Oppo Find X2 Neo Review: The cheaper alternative to the Pro still packs a punch

Oppo’s Find X2 Series has really put the company on the map in the UK, and the £599 Neo seeks to find a balance between affordability and functionality. Can Oppo pull it off?

The Oppo Find X2 Neo is one of a range of Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G powered devices released this summer, making 5G more affordable and bringing the next-generation networking tech to a wider audience.

In many ways, the Neo has similarities to the OnePlus Nord and Realme X50 5G. All three companies are owned by the same parent firm (BBK Electronics) so this shouldn’t be a big surprise.

Each of these phones have some variations to appeal to a certain market, and the pricing ranges from £299 for the Realme, through to £379/£469 for the OnePlus and up to £599 for the Neo. Side by side, I am not sure it’s easy to pick any one as an outright winner, as they each have pros and cons.

But let’s get back on track with the Neo review and forget about the others, for now. I’ll have a review of the Realme and OnePlus equivalents later.

Design

There are four Find X2 Series phones from Oppo. I haven’t seen or held the entry-level Lite model, but I can say that the Neo, Find X2 and Find X2 Pro are all very premium in look and feel front and back, with delightful chamfered edges.

The Neo also has a smooth curved display, almost indistinguishable from that of the OnePlus 8 (there is a slight size difference or else I’d swear they were identical), and Oppo has also included stereo audio here too.

With a 90Hz refresh rate and up to 800 nits of brightness, the screen is sensational and, while lacking the extra resolution of the Pro model, it looks pin-sharp with 402 pixels-per-inch from the 1080×2400 pixel display.

This makes the phone an excellent media consumption device, with the small pin-hole notch for the selfie camera being a minor distraction compared to phones with pill-shaped twin-camera cut-outs (both the Realme and OnePlus equivalents have this).

Flip the phone over and you’ll continue to see a high-quality glass finish that helps justify the price. Sure, £599 in 2020 is considered mid-range but it wasn’t that long ago that it was what you expected from a top-end phone.

Despite being not far off half the price of the Pro model, it feels excellent. It’s a shame there’s no faux leather option for the back, but whether you buy the phone in the black or blue version, you’ll be left very satisfied.

Oppo includes a clear protective case too, which allows you to still show off the finish. Out of the box, the phone is fitted with a screen-protector too.

Camera

The Oppo Find X2 Neo comes with four cameras on the rear, and one up-front (32-megapixel).

This includes:

• Sony 48-megapixel Primary camera; f/1.7
• 13-megapixel telephoto camera; f/2.4 (2x optical, digital zoom x20)
• 8-megapixel ultra-wide angle camera; f/2.2
• 2-megapixel depth-sensing camera; f/2.4

The rear camera offers 4K 60fps video capture, along with Oppo’s excellent ultra-steady video capturing, while up front video tops out at 1080p 30fps.

You can see samples of the camera in the separate post below. Below that link you can see some video footage too.

As ever, even Sony’s last-gen 48-megapixel sensor continues to impress and prove its worth. Any phone with the Sony IMX586 image sensor should perform well, but Oppo and other BBK brands have been using this camera for some time and clearly know how to get the best from it.

Would it have been nice to have the newer IMX689 sensor? Of course, but this is another reason for the Neo being a lot cheaper than the Pro.

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Performance

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 765G processor isn’t as quick as the flagship 865, but bear in mind that the cost of the 865 SoC is part of the reason for the Pro costing almost twice as much as the Neo.

For gaming, the 8-series processors definitely offer a faster performance, but the performance of the 765G CPU with Adreno 620 GPU is comparable to a Snapdragon 845 chip from a couple of years ago.

If I’m now somehow putting you off, don’t be. If you’re not playing graphically intensive games, or editing large amounts of self-recorded 4K video, you probably won’t ever put the processor under heavy load.

