Oppo Find N5 Review – Is it a keeper?

It’s time to start my review of the Find N5 from OPPO. I have been using this phone now for a couple of weeks, and during my time, I have formed some opinions about the phone. I have also compared it with what I think is a worthy predecessor in the form of the OnePlus Open. Before I get started, I do want to say that this phone was an import arranged on a loan from Average Dad Tech Store.

Design

Without further ado, let’s get into the design of the device. The Find N5 is one of the thinnest foldable book-style phones currently available anywhere in the world, and I have to say this was one of the appealing factors that made me so eager to get hold of this phone. I really like the fact that when the phone is folded, it feels like I have a regular candy bar-style phone in my pocket or hand, and it is nowhere near as bulky as any of the previous folding-style phones that I have used. I really do like the way it feels in my hand. I can hold on to this and use it mostly one-handed. There are occasions where I need to adjust my grip to reach a menu at the top of the phone with my thumb, for example, but this is true of pretty much any candy bar or foldable-style flagship that I have used over the last few years.

Going around the phone, if we start on the right-hand side with the phone folded, we have an alert slider button that is positioned just above the volume rocker key. Then below the rocker key, we have the sleep-wake/unlock and fingerprint buttons. Moving down the right-hand side, there is nothing else there apart from some antenna brake lines, which makes for a clean bottom half of the phone.

On the base of the phone, we have, on the upper portion, the dual SIM card slot, a speaker grill, and a pinhole microphone. On the bottom half again, with it folded, we have another two pinhole microphones and a USB Type C port, which I believe is USB 3.1. This is also capable of SuperVooc charging at up to 80w. There’s nothing else to see down there.

Moving around to the left-hand side. This is taken up entirely by the titanium 3D-printed hinge mechanism, which has proven to be solid. It has a nice smooth finish, with no antenna lines or texture here for obvious reasons.

As we completed our 360, we reached the top. Where on the upper half of the fold, we have again a pinhole, mic, an IR blaster, and the second of the two speakers. On the bottom half of the fold, we have another pair of pinhole mics.

Around the front. We have our front display, which is measuring in at 6.6”.2 diagonal and is an AMOLED display. The screen uses LPTO technology to allow for variable refresh rates up to 120Hz. It also has quite a bright display with a maximum peak brightness of up to 2450 nits with an HBM of 1600nits. The resolution is FHD+ with 2616×1140 pixels giving a PPI of 431. Near the top edge, we find the first front-facing camera, which is an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens. Just above this is where we see the earpiece, which is positioned just below that top-mounted stereo speaker.

With the phone fully unfolded, the front display grows in size to 8.12 diagonal, and again, this is an AMOLED screen. The inner screen also uses LPTO technology to allow for variable refresh rates up to 120Hz. It is also quite a bright display with a maximum peak brightness of up to 2100 nits with an HBM of 1400nits. The resolution is QXGA+ with 2480x2248pixels giving a PPI of 412. However, this time, it is no longer made of glass as it has to be flexible, so this is using ultra-thin glass, and it does, of course, have the factory-fitted non-removable screen protector in place. On the far right-hand edge, hiding up in the corner, is where we will find the second of the two 8MP front-facing cameras, and again, this is an ultra-wide camera.

The hinge or crease that is formed by the hinge on the screen is barely noticeable if you are looking at the screen face-on. If you angle it in certain directions towards the light, you can, of course, see the hinge. However, in use, it is barely noticeable when you are running your finger across it. I am really impressed with the lack of crease for this design. It is definitely an evolution of the crease depth that was found on the OnePlus Open/FindN3, which, as mentioned, is the predecessor to this phone. The above image is after using the phone for nearly 3 weeks of daily use so the hinge has had time to settle in. if i am being entirely honest the crease looks worse in the pictures than in reality.

Another point of interest for the screens is that both the front-outward display and the internal folding display are able to be used with the OPPO stylus, which is available separately. I got very little use out of this as I have not been one for using styli on any of my phones going all the way back to the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. However, this is a nice option to have for those who want it.

