OPPO Find X5 Lite Review – Lots of Reno, (too) little Find X!

Review: OPPO Find X5 Lite

New year, new OPPO Find X generation. With a price range (RRP) of 499 euros (X5 Lite) to 999 euros (X5) and 1399 euros (X5 Pro), the OPPO Find X5 model series is particularly versatile.

The OPPO Find X5 Lite rounds off OPPO's current smartphone generation, especially at the bottom. In contrast to the two high-end models, the Lite smartphone serves the highly competitive mid-range segment. Compromises in terms of equipment have to be accepted, but to anticipate one thing: The OPPO Find X5 Lite will (in the future) find its buyers!

OPPO Find X5 Lite: design and finish

The design of the OPPO Find X5 Lite is best described with the word "generic". If you look around in the mid-range segment across manufacturers, you will see many similarities within the different smartphone brands.

The camera hump on the back is typical of the middle class and completely different from the other two OPPO Find X5 models. Instead of a sweeping camera element with a seamless transition, the Lite model has its three cameras and LED flash framed in a rectangular frame. It protrudes a few millimeters from the back, so that the smartphone lies flat on it and wobbles when typing. But no need to worry, this can be observed with pretty much every smartphone.

In terms of color, you have the choice between "Starry Black" and "Startrails Blue". A feature of the color "Starry Black" is the shimmering blue-black color gradient that occurs when the light hits it. The color “Startrails Blue”, which creates a violet shimmering pattern using Laser Direct Imaging (LDI), behaves somewhat differently.

The smartphone, which is 160,6 mm high, 73,2 mm wide and 7,81 mm thin, feels secure in the hand. The back of our test device in "Starry Black" has a pleasant texture that leaves no room for unsightly fingerprints. The back and frame are made of plastic, resulting in a pleasantly light weight of only 173 g.

Towards the edges, the back transitions boldly into the shiny metallic frame. However, the transition is not seamless. A small gap in which dirt can collect remains. The OPPO Find X5 Lite does not offer protection against water (IP rating).

The green imprint on the power button, which pleasantly rounds off the design, is not easy on the eye. The buttons themselves, here the power button on the right and the volume rocker on the left, are easily accessible, but could be embedded a little more firmly in the frame. The connections of the OPPO Find X5 Lite amount to a USB-C charging or data connection and a 3,5 mm headphone jack.

The scope of delivery of the OPPO Find X5 Lite with protective cover, quick charger, USB-C cable and USB-AC adapter.

OPPO Find X5 Lite: Screen

If we move to the front, we find a 6,43" AMOLED display with a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels or 409 PPI. The refresh rate can optionally be set between 60 Hz and a maximum of 90 Hz. However, the refresh rate does not dynamically scale.

Parameters worth mentioning are also a 180 Hz sampling rate, an 8-bit color display (16,7 million colors) and a display brightness of up to 600 nits in sunlight. The display is protected by particularly hard-wearing Corning Gorilla Glass 5.

So much for the theory. In practice, the display of the OPPO Find X5 Lite places itself in the middle of the field. The AMOLED panel convinces with a high contrast with a rich black value. By default, the screen color mode is set to Vivid. Colors are displayed in this mode in strong, but not oversaturated and with a warm note.

The DCI-P3 color space is covered 100 percent in this color mode. The sRGB color space is even 135 percent. Softer colors can be achieved in the "Nature" mode. In addition, the color temperature can be continuously corrected in "colder", "standard" and "warmer".

The automatic brightness adjustment reacts quickly and adapts the display brightness to the lighting conditions. In high ambient light, especially in strong sunshine, the display remains reasonably legible. However, the OPPO Find X5 Lite feels visibly more comfortable in the shade. Animations are displayed smoothly thanks to the 90 Hz refresh rate. The touchscreen works precisely.

The display functions integrated in ColorOS cover all expectations that one can have of a mid-range smartphone. There is a (timed) dark mode, an eye comfort mode, a video color booster and an always-on display with a customizable design, among other things. Movie lovers benefit from HDR10+ support and Widevine L1 licensing, which allows Netflix to be streamed in high definition.