If you’ve read my reviews of entry-level phones, you’ll see that even more basic chipsets are more than capable of running Android efficiently, and if you were to think along the lines of PC processors; consider 765G to be akin to an Intel i7, with 865 being an i9.

Given many people are fine with an i3 for day-to-day computing, that hopefully gives a sense of perspective.

The phone felt as quick as the Pro in all my time using the phone. The extra power is simply not needed most of the time.

The Neo comes with an impressive 12GB of RAM and 256GB of (non expandable) storage.

There’s a 4,025mAh battery and 30W fast-charging, which isn’t as fast as the Pro’s stupidly fast 65W charging, but is still good enough to get you fully charged from 0% in around an hour. Suffice to say, with a large battery and the power efficiency of the chipset, this is yet another phone that will get you 5 or 6 hours of screen-on-time.

To further save power, the Smart 5G option will turn 5G off until you do something that asks for a faster data connection. Do a speed test, or start downloading a file, and if 5G is available the phone will latch on and combine 4G with 5G to vastly improve your speed. Once completed, 5G will be disabled until needed again.

Oppo also has the same 360 degree antenna design from the top-end models, ensuring you’ll get the best possible connection however you hold your phone.

As phones continue to get more expensive, a more affordable chipset is a must. Snapdragon 765G offers faster 4G connectivity (through carrier aggregation improvements) and 5G for a much better price, and MediaTek is also tapping into this market with its new Dimensity 720 SoC.

One difference between 765 and 865 is that you will only get 802.11ac Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 5). This limits you (on 5GHz) to 866Mbps, compared to (at least) 1200Mbps on Wi-Fi 6 with 865-powered phones.

Overall

I really enjoyed my time with the Neo, and having a chance to test out Qualcomm’s affordable 5G chip. I always suspected the power and performance was going to be impressive, and I wasn’t wrong.

As I have already said above, you would be very hard pushed not to think this was a flagship chipset powering the phone. With that gorgeous screen, great audio, and excellent battery life, you are getting a great package that might make you consider this over the Pro if you a) want to save a lot of money and b) are not too worried about the loss of the improved telephoto zoom capability.

You certainly won’t notice the loss of screen resolution, although the 120Hz display with a raft of HDR and video enhancements might be missed. Okay, let’s be honest, it probably won’t. Fantastic as the Pro is (the best phone I’ve used all year), it has features that you can live without.

My industry contacts near unanimously agree that Snapdragon 765G is the optimal chipset for phones being released in 2020, and I have to concur. I’ll be reviewing the OnePlus Nord and Realme X50 5G soon, but if you want the best spec mid-ranger, the Oppo Neo delivers.

5G Mid-Ranger Specifications Comparison

	Oppo Find X2 Neo	OnePlus Nord	Realme X50 5G
Size	159.4×72.4×7.7mm	158.3×73.3×8.2mm	163.8×75.8×8.9mm
Weight	171g	184g	194g
Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G	Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G	Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G
RAM	12GB	8 or 12GB	6GB
Storage	256GB	128 or 256GB	128GB
Screen	6.5-inch AMOLED, 90Hz, 1080×2400 pixels	6.44-inch AMOLED, 90Hz, 1080×2400 pixels	6.57-inch LCD, 120Hz, 1080×2400 pixels
Camera (rear)	48MP Primary 13MP Telephoto (x2) 8MP Ultra-wide 2MP Monochrome	48MP Primary 8MP Ultra-wide 5MP Depth-sensor 2MP Macro	48MP Primary 8MP Ultrawide 2MP Depth-Sensor 2MP Macro
Camera (front)	32MP	32MP + 8MP Ultra-wide	16MP + 2MP Depth-Sensor
Sound	Stereo	Mono	Mono
Battery	4,025mAh	4,115mAh	4,200mAh
Charging	30W	30W	30W
Price	£599	£379 (8/128GB) £469 (12/256GB)	£299

• The Oppo Find X2 Neo is also branded as the Reno 3 5G in other markets.