Ever since the original Surface tablets were released back in 2012, I’ve felt like they have an Achilles’ Heel. They’re tablets that can be used as laptops, but they’re not particularly good at either. Brydge fixes that with its SP Plus keyboard.
With the Brydge SP Plus, the Surface Pro 8 fits snugly into two clamps, which have a hinge that feels much tighter than a floppy Surface Keyboard. It makes a big difference, and to use a word that was made up by Microsoft’s own Panos Panay, it’s much more lappable.
And indeed, even in its eighth generation of the product, Microsoft doesn’t do a great job of making a lappable product on its own. With all first-party products, you have to use a Surface with the built-in kickstand and the attachable keyboard. It’s not comfortable on your lap. With the Brydge SP Plus, on the other hand, there’s weight in the base, so it feels just like using a proper laptop, right up until you pull the tablet out of the clamps.
Moreover, it comes with Designed for Surface branding, meaning that Brydge actually worked with Microsoft on this.
The Brydge SP Plus is available now for $139.99, and you can get it from either Amazon or Brydge’s own website. You can get it in either Platinum or Black, just like the Surface Pro 8, so it’s up to you if you want to match or if you want a two-tone look.
While this is a Bluetooth keyboard that will technically work with any device that supports Bluetooth 5.0, it’s worth remembering that it’s designed for the Surface Pro 8 and only that. The Surface Pro X is a very similar device, and out of its three dimensions, two of them are the same, but it’s thinner. That means that the Pro X will fall out of the clamps on the SP Plus. The good news is that if you’re using a Surface Pro X, Brydge also makes a keyboard called that, aptly called the SPX Plus, which is also on Amazon.
Brydge SP Plus: Specs
Compatibility
Surface Pro 8
Size and weight
Length: 11.3 in (287.5 mm)
Width: 8.2 in (208.5 mm)
Height: 0.77 in (19.5 mm)
Weight: 1.5 lb (678 g)
Model numbers and colors
BRY70312 – Platinum
BRY70322 – Black
Backlit keys
Yes – 3 Levels
Connectivity
Bluetooth 5.0
USB-C (charging)
Battery life
6 months (@ 2hrs use per day w/no backlight use) or 40 hrs per charge (when running consistent backlight)
Rechargeable via USB-C cable
Material
Aluminum
Warranty
1-Year Limited Warranty
What’s in the box
1 x Brydge SP+ Keyboard
1 x User Manual
Price
$139.99
About this review: Brydge sent us the SP Plus for review. It did not have any input in the contents of this review.
Brydge SP Plus: What I like
The Brydge SP Plus adds a new dynamic to the Surface Pro 8 by giving it a laptop feel.
It’s backlit and it has a Microsoft Precision touchpad, so it’s an overall great experience.
The best part of the Brydge SP Plus is that it just feels like using a laptop. It opens up like a laptop, you can use it on your lap comfortably, and it’s comfortable to type on. The company also makes other keyboards for the rest of the Surface tablet lineup, as well as for Apple’s iPads. They’re all great.
It doesn’t take anything away from the tablet experience either. As you can see from the image above, the tablet just sits in a pair of clamps, and those clamps are attached to the hinge that holds the device up. The inside of those clamps are padded, so you can easily remove the tablet and use it as such. After all, if you weren’t going to remove it at all, you’d probably just have purchased a Surface Laptop, or even the more comparably-sized Surface Laptop Go.
The Brydge SP Plus fundamentally changes the form factor of the Surface Pro 8, in a good way.
Not only does it add a new dynamic to the product, but I feel like it fundamentally changes the form factor in a good way. It’s reminiscent of a Surface Book form factor, but thinner, lighter, and without dedicated graphics. You still get a full laptop form factor, with the detachable display, but without it being crazy expensive or being more powerful than you need.
In using it, I actually wonder if Brydge ever considered a single hinge in the middle instead of dual hinges on the sides. A single hinge in the middle would allow you to place the Surface Pro 8 in portrait orientation. Still, this is the general design of all of Brydge’s keyboard products.
Battery life is great too. Brydge’s metrics on this are a bit all over the place, because there’s one stat for not using the backlight and one for using it, and they’re measured differently. If the backlight is on, Brydge promises 40 hours, which is five full workdays. Without the backlight on, the company promises six months, but only at two hours a day, so that should work out to about 365 hours.
