Oppo Find X3 Pro smartphone review: Checking the boxes with style

Note: This review was first published on 27 Mar 2021.

Overview

Oppo is going all-in on its strengths that made the Find X phone series great. That includes better displays, better audio, and flagship-grade phone performance in one handset. Thus, the Oppo Find X3 Pro was born.

It's pretty clear that the Find X3 Pro was made for minimal compromise on specs and appearance. On the outside is a Space Age Design with a slightly different approach to its camera housing's finish (more on that later). Flip it over, and it's a 6.7-inch LTPO AMOLED display rated at 3,216 x 1,440 pixels resolution that offers far more than meets the eye.

You see, Oppo said that they've implemented Full-path 10-bit Colour Management System onto the screen. This apparently allows the Find X3 Pro to capture, recreate, and display one billion colours. Also, the system cuts across the display, media content, and imaging capabilities, so it's not limited to its already excellent display prowess. 

Powering all of this is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset. This lets the Find X3 Pro to be 35% more powerful and 20% more efficient than the Find X2 Pro, which had a Snapdragon 865 processor. The phone also has a 4,500mAh battery to support its demands, and this time around, Oppo has wireless charging (30W AirVOOC) to go with it.

In the camera arena, the device promises four rear cameras, with the main and ultra-wide using the same imaging components (a 50MP Sony IMX776 sensor). Of the four cameras, the most interesting is the 3MP Microlens, which brings microscopic-like photography to the user's fingertips.

So, are all these interesting design, software, and hardware choices enough for the Oppo Find X3 Pro to power through the upcoming flagship competition? Let's find out.

Design & Handling

Dubbed as the Space Age Design, Oppo’s choice of finish for the Find X3 Pro is a metal and glass combination that evokes a sleek, fluid appearance. Perhaps what’s most visually arresting about the Find X3 Pro is its interesting camera housing choice. For the first time among flagship phones in recent memory, the Find X3 Pro’s rear camera housing doesn’t use a chamfered, bevelled, or perpendicular edge. Instead, the housing is a continuous, curved slate that blends into the rest of the back, while the lenses are nearly flush against the housing itself. According to Oppo, this design was made possible with a hot-forge manufacturing process, helped along by using over 2,000 control points to get a precise curve. 

This design choice didn’t offer any particular ergonomic advantage - it’s still tilted to a side when you lay it face-up on a desk, plus you’re always worrying if the surface you put the Find X3 Pro on could potentially scratch the rear lenses. But, the phone does offer a more uniform appearance, further enhanced by its mirror-like, high-gloss finish (our model came in Gloss Black). What we liked best was the level of detail this finish had - it looks like a meticulously wrapped gift, with the finish akin to a piece of glitzy wrapping paper that goes along the back and the sides. 

At 8.26mm thickness, the Oppo Find X3 Pro just feels slightly slimmer than the Find X2 Pro when held (that, and a quick check of its spec sheet revealed that it’s a difference of almost 0.6mm). It’s otherwise similar to its predecessor in hand-feel, where you can run your fingers along the frame, and it still feels secure in the hand.

The front feels just as mesmerising because of Oppo’s cunning choice to use a slightly curved display that does its best to hide the bezels. Except for the front camera housing (and certain apps cutting off just slightly before it), the phone feels almost like an uninterrupted screen for immersion. If you’re big on displays, the Find X3 Pro won’t disappoint.

The phone is undisputedly elegant, no matter which angle you look at it from. And, it doesn’t just look pretty with its IP68-certified water resistance. 

Display & Audio

The Oppo Find X3 Pro has a 6.7-inch AMOLED display rated at 3,216 x 1,440 pixels resolution (QHD+). This works out to a pixel density of 525 PPI. The display is also sufficiently advanced, with an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate and 240Hz touch sampling rate. 

You might have come across the insane colourisation and colour gamut specs Oppo was touting at the phone’s official announcement. If you haven’t: Oppo said that the display uses a full-path, 10-bit colour management system that cuts across its display, content, and camera imaging capabilities. The technology results in displaying one billion colours on the Find X3 Pro, which far exceeds the ballpark of visible colours via the naked human eye (different sources say that human colour vision ranges anywhere from a million to 10 million colours). 

