Last year, we were tremendously impressed by the OPPO Find X2 Pro (Review) which is arguably one of the most underrated flagship last year, and definitely deserved more recognition for its design and state-of-the-art hardware.
After nearly a year of anticipation, OPPO finally unveiled the next-generation’s Find X3 Pro last month which brings along a fresh design and new promises for an exemplary user experience.
On paper, the Find X3 Pro certainly has everything it takes to hold up against other flagship models in Singapore including the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra (Review), Huawei Mate 40 Pro (Review) and Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro Max.
However, are all the upgrades and features worthy enough for you to fork out S$1,599 (US$1,188) for this device? Let’s find out in our OPPO Find X3 Pro review!
Next-gen Design For Next Gen’s Flagship
OPPO mean serious business whenever it comes to the design of their Find series flagship phones, and the new Find X3 Pro is no exception. This time round, the whole design of the Find X3 Pro is said to draw inspiration from the futuristic elements of a spacecraft, and aims to evoke the technology of tomorrow.
With almost every flagship phones having an identical-looking front design, its exceptionally important to flaunt a rear design that stood out, and gives the phone its unique identity. We have seen that the Galaxy S21 Ultra achieved that with a contour-cut camera design, while the Mate 40 Pro make good with the “Space-Ring” camera design.
Now, the OPPO Find X3 Pro also revolutionized the design of its camera housing with a new Gradient Arc design which allows the module to blend smoothly and elegantly onto the back plate which frees us from those unsightly bumps. This is achieved by incorporating all camera components and the rest of its back panel into a single-sheet of glass that makes the overall package looks way more pleasing to the eyes.
Along with those beautiful curves around its edges, the Find X3 Pro is undeniably one of the sleekest flagship phone we’d seen so far especially with its overall thickness of just 8.3mm, which is even thinner than last year’s Find X2 Pro as well as most of the recent flagship phones. At 193 grams, the Find X3 Pro is also way lighter than most of its competitors like the Galaxy S21 Ultra (227 grams) and the Huawei Mate 40 Pro (212 grams).
Its amicable size and weight makes the device a pure joy to hold whether you’re using holding it vertically while browsing the web ,or horizontally while gaming. Likewise, the phone is also perfect for single-handed use given that its underlying ColorOS 11 is well-optimized for such use case as well.
For the Blue variant we’d received for review, it sports a smooth matte finish that does an excellent job in handling those ugly smudges or fingerprints which we normally see among phones with glossy back.
This color also goes really well with the design of the phone, so much so that it gives you absolutely no reason to use its bundled silicon case unless you’re one of those with butterfingers.
On top of all these goodness, the OPPO Find X3 Pro is also IP68 rated for water and dust resistance which offers you peace of mind whenever you bring the phone along for your next outdoor adventure.
True Billion Colour Display
Coming to its front display, that’s where you find one of the key highlight for this year’s Find X3 Pro. Dubbed as the “Billion-color” display, the Find X3 Pro is blessed with a 6.7” LTPO OLED panel that brings users an ultra-sharp QHD+ screen resolution as well as a butter-smooth 120Hz refresh rate.
Unlike its predecessor, the refresh rate on the Find X3 Pro is adaptive in the sense that the display automatically adjusts the refresh rate from 1Hz all the way to 120Hz based on the onscreen content. Its a smart feature that helps extend battery life without affecting user experience by a single bit.
While most smartphones typically support 8-bit color depth (16.7 million colors), the Find X3 Pro take things further by offering an impressive 10-bit color depth (1 billion colors) which greatly improves color accuracy.
All these geeky specs ain’t any marketing fluff. The Find X3 Pro’s front display is indeed top-notch from its smooth animations and vibrant colors, to its true-to-life rendering of photos and videos taken by any of its cameras thanks to the company’s Full-path Colour Management System.
Supreme Performance
Under the hood, the OPPO Find X3 Pro shares the same Snapdragon 888 mobile platform with majority of the recently announced flagship phones including the likes of the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra, Realme GT, as well as the OnePlus 9 series devices.
At the moment, the Snapdragon 888 mobile platform is the most powerful chipset for Android smartphones which eclipsed Samsung’s Exynos 2100 and Huawei’s Kirin 9000 chipset when it comes to benchmark scores among popular benchmarking platforms like AnTuTu and Geekbench.
As such, the Find X3 Pro certainly have the extra muscles to lift whatever heavy tasks you throw at it – whether you’re talking about multi-taskings or gaming at high graphic settings, everything remain buttery smooth.