I can tell you that I did not do any battery testing with this. It’s a Bluetooth keyboard, and it always had a charge when I went to use it. And if you need a charge, there’s a USB Type-C port right on the side, so you can always top it up whenever you need to.
That’s how I look at these types of devices, that get weeks of battery life. It’s a non-issue at that point. Since you have to charge it so rarely, you might forget to, but then you can just juice it up when you need to, and you can always use it while it’s charging.
There are just a few other things that are pretty great about the Brydge SP Plus. The keyboard is backlit at three different brightness levels, which is great for a Bluetooth keyboard. It’s also got a Microsoft Precision touchpad, so it supports all of those gestures that you’re used to.
This product is officially Designed for Surface, meaning that it’s certified by Microsoft. That’s a big deal for a third-party accessory.
Brydge SP Plus: What I don’t like
There’s no method of pen storage or charging.
My biggest issue with the Brydge SP Plus is that there’s no method for pen storage. In fact, this was my issue with the Brydge SPX Plus too. In previous generations of the Surface Pro, the Surface Pen magnetically attached to the side of the tablet, and it used AAAA batteries. With the Surface Pro 8 (and the Surface Pro X) and the Slim Pen or Slim Pen 2, the pen is actually stored inside of the Surface Keyboard, where it also wirelessly charges.
Microsoft does sell a Slim Pen 2 with a separate charger. Still, you’ll have to carry it with you.
With the Brydge SP Plus, there's no place to store or charge the pen.
Another thing I’d really like to see from Brydge is a keyboard is for it to connect to the Surface’s own keyboard connectors. Sure, a Bluetooth keyboard is fine, but wired is always better than wireless. To be clear, I didn’t have any connectivity issues with this excellent product. Sometimes though, it takes a bit to connect when I first start using it. Also, if it as physically connected, you wouldn’t have to charge it.
I mentioned earlier that I thought a singular clamp in the center would make more sense than the two on the sides, because it would allow you to use the tablet vertically. With that, you’d be able to connect to the keyboard ports when it’s used horizontally too, assuming that functionality was added. Obviously, vertical orientation will always be Bluetooth.
Finally, I’m not a fan of how thick the clamps are. Laptops and tablets are generally flat, so it’s not a problem to put something else that’s flat next to them in a bag. These clamps are thick enough that it’s not really flat anymore, and it’s worth noting. I’d never put a tablet next to it with the glass facing the back of the Surface Pro 8, for obvious reasons.
Who should buy it?
I broke this review up into sections for what I like and what I don’t like because while the Brydge SP Plus is a wonderful product, it’s not for everyone.
Who should buy the Brydge SP Plus:
People who want to use the Surface Pro 8 primarily as a laptop without giving up the tablet experience
People who just want a great keyboard for the Surface Pro 8
Who should not buy the Brydge SP Plus:
Users that draw, take notes, or do anything else regularly with the Slim Pen
Like I said, the Brydge SP Plus is a great product for numerous reasons. Not only does is change the form factor of the Surface Pro 8 in a good way, but it’s also just a great keyboard. I like using it a lot more than a Surface Keyboard, and I think it’s great for most users.
Part of the struggle for our readers looking to purchase Samsung’s latest and greatest flagship device — the Galaxy S22 series — is the fact that these devices are quite difficult to tinker about, especially when it comes to avoiding tripping security flags. While Knox tends to break a lot of things if you root, users in the U.S. and Canada can’t even unlock the bootloader of the Samsung Galaxy flagships to run third-party codes in the first place. Moreover, when the OEM started killing the camera after bootloader unlocking, many of us feared the worst. Fortunately, Samsung discontinued that practice, and it seems that the owners of the Galaxy S22 series have absolutely no reason to worry about broken camera access with an unlocked bootloader as well.
For context, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 was the only device where Samsung implemented the kill switch on Android 11-based builds. The company eventually removed the obstacle during the beta testing phase of One UI 4, and the stable Android 12 update for the device doesn’t carry the camera-breaking routine. Given the fact that the Galaxy S22 comes with One UI 4.1 out of the box, the devices are theoretically immune to the draconian security measure, but a concrete confirmation is definitely preferred.