Its insane colour technology translates into several certifications, with 97% NTSC/100% DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage in its default Vivid Mode, going up to 104% NTSC/100% DCI-P3 coverage in Brillant Mode (which can be toggled on in the Display settings). Basically, you can trust the Find X3 Pro to faithfully reproduce colours for just about any recorded or online content that exists.

You’ve also probably heard about the display’s 0.4 JNCD certification as well. For reference, JNCD refers to Just Noticeable Colour Difference, with a JNCD of 1 or lower being virtually indistinguishable when two very similar colours are touching each other. High-end displays for professional use generally have a JNCD of 1 or lower, precisely because our eyeballs can only tell apart colours by that much. With the phone’s 10-bit colour depth, the display colourisation should satisfy both mainstream phone users and folks who work in an industry dealing with colours professionally. 

Ultimately, though, colour accuracy is also subject to the content and the brightness of your screen. If your images, videos, apps, and other stuff aren’t properly calibrated or made using calibrated tools, having a dead-accurate display would only show the content’s flaws. We hope this helps to demystify why Oppo’s attention to colour is a bit of an overkill at this point, despite how the Find X series has always been brilliant when it comes to displaying colours.

Fortunately, all that power in colour isn’t pointless - Oppo added a little colour adjustment tool that adjusts colours based on your own vision (since not everyone perceives colour perfectly or equally). Hidden inside Display > Screen Colour Mode is another colour option called Colour Vision Enhancement. By selecting the Personalised option, the phone will prompt you to take a quick-and-easy colour test to determine your colour vision and limits. After you complete the test, the phone will tweak its display and compensate colours based on your perception. However, all this is very subjective, too - colours appear differently to your eyes when under different lighting conditions (for example, sunlight versus table side lamp versus office fluorescent tubes). So, it’s best to take the colour vision test in an environment where you think you’ll face the phone the most.

The audio quality is clear enough for video consumption, which is a nice touch.

 

UI & Features

As the latest flagship-tier smartphone from Oppo, the Find X3 Pro packs Android 11 cloaked underneath ColorOS 11.2 - basically, the most up-to-date Android operating system with Oppo’s proprietary interface to match. 

Most Android phone users would be familiar with how ColorOS does its best to recreate that Apple-like browsing and navigation experience. You’re still getting squarish app icons with rounded corners but in the Android format of app arrangement (selected apps available to the right, all apps tucked away in the App Drawer). ColorOS 11.2 has many of the core, yet default Android 11 enhancements. Two that come to mind are a customisable Dark Mode for the phone’s natural state and a customisable Always-On Display.

Oppo’s enhancements come in the form of a Three-Finger Translate gesture that does exactly what it says on the sticker. It’s an additional translate feature that comes along with three-finger screenshots. You could either take a screenshot by swiping down with three fingers or take a partial screenshot by holding three fingers on your display and dragging them in the direction you want. Tapping on the Translate button makes the phone look at that screenshot, and use Google Lens to provide that said translation.

Another feature is FlexDrop, where you can make an app minimise to a picture-in-picture size and have it positioned anywhere on the display. Any app you open after marking it a FlexDrop would have the previous app floating in the corner you parked it. It’s a somewhat hidden feature where you can access it by going into the Switch Apps menu (tapping the left-most icon out of the three default Android buttons for Apps, Home, and Back). Once you’re there, tap on the two dots near the top-right corner of an app and choose “Floating Window” to get FlexDrop.

It works almost exactly like Apple iPad’s Multi-tasking feature - even moving the app across the screen is done by putting your finger on a tiny little white bar. Closing the mini-app on the Oppo Find X3 Pro is done by tapping the cross icon that sits on top of the app instance. You can use it however you wish - either by letting a video run while you reply to some text messages, or allow mobile games to auto-clear stages and queue for gaming sessions while you browse social media. 

