Oppo Find X2 Lite review: 5G for the masses

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Although normally on the peripheries of the UK smartphone market, Oppo has made big strides in recent years with a handful of solid devices at both mid-tier and premium levels. The high-end Oppo Find X2 Pro, for example, served as an excellent alternative to the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra and Google Pixel 4 XL.

The Oppo Find X2 Lite is on the opposite end of the scale and competes with a handful of more stripped-down and budget-friendly devices, such as the Xiaomi Mi Note 10. This device is compatible with 5G networks, however, and is available for a reasonable price, so we’re on the lookout for whether Oppo has made any major compromises.

Oppo Find X2 Lite review: Design

The Moonlight Black variant of the Oppo Find X2 Lite, which appears more midnight-blue than black, is neatly designed. The iridescent glass-coated frame is made from Aluminium, and sheds some of weight from the 217g Pro version without feeling cheap. Indeed, weighing 180g, it’s a little lighter than what you may expect. The device boasts a slender frame too, measuring 8mm in thickness versus, for example, the 9.7mm Xiaomi Mi Note 10.

The 6.4in Oppo Find X2 Lite is also available in a much brighter Pearl White coating for those looking for a bit more vibrancy. Its flattened smartphone face is perhaps a little more generic, however, while it uses a teardrop-style indent towards the top of the display for the front-facing camera.

The stylish, albeit fairly simple, chassis features a four-lens camera configuration arranged in a column, with volume buttons on one side and the power button on the other. There’s room on the base for speakers, a USB-C port, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack - which is often omitted from more high-end devices.

Oppo Find X2 Pro review: Display

Despite its 1,080 x 2,400 display and a sharp 408ppi pixel density - sharper than all its chief competitors - the Oppo Find X2 Lite’s 60Hz 6.4in AMOLED panel is otherwise a tad underwhelming. While there are no major black marks to report, it’s clear Oppo’s been forced to compromise in this department versus, say, the smooth and vibrant 120Hz 6.7in panel fitted into the Pro version.

Although Oppo claims the Find X2 Lite has a maximum brightness of 430cd/m2, our testing showed it actually hit a peak of 355cd/m2. This is a notch brighter than the Samsung Galaxy A90 5G, which measured 351cd/m2, but dimmer than the the Google Pixel 4a, which hit 437cd/m2 when tested, and the 4.7in iPhone SE (2020), which reached a whopping 571cd/m2.

Similarly, colour accuracy was weaker than in these aforementioned devices, with testing revealing 92.6% coverage of the sRGB colour gamut. Although it’s a decent result, colours are less accurate than the 96.6% registered by the Xiaomi Mi Note 10, for example.

Elsewhere, we’d recommend switching its default ‘gentle’ colour profile to ‘vivid’ to allow for the colours to appear less washed out to the naked eye, especially during video playback. Users can otherwise take advantage of an automatic brightness toggle as well as fully configurable dark mode and eye care settings. This latter setting warms the tone of the display based on the time of day at a level that you set.

Oppo Find X2 Pro review: Hardware and performance

The 7nm 5G-ready octa-core Snapdragon 765G mobile CPU is a strong midrange chip, and gives the Oppo Find X2 Lite license to perform better than you’d expect from a device in this price bracket. This has been fitted alongside 8GB RAM and 128GB storage capacity, which is sadly unexpandable.

Geekbench 5 testing showed that while the Oppo Find X2 Lite can’t compete with the blistering A13 Bionic chip fitted into the iPhone SE (2020), it outperformed both the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 and the Google Pixel 4a.

Single-threaded performance of 623 and a strong 1826 multi-threaded result is certainly a step up from comparable handsets, with the Xiaomi Mi Note 10, for example, scoring 546 and 1729 for single-threaded and multi-threaded performance respectively. The Samsung Galaxy A90 5G eclipsed the Find X2 Lite, however, scoring 717 and 2638, although this was to be expected given it’s fitted with the higher-end Snapdragon 855 mobile CPU.

We were otherwise impressed with the Oppo Find X2 Lite’s strong battery capacity of 21hrs 55mins, which is far superior to the Google Pixel 4a’s 18hrs 43mins, although under a couple of hours short against the Galaxy A90 5G’s 23hrs 38mins . As always, Oppo’s operating system allows for a variety of battery-saving settings to give users the capacity to adjust how much power is used.

Oppo Find X2 Lite review: Camera

The Oppo Find X2 Lite camera configuration comprises four rear lenses, including a wide 48MP and 8MP ultrawide lens which work in conjunction with a 2MP black and white lens and 2MP portrait lens. This is in addition to a front-facing 32MP camera.

Shooting is generally smooth, with images looking both crisp and vibrant, despite one or two areas of compromise against higher-end devices. The lack of a telephoto lens, for example, means users can only use 10x digital zoom versus the optical zoom capabilities in many premium flagships. Nevertheless, with camera configurations being fairly hit-and-miss in lower-end handsets you’d be hard-pressed to find a more reliable alternative.

Oppo’s software-based image processing features, such as HDR, ‘night mode’ and ‘portrait’ shooting, are generally flawless and don’t cause any input lag as would’ve been the case should the Find X2 Lite been fitted with weaker hardware. This satisfying user experience also, thankfully, extends to video. Users are given a host of options here, including filming 4K resolution at 30fps, 1080p and 720 up to 60fps, as well as smart features such as ultra-steady shooting.

Oppo Find X2 Pro review: Software and features

Powered by Android 10, the Oppo Find X2 Lite uses the feature-packed ColorOS 7 operating system, although it’s fairly stripped-back when compared with the Find X2 Pro. Omissions include tools like the O1 Ultra Vision Engine that rely on AI processing to improve colours and frame rate during video playback.

ColorOS allows users to fully customise the home screen with a variety of widgets, as well as choose from several directories from the classic Android drawer to a cleaner iOS-style home screen. With this ColorOS 7, notifications are slightly restyled, with users also able to go further and finetune the aesthetics of icons. A host of useful features return, including the dual-screen mode, which allows for using two apps simultaneously, an automated Smart Assistant, and an overflowing app drawer you can extend from the side of the screen.

As with all Oppo handsets, however, there’s sadly only one theme available. Oppo doesn’t grant UK users access to the Theme Store, so the full extent of customisation is out-of-bounds. That said, the default fonts and backgrounds are easy enough on the eye. Finally, as with the Find X2 Pro, the Lite version also misses out on wireless charging, although the device does thankfully feature fast-charging, with the device capable of charging from 3% to 50% in 20 minutes. The device also features a full complement of biometric security with a fingerprint sensor fitted beneath the display, and effective facial recognition via the front-facing camera.

Oppo Find X2 Lite review: Verdict

There are certainly some compromises to be made with the Oppo Find X2 Lite, as you’d expect with any device available in this price bracket, compared to the Find X2 Pro as well as other premium flagships.

Nevertheless, there are no major faults to report and the device is otherwise on par with the most alluring mid-tier smartphones, with a strong design and impressive performance levels, while its weakest areas offer no major cause for concern. These aspects would include its battery life and certain qualities of its display.

Given the Oppo Find X2 Lite is 5G-ready, however, and includes a handful of nifty OS features as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack, there are barely any boxes it doesn’t tick, while also offering considerable value-for-money.

The Oppo Find X2 Lite is available for £35 per month with an upfront cost of £29 on the Vodafone network

Oppo Find X2 Lite specifications