Nonetheless, solely depending on such theories is no longer necessary. XDA member pschmitt111 has now confirmed the working status of the camera after unlocking the bootloader of the Exynos variant of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (model number SM-S908B):
All cameras work fine with the stock app, including saving pictures to the disk, zooming/camera switch and night mode
This is indeed good news for the aftermarket development community. Losing Samsung’s Knox security is one thing, but having to deal with a broken camera is a trade-off that many users are unwilling to make, especially on a phone that has the camera as one of its biggest talking points. We’re not sure why Samsung felt the need to limit access to the camera features for users who unlock the bootloader at some point, but we hope the Korean OEM will not repeat the anti-modding stance in the coming days.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 is the entry flagship for 2022, bringing over top of the line performance and camera capabilities in a form that fits many pockets and budgets.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus is the mid flagship for 2022, bringing over top of the line performance, display and camera capabilities in a larger housing for those that need to do more.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is the top flagship for 2022, bringing over top of the line performance, display and camera capabilities alongside S Pen capabilities to deliver an ultra experience for power users.
Android smartphone brands usually treat new releases the way Hollywood studios approach franchise sequels: put more of everything. More cameras, more RAM, more battery capacity, more pixels, etc. OPPO’s Find X series is the first flagship line I can remember that doesn’t follow this path. In fact, for a second year running, OPPO has inexplicably removed a useful cameralens that was present in the last edition.
The OPPO Find X2 Pro was one of the first phones to rock a Periscope zoom lens that could produce lossless 5x zoom, but the Find X3 Pro removed it in favor of a conventional 2x telephoto zoom lens whose zoom prowess was average at best. But OPPO compensated by adding a new microscope lens that could take some gnarly close-up macro images — shots that no phone before or since could do. Well, that micro-lens is no more in the Find X5 Pro (the line skipped a number because the number “4” can be considered bad luck in Chinese culture), replaced by … nothing. The Find X5 Pro actually has one less camera than last year’s quad-camera setup.
Thankfully, the Find X5 Pro’s main camera is really good — mostly thanks to a new self-developed imaging chip — and its ultra-wide camera is arguably the best in the business. But I would have liked to have an awesome wide and ultra-wide, plus a Periscope or microscope lens. Instead, the third camera here is still a 2x telephoto zoom, and by 2022’s standards, it’s just not impressive.
That’s a shame because the OPPO Find X5 Pro is a very polished device. It’s got a unique ceramic backplate that, along with the curvy nature of the phone, makes for a very comfortable in-hand feel — I certainly prefer holding it over the Galaxy S22 Ultra or iPhone 13 Pro. There’s also a gorgeous screen that’s among the best screens on the market, and the intuitive software in the form of ColorOS is full of useful shortcut gestures.
But I can’t help but feel the phone is missing that oomph. That best-in-class ultra-wide camera was already in the Find X3 Pro, and a new imaging chip isn’t immediately noticeable or marketable. This means the Find X5 Pro doesn’t have a new feature to grab headlines, like the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s world-beating zoom or Vivo’s gimbal camera system. Instead, the OPPO Find X5 Pro is “just” a refined, well-rounded phone that could be considered unexciting. Especially considering the original OPPO Find X was a show-stopper that stood out among the crowd at the time of release.
The OPPO Find X5 Pro is a beautiful phone with a classy ceramic body and a great screen
Pros:
Cons:
OPPO Find X5 Pro: Pricing and Availability
The OPPO Find X5 Pro is available to preorder today, with sales beginning from March 14 onwards. Prices are:
€1,299 in the EU
£1,049 in the UK
OPPO Find X5 Pro: Specifications
Specification
OPPO Find X5 Pro
Build
Ceramic frame back, aluminum chassis, Gorilla Glass Victus front
Dimensions & Weight
163.7 x 73.9 x 8.5 mm
218g
Display
6.7-inch WQHD+ OLED
Second-gen LTPO calibration: 1Hz to 120Hz
3216 x 1440
SoC
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
RAM & Storage
12GB LPDDR5 RAM
256GB UFS 3.1 storage
Battery & Charging
5,000 mAh
80W SuperVOOC wired fast charging
50W AirVOOC wireless fast charging
Reverse wireless charging support
Security
In-display fingerprint sensor
Rear Camera(s)
Primary: 50MP, Sony IMX766, f/1.7, 1/1.56-inch, 5-Axis OIS
Secondary: 50MP, Ultra-wide angle, Sony IMX766, f/2.2, 1/1.56-inch
Tertiary: 13MP, 2x telephoto, f/2.4
Front Camera(s)
32MP, Sony IMX709
Port(s)
USB Type-C 3.1
Audio
Dual Stereo Speakers
Connectivity
NFC
Bluetooth 5.2
Software
ColorOS 12.1 based on Android 12
Other Features
X-axis Linear Motor
MariSilicon X Imaging Processor
About this review: OPPO provided me with a review unit of the Find X5 Pro on Feb 14. This review was written after about ten days of using the Find X5 Pro as my main phone. OPPO did not have any input in this review.