The hinge is relatively stiff, and the phone can be held at various different angles of the fold. However, when you start getting close to either fully open or fully folded, the phone will snap into place as the spring mechanism will force it either open or closed. This has not been a problem for me, but it is something that I know a lot of people like to have. There are also a lot of people who like to not have this snap effect and have the phone open at varying angles, but also a lot of people who like to not have this snap effect and have the phone open at varying angles. I am undecided as to which one I prefer, as with my Pixel 9 Pro Fold, I was able to open the phone at all angles without it snapping. However, this isn’t something I do regularly, so I don’t mind the fact that the phone will snap open or snap closed once you get to the extremities of the folding motion.

Around the back of the phone is where we will find the triple camera setup array, and this is in a slightly protruding section of the rear phone. All the cameras are accommodated in a circular-style island. This is significantly smaller and shallower than what was found on the OnePlus Open, and again it is one of the design features that I prefer with the Find N5 as it makes for a more candy bar-style feel. Underneath the camera array and hidden under the rear panel, to my amazement, is where we find the wireless charging coils, which do not have any MagSafe-style magnets surrounding them; however, you can opt for optional cases that will allow you to utilise the MagSafe standard. I was able to achieve wireless charging without too much bother with a variety of different styles of charging docks, including stands and flat-mounted pads. In terms of speed, I was able to get AirVooc charging to work easily enough using the Oppo AirVooc stand, but I was unable to determine the actual charging speed in watts. It supports up to 50 watts of wireless charging when used with the appropriate charger brick and wireless pad/dock.

In terms of the camera, we have a 50MP standard camera, a 50MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, and then a somewhat disappointing, at least on paper, 8MP ultra-wide. This is a significant step down on paper from what was to be found on the OnePlus Open. We will get into the actual real-world results later on in this review when I compare the two phones’ camera setups.

One last point I want to mention while we are looking at the hardware is the inclusion of a very good-quality rear case that also provides hinge protection. This is one case that I will actually want to use long-term. This is a good thing as with the Oppo Find N5 being import-only status, you will not be able to just pop down to the nearest mobile accessories store to pick up a case!

That concludes the hardware tour here are the specs below for those spec hounds out there (you know who you are).

 

Feature	Specification
Dimensions: Folded	160.87mm x 74.42mm x 8.93mm
Dimensions: Open	160.87mm x 146.58mm x 4.21mm
Weight	Approximately 229g
Storage	16GB RAM, 512GB UFS 4.0 ROM, USB OTG supported
Display Brightness	Typical brightness of 600nits, peak brightness of 2450nits, and HBM of 1600nits
Camera Specifications	Rear camera features a wide-angle lens (50MP, f/1.8), telephoto lens (50MP, f/2.7), and ultra-wide angle lens (8MP, f/2.2). Front camera has an 8MP lens.
Shooting Modes	Offers various shooting modes including Photo, Video, Portrait, Night, Panorama, Cinematic, Slo-Mo, Long Exposure, Dual-View video, Time-Lapse, Sticker, XPAN, and HI-RES.
Video Recording Resolution	Supports 4K@60fps/30fps, 1080P@240fps/60fps/30fps, and 720P@480fps/240fps.
Front Camera Resolution	Supports 4K@30fps, 1080P@30fps, and 720P@30fps.
Battery and Charging	5600mAh battery with 80W SUPERVOOCTM wired charging and 50W AIRVOOCTM wireless charging.
SIM Card Type	Nano-SIM card/Nano-USIM card + eSIM
Cellular Network	GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz, WCDMA: Bands 1/2/4/5/6/8/19, LTE FDD: Bands 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/18/19/20/25/26/28/66, LTE TDD: Bands 38/39/40/41/42, 5G: n1/n2/n3/n5/n7/n8/n12/n20/n25/n26/n28/n38/n40/n41/n66/n77/n78.
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be), Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), 802.11a/b/g/n, WLAN display supported; WLAN network sharing supported, Wi-Fi 2.4GHz 2 x 2 + Wi-Fi 5GHz 2 x 2 supported, Wi-Fi 5GHz 160MHz, Wi-Fi 6GHz 320MHz supported, 2 × 2 MIMO supported, MU-MIMO, Bluetooth® 5.4, Low Energy, Bluetooth® Audio Codec: SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, LDAC, LHDC 5.0, USB Interface.
Connectivity	USB Type-C, USB 3.1 Gen 2, Earphone Jack, NFC
Operating System	ColorOS 15.0.1
Location Technology	GNSS, Dual band: GPS (L1 + L5), GLONASS (G1), BDS (B1I + B1C + B2a), Galileo (E1 + E5a), QZSS (L1 + L5)

Performance

Moving on to the performance of the Find N5. In short, you are going to struggle to find anything that could cause this phone to struggle. I have used the phone extensively over the past few weeks as my daily driver and during this time I have been using it for capturing photos and testing out features such as the Oconnect feature. I have also been using it for some casual gaming with Grand Mountain 2 which whilst isn’t the most demanding of games on the chipset does encourage long gaming sessions which is a good test for heat dissipation over time. Before I go too deep into the performance I want to talk about battery life.

