Oppo Find X2 Review: Hands-on

When Oppo made its first joint attempt to break into non-Asian markets, it did so in mid with the Oppo Find X, but since then, it has found more success with the Oppo Reno series. We had heard rumors that Oppo was considering the return of the Find series, and a release date seemed likely before the end – but then the company surprised us with an unveiling of the Oppo Find X2 and Find X2 Pro at the MWC 2020 replacement meeting in early March. This is our Oppo Find X2 Review: Hands-on.

The Oppo Find X2 is the first real premium device of the company in two years (Oppo told us that the Reno mentioned above devices, even the realized Reno 10x Zoom leading that package, are now considered the mid-range series). It is clear that Oppo wants to make up for this lost time, and the Find X2 has lots of features that look impressive on paper.

Oppo Find X2 Review: Design

If you combined all the features you associate with the term ‘2020 premium phone’ and put them on a single device, you would have a phone very similar to the Oppo Find X2. However, the design also includes an Oppo signature. This display is interrupted by a ‘punch-hole’ recess in the top left corner. This felt a bit obtrusive to us, mainly because the original Oppo Find X had a pop-up camera module.

When we asked the company about this, they told us that the pop-up mechanism took up too much internal space for just the forward-facing camera, so we can see why the function was omitted to make room for other technology in this phone. As it was the case with the Find X, there is no 3.5mm headphone jack on the device; unlike the Find X, Oppo told us that the phone is IP54 resistant, making it partially resistant to dust and water splashes, but shy of the IP68 protection on the Pro version.

Oppo Find X2 Review: Display

The 6.78-inches screen is curved at the edges at an angle of 68 degrees. The edges of the screen are not as steep as Oppo’s ‘waterfall’ screen that we have seen before on concept devices, but the curvature certainly feels more pronounced in hand than the edges on phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S20. This screen is split up by a ‘punch-hole’ cut-out segment in the top left corner. This felt a bit obtrusive to us, mainly because the original Find X had a pop-up portion for this camera.

The screen itself looks great on paper, with an impressive 3168 x1440 Ultra HD resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, 10-bit colors, Oppo’s new screen technology, which compares it to Apple’s True Tone Display (which subtly changes display colors depending on your viewing environment). Oppo’s new O1 Ultra Vision Engine display chip, which can automatically upscale 60fps content from YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and other apps to 120fps.

Oppo Find X2 Review: Camera

On the back of the Find X2, you’ll find a 48MP primary camera, which would have been considered quite impressive at the beginning;, however, The Best camera phones are pushing the boundaries to 64MP and even 108MP. Still, the resolution isn’t everything in a camera phone. The primary snapper is accompanied by a 13MP phone camera that allows 5x hybrid zoom (a combination of optical and digital zoom) and then 20x digital zoom. The optical zoom limit of the camera has not been told to us, but we estimate this to be 2x based on the other zoom figures.

The third and last camera is a 12MP ‘video lens’ camera, with a field of view of 120 degrees (comparable to that of an ultra-wide-angle lens). It is called a video lens, said Oppo, because it captures footage in the 16:9 aspect ratio (probably different from the other cameras), which is the aspect ratio in which most phone images are captured. We’d expect there to be more benefits that aren’t detailed either. Our time to test the cameras was limited, but Oppo mentioned many features that sound useful.

There is the ability to capture raw images, something few phones can do at the moment (raw files capture more brightness and color information than regular JPEG images. This gives you more space to process them in image editing software), PDAF autofocus technology, similar to that used by Sony in its Alpha cameras, a much improved steady video mode, and 12-bit color capture.

Battery

In terms of battery, the phone has a 4,200mAh power pack, which is quite large, although there are also many smartphones with larger ones. Given that the screen is full of top features, we would be surprised if this battery would be in use for more than a day, but that is something we will have to try out in our full review. However, the charging speed is really impressive: the Oppo Find X2 uses the 65W it charges, which is the fastest you’ll find in a smartphone at the moment (with other Oppo and Xiaomi similar devices).

According to Oppo, the phone is fully charged in just 35 minutes, and based on our experience with handsets with lower charging speeds, and this sounds about right. However, super-fast charging often comes at the expense of a relatively fast battery charge, and that’s something to take into account.

Oppo Find X2 Review: Hardware

The phone runs on the top-end Snapdragon 865 chipset, which should deliver lightning-fast processing speeds, perhaps enough to match the iPhone 11 or even the Samsung Galaxy S20. This chipset comes with a built-in 5G modem, so the Oppo Find X2 is a 5G device, just like its Find X2 Pro sibling; there is not going to be a 4G-only device, according to Oppo. The Oppo Find X2 runs Android 10, the latest version of Google’s operating system, with Oppo’s ColorOS 7 over the top. This mainly brings aesthetic and navigation changes compared to the standard Android, but we found that the top-notch screen technology brings out the vibrant colors of the icons and buttons.

Price and Availability

The Oppo Find X2 will be released in the UK in May 2020, but we still have to learn whether the phone will come to the US or Australia. The phone is set for £899 (about $1,150, AU$1,750).

Oppo Find X2 Review: Early Thoughts

If your eyes have become wider and wider as you read this hands-on review, be sure to keep your eyes on the Oppo Find X2. Although we were only able to test it for a short time, our experience was broadly in line with our expectations based on the high-quality specifications of the phone. One aspect we do have some doubts about is the cameras. Most new smartphones, especially premium ones, are constantly pushing the limits of the camera’s capabilities. With high-res sensors, fantastic zoom performance, and a slew of impressive post-processing capabilities. However, Oppo seems to have brushed over the cameras in the Search X2 in favor of other features.

That said, we will be sure to test the cameras, along with the rest of the phone features, for our full review; the snappers may be better than the specs list gives them credit for. It is also possible that the top quality of the screen and the high charging speeds have unpredictable negative consequences. Stay tuned for that full review. Also, check our article on Oppo Find X2 Pro Review: Hands-on