OPPO Find X5 Pro: Hardware and Design
Unique back design in which the camera bump is covered by a single piece of ceramic
Very good in-hand feel: the entire phone feels rounded, smooth and dense
First OPPO device to run on company’s self-developed MariSilicon X imaging chip
The OPPO Find X5 Pro brings back the unique design language of the Find X3 Pro — it features a ceramic back that also covers the camera bump, so the entire backside including the camera module feels like it’s a single piece. The bump also eases into the back in a slope, instead of having an abrupt “end” the way most camera islands do. It looks odd in renders, but good in photos, and feels better in the hand. Because the ceramic back and the glass front both curve slightly at the ends to blend into the frame, this is a phone without hard corners. I certainly find the OPPO Find X5 Pro more comfortable to hold than the Galaxy S22 Ultra or iPhone 13 Pro, both with hard edges or pointy corners.
I certainly find the OPPO Find X5 Pro more comfortable to hold than the Galaxy S22 Ultra or iPhone 13 Pro
The OLED display measures 6.7-inches, with a resolution of 3216 x 1440 resolution, and is a second-gen LTPO panel meaning its refresh rate can vary between 1Hz and 120Hz at the blink of an eye. I have used the Find X5 Pro side-by-side with the Galaxy S22 Ultra for days, and other than Samsung’s flagship getting noticeably brighter, there isn’t another area in which I can say Samsung’s display is flat out “better.” The Find X5 Pro’s screen is every bit as good in terms of sharpness, color reproduction, viewing angles, and vibrancy, and that says a lot because Samsung sets a very high bar to clear.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra (left) and OPPO Find X5 Pro (right).
Inside, the Find X5 Pro is the premium flagship that you’d expect it to be — Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM, 5,000 mAh battery that can be charged at up to 80W speeds. Yes, the charging brick is included with the packaging. OPPO advertises a full charge in 24 minutes, but my own testing falls a bit short of those speeds. In my own testing, a 0-100 charge took just about 26 and half minutes. This is still really fast.
OPPO Find X5 Pro: Cameras
OPPO has developed a new chip, the MariSilicon X, to handle image process
Main and ultra-wide cameras are excellent — the latter arguably is the best in the business
Video stabilization is very good but falls short of the standards set by the Galaxy S22 Ultra and iPhone 13 Pro
The Find X5 Pro brings back mostly the same camera sensors as last year’s Find X3 Pro, except it’s missing the aforementioned micro-lens. We have a pair of 50MP cameras covering the wide and ultra-wide focal length along with a 13MP 2x telephoto zoom lens, plus a 32MP selfie camera. The aperture of the main 50MP camera and the selfie camera is slightly faster than last year, but otherwise, there is minimal upgrades in terms of camera lenses. However, OPPO is promising new camera breakthroughs because of what’s inside the phone — a new self-developed chip named MariSilicon X.
Built on 6nm architecture, the MariSilicon X is a NPU (Neural Processing Engine) that, according to OPPO, can handle up to 18 trillion operations per second, and most of this power is used to handle efficient machine learning algorithms for shooting videos. More on this in the video section a few paragraphs down. Let’s focus on still photography first.
Hasselblad “color calibration”
The OPPO Find X5 Pro has taken on the Hasselblad partnership that had previously been announced with OnePlus since last year. OPPO is claiming the same things from this partnership that OnePlus claimed — the Swedish camera maker apparently helped OPPO calibrate its imaging colors and designed some filters. To that end, the Find X5 Pro’s camera app also got the orange shutter button that debuted with the OnePlus 9 camera app, and there are some filters.
Main camera
The Find X5 Pro’s main camera is excellent — it has a relatively large 1/1.56-inch image sensor and a responsive shutter. The aperture is slightly faster this year at f/1.7, which helps it take in more light. This main camera also doesn’t need to resort to night mode often. As can be seen in the photo of the cat below, there’s a natural bokeh that separates close subjects/objects from the background.
Low light performance is excellent, with accurate colors and relatively low noise. The below shot of the tree was particularly impressive, as the scene was quite dark in real life.