I have been trying to run the phone down with normal usage over the time I have been using the phone and I have genuinely struggled to get it below 25% during a normal day’s usage. The one time I was able to get it to drop into single digits was the day I downloaded the game I mentioned above. I then proceeded to play the game for 5 hrs straight which did the job but I started at under 65 % from being out at work all day well. The phone then went into super power saving mode which basically shuts everything down and reverts to the basics only. I then forgot to charge it overnight that night and during the night I dropped from 2% to 1 % by the morning 7 hours later.I was then able to do an impromptu charging test to see how long it took to charge fully. Now, I do have to state that this test was not done on the bundled charger and cable as I haven’t taken them out of the box! The charger was completed using an Anker GAN charger which can output up to 67 w when a single port is being used. This allowed me to get the phone fully charged in just over an hour as you see in the photo below.

Had I used the included charger and cable I expect that this would have been slightly quicker but honestly an hour for a full charge of a 5600mAh battery is not something to be sneezed at and I normally charge via a 15W wireless charging puck on my bedside overnight so the charging speed is not too essential for me. Another thing to note is that the Finf N5 did not get overly warm even though i was snot using an officially supported charger but was getting SuperVooc charging showing on the phone.

Now i would have used the OnePlus Open to help gauge the performance of the Find N5 however in the time it has taken to get to this point in the review I have parted ways with the Open. I do however have another top-spec phone from OnePlus to pitch against the Find N5  in the form of the OnePlus 13. Now to keep it relatively fair I will be running the test in standard modes and I have tried my best to close all background apps down. Also, both phones had a full reboot before me running the tests. I also ran the test in £d Mark with the Find N5 folded for this first test.

These  are the results of the first test on Wildlife Extreme

I then reran the test with the Finf n5 unfolded which is how most people would use the phone for gaming.

Some interesting results here bearing in mind that the hardware on these phones are very similar. There is however one significant difference between the two phones other than the form factor. the Oppo Find N5 does indeed run the Snapdragon Elite processor like the OnePlus 13 however it is only the 7 core version instead of the full beans 8 core version that is found in the OnePlus 13. It is my opinion (based on no empirical data or fact) that this is one of the reasons why we get the lower frame rates and scores in the first test. However, these results are very much within the scope of what i would expect for this processor. In comparison the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 found in the Redmagic 9 Pro which scored 5182 as an overall score I am not disappointed.

What was more of a surprise was the comparative scores when I ran the test again with the Find N5 unfolded. The Find N5 actually performed slightly better with the screen open than it had when it was closed. So I thought I would test an idea by running the Wildlife Extreme Stress test on both devices. This will run the standard test 20 times to assess how the phones perform over sustained load.

From the stress test we can see that as the heat increases the Find N5 gradually gets slower which is what I suspected. The other interesting part for me in these results is the rate of the decrease in the scores. On the OnePlus 13, the scores reduce at reasonably stable intervals of around 400 points per test but on the Find N5 the dropping scores in larger and more noticeable chunks at around 600 points for the first few drops where it then stabilizes. This correlates to a significant spike in temperature on the Find N5 around the 4th loop test, this same spike is not seen on the OnePlus 13. The idea I had was that this is due to the heat dissipation effectiveness being used. I know that the OnePlus 13 has a very large cooling chamber that takes up a significant part of the phone’s construction and relative thickness. The Find N5 doesn’t have the same space to have such a large cooling chamber. so it will react to heat differently. This is noticeable from the point of you setting the phone up (which is a processor-intensive task) as it recommends in the phone clone app to have the screen unfolded during the setup presumably to aid with cooling.

