Oppo Find 5 - Android superphone?
Discussion
ZesPak said:
I'm not asking them to change the order though, still think the white one has the edge
.Hope it stays white though
PS: Asked them a little question through the order site, got a reply in hours, very personal (not the generic sort of stuff you get most of the time), and very straightforward and helpful. Refreshing change from any manufacturer tbh.
Edited by ZesPak on Friday 22 March 08:18
Luke. said:
Probably missed it, but how much did you pay? If you don't mind me asking.
Was in the op, same price globally:http://oppostyle.com/
$499/386€/£328 for 16GB, but I got the $569/440€/£375 32GB.
ZesPak said:
Was in the op, same price globally:
http://oppostyle.com/
$499/386€/£328 for 16GB, but I got the $569/440€/£375 32GB.
Ta http://oppostyle.com/
$499/386€/£328 for 16GB, but I got the $569/440€/£375 32GB.
Luke. said:
Ta
I'm still having a bit of trouble with the price tbh, oddly enough I'd be more comfortable if the price would be "up there" with the competition 
.Anyway, expecting it in the next couple of weeks... fingers crossed.
To compare: it's about £200 cheaper than the One and the Z.
Edited by ZesPak on Friday 22 March 09:44
It has arrived, got it since yesterday and here are some first impressions:
Build:
Well, the reviews weren't lying, this thing feels solid and looks great. The big black slate that runs over the edges makes it look truly monolithic.
It's quite heavy but nothing unnatural for it's size.
After playing with it a few hours I thought it was much bigger than my S2, it also felt like it. However, placing the two next to each other and on top of each other, there hardly is anything in it in width, while the Oppo is actually thinner (S2 has a non-stock bigger battery). In height of course, the Oppo is much taller.
However, the S2 felt a lot smaller, even holding it now makes me realise how "svelte" a phone this is. If I wasn't such a "real" smartphone user (rather than the occasional use), I would go for the 4.3" any day. The rounded corners of the S2 also help, while the Oppo isn't as sharp as, lets say an older Xperia or the iPhone 4 design, it's still a lot squarer than the S2, which probably makes it feel more it's size vs the S2.
The screen is actually surrounded by a very thin bezel that isn't glass, and is nearly invisible unless you really look closely. This could maybe help protect the screen a little from damage to the side, but I'm quite sure it's too thin to actually mean something in a drop. The S2 has a similar bezel but that's much wider and actually proved very useful in a drop on mine. Anyway, to the touch and feel this feels and looks like a solid phone, unlike the S2. However, the S2 has proven itself to be very very well built despite the feel of it, it has stood torture from me to a level you shouldn't expect from a modern smartphone. I don't think the Oppo will be quite as strong but I do hope so.
Screen:
Well, in short, this is the party piece. It's huge, runs very close to the edges of the phone, looks brilliant, amazing viewing angles and sharpness. It's quite surreal opening an app like Maps, and seeing text so small yet readable. I'm no expert but this is by far the best screen I've seen on any phone, at least on par with the amazing screen on last years One X.
Sound:
This morning watched a youtube video and, again, this phone blew me away. I've yet to hear the sound that comes from the One (which should be great apparently), but this is easily the best I've heard so far. It even had a bit of "bass", ideally to watch a film at home tbh.
Turned on my helmet this morning and the A2DP sound did sounded like it wasn't really that great at first, though it's hard to tell when you're riding, I'll try my A2DP speaker at home this evening.
Music through my in-ears sounded just as good if not better as on the S2 though.
Battery:
Well, there's deffo something odd going on now. I turned on the phone yesterday and it was about 60%, I managed to drop that to 30% in virtually no-time (set-up of the phone, downloading, installing,...). I'm quite sure that at one point I felt the phone burning through it's battery. I then charged the phone overnight, unplugged it this morning, watched a youtube move, drove for about an hour with music playing over bluetooth, and now the phone claims it has 98% left.
I call bulls
t on that one . If it isn't, that's fking brilliant. My S2 lost about 10% charge from the bluetooth music playing for an hour. Anyway, I'll see how the battery pans out.
Setup:
Well, a couple of small things so far: set up has been harder than I expected, when I switched from my Moto Droid to the S2, I just entered my credentials and it downloaded ALL my apps. This was quite brilliant at the time I thought. I expected the same but it didn't happen now. In the playstore however it's easy to see "my apps" (as in all the apps I've ever downloaded) and then install them. When seeing those apps now, I'm actually glad I can do it manually, so much apps I don't use anymore.
