The Oppo Find X5 Pro is, without a shadow of a doubt, a premium phone. It looks and feels great, it has a capable, sophisticated triple camera system, and it has all the hardware you’ve come to expect from a high-end, flagship smartphone.

But all of these come at a price; a steep one, at that. For the Malaysian market, the Find X5 Pro retails at a cool RM4,999, putting it on the same playing field as the likes of Samsung and Apple. While it’s certainly a commendable flagship phone, having to contend with the Galaxy S22 and iPhone 13 series…is a tough spot to be in.

What It Is

Hardware wise, the Find X5 Pro has all the makings of a flagship phone. It’s powered by the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, it has a stunning, sharp QHD+ AMOLED display with a fast 120Hz refresh rate, and it also has a capable Hasselblad-branded triple camera system.

There’s no denying that the Find X5 Pro has hardware befitting of a high-end, premium phone, but the same cannot be said of its software experience. More on this further down the review.

The Good Stuff

My favourite aspect of the Find X5 Pro has to be its premium build quality, thanks to the ceramic back panel. While the material is quite slippery, I do like how smooth it feels. It also gives some extra heft to the phone for a more premium feel.

Oh, I also really like how there’s a gradual “slope” from the back panel to the camera bump. It’s quite an elegant design element, in my opinion.

Next, we have the dual curved display of the Find X5 Pro. Not only does the 6.7-inch 1440p AMOLED panel offer bright, vibrant colours, it also has a fast 120Hz refresh rate for an extra responsive user experience. Of course, this being an AMOLED panel, it also feature deep, true blacks.

With the high quality display, gaming on the Find X5 Pro is also very enjoyable. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip can keep up with my needs too. Whether it’s switching between different apps or playing demanding games like Genshin Impact, the phone performs well.

As for battery life, the Find X5 Pro’s 5,000mAh battery can last reasonably long on a single charge. On average, I can get between five to six hours of screen on time. Not the best battery life I’ve come across, but certainly above average, especially for a phone with a high-end chipset and sharp 1440p display.

And then we have the photography performance of the Find X5 Pro’s triple camera system. Made up of a 50MP primary sensor, a 50MP ultra-wide angle lens, and a 13MP telephoto camera with 2x optical zoom, it’s a versatile setup with three different focal lengths.

Naturally, the camera interface feels quite responsive, and the phone can capture some great-looking shots as well…to an extent. Just take a look at these examples:

Given enough light, the Find X5 Pro can definitely take stunning-looking shots. Even in low light conditions it can deliver, though this mostly applies to the 50MP primary sensor. The other two shooters? Well, let’s move on to the next section for that.

The Bad Stuff

Unfortunately, the Find X5 Pro’s 50MP ultra-wide angle lens and 13MP telephoto sensor cannot match the image fidelity of the 50MP primary camera. Their detail preservation aren’t as good, dynamic range is limited, and they struggle in more challenging lighting situations.

They’re not horrible, per se, but the disparity in image quality between the three sensors is definitely worth pointing out.

Another not so great aspect of the Find X5 Pro is its software experience: it is filled to the brim with bloatware. There are way too many apps pre-installed on the phone that I immediately feel like uninstalling, and some of them will even deliver push notifications.

Thankfully, ColorOS 12.1 itself is quite lightweight and intuitive to use; I didn’t face any stability issue either throughout the review period. That being said, I do find it a tad annoying that I cannot dismiss notifications with a left swipe, much like how it is on iOS.

Last but certainly not least is the steep pricing of the Find X5 Pro. Retailing at RM4,999, it is priced very closely to the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, which starts at RM5,099. It’s also competing with the iPhone 13 Pro Max (from RM5,299), even if the latter costs RM300 more.

Granted, the Find X5 Pro is still more “affordable,” given that it offers 256GB of storage at this price point. Samsung and Apple’s offerings, on the other hand, only feature 128GB of storage for the base models; you’ll have to pay quite a bit more to get the 256GB variants.

However, both the S22 Ultra and iPhone 13 Pro Max also offer more phone for the money compared to the Find X5 Pro. The S22 Ultra has the much-loved S Pen and superior zooming performance, while the iPhone has much more refined software experience (with minimal bloatware) and processing power.

Is It Worth It?

At the end of the day, the Oppo Find X5 Pro is still a high-end, flagship phone with its own unique appeals. It has solid, premium build quality, a very pleasant, high resolution screen to look at, and a capable camera system, even if the ultra-wide angle and telephoto shooters aren’t quite up to par.

But the thing is, priced at RM4,999, you’ve got many other options to consider, including the aforementioned Galaxy S22 Ultra and iPhone 13 Pro Max. Although the Find X5 Pro is technically more affordable with a larger 256GB storage, these alternatives also bring their own unique selling points to the table.

That is not to say the Find X5 Pro is not worth it. Personally, I definitely enjoyed using it as my daily driver – just know that you’ve got other options at this price point before you finalise your purchase for Oppo’s latest flagship.