Oppo Find X2 Pro hands-on review: Oppo’s most expensive flagship yet

This is embarrassing, but it seems I’ve been pronouncing Oppo wrong all these years. During the Oppo Find X2 Pro launch – which was streamed, due to the coronavirus outbreak – Michael Tran, Director of Global Marketing and Brand Strategy, pronounced Oppo as “Oh-poe”, not “Op-po” as I’ve been calling it.

This reminds me of the recent Huawei 5G debate in The House of Commons, where UK politicians struggled when talking about the Chinese company – “Hi-Why” was my personal favourite. Of course, Oppo has only had a presence in Europe since 2018, and Huawei has been around for much longer, but you’d think I would know how to say the name correctly after writing about the company for almost two years.

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Still, after a slight delay, the Oppo Find X2 Pro is finally official. Those familiar with the brand might be aware of its flagship-killing roots – with low, low prices to match – but the Find X2 Pro is unlike anything Oppo has released previously, and it has a suitably high price to match.

Oppo Find X2 Pro review: Specifications, UK price and release date

• 6.7in, 120Hz QHD+ (3,168 x 1,440), OLED screen (519ppi)
• Octa-core 2.84GHz Snapdragon 865 processor
• 12GB of RAM
• 512GB of storage
• Triple rear camera: 48MP, 48MP 120-degree ultra-wide, 13MP telephoto
• 60x hybrid zoom
• Selfie camera: 32MP
• 2x 2,130mAh battery
• 65W charging (zero to full in 35mins)
• IP68-rated waterproofing
• Ceramic black and vegan leather
• UK release date: Spring/Summer
• UK price: £1,199

Oppo Find X2 Pro review: Design, key features and first impressions

Before we begin, it’s worth mentioning that this is the first Oppo phone that’s breached the four-figured mark. Of course, it’s packed with all the bells and whistles that you’d expect from a flagship phone from the likes of Samsung and Apple, but without the long-standing brand recognition, I don’t think this is a smart move on Oppo’s part. I’ve certainly never seen a high-priced Oppo phone out in the wild in the UK, have you?

But, of course, the Find X2 Pro is still poised to be Oppo’s finest flagship yet, even if nobody ends up buying one. To start with, it’s much nicer to hold than the brutish Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, and it’s much easier on the eye, too. I spent a bit of time with the ‘vegan leather’ model, with its soft textured rear and shiny gold-finished edges and it really is a sight to behold. I would be more than happy to pull this out of my pocket on the Tube and show it off to admiring commuters.

The Oppo Find X2’s USB Type-C charging point is sensibly located at the bottom edge of the phone, nestled between the solitary speaker grill and nano-SIM tray, which brings me to the first of the Oppo Find X2’s main features: its fast-charging capabilities.

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Oppo calls this technology ‘Super Vooc 2.0’, which in simple terms means that the Oppo FInd X2 Pro supports charging speeds up to 65W. Rather than including a single battery, the Oppo Find X2 Pro has two, smaller, 2,130mAh capacity batteries, which supposedly helps offset some of the heavy load from the fast-charging functionality. We’ve seen this technology before with the Oppo RX17 Pro, and the charging was very rapid indeed, going from empty to 100% in 37mins 27secs.

The Find X2 Pro is also Oppo’s first smartphone to include a high-refresh screen. The Find X2 Pro’s 6.7in OLED display supports a buttery-smooth refresh rate of 120Hz which, unlike Samsung’s Galaxy S20 Ultra, can actually be used at native resolution (3,168 x 1,440). This is something that’s fast becoming a bit of a trend in 2020, but navigation feels just as fluid and responsive as the rest of them.

Another first for Oppo is that the Find X2 Pro is powered by Qualcomm’s most up-to-date mobile chipset, the Snapdragon 865. This will likely be the first smartphone that I review with this beefy flagship processor, which promises a multi-core performance boost of 25% over the previous-generation Snapdragon 855. Mirroring Samsung yet again, the Find X2 Pro also includes 12GB of RAM, although the 512GB of onboard storage can’t be expanded.

As for the camera, Oppo also made mention about the X2 Pro’s photographic capabilities at the grand unveiling. As with most phone launches these days, the Find X2 Pro is fitted with a multi-camera array; there’s a primary 48MP snapper, 48MP 120-degree ultra-wide unit and a 13MP telephoto lens. The latter of which contributes to the phone’s maximum 60x zoom range, which uses a combination of optical and digital zoom techniques.

Oppo Find X2 Pro review: What about the Oppo Find X2?

The Find X2 Pro isn’t the only Oppo phone that launched today – there’s also the regular Oppo Find X2, which lacks the ‘Pro’ branding. Naturally, it cost less at £999, but the normal Find X2 has identical internal specifications, includes the same size and resolution screen, and also supports the 5G network as standard.

So, what are the differences between the two? Well, other than the slight changes in dimensions, the Find X2’s camera arrangement is a bit different. It also has a triple-camera arrangement, but the sensors aren’t the same. While the Find X2 also has a primary 48MP camera accompanied by a telephoto lens and wide-angle unit, it can only zoom up to 20x.

As you might expect, the Find X2 also has a slightly smaller battery than its ‘Pro’ sibling – 4,200mAh, compared to 4,260mAh – and it only has IP54-certified protection, where the Oppo Find X2 Pro is rated to IP68. The Find X2 also lacks the vegan leather variant.

Oppo Find X2 Pro review: Early verdict

Oppo’s latest pair of flagship smartphones are much more exciting than its usual launches, not least because they come equipped with 5G and are among the first to use the Snapdragon 865 chipset. Add to that an impressive-looking rear camera setup, eye-catching design and a 120Hz screen and you have what looks to be one of the most interesting smartphone launches of the year. And it’s only the beginning of March.

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However, until now at least, Oppo has done exceptionally well at launching feature-rich phones that somehow manage to undercut their competitors by significantly wide margins. When you consider that the Oppo FInd X2 Pro will launch for the same price as the equally-lavish Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, Oppo is no longer in the advantageous position it once was.