These are just my opinions based upon having worked on phone’s internals over the years but as i mentioned there are no hard facts here as the above results are also largely subjective as they are not being conducted in a particularly controlled environment. I include these purely to be thorough.

As I have already mentioned unless you are playing high-end games such as Genshein Impact or are doing video editing at 4k renders you are not going to have any performance anxiety with the Find N5 it does everything in terms of what you expect from a smartphone fat and fluidly as you would expect from a flagship phone. It also doesn’t get that hot and was never unpleasant to hold for sustained gaming or media sessions.

Another area that is often overlooked is the signal strength and quality. Well, I am very pleased to report that I have had no significant issues here at all as like all my recently tested OnePlus devices the Find N5 offers some of the best service when I have been out and about away from Wifi. It is very rare for me to lose signal and the phone is fast to pick up on lost signals if and when it does drop. Clearly the guys at Oppo are drinking from the same Coolaid as those a OnePlus. Please note that I have the Global version and although the Chinese version of the phone has the same hardware there is a notable difference in data speeds between the two variants with the Chinese version being significantly slower. Also please double-check that the phone will work on your carrier particularly for those based in the US as they are a bit more picky about phones on different bands than we are in Europe.

Software

One of the areas that I was really interested in was the software as this will be my first time using the Color OS software. I was very keen to see what the differences over Oxygen OS were going to be and if I would get with it in the same way as I have done with Oxygen OS in the past. The very good news here is that if you hadn’t told me that it was a different OS I would be none the wiser as the menus are virtually identical. There is one significant addition to the software which I have covered in a separate article which is the use of Connect to work with my Mac. I have written this all up in another article here.

I really like the way that multitasking is implemented on Colour OS and except for the name this is the same as it was on the OnePlus Open but here it is called Boundless View instead of Open Canvas. This will allow you to run up to 3 full-size apps at the same time in an expanded window format with the ability to switch between them smoothly and fluidly. I would go as far as saying that this is better than the multitasking that has been implemented on the Galaxy Fold lineup and much better for 2+ apps than what can be done on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold as well. quite regularly I will find that I can have 2 or more apps open when I am using the phone unfolded. There are also useful little touches like when you are trying to share content from one app to another it will open a floating window of the app being shared too over the app you are working from see the image below for an example of this.

Here is a brief video of the Boundless View UI in action.

Here is a more normal multitasking view where I am using two apps side by side. These can of course be set as app pairs and also changed between horizontal and vertical orientation at your leisure by pressing the 3 dots at the top of each app.

I do genuinely find doing things like the above much easier when I am able to have two apps open at the same times side by side extremely useful especially when I am planning a trip or doing research on a topic. I have even started to adopt this workflow practice a lot more on my Mac at home so much so that I invested in a wide-screen monitor about a year ago to allow me to have multiple windows open next to each other.

As for all the other things you would expect from a high-end modern Android 15 smartphone it is all present and correct. There was very little in terms of bloatware which was indeed another concern with this being a Chinese manufacturer. I am not surprised by this as the sister company to Oppo, Oneplus has always been very good at limiting the amount of bloat they include as well.

In terms of software support, you can expect up to 4 years of OS updates and a further 2 years of security updates which whilst not as good as the likes of Google and Samsung who offer 7 is more than good enough for most people. In the short time I have had the phone I have already received one update that was just a few bug fixes and the March security update so it looks good so far.

You cannot talk about software these days without talking about AI and of course, as you would expect we have got AI on board in various different guises. You do of course have Google Gemini here at the phone’s AI core. In addition to this, you have some of OPPO’s own AI implementation (maybe with some help from Google) this can be found in the Photos app with some AI editing tools that work pretty well in making edits to your photos. You all have an AI Summary and Transcript tool in the Notes app which I find myself using a lot more. Here’s a voice note that was converted to a transcript and then edited using AI

In the most recent update, there was apparently an added function for call recording to notes which I have not been able to get to work, but in fairness, I don’t use the OPPO dialer as I prefer Google’s own version.

Another feature that I like to see implemented here is the use of the Dynamic Island Clone which uses the space on either side of the front-facing camera lens to display certain activities

from some apps.

It is somewhat limited as to what apps it can work in though which is a bit of a shame as I would like it to work in apps other than the few that are available. For example, I use Musicolet as my Music player and this does not work as a Live Alert App whereas Spotify does.

