t personally pick this up at 3,500AED. I use Lastpass for everything that requires a password and the absence of that fingerprint sensor is a dealbreaker for me. That’s not to say that the phone is bad, it’s a legit phone with Oppo getting a bunch of things right but I’m sure they could have gone easy on the price and done a bit more polishing on the camera front. With a possibly upgrade to Android Pie sometime this year and a few more upgrades to Color OS, I think for anyone to stand out from the crowd and be that guy who owns a cool phone – the Find X is the perfect fit!
