Oppo Find X3 Neo review: Powerful, and almost flawless!

Short conclusion: Unspectacular eye-catcher

Very few smartphones have left me fascinated (and in awe) with the design as much as the Find X3 Neo. And by the time I reached the end of my review, I was convinced that this is a really nice smartphone that can hold its own in terms of performance, and camera quality. 

Following the initial fascination, however, I felt somewhat 'bored' with the phone. Excuse my inability to describe that feeling for you – but I thought everything about the phone was a little too "alright". But don't get me wrong! I still think the Find X3 Neo is a very good smartphone and will to the extent of saying that it is a strong alternative to the Samsung Galaxy S21.

The only 'issues' that I can think of is the insufficient IP certification, the lack of wireless charging and the absence of a micro SD port. Oh, and lest I forget, I should add that I could have nitpicked about support for 'just' a 90Hz screen. But then I think 9Hz is a good middle ground to have between power-hungry 120Hz panels and slow 60Hz displays. 

Display & Design

There is no doubt that the Oppo Find X3 Neo is one good looking phone. The first thing I noticed on the Galactic Silver variant I received for review was the  fascinating spectrum of colours when rocking it back and forth. The build quality is excellent as well with minimal panel gaps, a very good vibration motor and a brilliant display.

What I Liked:

• High-quality build, interesting rear panel
• Bright AMOLED display
• Nice and compact (159.9 x 72.5 x 7.99 mm)

What I didn't like:

• Rough glass back looks like plastic
• "Only" 90Hz
• FHD+ resolution
• Fingerprint sensor sits too far down

The first thing I noticed about the 6.55-inch AMOLED display on the Find X3 Neo was the brightness levels it could reach. To test how good it really is, I used the phone under direct sunlight on several occasions. As expected, not once did I face an issue with text legibility in such conditions. The only things that I thought could have been better was the display resolution and the refresh rate.

Spec hounds might not be too happy with the Find X3 Neo's pixel density score of just 402 PPI, and the fact that it also misses out on 10-bit colour density - a feature available on the high end Find X3 Pro model.

• Also Read: Oppo Find X3 Pro microscope camera: How does it work?

Another small flaw is the positioning of the in-display fingerprint sensor. As was the case with the Pro model, it is quite far at the bottom edge of the screen. The sensor itself is quite good and works quickly and reliably.

tl;dr: Despite small flaws, there is basically nothing to criticize about the Find X3 Neo's display and build. I would place my impression of the Oppo phone roughly on par with the Samsung Galaxy S21 - and that is saying something!

Performance Overview

The Find X3 Neo comes powered by last year's flagship chipset - the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 and also gets a colossal 12GB of RAM and 256GB UFS 3.0 storage.

What I Liked:

• SD 865 still delivers good performance
• 12GB RAM, 256 GB of internal storage
• Does well in benchmarks

What I did not like:

• No micro SD slot

Let's grab the benchmark table from the Find X3 Pro review and add the results of the Neo model there - you know, just for fun. No - actually kets do that just to compare how different things are on this year's flagship SoC when compared to last year.

Find X3 Neo benchmark comparison

How does the SD 865 fare against the SD888?

Benchmark	Oppo Find X3 Neo	Oppo Find X3 Pro	Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra	Xiaomi Mi 11	OnePlus 9 Pro
Geekbench 5	919 / 3146	932 / 3153	942 / 3407	1085 / 3490	1112 / 3633
3D Mark WildLife	5.003 at 30 FPS	5.659 at Ø33,90 FPS	5.375 at Ø 32,40 FPS	5.704 at 34,10 FPS	5.670

The 12 gigabytes of RAM seems to do the SoC from last year good! As you can see, the smartphone does not lag dramatically when compared to its big brother. PUGB Mobile ran smoothly even on the highest settings possible. Of course, the 4K option was greyed out because the phone only has an FHD+ display.

The Find X3 Neo is also pretty good at thermal management. The smartphone did not get uncomfortably warm even during a 30-minute gaming session, and there were no noticeable frame drops. I ran the WildLife stress test as well just to see how well the phone  holds up under sustained load.

The Find X3 Neo is more than capable of handling all daily tasks you throw at it. The phone supports a wide variety of connectivity standards including 5G, Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6 and USB 3.1. While there is no option to expand the storage, the inbuilt 256GB space should suffice for most people

Overall, the Find X3 Neo is a very powerful smartphone. High-end games and apps run super fine and the phone is quite future proof when it comes to connectivity standards. But a microSD card slot would have been great!

Camera: Can take beautiful shots

As you may have noticed, I fell in love with the camera on the Oppo Find X3 Pro. While the Find X3 Neo has more 'toned down' specs, the results are still convincing! In my observation, the Fid X3 Neo has inclulcated several good things from its more illustrious brother. 

