OPPO Find X3 Lite 5G Review: How good is this mid-ranger?

Brief Summary

As mentioned in the intro, the Oppo Find X3 Lite is aimed at folks who don't wish to splurge on the higher-priced models and would like to have a feature-packed phone for under € 500. The phone gets a 6.43-inch, 90Hz AMOLED panel, 5G support and gets the powerful Snapdragon 765G processor with 8GB of RAM. The phone also has a competent quad-camera setup which is on par with what the rest of the competition typically offers in this segment.

The battery is sufficiently large and, above all, charges extremely fast thanks to support for Oppo's SuperVOOC 2.0 technology that can charge the phone at 65 watts. The phone also runs the latest stable version of Android 11 underneath Oppo's own ColorOS skin.

Despite the plastic back, it is a nice-looking smartphone and suitable for anyone who wants to own an inexpensive, solid all-rounder smartphone. However, at 449 Euros, it does face competition from several other phones that also offer good value for your money spent.

Who is the OPPO Find X3 Lite 5G for?

Who is OPPO targeting with the Find X3 Lite? In my opinion, the target audience is people who want to have a bit of OPPO glamour in their homes but then aren't willing to part with €1149 for the Pro or even the €799 price tag that the Neo commands. At € 449, the Oppo Find X3 Lite is considerably cheaper and a lot more attractive.

Then there is the proven combination of Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G and 8 GB of RAM which ensures that the average user can get by without any problems. The GPU on this phone too is powerful enough and the phone also has a very good quad-camera setup even without the 'Periscope' cam that we find in the flagship.

Basically, Oppo wants users to think that the Find X3 Lite is a decent all-rounder that costs less than half of what you pay for current flagships.

What I like about the OPPO Find X3 Lite 5G

Design and finish

The Oppo Find X3 Lite is a good looking smartphone. The variant I received for review came in Astral Blue colour. While certainly not catchy as its more expensive siblings, I do think Oppo has done a good job with the design on the Find X3 Lite. The other colour options on offer include: Galactic Silver, and Starry Black.

All in all, I am quite satisfied with the look and feel of the phone. It would have been great if they used glass on the rear panel - but then the polycarbonate back also helps with better grip than glass backs and that is definitely a nice thing to have. Oh, and this rear panel is also great at resisting fingerprints. There is also nothing to complain as far the overall build quality goes and the Fid X3 Lite OPPO delivers on almost all counts. The volume rocker on the left and the power button on the right are well made and gives out that satisfying click noises when you use them.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a 3.5mm jack at the bottom. This was a good addition since most mid-range smartphones have also started the red of ditching this old - but very useful analogue technology. The bottom firing loudspeaker is also pretty good and is quite loud as well. But then, it's just a mono speaker. I would have appreciated a stereo setup here. 

Software: Android 11 with ColorOS 11

As for the software, I've actually become a fan of Color OS since returning to the smartphone testing game. I like the simplicity of the interface, which combines a relatively natural Android experience with value-added features. The versatile screenshot gestures alone did it for me. You can use three fingers to swipe across the screen for a screenshot, but you can also use variations of the gesture to create a scrolling screenshot right away or just select a section.

It's also nice that Android 11 is already being used here, because even with the developer preview of Android 12 already out, far too many smartphones still ship with Android 10. Oppo has also confirmed that the Find X3 series will receive two major Android up[dates and in that way, this phone is quite future-proof.

Performance: Game on!

Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage - sound familiar? Then maybe that's because it's not the most uncommon combination in this price range. For example, the OnePlus Nord also gets a similar setup. In fact, so does the Find X2 Lite which is this phones predecessor from 2020. Even though you may question the rationale behind using the same processor on a successor, the fact remains that the Snapdragon 765G even today, is a very capable mid-range chip.

I installed games like Genshin Impact, Real Racing 3 and Call of Duty and was able to play very all of these titles relatively smoothly (okay, it was a bit jerky in Genshin) and without the device heating up indecently. The SoC is absolutely sufficient for pretty much everything we do on our smartphones. The SoC is also so popular because of the built-in 5G modem and even if you can't use 5G yet: This also adds to the future-proofing of the smartphone.

The battery: fast, faster, OPPO

With a capacity of 4,300 mAh, you'll not only get through the day smoothly but with a bit of stretching it's even good enough for the second day. What makes the Fid X3 Lite special, though, is that it can charge itself at the same speed as its more expensive siblings at a blazing 65W. 

While many smartphone users charge their phones overnight, the Find X3 Lite's SuperVOOC 2.0 technology can help you charge the phone from 0 to 100 per cent in just 40 minutes! Now if you do have concerns surrounding fast charging, you might us read up on the true facts about this technology.

• Read: Does Fast Charging damage your mobile phone battery?

AMOLED, you pretty thing

Also on my 'like' list is the superb display used on the Find X3 Lite 5G. This AMOLED screen - at 6.4-inches has grown slightly in size compared to its predecessor. It retains the FHD+ resolution and the 20:9 aspect ratio from the said predecessor. The refresh rate also remains unchanged at 90 Hz.

The Find X3 Lite 5G also offers an always-on display that can be configured very extensively. A fingerprint sensor is integrated into the lower part of the display I found this fingerprint scanner to be very responsive. However, there were occasional missed unlocks. But then my fingers are much larger than that of the average smartphone user. I find it funny that the software even offers you different animations that accompany the unlocking process.

The only tiny point of criticism: The display edges could have been a bit slimmer. In return, the panel is nice and bright and claims over 600 nits, and I'd guess that it's still easy to read in the sun. I couldn't check this because the weather has been really bad where I am and I couldn't really use the phone under direct sunlight. 

The cameras

Apologies in advance but here in Dortmund where I live the weather was not so great at the time I tested the Oppo Find X3 Lite. Hence these 'gray' sample pictures!