Overall I am very pleased with the software as I said if you are familiar with Oxygen OS then you will be right at home here with Colour OS.

Next up is the big one that will influence whether I keep the Find N5 or not. The camera.

Camera

I have done a more thorough and in-depth write-up of the camera if you want to check it out you can do so here. As a reminder here are the specs for the camera

	Oppo Find N5
Rear Primary	50 MP, f/1.9, 21mm (wide), 1/1.56”, PDAF, OIS
Rear tele	50 MP, f/2.7, 75mm (periscope telephoto), 1/2.75″, 3x optical zoom, PDAF (10cm – ∞), OIS
Rea ultra-wide	8 MP, f/2.2, 15mm, 116˚, (ultra-wide), 1/4.0”, 1.12µm, AF
Front Inside	8MP, f/2.4, 21mm (ultra-wide), 1/4.0”, 1.12µm
Cover Display	8MP, f/2.4, 21mm (ultra-wide), 1/4.0”, 1.12µm

I am going to try and summarize my findings here for you. The first thing I do want to say is don’t believe the hype and what is being reported by quick hands-on tests when it comes to the cameras. I went into the test linked above thinking that the OnePlus Open would wash the floor with the OPPO but it didn’t. yes it was better in certain scenarios and yes the 8MP Ultra-wide is a bit crap but that is also the lens I use the least of all of them. However, under the right conditions, even the 8 MP Ultra-wide camera can produce usable and serviceable results. I have used the phone to capture a wide variety of shots as can be seen in the small gallery below and for the most part I have been very happy with the results. it even does a good job at close-up product shots which is important to me.

 

 

Product style shots gallery

I am highly satisfied with the OPPO Find N5. As a point-and-shoot user, I will never fully utilise the capabilities of any camera on a smartphone. However, the Find N5 excels in the style of photography I prefer, and I believe this would be the case for most users. The form factor and hardware of the OPPO Find N5 are more compelling to me than a camera with a large sensor size and the highest optical zoom lengths. If I prioritise these features, I would consider phones like the Xiaomi Ultra 15 or the Samsung S25 Ultra.

I am so impressed with the photography capabilities of the OPPO Find N5 that I have since sold the OnePlus Open, as mentioned earlier. In rare scenarios where I anticipate editing and cropping my photos, I use my OnePlus 13 as the camera, as its performance is superior. However, this is only a unique case where I require a significant improvement over the Oppo Find N5.

So, in conclusion, the printed specifications of the Oppo Find N5 cameras may not be particularly reassuring. However, it’s important to note that the printed specifications and the actual performance of the camera system are two entirely different things.

Conclusion and Decision

I am very pleased that I have been able to get the OPPO Find N5 and put it through its paces as this is a very worthy successor to the OnePlus Open which was one of my favourite foldables that was readily available in the Western markets. it was actually after using it for a short period of time I owned it better than my previous favourite the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. I have to say that I was very excited by the prospect of the OPPO Find N5 and what could have been with the rumoured OnePlus Open 2 (sadly that never happened). I had my concerns going into this review from what I had seen in terms of the specs and various videos I had seen about the phone from initial hands-on impressions. The good news is firstly I am not that angry that this never arrived as the OnePlus Open 2 in the UK as we have an excellent option to import phones like this from China via stores like the Average Dad Tech Store. Secondly, the OPPO Find N5 is a fantastic phone from a hardware, camera and software perspective and with Colour OS being so similar to what I had grown to enjoy about Oxygen OS I have been very happy.

Whilst I appreciate that this phone may not be for everyone it is definitely up there in my top three folding phone’s that I have tried to date along with the other two mentioned in this conclusion. I am just somewhat saddened that OPPO has decided that it is not in the interest to launch the phone in countries in Europe or America as I feel that more people should be exposed to this phone. It certainly gives some pause to the thoughts of looking at the likes of Samsung and Google with what can be done in a folding form factor.

I have decided, as you may have gathered from the recurring theme of this article, to keep the OPPO Find N5. I have completed the purchase through Average Dad Tech Store, who kindly lent me the phone for review. If you’re interested in buying one of these amazing phones, be sure to check out the links I’ve provided for this and other models that are not available in Western markets. There’s so much more to explore beyond just Apple, Samsung, and Google when it comes to smartphones.