The Find X5 Pro’s main camera holds up well against the Galaxy S22 Ultra. The below samples are too close to really declare a winner — OPPO’s shots consistently have slightly better HDR — notice it doesn’t blow out the neon lights like Samsung’s shots — but it can also look a bit more processed.
The Find X5 Pro's main camera holds up well against the Galaxy S22 Ultra
Here’s a really challenging shot — in a room with all lights turned off, with the only light source coming from screens and windows. We can see the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s shot is better illuminated all around but blows out some lights; the Find X5 Pro shot has better HDR all around.
Just to show how challenging the scene was to shoot, here’s a shot from the Microsoft Surface Duo 2, a $1,500 phone from a trillion-dollar tech giant.
Surface Duo 2, main camera.
So yeah, the Find X5 Pro main camera is really good — neck and neck with the Galaxy S22 Ultra. What you get here is a top dog through and through.
Ultra-wide
Last year, I called the Find X3 Pro’s ultra-wide camera the best of any smartphone because it managed to produce a wider framing without losing many details from the standard main camera’s shot. If I use the Find X3 Pro to snap an ultra-wide and a standard wide (aka main camera) shot, and I compare the two images, the details, color science and dynamic range are remarkably similar. The Find X5 Pro continues this trend, because the ultra-wide camera uses the exact same image sensor and sensor size as the main camera.
The above images are very close in terms of lighting and dynamic range. Let’s crop into the ultra-wide and set it to roughly the same framing as the main camera shot.
Find X5 Pro, ultra-wide, cropped in (left); main camera
When you crop in this much, you can see the main camera shot is sharper, but the difference isn’t jarring. Now let’s see the same test with the iPhone 13 Pro’s cameras.
Even without cropping in we can see the iPhone’s ultra-wide is significantly dimmer. If we zoom into the ultra-wide and we can see it’s a significantly inferior image, with much softer details and noticeable noise.
iPhone 13 Pro ultra-wide, cropped in (left); main camera
The Find X5 Pro beats the Galaxy S22 Ultra in this same test too — although Samsung keeps it closer.
And here’s the cropped-in collages.
Find X5 Pro, ultra-wide, cropped in (left); main camera (right)
S22 Ultra, ultra-wide, cropped in (left); main camera (right)
Below are more Find X5 Pro samples, with an ultra-wide shot juxtaposed next to the main camera shot. I think it’s safe to say the Find X5 Pro still has the best ultra-wide camera on the market.
Zoom lens
The Find X5 Pro only has a single 13MP, 2x telephoto camera. It’s an ideal focal length for portraits and 2x zoom photos are sharp and well detailed.
However, for anything beyond 2x zoom, the quality drops off. I’ve gotten used to at least getting usable 5x, 10x shots from flagship phones, so there’s no getting around the fact that the Find X5 Pro’s zooming capabilities are lacking. It’s rather disappointing, because OPPO was the first company to tease the idea of a Periscope camera, and was one of the first ones to put a Periscope camera to a commercial release (the OPPO Reno 10x Zoom Edition, released in May 2019). Somehow, the company has entirely moved away from the Periscope zoom technology in the last couple of years. Take a look below at how much the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s 10x zoom shot is superior to the Find X5 Pro’s
Video
The Find X5 Pro’s main camera produces excellent videos, with vivid colors and capable fidelity even in low light. However, despite the advertised 5-axis stabilization system, the Find X5 Pro’s videos still exhibit micro-shakes and stutter more often than the iPhone 13 Pro and Galaxy S22 Ultra if I walk and film at the same time. It’s not really a big deal, if you just watch the Find X5 Pro’s videos by themselves, you likely wouldn’t have many complaints. But when you see them side by side with video clips captured by iPhone 13 Pro and Galaxy S22 Ultra, you do see the Find X5 Pro’s footage is shakier.
Interestingly, the script flips with the ultra-wide, as the Find X5 Pro’s ultra-wide videos are noticeably more stable than both Apple and Samsung’s top offerings.
As mentioned earlier, MariSilicon X is supposed to help the Find X5 Pro significantly in low-light videos, and it does indeed work. In the below video, I walked into a really dark old Chinese building with most lights off, and you can see the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s footage is noticeably darker and noisier.
Selfies
The Find X5 Pro has a 32MP selfie camera using OPPO’s self-developed RGBW sensor, and … it’s fine. I must confess I am just not a selfie person, but I like that the Find X5 Pro’s software doesn’t force a beauty filter on my skin (although there certainly is one that can be turned on), and dynamic range, colors, all look on point.
