Oppo, a little known brand in the world of smartphones is actually an up and coming player in the consumer electronics world, based in China. Started very recently in 2004, the company has dabbled with Blu Ray players, LCD TVs and various other consumer electronics products and had taken up to smartphones with the launch of the Oppo Finder last year, once the world’s thinnest smartphone and now, the Oppo Find 5. The Oppo Find 5 is, by all means, a flagship product. With great design, build and hardware specifications backing the device, Oppo has the audacity to make it one of the best Android hardware on the planet, but has it? Lets find out.
Video Review
Box Contents -
Right from the beginning, Oppo has vowed to impress us, and that starts with the box itself. Built like a premium jewel box, it definitely wowed us. Have a look at the our unboxing post for more details.
You get the phone, the SIM ejector tool accompanied by user manuals in a slick compartment, a stereo headset with mic, a micro USB cable and a compatible power plug inside the box. Additionally, you get configurable NFC smart tags for personalized functions in a single tap.
Design, Build and Ergonomics
A simple way to describe the design of the Oppo Find 5 in two words would be “Stealthy dark”. We have the midnight black edition and it is an absolute looker. The device is not exactly black though, it has a very dark blue tone to it, much like the midnight indigo sky.
Slightly curved corners and a stern flat front reminds us a lot of the Sony Xperia S, with a similar “chin” slightly protruding at the bottom of the phone.
The back is slightly curved to fit nicely with the hands, with a beveled outline meant to give it an unique look. The whole “invisible” design makes it look really slick, especially when the display is turned off. This slick device is fit to be used by a ninja.. or perhaps Sam Fisher, because it is definitely an awesome looking device any spy would lust after. The stainless steel strip around the camera on the back adds a certain “executive” look to the device, with its plain flat presentation.
Majorly built of high grade dense plastic, the build quality of the Oppo Find 5 is unparalleled by any other plastic based smartphone on this planet. That includes the highly praised Nokia polycarbonate and others too. While aluminium based devices are of a different breed, the Oppo Find 5 redefines how plastic based smartphones can be, and it is of excellent build.
The glass on the front is surrounded by a thin raised strip of aluminium, painted in black. While it may prove to be a minor hindrance while taking calls, it is otherwise a good decision, for the sake of the glass. Even the buttons on the sides are of very high quality, like the ones you usually see on a high end Blu Ray player. I guess that’s where Oppo took their design cues from. Made from a single piece of dense plastic, the body is solid and has no moving parts.
Being a 5 inch device, the ergonomics are bit on the negative side. While the extremely thin bezels make it super narrow and easier to hold in one hands, the overall height of the device makes it hard to fit into denim pockets, mainly the front sided ones. Most of the times, especially while riding on a bike, I consciously adjusted the device so that it would be sideways and not straight, which would have meant the device jutting out of my pockets. And no, front shirt pockets are a no go. Also, thankfully there are no controls on the top of the device.
Coming to the dimensions, the device is just 8.9mm thick and weighs 165g. Due to the smaller surface area, the weight actually becomes noticeable. While it is not a dealbreaker in any way, the device reminds you now and then that it is built like a tank and you wouldn’t wanna break someone’s head with it. Advantage of the weight is of course the extremely reassuring build quality, a good compromise we guess. Overall, the Oppo Find 5 is a slick stealth tank in terms of design, build and ergonomics. Lets move on to the hardware walkthrough then.
Hardware Walkthrough
The front is dominated by the 5 inch full HD IPS display with the glass covering it. The display has an ultra thin bezel with almost an edge to edge perception.
Above the display you have the 1.9 MP front facing camera, the ear piece and the usual pair of sensors. Additionally you have a notification LED too, which is the small dot on the right.
Below the display resides the three capacitive Android shortcuts that light up along with the display. One major inconvenience with the capacitive shortcuts is that they are very close to the display. So close that most of the times I was pressing the home key instead of the space bar on the keyboard. It was annoying at first and then I learned to be careful and thank goodness for Android’s multitasking prowess, most of the stuff I wrote in a message were still there after every mistake.
The display, the components and the capacitive buttons all are engulfed by a single piece glass that runs edge to edge till the bottom chin part, which in turn is a continuing part of the back. As we saw earlier, there is also the extremely thin aluminium strip runs around the glass on three sides, with a very slightly raised rim protecting the glass.
On the right side of the phone, you have the volume rocker, which have a bit of a shallow key press and also work as unlock keys, hence eliminating the dependence on the power key which is placed on the left side of the phone.
Interesting to note that Oppo has made the button placement comfortable for left handed users than the right handed ones. While it was disorienting at first, I slowly got used to it, mainly thanks to the accidental presses of the volume rocker waking the screen.
Also on the left is the slot with a micro SIM tray which opens with a pin(given in the box).
Over at the top you have the 3.5 mm audio jack placed leftwards off center.
Over at the bottom you have the micro USB port for PC connectivity and right besides it is the primary microphone for voice calls.
At the back of the phone is the 13 megapixel camera unit with dual LED flash housed in a stainless steel camera strip. Even the camera strip is nicely beveled and is scratch resistant. Accompanying the camera is the secondary microphone for stereo audio recording in video. Down below, you have the amazing loudspeaker that has Dolby-enabled hardware for crisp and loud audio output. More on that later.
So that’s it for the hardware walkthrough, lets jump into the juicy details then.
Display
Initially when we witnessed the Oppo Find 5 at the Mobile World Congress, there was one thing that completely stood out and that was the display. It’s no different now, and it’s easily one of the best displays we have seen on the market. Spanning 5 inches in the diagonal and sporting a crazy 1920×1080 resolution, the IPS LCD panel has all the ingredients for terrific performance. The display is closely bonded to the glass, in fact one of the closest bonding we have seen and that makes it look like the display is floating on the surface of the glass. Oppo calls this OGS(One Glass Solution) technology. The technology, which we feel is one of the outstanding features of the display, is explained in a brief animation promo here -
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