Then there was tasker, did an XML export on my S2 (tasker built-in backup), put that in google drive and then went on to the Oppo. However, there is no easy way to get your drive documents to a file explorer? To make a long story short: from Drive on the Oppo, I opened the XML, copied the text inside, then in the file explorer I created a new file, and pasted the text.
Honestly, Google? Why can't I export a file from Drive to the file explorer? The whole process was so cumbersome it reminded me of another smartphone I had. Anyway, it's a one-time deal and all my tasks are set up exactly as before, and worked straight away. After restoring the backup, tasker indicated in some tasks that there was a problem, and in all tasks it was because the task was supposed to launch an app that wasn't (yet) installed.
Oh, the setup menu's aren't really my cup of tea. They tried to make the many setup options of android more accessible, but imho they made it a bit worse by adding context menus like "general" "sound" "display" "personal". I'm sure that if this is your first android phone it's a better solution, but someone who's used to android like me, it's a bit of an adjustment.
One more thing, in the quick settings in the notification bar there is a button that says "end all". Of course, being a good techie, I had to press it.
That thing is fking volatile. It killed, amongst others, Tasker, all my widgets and my Launcher (yes, instantly installed novalauncher as I wasn't a fan of the original skin and icons). All of them reloaded when I asked them to though, still, makes me wonder why you'd ever want to use that thing, unless there's some way to configure it (add exceptions) I haven't seen yet.
At a telecom operator now, everybody's like: "is that the new HTC?" "Sony?"
Anyway, going to play a little more, most curious about the battery use.
edit: spelling
Build:
Well, the reviews weren't lying, this thing feels solid and looks great. The big black slate that runs over the edges makes it look truly monolithic.
It's quite heavy but nothing unnatural for it's size.
After playing with it a few hours I thought it was much bigger than my S2, it also felt like it. However, placing the two next to each other and on top of each other, there hardly is anything in it in width, while the Oppo is actually thinner (S2 has a non-stock bigger battery). In height of course, the Oppo is much taller.
However, the S2 felt a lot smaller, even holding it now makes me realise how "svelte" a phone this is. If I wasn't such a "real" smartphone user (rather than the occasional use), I would go for the 4.3" any day. The rounded corners of the S2 also help, while the Oppo isn't as sharp as, lets say an older Xperia or the iPhone 4 design, it's still a lot squarer than the S2, which probably makes it feel more it's size vs the S2.
The screen is actually surrounded by a very thin bezel that isn't glass, and is nearly invisible unless you really look closely. This could maybe help protect the screen a little from damage to the side, but I'm quite sure it's too thin to actually mean something in a drop. The S2 has a similar bezel but that's much wider and actually proved very useful in a drop on mine. Anyway, to the touch and feel this feels and looks like a solid phone, unlike the S2. However, the S2 has proven itself to be very very well built despite the feel of it, it has stood torture from me to a level you shouldn't expect from a modern smartphone. I don't think the Oppo will be quite as strong but I do hope so.
Screen:
Well, in short, this is the party piece. It's huge, runs very close to the edges of the phone, looks brilliant, amazing viewing angles and sharpness. It's quite surreal opening an app like Maps, and seeing text so small yet readable. I'm no expert but this is by far the best screen I've seen on any phone, at least on par with the amazing screen on last years One X.
Sound:
This morning watched a youtube video and, again, this phone blew me away. I've yet to hear the sound that comes from the One (which should be great apparently), but this is easily the best I've heard so far. It even had a bit of "bass", ideally to watch a film at home tbh.
Turned on my helmet this morning and the A2DP sound did sounded like it wasn't really that great at first, though it's hard to tell when you're riding, I'll try my A2DP speaker at home this evening.
Music through my in-ears sounded just as good if not better as on the S2 though.
Battery:
Well, there's deffo something odd going on now. I turned on the phone yesterday and it was about 60%, I managed to drop that to 30% in virtually no-time (set-up of the phone, downloading, installing,...). I'm quite sure that at one point I felt the phone burning through it's battery
. I then charged the phone overnight, unplugged it this morning, watched a youtube move, drove for about an hour with music playing over bluetooth, and now the phone claims it has 98% left.I call bulls
t on that one . If it isn't, that's fking brilliant. My S2 lost about 10% charge from the bluetooth music playing for an hour. Anyway, I'll see how the battery pans out.Setup:
Well, a couple of small things so far: set up has been harder than I expected, when I switched from my Moto Droid to the S2, I just entered my credentials and it downloaded ALL my apps. This was quite brilliant at the time I thought. I expected the same but it didn't happen now. In the playstore however it's easy to see "my apps" (as in all the apps I've ever downloaded) and then install them. When seeing those apps now, I'm actually glad I can do it manually, so much apps I don't use anymore.
