OPPO Find 5 Review
by Vivek Gowri on May 29, 2013 6:55 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Qualcomm
- Mobile
- APQ8064
- OPPO Find 5
Obviously, battery life is a huge concern for any high-end Android phone. We’ve been at the point where handsets have to be charged daily unless you’re willing to turn off a lot of things - my father has been running his Galaxy S3 on EDGE just to squeeze two days of runtime out of it and while that’s an extreme case, that’s just where phones are right now. The main difference seems to be that sometimes, you end up with phones that don’t actually get a full day out of the battery. The OPPO is one of those phones.
The Find 5 has a 2500 mAh li-poly battery that has a nominal voltage of 3.8V, giving it a 9.5 watt-hour capacity. That’s pretty much what we’re seeing in high-end handsets these days, slotting in right between the 9.88Wh SGS4 and the 8.74Wh HTC One. Runtime slots in between the Nexus 4 and the Droid DNA, nearly exactly where the Galaxy S3 was and not far off the S4, but well behind the comparatively stellar battery life of the One.
That’s not too bad, but it’s important to note that the battery life has improved significantly with newer firmware revisions. My first battery life tests with the Find 5 were in the 3.5-4 hour range, numbers that I honestly didn’t even think were possible. My first reaction was that I had set up the test wrong or that the phone had shut off partway through the test with battery still remaining. Subsequent revisions have improved that, and the ~6 hours of battery life we’re seeing now is much more in line with what I had originally expected. In the process, I had the Find 5 die on me during the day more often than almost any phone that I can remember. It’s more reasonable now, but battery life still isn’t something I would call good. Tolerable, more like.
OPPO ships the Find 5 with a 5V, 1A charger that’s pretty small for a device with a battery this large. It takes 5:31 to charge fully, and I really think that the output of OEM charging bricks needs to increase to match the near-doubling in battery capacity over the last three years. I’ve been charging my phones with more powerful tablet power bricks for as long as I can remember, because that’s the only way to get reasonable charging times with the devices that have 10Wh of battery capacity onboard.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
39 Comments
View All Comments
nathanddrews - Wednesday, May 29, 2013 - link
As far as "finger friendly" designs go, I don't really care where the buttons are as long as they are set into the phone (concave). My only complaint with my S3 is that the buttons all protrude from the body, making unwanted power, home, and volume presses extremely common. Thankfully, I have a simple, somewhat thick $7 plastic slipcase that has button cutouts so I can freely handle the phone without ever accidentally hitting the buttons.Before today, I didn't know Oppo made anything but the best Blu-ray players on the market. It's a shame that the phone doesn't live up to the precedent.
cknobman - Wednesday, May 29, 2013 - link
"I think 4.7” is the sweet spot for display size, something that was reached with the last generation of handsets. There’s not really any benefit to going with a 5” panel over a 4.7” panel beyond just having a bigger number - it’s not like jumping to a Galaxy Note-sized 5.5” or larger display, where the device ends up being more of a phablet than a handset, but it does add just enough bulk to be on the cumbersome side."I just dont understand this statement. The GS4 has a 5' screen and is physically smaller than the OPPO and HTC One. I compared the HTC One side by side with the GS4 in store and it was shorter and thinner than the HTC one and actually fit in my pocket better. I also found that the .3 extra screen did benefit me quite a bit as it provides a better viewing experience for movies and games.
MantasPakenas - Wednesday, May 29, 2013 - link
"This is obviously less of a factor in Europe and Asia, where the prices are more equivalent (the Nexus 4 is a phenomenal value in the US through the Google Play Store, but less so in the rest of the world)"Correction - I'm not sure about the whole world, but at least in Europe you can: a) buy the device via Google Play Store in major markets, and even ship it outside those major markets if you are resourceful enough; b) buy it locally, where available, at an extremely close price point (at least that's the situation in Lithuania). In these cases, Nexus 4 is competitively positioned very close to US market, ending up ca 40% cheaper than flagship devices like HTC One or SGS4...
Kristian Vättö - Wednesday, May 29, 2013 - link
a) You need a local shipping address AND credit card (VCCs don't work AFAIK) to buy from Google Play Store, hence it's basically impossible to buy one if your local Play Store doesn't carry it yet. Of course, if you a friend in one of the countries where the Nexus 4 is sold through Play Store, then it's easy (I did this to get my Nexus 4).b) Here in Finland the Nexus 4 (16GB) currently costs ~490€. I got mine for 400€ when including all the shipping costs (the device itself was ~350€ but Google charged £10 for shipping plus another £15 to ship it from UK to Finland). However, the Nexus 4 was 600€ when launched here, so I saved ~200€ back in January.
fabarati - Wednesday, May 29, 2013 - link
Holy Crap! Something is cheaper in Sweden! A 16 GB Nexus 4 can be had for ~380€ (3300 SEK). But yeah, the price of the Nexus 4 was around 4500 SEK when launched here, about 520€ at today's exchange rate.tipoo - Wednesday, May 29, 2013 - link
Is the battery situated further from the SoC than the Nexus 4 or Optimus G? As far as I know, it was actually the batterys threshold temperature that actually triggered throttling, since the two were so close. The battery could only get up to 60 degrees before complete shutdown and made the phone throttle at just 36 C.flyingpants1 - Wednesday, May 29, 2013 - link
So spec-wise, it's an Xperia Z series clone. YawnPatriciaBau42 - Wednesday, May 29, 2013 - link
If you think Phyllis`s story is astonishing,, two weeks ago mother in law basically got paid $4919 putting in ninteen hours a week an their house and their best friend's ex-wife`s neighbour did this for eight months and actually earnt more than $4919 part-time from there labtop. applie the instructions from this address, Exit35.comTAKE A LOOKflamencoguy - Wednesday, May 29, 2013 - link
A version with a Snapdragon 600 has already been announced.editorsorgtfo - Wednesday, May 29, 2013 - link
LOL @ Polyurethane. Editors or GTFO.