These less than stellar weather conditions also tells a lot about the camera capabilities of this phone. Even with the weather going against it, the 64MP f/1.7 primary camera, the 8 MP, f/2.2 ultrawide camera, the 2 MP, f/2.4 macro and black and white camera did end up taking some really good photos.  My point is that for the conditions being what they were, the camera delivered pretty well.

During the day, the images look very realistic and are rich in detail. This is probably not surprising for most people, as most smartphone cameras achieve excellent results during the day, even on cheaper models. The zoom and night photos are great as well

In the following picture, you can see our legendary U-tower, which I think they only built there so I could find my way home drunk at night. Anyway, I tried the tower with the OPPO zoom and lo and behold: Not only 2x and 5x look good, even 20x offers an amazingly clear result. All this works without optical zoom because we don't have a telephoto sensor on board and by we I mean the smartphone, of course.

To be honest, I don't even miss the telephoto sensor, because all too often some of the sensors don't really get us anywhere and therefore seem to me as if they're only installed for marketing reasons, because quad-cam or triple-cam just sounds better.

Fortunately, Dortmund looks less grey on the night pictures and OPPO delivers here as well: Even in normal photo mode, the pictures don't lose too much detail and the noise also stays within a tolerable range. Better still, however, is the night mode, which makes the images look brighter and more powerful without overdoing it. Often enough, color fidelity is lost with night modes and/or images become overly bright.

Neither is the case here and so with this €450 handset, you get a camera that will serve you really well in everyday life. If you like, you can switch to Expert HD mode, which takes 108 MP images, and of course the other usual suspects - Panorama, Pro mode, Portrait, etc. - are all there. - are all in on the action as well.

Sample photos from the Oppo Find X3 Lite

 

Selfie camera

We come to the ghost train aka selfies department. This is the category where I'm usually not a good judge of what the shooter is good for because this face unleashes its full image-ruining potential on even the most expensive camera.

Compared to the main cam, the 32MP front-facing snapper is okay but doesn't blow me away as much. In portrait mode, the camera blurs too messily for my liking. Nevertheless, I have a few snapshots for you here as well. The more squeamish will have a quick drink before looking at them.

Here's the portrait mode again - insiders at OPPO report that because of this face, they're supposedly working on an anti-portrait mode that automatically blurs only the face.

What I like less about the OPPO Find X3 Lite 5G

Seeing that we've already talked about the camera, SoC, battery, and more, you can guess that there's not really much left that I don't like about the OPPO Find X3 Lite.

Wireless charging, second speaker, MicroSD card slot - where are you guys?

Personally, I miss wireless charging because I already drape my daily driver directly on my charging pad at my desk out of habit, and now I have to reach for the cable again after all. More annoying is that you can not expand the 128 GB memory via card. Why there isn't a hybrid slot for either a second SIM or microSD is beyond me.

I can understand why OPPO does not offer stereo sound in the Find X3 Lite. Unfortunately, the mono speaker has to suffice for me, but it delivers a rich, pleasantly clear sound that still sounds good even at low volumes and the volume is sufficient.

A little more courage would have been nice, OPPO

Then I actually have only one criticism on my list and that is the lack of courage to innovate. That OPPO is bold and innovative, we know not only since the OPPO X 2021 with rollable display or OPPO's Wireless Air Charging . But the Find X3 Lite doesn't reflect much of that, and while it's been improved in a meaningful way, it's also very shy.

The predecessor already relied on a very similar display with identical resolution and refresh rate, and the storage size, RAM, and SoC have also remained identical. Yet, I actually hardly want to rant about it, honestly. I will explain why further down in the conclusion.

Technical data

So, let's end with a quick look at the specs sheet of the OPPO Find X3 Lite and summarize what we get with this smartphone on paper:

OPPO Find X3 Lite 5G spec sheet

Model	OPPO Find X3 Lite 5g
Processor	Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 765G Octa-Core, up to 2.4 Ghz
Memory (RAM / internal)	8 GB RAM LPDDR4x / 128 GB UFS2.1
Expandable memory?	No
Dual SIM	Yes (1 x 5G 1 x 4G)
Display	6.43-inch, 2400 x 1080 pixels (410 ppi), 90 Hz OLED FHD+ with punch hole, 20:9 aspect ratio
Size	159.1 x 73.4 x 7.9 mm
Weight	172 g (Starry Black, Astral Blue), 180 g (Galactic Silver)
Connectivity	5G, LTE, Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), 802.11a/b/g/n/, Bluetooth 5.1, USB Type-C, NFC, GPS, A-GPS, Glonass, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
Main camera	64 MP, f/1.7, PDAF, CDAF, without OIS
Ultra wide angle	8 MP ultra wide angle, f/2.2
Macro	2 MP macro camera, f/2.4
Black & White	2 MP monochrome camera, f/2.4
Front camera	32 MP, f/2.4
Video	4K@30fps 1080p@60fps/30fps 720p@60fps/30fps
Camera Features	20 x digital zoom, panorama, portrait, night mode, time lapse, sticker
Battery capacity	4,300 mAh
Charging technologies	Fast charging with 65 Watt SuperVOOC 2.0 (0-100 percent in 37 min.), no wireless charging
Authentication	Fingerprint sensor under the display, face recognition
Audio	Mono speaker
Materials	Front: Glass (Panda Glass MN228) Back: Multilayer polymer with oil-repellent coating (Starry Black, Astral Blue) Glass (Galactic Silver)
Operating System	Android 11 with Color OS 11.1
Colors	Starry Black, Astral Blue, Galactic Silver
Charger included?	Yes
Price	449 Euro
Release	March 11, 2021

Oppo Find X3 Lite

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