Then there was tasker, did an XML export on my S2 (tasker built-in backup), put that in google drive and then went on to the Oppo. However, there is no easy way to get your drive documents to a file explorer? To make a long story short: from Drive on the Oppo, I opened the XML, copied the text inside, then in the file explorer I created a new file, and pasted the text.
Honestly, Google? Why can't I export a file from Drive to the file explorer? The whole process was so cumbersome it reminded me of another smartphone I had. Anyway, it's a one-time deal and all my tasks are set up exactly as before, and worked straight away. After restoring the backup, tasker indicated in some tasks that there was a problem, and in all tasks it was because the task was supposed to launch an app that wasn't (yet) installed.
Oh, the setup menu's aren't really my cup of tea. They tried to make the many setup options of android more accessible, but imho they made it a bit worse by adding context menus like "general" "sound" "display" "personal". I'm sure that if this is your first android phone it's a better solution, but someone who's used to android like me, it's a bit of an adjustment.
One more thing, in the quick settings in the notification bar there is a button that says "end all". Of course, being a good techie, I had to press it.
That thing is f
king volatile. It killed, amongst others, Tasker, all my widgets and my Launcher (yes, instantly installed novalauncher as I wasn't a fan of the original skin and icons). All of them reloaded when I asked them to though, still, makes me wonder why you'd ever want to use that thing, unless there's some way to configure it (add exceptions) I haven't seen yet.At a telecom operator now, everybody's like: "is that the new HTC?" "Sony?"
Anyway, going to play a little more, most curious about the battery use.
edit: spelling
Edited by ZesPak on Friday 5th April 08:22
Excellent write up, sounds like a great phone at a great price.
The offline files can be found in the Android/data/com.google.android.apps.docs folder although they are in individual folders. Any file explorer should find them.
Keep us up to date on the phone and I expect battery life to improve over the next few charge cycles.
The offline files can be found in the Android/data/com.google.android.apps.docs folder although they are in individual folders. Any file explorer should find them.
Keep us up to date on the phone and I expect battery life to improve over the next few charge cycles.
ZesPak said:
Tycho said:
The offline files can be found in the Android/data/com.google.android.apps.docs folder although they are in individual folders.
I know that, but it seems that the xml's there were "encrypted" in some way: unreadable by anything but Google Drive.Sounds good so far, any plans for any photos? I'm familiar with the S2 as my Mrs has one so a comparison to that would be nice if possible.
I've got to agree on SwiftKey it's excellent. I replied to an sms this morning and only typed the first letter, every word appeared in the options above the keyboard, its uncanny. I actually use the paid for phone version on all my devices including the Nexus7, tried the tablet version and couldn't see any advantages in paying a 2nd time for no apparent benefits other than a split keyboard I didn't like, maybe a larger tablet but not necessary on 7" IMO.
I've got to agree on SwiftKey it's excellent. I replied to an sms this morning and only typed the first letter, every word appeared in the options above the keyboard, its uncanny. I actually use the paid for phone version on all my devices including the Nexus7, tried the tablet version and couldn't see any advantages in paying a 2nd time for no apparent benefits other than a split keyboard I didn't like, maybe a larger tablet but not necessary on 7" IMO.
Just to add to the remark about the battery level - you will need to discharge and re-charge the battery a number of times for the chemicals to stabilise and the percentage displayed being somewhat reflective of the true state of the battery's charge.
It's part and parcel of lithium ion battery technology - http://www.apple.com/uk/batteries/
It's part and parcel of lithium ion battery technology - http://www.apple.com/uk/batteries/
Ok, small update after having lived with it for a couple of days.
The "feel" of the phone remains the same, feels solid as a brick, looks stunning and everybody comes to ask what phone it is (most guess Sony though).
For the software however, I've had my annoyances with Touchwiz but nothing unredeemable. A launcher solves the ugly iOS-style icons on it. The menus on the SGS2 are black, probably mainly to show of the properties of the SAMOLED screens, for which I can't blame them.
The icons and screens on the Oppo have the same properties: very much iOS style icons, and ugly standard widgets.
Here is a stock image to give you an idea:
This is easily solved by installing another launcher, I prefer Nova Launcher, and a couple of nice widgets (thousands to be found in the app store, look in this thread for inspiration
).