Imaging Performance 

The Oppo Find X3 Pro uses a quad rear camera setup to cover important shooting angles. They are:

• 50MP main camera: Sony IMX766 sensor, 1/1.56-inch sensor size, f/1.8 aperture, 6P lens, OIS, All Pixel Omni-directional Phase Detection Autofocus
• 50MP ultra-wide-angle camera: Sony IMX766 sensor, 1/1.56-inch sensor size, f/2.2 aperture, 7P lens, 4cm macro shooting distance
• 13MP telephoto camera, f/2.4 aperture, 5P lens, 5x hybrid optical zoom, 20x digital zoom
• 3MP Microlens, 60x magnification, 4P lens, f/3.0 aperture, 77° FOV

The Find X3 Pro has one of the most interesting camera configurations in recent flagships by many counts. Here’s why.

First, it uses the same sensor for the main and ultra-wide, which is great if you don’t like compromising on image quality when taking either shot. The resulting field-of-view in each camera is mostly the lenses doing that heavy lifting, so it comes down to seeing how well Oppo corrects fish-eye distortion in the ultra-wide camera.

The telephoto camera strangely offers only up to 20x digital zoom. It’s an assumption, but higher zoom may not be more practical than 20x or under. Also, as we’ve seen in many 50x or 100x telephoto shots by other flagship smartphones from the previous years, a higher zoom rating and better image stabilisation still don’t quite make the photo serviceable. It’s probably a better idea to scrap high digital zoom until further notice, so 20x it shall be (the older Find X2 Pro offered 60x digital). Perhaps it’s a bummer that the Find X3 Pro doesn’t offer pure optical zoom, but we’ll see how its 5x hybrid zoom holds up before we pass any further comments.

Most intriguing is the 3MP Microlens, offering photography at 60x magnification. Essentially, this camera works just like the other three, except that it comes with a lens that enlarges the subject by up to 60 times. The resulting photo would look like something you’d see under a microscope. Oppo said that this allows users of the Find X3 Pro to explore new ways of photo-taking. We think it’s quite gimmicky, and most people won’t find a practical use for it unless they’re clean freaks, but more important to us is whether the Microlens works well when called upon.

On to the sample images.

Sample images

At this point, we'd like to gush about the general imaging quality delivered by the main camera and ultra-wide-angle camera. The imaging capabilities are certainly befitting a modern flagship, which is of no surprise to people paying top dollar for a phone. Still, Oppo's choice of making the ultra-wide rely on a camera sensor identical to the main camera is definitely the right choice in hardware. This is easily one of the better attempts at ultra-wide we've seen thus far and you can tell how well the colours are consistent in both shots.

As mentioned at the top of this section, high digital zoom ratings aren't of much practical use, and it shows in Find X3 Pro's 20x digital zoom. Sure, you can make out what's going on and what the subjects are, but you're not going to get too much detail off the lady's outfit or even figure out which car brands are on the road.

If there's an observation to make, it seems like the Oppo Find X3 Pro really goes above and beyond in trying to breathe more life into its imaging, especially with its biases towards warmer settings. 

Overcompensating with a Microlens

We've left the 3MP Microlens out because it's a fairly unique camera feature among recent flagships and also because we wanted to ask ourselves what we can really get out of a 3MP lens with 60x magnifications. Before we blabber, here are the images:

Oppo definitely provided an interesting photography option with the 3MP Microlens. However, its execution and practicality leave much to be desired.

We say that, because to achieve the 60x magnified shots above, one needs to literally place the Oppo Find X3 Pro's rear cameras onto the subject. Yes - not near, not away, but lens-touching-on-the-subject. We found that was the most consistent way of getting a serviceable and remotely artistic shot off the 3MP Microlens. We've managed to replicate a few more (such as photos of our clothes' fibres, random grains of sand, and other mundane things), and the process doesn't change. If you can't get the phone's rear to touch the subject, you're not going to get a well-focused 60x magnified shot. Oppo does recommend placing the subject within a clearance of 3mm from the lens for best results, but in all seriousness, that level of control requires a lot of effort.

