First Look: Oppo Find X

The Oppo Find X has a screen that goes almost completely from edge to edge. No notch, like the iPhone or Huawei, no bezel like everyone else. So where’s the front-facing camera? Inside the phone. When you open the camera app the top of the phone slides up to reveal the cameras (both front and rear are hidden). This is the gimmick, and it’s a surprisingly neat one.

Let’s answer the obvious questions first:

• Yes, there are simpler places to put the cameras, but then it’d be the same as everyone else’s phone.
• Yes, the sliding mechanism does seem like something that will break easily. Oppo claims it will work for seven years (though I doubt it’d fare that well if you dropped the phone).
• Yes, dust (and, in my house, cat hair) can get into it. But clearing it out is easy enough.

  

The movement is fast, which it needs to be to enable face-recognition unlocking. Swipe the screen and the camera pops up, scans your face to unlock the phone, and then slides back down in under two seconds.

Hiding the cameras and IR sensor (which scans your face) inside the phone also keeps them clean of fingerprints – no more polishing the lenses on your sleeve.

And the cameras are worth protecting. The front-facing camera is an impressive 25MP (f2.0) and the rear is a massive dual lens 20MP (f/2.0) and 16MP (f/2.0). It takes excellent selfies and amazing photos. The downside of the selfies, as with a lot of phones, is default software will automatically lighten and smooth your skin, so remember you can turn that off.

But what about the rest of the phone?

It has a 6.4” AMOLED (active-matrix organic LED) screen with a 2340x1080 resolution that shows off gorgeous colours and detail. The odd thing is the space where a front-facing camera could go isn’t used for anything.

Oppo’s operating system (ColorOS 5.1, based on Android 8.1), was the biggest let-down. Setting the phone up was more difficult than expected, as the Oppo app used for switching from a previous phone wasn’t in the Google Play store (usually the same app on both phones means all data can be transferred over fairly quickly). Instead, I had to download a previous set-up from an online backup, but that’s only apps and not photos or text messages. I also couldn’t figure out how to add widgets (small versions of apps that run on the home screen and do tasks such as show bank balances or the weather).

The Find X is a premium phone. Its Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor had no trouble running anything I tried on it and the big 3400mAh battery never even came close to dying on me during the day. However, all of that contributes to its premium price: $1499.

Overall, it’s not a bad phone and there’s nothing specific to make you think “definitely not worth it”. However, it’s a lot of money for a phone with a gimmick (even if that gimmick is cool) from a company that’s still new in our market. But I can say I liked it, and it’ll make you stand out in a crowd.

This phone was loaned to the writer by Oppo.

Specs: Oppo Find X

Price: $1499
Dimensions: 156.7x74.2x9.6mm
Weight: 186g
Screen: 6.4”, 2340 x 1080, AMOLED
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 (8GB RAM)
Storage: 256GB
Cameras:
Rear: 20MP (f/2.0) and 16MP (f/2.0)
Front: 25MP (f/2.0)