What I liked:

• New IMX766 sensor for the main camera.
• The primary camera takes sharp, detailed photos
• Good portrait mode
• Nice colors - even without 10-bit
• Dedicated telephoto camera

What I Didn't like:

• Ultra wide angle camera quality isn't great
• Ultra wide angle camera performs poorly under low light

Take a look at the camera specs of the Oppo Find X3 Neo

Camera specs at a glance

Module	Features
Main camera	Sony IMX766 sensor | 50 MP | f/1.8 | 24mm | 1/1.56" | OIS
Telephoto camera	13MP |f/2.4 | 52mm | 2x zoom
Ultra wide-angle camera	16MP | f/2.2 | 123° field of view
Macro camera	2MP | f/2.4
Front camera	32MP | f/2.4 | 26mm | 1/2.8"
Video	Max: 4K at 60fps

Let's now get to the part that actually-  the results of the camera review!

Main, telephoto and ultra-wide-angle cameras: Daytime photos

In bright daylight, the IMX766 sensor impresses with very good sharpness and pleasing colours. In some photos, I used my sister's dog as a model and was quite taken aback by the level of detail, which is evident in the countless little hairs.

 

When you switch to ultra-wide angle, the resolution drops to 16 megapixels. The telephoto camera with dual optical zoom, while of little interest to me personally, provides good sharpness when zooming in. Still, the shots look a bit over-sharpened for my taste.

The colour fidelity when switching between cameras isn't quite there. The colours reproduced by the main camera look the most natural, while the ultra-wide-angle lens produces images that are a bit too warm for my liking.

Colourful night mode

I found myself using the night mode on the Find X3 Neo more often than ever because of the great night mode pictures it took. I like how well the pictures of neon signs or other colourful objects turn out really good. As you can see from this ATM image below, the sharpness is just right!

Unfortunately, even in night mode, there's a big loss of quality when we switch to the ultra-wide-angle camera. Personally, I would rather leave the wider-angle camera in my pocket after this result. Too bad!

For Generation Y: Selfies and portraits

Of course, you also take selfies and portrait shots with the Find X3 Neo. Overall, I like Oppo's portrait mode as much as the night mode. The bokeh looks natural and the separation between foreground and background is pretty good.

However, the selfie camera, on the left of each picture, records quite unnatural skin tones. At night, the image is quite greenish, during the day it tends to be reddish.

With the new Sony sensor, you'll find one of the Find X3 Pro's wild cards in the Neo model too! The main camera takes very good photos and I would have liked to see the same good results in the ultra-wide angle. The fact that Oppo uses a worse sensor here is the main reason to go for the Pro model!

Battery & Quick-Charging: 4,500 mAh quickly full again

The Find X3 Neo gets a 4,500 mAh battery and supports Oppo's Super VOOC 2.0 fast charging technology that charges the phone at a phenomenal 65 watts. You do miss out on wireless charging, though. 

What I liked:

• Battery upgrade compared to the predecessor (from 4,025 mAh to 4,500 mAh).
• Super VOOC 2.0 with 65W charging!
• Effective power saving mode

Did not like:

• No wireless charging
• Charger quite clunky

All three Find X3 models benefit from the manufacturer's super-fast Quick Charging standard! 

If you're ever not near a power outlet, the Find X3 Neo's 4,500 mAh has enough juice to power your phone for two days. Praise is also due to the preinstalled ColorOS 11, which offers two effective energy-saving modes. 

• Does Fast Charging damage your mobile phone battery?

In "Super Power Saving Mode", on the other hand, the phone is put into a kind of slumber and thus you stretch the battery life by another half a day.

The increased battery compared to the Find X2 Neo is good for the runtime of the phone! At the same time, the endurance doesn't really matter as the phone will be full again in no time thanks to 65-watt Quick Charging. Buying a Find X3 model also means no more battery worries. Nice!

What I would like to give you along the way

This is the place for all the things that didn't really have a negative or positive impact on the overall result!

• The top and bottom edges of the phone almost look a bit cut off - a cool look with slightly rounded corners
• On the back, the Find X3 Neo tilts a lot
• The smartphone's stereo speakers are surprisingly powerful and remain clear even at high volumes
• In addition to the rather large Super VOOC 2.0 charger, a transparent case is also included in the box

Oppo Find X3 Neo technical specifications

Oppo Find X3 Neo: Specs at a glance

These are the specs of the Find X3 Neo.

Model	Oppo Find X3 Neo
Processor	Snapdragon 865
Memory (RAM / Internal)	12GB LPDDR4 / 256 GB UFS 3.0
Expandable?	No
Connectivity	Dual SIM, 5G, LTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC
Display	6.55-inch, 90 Hz, AMOLED, FHD+ at 402 ppi, Gorilla Glass 5
Size	159.9 x 72.5 x 7.99 mm
Weight	184 g
IP certification	IPX4
Camera	50MP main camera (f/1.8) / 16MP Ultraw. (f/2.2) / 13MP telephoto camera (f/2.4) / 2MP macro camera (f/2.4)
Video	Max: 4K at 60 fps
Battery Capacity	4,500 mAh
Charging Technology	65 W Super VOOC 2.0
Materials	Glass
Authentication	In-display fingerprint sensor
Operating System	Android 11 with ColorOS 11.1
Price	799€

Oppo Find X3 Neo

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