Normal selfie.
Overall I’m very happy with the Find X5 Pro’s camera system, but I think OPPO needs to consider bringing back the Periscope zoom next year. I like my 5x and 10x zoom shots. Most of the photos above have been compressed for the website, but if you want to examine the original unedited, uncompressed photos, I have uploaded them to a Flickr gallery.
OPPO Find X5 Pro: Software
The Find X5 Pro runs Android 12 with OPPO’s ColorOS on top
I am a fan of ColorOS, it’s full of very useful shortcut gestures; I want them on other phones
The Find X5 Pro runs on Android 12 with ColorOS 12.1 on top. There are subtle changes to the ColorOS here from the one I tested even just a month ago on a mid-range OPPO Reno 7 Pro. The first is that OPPO has adopted the Google Pixel 6 Pro’s default one-hand mode, which brings the entire screen down to the mid-screen point (it’s a complete copy of iOS’s “Reachability”). I am not a fan of this one-hand mode as I find the previous OPPO method (also the same method used by Samsung, Vivo, Huawei, etc) of shrinking the screen both in height and width into a lower corner is more intuitive. But considering Google has adopted this new iOS-like one-hand mode as the “official” method, I assume OEMs are trying to follow suit. It’s worth mentioning that the Galaxy S22 Ultra, thankfully, sticks to that lower corner method.
Another new feature is the ability to launch “floating window” mode for almost any app with just a single thumb gesture — swipe up higher than usual, then hold for a beat. This method seems natural and intuitive to me, and the animations of the app being swiped up into a floating state even make sense. On a Xiaomi or Samsung device, launching floating windows is a clunky affair requiring three or more steps: swipe up and hold to go into app overview/multi-tasking pane, then long-press on the app icon, then select floating window. Most users are not going to realize those complicated steps will lead to a floating window, so this simpler gesture is much more intuitive and natural.
An exaggerated swipe up and hold will launch the app in floating window mode.
This useful gesture summarizes ColorOS for me — it’s software that is full of useful shortcut gestures. For example: grabbing a screenshot with a three-finger swipe down is easier for me than needing to long-press power and volume down button; off-screen gestures allow me to control music playback or launch the camera without ever waking up the screen.
OPPO Find X5 Pro: Overall Performance and Battery Life
Battery life is decent — not great, not bad
Fast, zippy performance
With top-tier components, the Find X5 Pro performed as expected during my testing period. I enjoyed watching videos with it on the sofa due to its beautiful display, comfortable in-hand feel, and loud stereo speakers. I saw no issues with gaming, although I am admittedly not a heavy mobile gamer. With the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in place, you are getting top-tier performance on the device, at par with practically every other top-tier flagship that will come out this year.
Battery life is okay — with display resolution and refresh rate set to maximum, I was able to get about 12-hours of heavy use before the phone drained down to under 5%. In the screenshot below, you can see the Find X5 Pro drained from 100% to 28% in about nine hours away from the charger, with three hours and 24 minutes of screen-use. I am a heavy user who uses the cameras and Bluetooth often. I would say this battery life is acceptable, but not amazing.
OPPO Find X5 Pro: Conclusion
The OPPO Find X5 Pro is an excellent all-rounder flagship
The OPPO Find X5 Pro is an excellent all-rounder flagship. I love its refined, sort of understated design, and the tremendous ultra-wide camera. However, as I said at the beginning, I am disappointed with the phone losing the micro-lens from last year’s edition, as well as having a relatively mediocre zoom. I could forgive this if the device was priced a bit lower than premium flagship territory, but it’s not. The OPPO Find X5 Pro’s €1,299/£1,049 price in Europe/UK makes it more expensive than the Galaxy S22 Ultra. I have no doubt these European prices are due to the usual tariffs, that in Asia the phone will likely be priced lower than the Galaxy S22 Ultra, but it’s still jarring to see the European prices.
While I do think the Find X5 Pro has an objectively better ultra-wide camera than the Galaxy S22 Ultra, Samsung’s flagship has a noticeably brighter screen and a significantly superior zoom camera system. There’s also the S-Pen and Samsung DeX, which while are undeniable bonuses.
Still, if you’re on the market for a premium Android with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and you find the S22 Ultra too unwieldy to hold — or if you don’t care about zooming 10x or beyond — then the OPPO Find X5 Pro is a very worthy alternative.
