72 hours with the OPPO Find X2 Pro: Shockingly refined

When OPPO launched the Find X in June of 2018, the world wasn’t prepared. We were used to bezels and notches, not secret motorized cameras. Before then, the idea of a full-screen smartphone was little more than a pipe dream.

With the Find X, OPPO showed us that, through some clever engineering, the full-screen smartphone could be a reality. While we were skeptical about the reliability and safety of its elevating cameras, we were equally surprised by how well the mechanism worked. It was reliable and fast and survived many torture tests along the way.

So now we’re here, nearly two years after the launch of the Find X, and OPPO has finally announced the Find X2 alongside the Find X2 Pro, the focus of this article. But can the successor to one of the most innovative phones in years maintain its legacy?

I’ve spent about 72 hours with the Find X2 Pro, so my opinions may not be completely formed. Regardless, here are my impressions of the phone after 3 days of use.

Outrageously fast

Let’s get this out of the way, the OPPO Find X2 Pro has some monster specs, comparable to those of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. It’s running a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, 12GB of RAM, 512GB of UFS 3.0 storage, a 6.7-inch 120Hz QHD+ display with a peak brightness of 1200 nits, a 4,260mAh battery with 65W charging, a triple camera system with up to 60x digital zoom, and 5G.

If you wanted a certain spec out of a phone, the Find X2 Pro probably has it. Sure, it doesn’t quite match the 100x Space Zoom or 5,000mAh battery of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, but in almost every other aspect, this phone matches or exceeds it.

The 120Hz QHD+ panel was a huge focus for OPPO on this device, and to me, it seems like OPPO met its goal of making this one of the best displays on a smartphone. It’s extremely bright and color-accurate, reaching a peak brightness of 1200 nits, and I quite literally said “wow!” the first time I used it. That isn’t common for me, especially considering Samsung has traditionally had some of the best displays on its handsets.

Out of the box, the 120Hz QHD+ display is adaptive, changing resolution and refresh rate based on what you’re currently doing. Unlike the Samsung Galaxy S20 series though, you actually have the option to run this phone in 120Hz and QHD+ modes at the same time. I chose to leave this in its default state, but if you want to max out both settings, you’ve got that option.

OPPO has also included something it calls the 01 Ultra Vision Engine, which interpolates frames and upscales the frame rate of content to 60 or 120 frames per second to match the display. While this idea is cool in theory, most of the media I watch was meant to be viewed in the frame rate it was shot in. This is most useful for games, but for media, I left the setting off.

Another part of this phone that made me say “wow” is its 65W charging. I didn’t realize this phone charged this fast, and the first time it died, I did a double-take after checking the percentage after half an hour. OPPO says the Find X2 Pro can charge from 0-100 percent in 38 minutes, and I can confirm that the claim is accurate. I put the phone on the charger at 2%, and after half an hour it was at 90%. That’s wicked fast.

My battery life has been decent as well. I generally take the phone off the charger at around 10 am, and if I stay up until 1 am it’s usually at around 10 percent when I wake up at 8:30 am. You can’t go two straight days with this phone off the charger, but the fact that you can charge it more than 50 percent in 15 minutes or to full in slightly over half an hour means I never really have to worry. I love it.

ColorOS 7.1 is also much, much better than previous ColorOS versions. This version feels like it’s much more tailored to Western audiences. There is an app drawer, the phone uses Gboard as the default keyboard, and there is much more customization than we found in older versions. Overall, it feels like a huge improvement. I’m a big fan.

Of course, 5G is a bonus as well. I’m running Google Fi which uses T-Mobile’s low-band 5G, and while it’s not nearly as fast as Verizon’s mmWave, it’s nice to have a faster, less congested network versus the standard clogged 4G I get in New York. While it’s not something I go out looking for in a phone, it’s a nice bonus.

God, I love (vegan) leather

The OPPO Find X2 Pro comes in two material options: ceramic and vegan leather. I am a self-proclaimed leather phone lover, and I desperately miss the Moto X series, which gave us various leather options. The color of the leather OPPO Find X2 Pro may be polarizing though, as it comes in a kind of salmon finish and gold trim.

The vegan leather feels nice, with a grainy smooth finish. I’m excited to see how it wears over time. It may not wear as beautifully as real leather, but that’s something I’m willing to give up in the name of sustainability. If you don’t want leather, the Pro model comes in a ceramic finish, or you can get glass on the non-Pro model.

There is also a small OPPO emblem at the bottom of the phone’s back. It sticks out just a bit, but I think it looks classy, adding some flair to the phone. It’s gold like the trim and reminds you you’re using a premium device.

One huge advantage of a leather smartphone is the fact that you don’t need to use a case on it. Because the back can’t scratch or break, you only need to protect the screen. This makes the phone much thinner in daily use, and I’m always a fan of using a phone in its most basic form. This is a huge plus for me.

Versatile cameras

The OPPO Find X2 Pro has three cameras on the rear and a punch-hole selfie camera on the front.

The main camera is 48MP and uses the new Sony IMX 689 sensor, which is an update to the popular IMX 586 from last year. There are multiple benefits to this sensor, like all-pixel omni-directional autofocus and dual native ISO. I dove deeper into this new sensor here.

The IMX 689 is also much larger than most other sensors right now at 1/1.44 inches, and because it is 48MP vs 108MP, individual pixels are larger than even the Samsung Galaxy s20 Ultra. If you use the binned mode though, the nona-binning of the Ultra beats it out in sheer effective pixel size.

Color and sharpness from the main sensor seem very good from my first impressions, and it performed decently in low light as well. I didn’t feel like it oversaturated colors, and dynamic range and sharpness were good.

The periscope prism camera is 48MP and gives you about 5x optical zoom at an effective 129mm focal length. So far, the quality of this camera seems quite good, with nice contrast and good dynamic range. You can also do 10x hybrid zoom and up to 60x digital zoom. The 10x hybrid zoom seems very good, but just like the 100x Space Zoom on the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, you shouldn’t use the 60x mode unless you absolutely have to. It’s mostly a smudged mess.

The wide-angle camera is 12MP and is very good. I saw minimal distortion in my testing, and it seemed to handle a lot better than the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra.

The front camera is a punch hole camera and is placed on the top left of the display. This camera is about the size of a notification so it never feels like it gets in the way. The sensor is 32MP and results in images that are quite sharp, though a little muddy when zoomed in.

Low light doesn’t seem quite as good out of this camera, but that’s to be expected since the sensor is much smaller than it is in the main sensor.

Impressions

While the OPPO Find X2 Pro doesn’t necessarily feel like a true Find X successor, there’s no doubt this is a refined device. The quality of the display, feel of the materials, ludicrous speed and much-improved UI make this one of the nicest devices OPPO has ever made.

Being a Find X device, I was hoping OPPO would introduce some wild new features we’d never seen before. While the Snapdragon 865, incredible display and new cameras are nice improvements over the last device, this feels like it could have been branded in a different line of OPPO devices.

Still, if you’re looking for a ludicrously fast phone in almost every sense with a much-improved UI and a battery that charges nearly to completion in half an hour, this phone is a looker. The leather and ceramic options are just icing on the cake.

OPPO Find X2 Pro specs

Pricing and availability

The OPPO Find X2 Pro will be available in a 512GB flavor for €1,199, while the standard Find X2 will be available in a 256GB model for €999, and a Lamborghini edition, with a design inspired by the Aventador SVJ Roadster, for around €1,660. All three devices will be available from “early May.”

What do you think about the OPPO Find X2 Pro? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!