Oppo Find X9 Pro

I've had my hands on a couple of Oppo phones over the past months, most notably the foldable Find N5 phone and most recently, the midrange Oppo Reno 14. In both cases, I was holding quality products that combined great displays with good cameras. I was therefore happy to try out Oppo's latest flagship phone, the Oppo Find X9 Pro. After attending a pre-briefing on the Find X9 Pro and hearing about all of the effort put into optimising the cameras, I was especially keen to try out the photo and video capabilities, and they didn't disappoint.

Starting out with the looks, the Oppo Find X9 Pro has a fairly traditional and functional design. In other words, it's a bit boring, a feeling I also had with the Reno 14. The screen has a completely flat surface with rounded edges on the top and bottom, and the phone's sides are straight as well, made out of aluminium. On the back there's a rectangular island where the cameras are housed, which protrudes more than usual. The heavy camera area makes the phone feel top-heavy and actually makes the phone a bit uncomfortable to hold without a case, which unfortunately isn't included in the box. It all looks a lot like Apple's iPhone, and it's unlikely you'll pick this phone for its design.

When powering up the phone, the Oppo Find X9 Pro's excellent screen quality quickly becomes apparent. The 6.78" AMOLED screen has Oppo's thinnest bezels so far, almost touching the edges. With its high resolution and up to 120 Hz refresh rate, the screen looks incredibly sharp and fluid, like I'm used to with other Oppo phones. This time, the screen can apparently go from 1 nit all the way up to 1,800 nits in brightness, which should help in preserving battery life, as well as ensuring readability in broad daylight. In the winter sun at least, I've been able to view the screen comfortably at all times.

Battery life and performance have been upgraded as well compared to last year's X8 Pro. In my experience, the 7,500 mAh battery is able to last up to two days realistically, depending on usage of course, while also allows for up to 80 W fast charging. A charger isn't included in the box, though. Performance-wise, the Find X9 Pro running the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 offers a completely fluid user experience, with smooth scrolling at all times and no issues with running multiple apps simultaneously. Rendering video, for example using the DJI Mimo app, is fast and smooth as well.

The great screen and good performance make this a phone highly suitable for consuming content and mobile gaming. I've been playing Brawl Stars a lot lately, and a colourful game like this really pops out of the screen on the Oppo Find X9 Pro. Similarly, watching movies or series on this phone is a top notch experience, with vivid 10-bit colours and as mentioned before, the screen's ability to drop to a very low brightness if you're watching in the dark.

The cameras are one of the main focus points for Oppo on this device. To list some of the technical things that Oppo has invested in to optimise camera performance, there's a dedicated fourth spectral camera that only captures colour for the other cameras. Next, images are processed using parallel instead of sequential computing, meaning faster processing. Also, according to Oppo it's the first phone to capture images in 50 megapixels by default (under good lighting conditions), instead of using pixel binning to combine multiple pixels into one. Lastly, there's a dedicated 200 megapixel telephoto sensor, which has a larger sensor like the main camera, which should lead to higher quality images.

In practice, I've found that indeed the Oppo Find X9 Pro shoots great photos, especially using the main camera. Even with lots of movement, like birds flapping their wings, the image still comes out sharp. Portraits come out sharp as well, with the larger sensor making blurry portraits less likely, though not eliminating them entirely. The telephoto camera I also really love, as I enjoy bringing the subject up close. Even under lower-light conditions, I was able to shoot some nice photos. For example, I zoomed in to snap some shots of kids playing on a football field after dark. Both in video and in images, the detail was well preserved, though I did notice some AI post-processing. When zooming in past the 3x zoom, AI seems to take over more and images quickly become less appealing.

The main 50 megapixel camera is the best overall camera, with the ability to shoot photos in the dark. Even in near complete darkness, it will spit out a usable image, something that the telephoto and wide cameras will struggle to do. Portraits, especially, consistently come out really well, with a good focus on people and a nice soft blurry effect for backgrounds. The 50 megapixel front camera is also capable of turning out lovely portrait shots, though they did come out blurry a bit more often than I expected. Still, selfies come out well and are clearly a class higher from what midrange phones, like Oppo's own Reno series offer.

When it comes to video, I was also impressed with what the Find X9 Pro delivers. I was able to shoot great videos both during daytime and in low light, with again the 200 megapixel telephoto camera offering much more creative options without compromising on quality. The optical image stabilisation benefits both photography and video on both cameras. The ultrawide sensor, as pretty much always, is the least of the three, but can be nice to capture panoramic shots during daytime.

iPhone has aimed to capture the attention of professional content creators for some time now. Oppo is providing similar functionalities with the X9 Pro. There's Log video recording available in a special Pro Video mode in the camera app. Here Oppo's O-Log can be enabled, and there are even two optional Luts (SDR Rec.709 and HDR HLG) baked in for those who wish to post-process their video. The Pro mode also conveniently allows for controls of things like ISO value and focus, with stops supported by haptic feedback. Coupled with the excellent optical stabilisation of both main and telephoto cameras, I think it's certainly an option to explore if you're into semi-professional videography.

Also, in line with the photography focus, there's a dedicated shutter button on the right side of the phone. This allows you to shoot photos and videos like on a real camera. Clicking the button shoots an image, while swiping it left or right lets you zoom in, which is much easier than pinching the screen. I like the idea, but unfortunately, it's really inconvenient when you're taking selfies, as you'll undesirably touch the button to balance the phone in one hand, and it starts zooming in and out.

Lastly, looking at the software side, ColorOS 16 running in the X9 Pro is a perfectly user-friendly operating system. I especially like the Flux themes that adds dynamic wallpapers and lock screen backgrounds. It's possible to add your own video which transitions into a static wallpaper, for example. It's all very similar to OxygenOS running on OnePlus phones and even Xiaomi's HyperOS. It just works fine in my opinion, and shouldn't ward off anyone with basic phone skills.

Concluding, the Oppo Find X9 Pro offers a great all-round package. Excellent battery life realistically lasting for two days, and excellent, versatile cameras are two main highlights in my experience. Performance is good also, with another great high-quality display that ranks amongst the best. Also worth noting is the ability to shoot video in Oppo's O-Log, allowing the video to be post-processed by content creators. Downsides are that the phone doesn't look very special in any way, and that the phone pretty much needs a case, as the camera module protrudes a lot and leaves the phone unbalanced in your hand. The dedicated camera button is also both nice and a nuisance, as it unwantedly zooms in and out when taking selfies. Other than that, if you're able to pay for the phone's premium price, it's a great phone to own that is unlikely to disappoint.