Let me make this a personal note. Anyone who has read my bio knows that I used to work at OPPO. I joined the company in 2015, after my Yahoo and TV5 stints. Throughout my stay at the Chinese tech giant, I had hoped for a flagship phone that would succeed the OPPO Find 7. I had left not seeing that hope fulfilled. But this year will probably be different. This year, we’ll finally have the OPPO Find X.
I first saw the launch confirmation — a modified version of which is seen above — on WeChat; it was shared by my former OPPO colleagues. Finally, I told myself, I will possibly get to see the real OPPO hero device that we deserve. It’s been a four-year wait.
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It’s not that the smartphones that the company has launched in between are handsets to sniff at. If anything, OPPO phones give more value for money now more than ever. Remember that they used to be really expensive. But just look at the likes of the OPPO F7 and F7 Youth. They look good, take great photos, and perform well… and they are priced as low as P13,990 ($266).
However, I believe that OPPO still has to flex its muscles to be taken more seriously as a brand. I believed that then when I wrote OPPO Find 9, where art though?; I still feel that way. OPPO has the capabilities; it just hasn’t placed everything it has in one hero phone. Maybe the company wasn’t ready yet. Until most likely the OPPO Find X, considering that the Find is the manufacturer’s flagship line — the first to get groundbreaking features.
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Remember the OPPO Find 5? That was one of the earliest mobiles to have a full-HD screen. Or the OPPO Find 7, which was one of the first units to feature a quad-HD display and the first to come with VOOC, OPPO’s fast-charging technology that boosts battery life to 75 percent within 30 minutes.
What tech do I expect — nay, hope — to, um, find in the Find X? I feel strongly about these three:
- Super VOOC. Demoed at MWC 2016, this allows a 2,500mAh battery to be charged fully in 15 minutes. A five-minute charge gives a full 10 hours of talk time as well. By comparison, the original VOOC Flash Charge gives us two hours of talk time after five minutes of charging. Talk about taking VOOC to a whole other level.
- SmartSensor Image Stabilization. This is the first sensor-based solution for smartphones, as well as the smallest optical image stabilizer of any kind in the world. The tech was also showcased at MWC 2016.
- 5x Dual Camera Zoom. At MWC 2017, OPPO announced a dual-lens camera system that allows for 5x “lossless” zoom while only being 5.7mm thick. This is thanks to the system’s periscope-inspired, horizontal-lens arrangement.
Will the OPPO Find X also have support for 5G? Even if the company has already partnered Qualcomm for the 5G Pioneer Initiative, I think it will be quite soon for OPPO to release a 5G smartphone. The two tech firms themselves said that a 5G handset will be ready in 2019. But who knows? They might just surprise us.
Lately, there has been an image showing an OPPO Find X with a triple-camera setup at the back. You won’t find any fingerprint sensor anywhere, so it may be found under the screen. Take note that the company was recently granted a patent for an under-display fingerprint scanner, so this is possible. It also seems that the screen has an aspect ratio of 19:9.
Let’s see how everything pans out in a few weeks, when the OPPO Find X is expected to launch. For now, let me keep my eyes peeled on the OPPO Find website. To say that I’m excited is an understatement. Welcome back, Find. I can finally stop going Nemo on you.
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