This also limits your artistic photography options to subjects that are literally non-living or non-squeamish. For example, if your pet isn't the tolerant or cooperative sort, you're not likely to get a clear, magnified shot. This is in addition to the steep learning curve of the 3MP Microlens. We'd be lucky to get a shot like the two above within the first three tries, assuming that your subject doesn't move at all.

Interesting option aside, we found that the practical options to using 3MP Microlens very few and far between. Unless you're a germaphobe or have an obsession for very, very small things, the 3MP Microlens probably isn't going to be a feature you'll use beyond the first couple of months of owning the Find X3 Pro.

That said, kudos to Oppo for innovating and trying something different with rear cameras. Beyond sheer innovative muscle, it requires a lot more polish and thought to make a fourth camera that people want, so we can't fault them for the attempt.

Benchmark Performance

The Oppo Find X3 Pro is the first consumer-grade Android phone in Singapore to have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 mobile processor. It is first, by virtue of the delay in Xiaomi’s Mi 11 smartphones coming to our shores, and how other Snapdragon 888 powered Android phones are really taking their time to get out of the dressing room.

We have an in-depth article on SD888 (linked above), so we’ll get right to where the Find X3 Pro stands in the market. Currently, the only true competitors it has are the Samsung Galaxy S21 series handsets (review here), since the new Samsung phones also pack an equivalent chipset of their own brew.

Naturally, the Oppo Find X3 Pro would be compared against last year’s flagships, since we’d also want to know what differences there are between a flagship Qualcomm 5nm and 7nm chipset can offer in the real world. That’s not putting the previous year’s phones to shame, but rather, asking ourselves if we need to pay nosebleed prices for nosebleed performance that far exceeds regular usage. 

JetStream 2.0

JetStream 2 is a combination of a variety of JavaScript and Web Assembly benchmarks, including benchmarks that came before, like SunSpider and Octane. It primarily tests for a system’s and browser’s ability in delivering a good web experience. It runs a total of 64 subtests, each weighted equally, with multiple iterations, and takes the geometric mean to compute the overall score.

AnTuTu 

Note: As of 9th March 2020, all AnTuTu benchmarks were removed from the Google Play Store. This move likely arose from Google's attempts to relieve the Play Store of apps that violate their policies. AnTuTu is working with Google to restore their app listing. For this review, we used the APK file that was available on AnTuTu's website.

AnTuTu is an all-in-one benchmark that tests CPU, GPU, memory, and storage. The CPU benchmark evaluates both integer and floating-point performance, and the GPU tests assess 2D and 3D performance, the memory test measures available memory bandwidth and latency, and the storage tests gauge the read and write speeds of a device's flash memory.

Geekbench 5

Geekbench CPU is a cross-platform processor benchmark that tests both single-core and multi-core performance with workloads that simulate real-world usage. Geekbench 5 scores are calibrated against a baseline score of 1000, which is the score of an Intel Core i3-8100.

Note: The Geekbench 5 benchmark could not run on Huawei Mate 40 Pro.

3DMark Sling Shot Extreme & Wild Life

3DMark Sling Shot is an advanced 3D graphics benchmark that tests the full range of OpenGL ES 3.1 and ES 3.0 API features, including multiple render targets, instanced rendering, uniform buffers and transform feedback. The test also includes impressive volumetric lighting and post-processing effects. The test's Unlimited mode ignores screen resolutions.

We’re also collecting scores with 3DMark’s new benchmark, Wild Life. Below are the test’s Unlimited Mode scores.

Performance Benchmark Summary

It’s fair to say that the Oppo Find X3 Pro’s benchmark performance is anywhere from a little to very far ahead of other Android flagships from 2020, and has 1-10% better performance ahead of Samsung’s Exynos 2100 (a 5nm flagship chipset by the Korean company used in their latest handsets). If you're the sort that sees a direct correlation between price and performance, the Oppo Find X3 Pro will certainly tingle your bits because it's S$100 cheaper at launch than its predecessor for a lot more raw power (though it comes with half the internal storage capacity).