OPPO Find X5 Lite: performance

The MediaTek Dimensity 900 system-on-chip promises promising mid-range performance and the latest connection standards.

Manufactured using the efficient 6nm process, the Dimensity 900 is divided into a fast 8-core CPU (2x Cortex-A78 @2,4GHz and 6x Cortex-A55 @2GHz) and a Mali-G68 MP4 GPU suitable for mobile gaming.

When it comes to storage, OPPO leaves no choice. The smartphone is only available with 8GB LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB UFS2.2 data storage. Expanding the memory using a microSD memory card is an advantage, but rarely necessary due to the ample data storage. In the case of the OPPO Find X5 Lite, this even works without doing without a dual SIM (triple SIM slot).

Current connection standards such as 900G mobile communications (Sub-5 GHz), WiFi 6 (6ax) and Bluetooth 802.11 are also supported by the MediaTek Dimensity 5.2. More on that later.

The tests we carried out in AnTuTu, Geekbench and 900DMark provide an indication of the good performance of the Dimensity 3. A little fun fact: the smartphone is recognized by many benchmark apps as OPPO Reno 7 5G. This is not a mistake, because in other markets the OPPO Find X5 Lite has appeared as OPPO Reno 7 5G.

Above all, the performance in everyday life is decisive and there is hardly anything to complain about on this point. ColorOS 11, based on Android 12, is fast and smooth to use. Apps start without a long loading pause and remain in memory for a sufficiently long time in terms of multitasking.

Demanding mobile gaming is also no obstacle for the Dimensity 900. The graphics performance is sufficient to play games like Asphalt 9 or PUBG smoothly. Thanks to the liquid cooling system, the smartphone keeps a cool head even after long periods of continuous use without affecting performance.

The only upper limit is 90 Hz, which more powerful chips make better use of in demanding applications. Within the user interface, however, the Dimensity 900 is fast enough to operate the display at 90 Hz most of the time.

OPPO Find X5 Lite: user interface

In the case of the OPPO Find X12 Lite, ColorOS 5 means a user interface based on Android 11. For the OPPO Find X series, OPPO promises an update guarantee of 3 Android updates. Conversely, this means that the OPPO Find X5 Lite will continue to receive updates up to Android 14. According to OPPO's update policy, security updates are guaranteed for up to 4 years.

You can love or hate ColorOS itself: the look is a matter of taste, but OPPO gives the user the choice when it comes to icons, launchers and the like. Functionally, the system is well positioned. Special functions such as the split-screen mode, which enables two apps to be displayed on the screen, or the intelligent sidebar, which allows quick access to apps, are just a few of ColorOS 12's numerous functions.

In addition to the relevant Google services, ColorOS 12 also has bloatware (Amazon Shopping, LinkedIn, PUBG, etc.) preinstalled. However, the number is manageable and all apps can be uninstalled without problems.

OPPO Find X5 Lite: Camera

The camera equipment on the back is divided into a 64 MP main camera with f/1.7 aperture, an 8 MP ultra wide-angle camera with f/2.25 aperture and 119° field of view and a 2 MP macro camera with f/2.4 aperture and fixed focus.

On the front is a 32 MP front camera with f/2.4 aperture, which is most likely a Sony IMX615 image sensor. With the cameras on the back, it is reasonable to assume that sensors from Omnivision are installed.

triple camera

 The triple camera is primarily typical mid-range fare. What the camera setup lacks is that certain something that sets the OPPO Find X5 Lite apart from other mid-range smartphones. Other manufacturers in the same price range sometimes rely on higher-quality sensors and extras, such as optical image stabilization or a lossless telephoto zoom.

Despite the lack of extras, the main camera of the OPPO Find X5 Lite did well in our test. The recordings are colour-coherent and have a pleasantly warm note, without losing their naturalness. There is nothing wrong with the image sharpness and the level of detail, measured against the price range. In terms of image dynamics and depth of field, the OPPO Find X5 Lite leaves many other competitors behind.

It can be worth turning on night mode in poor light conditions. The takes a series of images with different exposure levels, which are combined into one image in night processing. In comparison, the photos taken in night mode are usually more detailed, truer in color and brighter.