However, the menus make me cringe. Seems like they've done some adjustments just for the sake of it. Why would you do that? To me the whole part feels like some car tuners that does some great things to the engine, making a car from a big manufacturer more interesting, and then they start adding bling just to add bling.
Android in it's 4.x has really come to it's own, why a small manufacturer like Oppo would like to invest to adjust it, with a big risk of making it worse, is beyond me.
The only nice touch they have done to the interface is that you can adjust your quicksettings, add and remove the toggles you want.
Don't get me wrong, I still think the phone is great. And the icons, widgets,... are easily replaced. I just thought it would have been brilliant if they could make it look very good out of the box.
On the other hand, there's a separate forum for firmware suggestions (http://www.oppoforums.com/forums/firmware-suggestions.19/), and they do listen to a lot of them and try and implement it, so that's ffing brilliant imho!
For the keyboard, didn't really gel with the standard one so installed swiftkey (as mentioned above), still a bit learning, I'm used to swype but this "flow over space" thing is completely new and I'm trying to get the hang of it but for now I'm still slower on it than the regular "flow/swype".
Cool thing about swiftkey is that it "detects" the language you want to use, instead of having to select one. Doing a lot of correspondence in 3 languages, I often forgot to switch before starting to type, which would result in the autocorrect/swype to be completely "wrong".
In short: The Oppo sports brilliant hardware but the adjustments to android don't add much if anything. It's saved by Android's flexibility without a doubt (the ability to select a different default calendar app, different icon set and launcher, other widgets,...)
The "feel" of the phone remains the same, feels solid as a brick, looks stunning and everybody comes to ask what phone it is (most guess Sony though).
For the software however, I've had my annoyances with Touchwiz but nothing unredeemable. A launcher solves the ugly iOS-style icons on it. The menus on the SGS2 are black, probably mainly to show of the properties of the SAMOLED screens, for which I can't blame them.
The icons and screens on the Oppo have the same properties: very much iOS style icons, and ugly standard widgets.
Here is a stock image to give you an idea:
This is easily solved by installing another launcher, I prefer Nova Launcher, and a couple of nice widgets (thousands to be found in the app store, look in this thread for inspiration
).However, the menus make me cringe. Seems like they've done some adjustments just for the sake of it. Why would you do that? To me the whole part feels like some car tuners that does some great things to the engine, making a car from a big manufacturer more interesting, and then they start adding bling just to add bling.
Android in it's 4.x has really come to it's own, why a small manufacturer like Oppo would like to invest to adjust it, with a big risk of making it worse, is beyond me.
The only nice touch they have done to the interface is that you can adjust your quicksettings, add and remove the toggles you want.
Don't get me wrong, I still think the phone is great. And the icons, widgets,... are easily replaced. I just thought it would have been brilliant if they could make it look very good out of the box.
On the other hand, there's a separate forum for firmware suggestions (http://www.oppoforums.com/forums/firmware-suggestions.19/), and they do listen to a lot of them and try and implement it, so that's ffing brilliant imho!
For the keyboard, didn't really gel with the standard one so installed swiftkey (as mentioned above), still a bit learning, I'm used to swype but this "flow over space" thing is completely new and I'm trying to get the hang of it but for now I'm still slower on it than the regular "flow/swype".
Cool thing about swiftkey is that it "detects" the language you want to use, instead of having to select one. Doing a lot of correspondence in 3 languages, I often forgot to switch before starting to type, which would result in the autocorrect/swype to be completely "wrong".
In short: The Oppo sports brilliant hardware but the adjustments to android don't add much if anything. It's saved by Android's flexibility without a doubt (the ability to select a different default calendar app, different icon set and launcher, other widgets,...)
Edited by ZesPak on Monday 8th April 09:23
Another small update:
The bluetooth A2DP works fine, my initial impression must have been down to something else (tested it with the home speaker).
There are two other small things:
The speaker, as I mentioned before, is really, really great. The one on the Nexus 7 isn't all that great and is easily beaten by this.
The battery, another thing, also brilliant. I was worried about losing the swappable functionality of the SGS2 (I had two batteries), but yesterday was a typical day in which I would take the second battery with me. Unplugged in the morning, surfed some internets, did a 2h trip with the bike on Google Maps (that means screen on full brightness, data traffic, gps and bluetooth A2DP). Did a couple of calls (1h total or something). By the evening I had an astonishing 45% left. I'd guess that on moderate use, this phone will last about three days.