Whether it’s making the most out of its Snapdragon 888 chipset can’t be determined until we see more phones powered by the same processor. That said, we like the numbers that the new Oppo was able to deliver. However, some of the more demanding benchmarks can really make the phone run hot enough for performance throttling to set in, so take note if you do run demanding apps for long durations.

In real-world usage, the Oppo Find X3 Pro doesn’t feel any less or more fluid than flagship phones from recent years, so it matches our expectations.

Battery life

Our standard battery test for mobile phones has the following parameters:

• Looping a 720p video with screen brightness and volume at 100%
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity turned on
• Constant data streaming through email

The Oppo Find X3 Pro kept its battery uptime (668 minutes) nearly on par with its predecessor. Even with a slightly bigger 4,500mAh in the Find X3 Pro, it’s not unusual that the flagship processor in the Find X3 Pro would be more power-hungry than the older flagship chipset. 

The Oppo Find X3 Pro offers 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 Flash Charge fast-charging. One of the caveats of using Oppo phones is that you need to use its proprietary fast-charging technology, SuperVOOC, to see the advantages, even if it’s one of the fastest in the market. Despite the charger being provided in the packaging, we’ve tried with an official 40W fast charger from another phone brand, and it clocked 90 minutes from 0% to 100%. It, however, took only 30 minutes to go from 0% to 50%, so that indicates intelligent controls at play to help regulate and make fast-charging safer for all.

A key addition in its charging story is the 30W AirVOOC Wireless Flash Charge, which is 30W of wireless fast-charging with its compatible wireless charger (not supplied) containing its proprietary technology. Wireless charging was noticeably missing on its predecessor, which might be a deal-breaker for people who pay for the best phones out there.

Out of curiosity, we tried it with a wireless fast-charger that had generic fast-charging profiles, and it still works, although probably not at 30W.

Conclusion

As a flagship smartphone, the Oppo Find X3 Pro checks all the boxes and does it with style. Great display, great processing power, decent battery life, with all the bells and whistles like wireless charging, waterproofing, on-display fingerprint security and NFC. Its frequently-used cameras are capable, and it comes in a beautiful finish to wrap it up nicely.

In fact, its plus points are worth commending. Sure, the insane colour management prowess may not mean very much to a regular phone user, but the colour vision test and colour adjustment features feel like a nice touch of inclusive usage. The choice of using Sony IMX766 sensors beyond one lens is a great way of showing that Oppo cares about your photography experience, while using their expertise to squeeze it into a cramped handset. It may believe it has the fastest charging protocol, but it still supports fast-charging on other generic charging profiles too.

Of course, we're not blind to its flaws. The lack of a microSD slot is a real pity, especially when the phone has half its predecessor's internal storage. The 3MP Microlens is quite questionable, but, as we said, we won't penalise it because Oppo went head-on to try something new while still taking care of the three other most important lenses that most would need for any shooting occasion.

Between its predecessor and itself, the S$1,599 Find X3 Pro sounds like a better purchase if you can live with 256GB internal storage. But, you have to remember that the older Find X2 Pro lacks wireless charging. So, it's really down to your priorities between these two models. 

Against the only other official 2021 flagship handset range here - the Samsung Galaxy S21 series - the Find X3 Pro feels a threat to Samsung's dominance. That's because of the Oppo phone's feature set. It rivals that of the S$1,798 Ultra variant, while the S$1,599 price tag on the Find X3 Pro makes it look like a real contender against both the Galaxy S21 Ultra and S21+ models.

Of course, tie-breakers for the buyer would rely on brand allegiances and the perceived value they get out of the phone. After all, Samsung has a way more advanced ecosystem for its phone, and it speaks across devices and appliances. Oppo doesn't really have that going for the Find X3 Pro, which may play to its favour since it doesn't feel as overwhelming as a Samsung entire ecosystem. 

To give it another analogy, if we bought the Find X3 Pro now, we'd likely never regret the purchase - and that's considering it's still early in the 2021 Android phone fight.

The Oppo Find X3 Pro officially retails at S$1,599 with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. Available colours are Blue and Gloss Black. For purchasing details and online store links, check out our initial launch coverage article.