However, the test also showed that you need a steady hand to use night mode on the OPPO Find X5 Lite. To take a picture, you have to hold the smartphone still for up to 6 seconds. Night mode rarely forgives wobbles, which is why you may want to avoid it if there are enough light sources and little ability to hold still. Here are some test shots at night, both with and without night mode.

The 8 MP ultra wide-angle camera cannot keep up with the main camera. Photos taken with it are less appealing in color and the level of detail as well as the image sharpness are visibly reduced. This is particularly noticeable when you look at the recordings on a large screen. Discolouration at the edge of objects (chromatic aberration) sometimes appears.

The 2 MP macro camera is primarily a data sheet filler without much use. As is so often the case in the mid-range range, the macro camera lacks the resolution to take usable photos. You can see a test shot taken with the macro camera here:

The main camera records videos in a maximum of 4K at 30 frames per second. Up to 1080 frames per second are possible at a reduced 60p resolution. The video recordings are stabilized with the help of electronic image stabilization, but only in 1080p60 or 1080p30.

Front camera

The 32 MP front camera produces good photos with natural skin tones and pleasant color reproduction. The level of detail is good, but the lack of image stabilization tends to shake pictures. Little light further enhances the effect. The front camera manages portraits quite well, apart from a few cropping errors.

OPPO Find X5 Lite: connectivity

Mobile

There is nothing wrong with the MediaTek Dimensity 6's sub-5 GHz 900G modem. In the test, the reception performance was consistently flawless and dual SIM worked without any problems. 5G is available on both SIM slots. The OPPO Find X5 Lite supports the following frequencies and bands:

•  GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz
•  WCDMA:  Bänder 1/2/4/5/6/8/19
•  FDD-LTE: Bands 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/17/18/19/20/26/28/66 (UL: 1710MHz-1780MHz, DL: 2110MHz-2180MHz )
•  TD-LTE: Bands 38/39/40/41
•  5G SA : 1/3/5/7/8/20/28/38/40/41/78
•  5G NSA:  1/3/5/7/8/20/28/38/40/41/66/77/78

The SAR values ​​of the OPPO Find X5 Lite are 1,05W/kg on the head and 0,85W/kg on the body.

WiFi & Bluetooth

The latest WiFi 6 (802.11ax) is supported, as is Bluetooth 5.2. The smartphone behaves perfectly in WLAN and convinces with a long range and good data throughput. Bluetooth also leaves nothing to be desired. Latency-free and high-resolution audio codecs (aptX, aptXHD, LDAC) are available.

GPS & Sensors

GPS, A-GPS, BeiDou, GLONASS, GALILEO and QZSS positioning systems are supported for navigation. The smartphone finds the GPS fix, which is accurate to within a few meters, after just a few seconds. In practical use, when navigating through town and across the country, the OPPO Find X5 has a strong signal, without any deviations worth mentioning when determining the position.

The sensory equipment includes a geomagnetic sensor, a proximity sensor, a brightness sensor, an accelerometer, a gravity sensor and a gyroscope. NFC is available for contactless payment, including with Google Pay.

Fingerprint scanner

Despite the conspicuous power button, the fingerprint scanner is located under the display. This works reliably and quickly. Alternatively, the smartphone can also be unlocked via face recognition.

Audio

Unfortunately, no stereo speaker made it into the OPPO Find X5 Lite. Instead, you have to be satisfied with the mono sound, which sounds a bit flat but has a decent volume. Headphones can be connected wired via USB-C or 3,5 mm jack or wirelessly via Bluetooth. There is no FM radio function.

OPPO Find X5 Lite: Battery

The battery of the OPPO Find X5 Lite has a capacity of 4500 mAh, which is common nowadays. Thanks to the rather frugal MediaTek Dimensity 900, an average screen-on-time of 15 hours can be achieved. Converted into days, a runtime of about two days can be achieved with normal use.

The battery can be charged quickly using the 65W SUPERVOOC charging technology. With only 15 minutes on the charger, the battery is already charged to 60 percent. OPPO keeps its promise to charge the battery to 31 percent in just 100 minutes. Reverse charging, i.e. charging other devices in the opposite direction, is supported.