For a smooth and consistent performance output, OPPO also equipped the Find X3 Pro with an efficient vapour chamber cooling system to avoid thermal throttling which would otherwise result in sluggish performance.
In the memory department, you also get 12GB worth of blazing-fast LPDDR5 RAM to facilitate seamless transition between dozens of background apps or browser tabs. Likewise, the phone also offers 256GB storage capacity which I believe is more than enough for majority of the users.
Cutting-edge camera system
Photography on the OPPO Find X3 Pro is handled by a quad-camera system that’s comparable to all the top dogs in the market including the Galaxy S21 Ultra, Mate 40 Pro and the iPhone 12 Pro Max.
This time round, its quad-camera system is headlined by a pair of 50 megapixels Sony IMX766 sensors for wide-angle and ultra-wide-angle shots, as well as a 13 megapixels telephoto camera and a 3 megapixels microlens. (You can refer to the handout above for more details of each specific camera)
In the default shooting mode, the main camera makes use of the usual quad pixel binning technique to produce 12.5 megapixels photos that looks flattering regardless of the lighting conditions they’re shot in.
With its wide dynamic range and expansive color depth, colors are able to be accurately depicted within every scene which allow the photos to appear true-to-life. Details are also ample in the photos thanks to the use of a class-leading high-res Sony IMX766 imaging sensor.
Image processing is excellent on the Find X3 Pro as it outputs photos that look natural in all situations. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about any overly dialed up contrast or excessively smoothed out skin in photos.
When shooting in low-light scene, the Find X3 Pro also have reliable AI algorithm that help brighten the scene and fine-tune details within the darker parts of the image. Of course, it do come with a dedicated night mode for extreme low-light environment too.
Unlike most other flagship phones in the market, the ultra-wide camera of the Find X3 Pro actually shares the same 50MP Sony IMX 766 sensor as the main camera. This naturally means that the ultra-wide camera will be able to produce images of similar quality as the main camera, and is certainly great for those who enjoy taking landscape or building photography.
While these features may sound enticing enough for photography enthusiasts, the Find X3 Pro still has another surprise in store for us this year – its 3MP microlens which allows you to take really close-up images of object to discover every single bit of fine details that are otherwise invisible to our naked eyes.
However, patience is definitely needed for a perfect shot as it isn’t exactly easy to focus with the microlens which works only when its exactly 1mm to 3mm away from the object. Despite that, its still worth every effort as you’ll sure be thrilled with what you get.
Finally, its also worth pointing out that the Find X3 Pro is capable of clicking impressive bokeh shots of close-up subjects as well. It has quick focusing and accurate edge detection which ensures the subject is well separated from the background. On top of that, it also brings delicate detail and a pleasant bokeh effect which I really appreciate.
As for selfies, the OPPO Find X3 Pro relies on a 32 megapixels shooter upfront that clicks Insta-worthy selfies with broad dynamic range and great details. Beautification isn’t aggressive at all, so you get selfies that appear natural and realistic.
Day-long Battery Life With Super Fast Charging
To keep its light on, the Find X3 Pro is fitted with a 4,500mAh battery – an upgrade from the 4,260mAh battery on last year’s Find X2 Pro. On a normal usage, the phone probably leaves you with at least 30% battery at the end of the day.
Charing-wise, you’ll get the same ultra-fast 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 flash charging that’s capable of delivering a full charge from 0 to 100% in around 35 minutes which is way faster than the charging speed that the iPhone 12 Pro Max or Galaxy S21 Ultra offer.
What’s new this time round is that the Find X3 Pro gets an additional 30W AirVOOC wireless charging support which was absent on the first two generation’s Find X series smartphones. To complement this feature, OPPO actually launched a new 45W AirVOOC Wireless Charger that’s sold separately from the device.
Similarly, reverse charging is now possible on the Find X3 Pro as well, though its limited to 10W. Despite that, its still faster than what we get from the Huawei Mate 40 Pro or Galaxy S21 Ultra.
Verdict
At S$1,599 (US$1,188), the OPPO Find X3 Pro is cheaper than most of the competing flagship models in the market with zero compromise. You get all the top-notch features including a class-leading front display, fastest smartphone processor, powerful quad-camera system, super fast wired and wireless charging, as well as a whole load of new innovation and features under the hood.
To be honest, there isn’t much you can nitpick on the Find X3 Pro which feels very much a complete package for a premium flagship experience. Above that, its sleek and stylish design is another major plus point as well.
If you’re interested, the OPPO Find X3 Pro can be purchased in Singapore through both Shopee and Lazada at S$1,599 (US$1,188) for the 12GB+256GB model.