Can't mention it enough, but the display is truly amazing. I found the N7 display (~215ppi) very good after owning an iPad (~130ppi), but putting down the Oppo (~440ppi) and picking up the N7 really makes me yearn for the N7 with full HD/"retina" iPad mini.
Following speculation/educated guesses, a N7 HD will have about ~325ppi and an iPad mini Retina ~320ppi, so near as makes no difference spot on the same.
The bluetooth A2DP works fine, my initial impression must have been down to something else (tested it with the home speaker).
There are two other small things:
- The "vibrate" isn't great, it's more audible than you would feel it.
- Over bluetooth in the car, there is some small distortion from time to time. It's so small it's only audible when you & the other person are silent, so no big issue. From the sounds of it, and because I don't have it on A2DP, I'm guessing it's interference from the cell phone signal audible over bluetooth if that makes any sense.
The speaker, as I mentioned before, is really, really great. The one on the Nexus 7 isn't all that great and is easily beaten by this.
The battery, another thing, also brilliant. I was worried about losing the swappable functionality of the SGS2 (I had two batteries), but yesterday was a typical day in which I would take the second battery with me. Unplugged in the morning, surfed some internets, did a 2h trip with the bike on Google Maps (that means screen on full brightness, data traffic, gps and bluetooth A2DP). Did a couple of calls (1h total or something). By the evening I had an astonishing 45% left. I'd guess that on moderate use, this phone will last about three days.
Can't mention it enough, but the display is truly amazing. I found the N7 display (~215ppi) very good after owning an iPad (~130ppi), but putting down the Oppo (~440ppi) and picking up the N7 really makes me yearn for the N7 with full HD/"retina" iPad mini.
Following speculation/educated guesses, a N7 HD will have about ~325ppi and an iPad mini Retina ~320ppi, so near as makes no difference spot on the same.
Edited by ZesPak on Wednesday 10th April 08:30
PJ S said:
Sounds like you're really pleased you took the plunge on the Oppo.
Keep us updated, makes for interesting reading.
Well, given the choice of high end phones these days, this is kind of the default short-list and my thoughts on them:Keep us updated, makes for interesting reading.
- Galaxy S4: I loved my S2 and the fact that I bought two and kept it two years speaks volumes for me. It was solid, did everything it needed to do and was far from replacement time actually. The replaceable battery and microSD are great touches and I'm glad they still do them. Though, I don't like the new design at all, and I fancied a bit of a change from Samsung.
- Sony Xperia Z: Lovely looking thing but I'm not fond of a glass back on a phone. To me, that's just shards in a temporary state of being together. MicroSD is a great touch, wish more manufacturers kept to them. I, however, have some bad experiences with Sony TV's, playstations and laptops. Personally, it'll be a long time 'till I buy a new Sony product. I have no problem advising them to anyone though.
- HTC One: of the above three this would be my first choice. The device is lovely, the battery is big. The screen is supposedly one of the, if not the, best around. Device has a good form factor for the screen size. Tbh I don't know why I didn't went for it .
Another thing is exclusivity. As much as I hate to admit it, it's fun seeing people in awe over some "chinese crap".
Two more things (this is becoming a blog more than a thread 
):
+ Love the notification led, didn't really miss it as such on the S2, but love having it again (BB had it, iPhone didn't, Moto Droid had it, SGS2 didn't).
- Looks like there's not FM functionality built in. I've never used this so don't miss it but it would be a bother for the wife as she uses it.
):+ Love the notification led, didn't really miss it as such on the S2, but love having it again (BB had it, iPhone didn't, Moto Droid had it, SGS2 didn't).
- Looks like there's not FM functionality built in. I've never used this so don't miss it but it would be a bother for the wife as she uses it.
Took a pic a couple of days ago,
ltr: HTC One V (brilliant small device if you want a good, low budget smartphone), the mighty SGS2, Oppo Find 5, Nexus 7
So, as you can see it's no wider than the S2, it's also not thicker, mainly longer. People who state that 5" is almost tablet-size can use this photo as a reference between a small tablet (N7) and a large smartphone (Oppo Find 5).
ltr: HTC One V (brilliant small device if you want a good, low budget smartphone), the mighty SGS2, Oppo Find 5, Nexus 7
So, as you can see it's no wider than the S2, it's also not thicker, mainly longer. People who state that 5" is almost tablet-size can use this photo as a reference between a small tablet (N7) and a large smartphone (Oppo Find 5)
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