Oppo Find X5 Pro review: slick Android let down by weak camera zoom

It feels very solidly made and nice in the hand, with a relatively narrow width that makes it easier to use than some larger rivals, but it is a touch heavy compared with similar-sized models from Samsung and others.

The Find has the same top Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip as most high-end Android phones launched in 2022, performing admirably with a rapid interface and smooth gaming. It does, however, get noticeably warm during even fairly short gaming sessions.

Oppo rates the battery for at least 1,600 full charge cycles using its 80W SuperVOOC system while maintaining at least 80% of its original capacity, which is at least twice as long as most others.

The phone is generally repairable by Oppo with a replacement battery costing about £30 plus labour. The company operates a trade-in scheme and publishes yearly sustainability reports, but not for individual products. The Find X5 Pro does not include recycled materials.

The majority of the system should be familiar to anyone who has used an Android device, however, and is packed with customisation options for its look and operation.

The main 50MP camera generally shoots very good images with excellent detail, handling a range of lighting conditions well, including very low light, with aplomb. It would occasionally oversaturate some colours in an image, as if it had pre-applied a filter, but otherwise did great job.

The 50MP ultra wide camera can be good but often produced images that looked washed out. The 13MP 2x telephoto camera is fine for what it is, but is obviously inferior to the two other cameras and miles behind the competition at this price, which often have 3, 5 or even 10x optical zooms getting you meaningfully closer to your subject.

The phone also shoots good video in up to 8K resolution, with excellent stabilisation in 1080p modes. Overall, the main camera is really good, but the ultra wide and weak zoom let the Find down compared with similarly priced or cheaper rivals.

The Oppo Find X5 Pro costs £1,049 in black or white.

For comparison, the Google Pixel 6 Pro costs £849, the Samsung Galaxy S21+ costs £949, the Galaxy S21 Ultra costs £1,149 and the iPhone 13 Pro Max costs £1,049.

The Oppo Find X5 Pro is a nice-looking, slick Android phone.

When premium rivals offer more capable 4x zoom cameras for less or mega zoom cameras for a little more, five or more years of software support and similar or better screens and designs, Oppo still has much work to do to justify its very high asking price.