[Oppo Find 5] XpLoDWilD:
So I just got my hands on the device a couple hours ago, and this is so great I felt the need to write a review immediately.

When I heard the name "oppo", and saw that company from China, I wasn't expecting something spectacular. It had good specs on the paper, but in my mind I was thinking "Meh, it will be just a blown up chinese device". Well, I'm glad to say I was wrong!

The package

Opened the first cardboard box. This first one looked like a shoebox, pretty amusing at first, and inside is contained the actual device box. And there came the first great surprise: it's already original. The box actually unfolds, seated by a magnet. You then get your eyes on the phone, and under it you can find the classic accessories (earbuds, charger, USB) PLUS! Two programmable NFC tags. Nice little gift.

​

The device itself

The device itself is pretty standard:

- On the top of the front, you can find the front camera, earpiece, and a notification LED. Other sensors are pretty hidden, which make it very clean. On the bottom, 3 touch keys that light up when the screen is on (and they're otherwise invisible), from left to right Menu, Home and Back. Since I'm used to Nexus 4 touchkeys, the back key is on the other side.

- The back is also clean, similar to some HTCs. A simple and small camera sensor on the top, a tiny hole for the 2nd microphone next to it, a big speaker at the bottom, and that's it. There's a subtle "oppo" logo written in the middle, and I'm wondering right now if they shouldn't rotate that logo, as it's written vertically, thus you're not sure if it's "oddo" or "oppo", especially if you're holding it in landscape the wrong way.

- On the left side, the SIM tray, similar (if not exactly the same) to the Nexus 4 one ; you need a small extractor tool to open it, and under it the power button.

- On the right side, just the two volume buttons.

On the top lays the headphone jack, and the USB on the bottom.

All the buttons feels super sturdy and well-made, there's little to no jankiness. A sturdy device. The design is original and you cannot say "what's that iPhone" when seeing it.

​

Turning it on

Duuh, a boot sound, I hate that.

Okay first, the screen is GORGEOUS. I never had the chance to see another 1080p screen in a phone yet, but the Find 5's one is definitely one of the best screens I've seen. It doesn't have burning colors like AMOLED, and has just the right contrast. The viewing angles are way better than Nexus 4's (which gives blue if you look from one side, or yellow from another side), to put it straight there's simply no color offset at all from any angle. There a very small contrast increase when you look from the bottom or the top at a high angle, but you really have to be looking for it. The resolution is just great, it's beautiful.

Classic connectivity. I don't have my SIM card in yet, but it has all the things you'd need: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC (with a little tool to write some features to the provided tags), support for Wi-Fi Display, Wi-Fi Direct, etc. Of course, they use the normal NFC protocol, so you can Beam with your friends having a Nexus. The Wi-Fi reception seems pretty good, no loss of speed anywhere in my house.

Now, one big downside, the software. Actually, it feels like TouchWiz, and god knows I hate TouchWiz. It's like having a Galaxy S, with iOS-like icons (rounded glossy squares) and the same exact style of app drawer. The settings menu has been revamped, and it's a big mess. Everything feels just unsorted and messy, there no logical way to find out a particular option. And the Developer Settings menu lacks 90% of options.

The notification bar puts Wi-Fi and 3G on the left, notifications on the right (just like an iPhone). The top of the notification drawer is the Jelly Bean one, and JUST underneath you get gray gradients with quick settings icons (just like TouchWiz, again), and a old-style notification list, with the clear button at the bottom.

In the gallery, the Android's Action Bar has been removed to put a small shortcuts bar at the bottom, iOS-styled once again. The contacts app is also TouchWizy.

You can find some extra features in the settings, like gestures and motions to pick up a call.

There sure are some good ideas from Oppo's software designers, but they really took a direction waaaay too straight towards iOS (now, did I say TouchWiz because I'm not used to see them on an iPhone originally? Heh). Take the same color scheme, but with Holo design, and you'll be an epic win for me.

​

Wait, it's not all! Camera time!

From what I could see previously, it's no surprise that the Camera software is also not spectacular. It has that same iPhone inspiration, and both the UI and UX are very perfectible. The settings cannot be naturally scrolled, and it's a bit bad to use.

However, the Camera hardware is pretty great, at least on the video part. You can record the classic 480p, 720p and 1080p resolutions with the back camera, and 120fps video in either slow-motion or at regular speed in 480p resolution. This is something never seen before, and sports fan will probably like it, as you can record things moving fast in a smooth slow-motion.

The front camera allows recording in 720p, and has a pretty good lighting.

For pictures, even though both front and back support HDR, the quality is not spectacular. It's in the range of most phones, at least in medium-low light. The image is pretty noisy and grainy, and a bit blurry even when focusing as best as possible.

A sample from the back camera (click to enlarge):

​

Wrap-up

From a hardware point of view, the Find 5 is really awesome: great SoC (same as Nexus 4) with 2GB RAM, superb screen, nice speakers, notification LED, nice camera, original design, and the touchkeys are ideally positioned. It's a sturdy device, that tells you "I can live forever".

However, the software really lacks polishing (but CyanogenMod will take care of that, hehe). You can smell the iPhone inspiration everywhere, and it just breaks the Android experience as all the other apps behave differently than the system. Some apps like the Settings app has been revamped and became a mess, but there are some nice ideas like the Files app, having an okay design, and cool features like FTP or DLNA.

All in all, that's a 8.5/10 for me, because I know the software won't last long on my device. It's really worth the price. The back camera could be a little bit better when it comes to pictures, and a little refinement of the device shape (especially some edges) would make it even better, but I'm nitpicking.

If you want it, don't hesitate, you should get it.