OPPO Find X3 Lite review

While there’s no real standout features on the OPPO Find X3 Lite, it’s a highly capable phone that runs like a dream, for days at a time, and looks damn good doing it. The macro lens isn’t great, but the rest of the camera setup is on par with the quality we’ve come to expect from OPPO’s shooters. It’s missing wireless charging and an IP waterproof rating, but at just $749 for a powerful 5G device, it’s still a solid deal.

I’ve spent the last couple of months digging into the new OPPO Find X3 flagship lineup. First, I was wowed by the top-range Find X3 Pro, then mostly impressed by the Find X3 Neo, but disappointed by the overblown price tag. Now, it’s time to take a deep dive into the baby of the Find X3 family, the Find X3 Lite.

At around $450 cheaper than the Neo and less than half the price of the Pro, on paper, the Lite seems like a good compromise for those looking for some flagship features without the high cost. But how does it stack up in practice?

These days, you’d be hard-pressed to find a sub-$1,000 phone in any manufacturer’s flagship lineup, so the OPPO Find X3 Lite’s $749 price tag is certainly an appealing one. But after spending a few weeks with it, I can’t help but wonder if the Find X3 Lite really belongs in the Find X3 lineup. I’ll get into that a little more later, but at face value, it’s a great deal that packs plenty of features into a budget-friendly package.

For those looking to buy it outright, the cheapest you’ll find it is at Amazon, which sells it for $399. Otherwise, it’s available on a plan through Optus and Woolworths Mobile.

The Find X3 Lite takes much more after the Neo than it does the space-age Pro model, but it’s a stylish, practical design that just works.

It comes in two colours, Starry Black and Astral Blue, both of which sport a textured matte backing which, despite being plastic, doesn’t feel too cheap. It’s a nice contrast to the glossy edges and camera bump, and the overall package is grippy and comfortable to hold - even more comfortable, I’d say, than most glass-backed phones.

Around the front, you’ll find a generous 6.4-inch AMOLED screen (with slightly thicker bezels than I’d like), with a smooth 90Hz refresh rate and FHD+ resolution. It makes for vibrant colours, deep blacks and ultra-crisp graphics. It’s only disrupted by the selfie camera (more on this next), located in the top-left of the display.

I’ve always said that OPPO knows how to make a good smartphone camera, and for the most part, the Find X3 Lite is a great example. We’re talking a quad-cam setup with a 64MP main camera, 8MP ultra-wide lens, 2MP macro lens and 2MP mono camera. In good lighting (and with OPPO’s AI Scene Enhancement software), colours are true-to-life and the final product is a snap you wouldn’t hesitate to splatter across your socials. Low-light shots weren’t the best I’ve ever seen, but still decent enough - especially with night mode on.

However - and it pains me to say this - the X3 Lite might be the first OPPO camera to disappoint me, even if only in one aspect: The macro lens. A 2MP macro lens is never going to capture National Geographic-level shots, but I’ve always found OPPO’s macro lenses to be more than capable. That’s not the case for the lens you’ll find on the X3 Lite. Colours are washed out, and photos come out blurry and noisy, almost to the point of being completely unusable. Bummer.

Under the hood, there’s lots to love about the OPPO Find X3 Lite. It runs on the mid-range Snapdragon 765G chipset, which just so happens to be the same processor found on the $999 Google Pixel 5. It’s a snappy little thing, capable of handling all your everyday tasks (along with some resource-heavy mobile games on the side).

In terms of biometrics, you can unlock the Find X3 Lite with a fingerprint, your face, or both. Both the under-screen fingerprint sensor and face unlock are fast and easy to use, and the option of both is perfect for mask-clad commuters.

Oh, and just when you thought the humble 3.5mm headphone jack had finally gone to tech heaven, the Find X3 Lite has resurrected it. I don’t know many people who still use wired earphones with their smartphone, but I do know this inclusion will make them very, very happy.

On the downside, there’s no full dual SIM support in Australia (though there is room for a backup 4G SIM), no expandable storage. Plus, like the more expensive Find X3 Neo, you won’t find any sort of IP rating protecting the Lite from splashes or dust. At this price point, though, that’s to be expected.

I don’t know what black magic OPPO uses to make their phones last so long and charge so quickly, but whatever it is, it’s a winner. Running on 4G exclusively, the Find X3 Lite simply won’t die, giving me up to two days of moderate usage. That said, it’s important to note that 5G is a notorious battery drainer, so with those next-gen data speeds comes a hefty hit to the longevity of your device.

Thankfully, when it finally does cark it, you won’t have to wait long for it to recharge. Like both the Neo and Pro, the Lite supports 65W wired charging via USB-C, which takes it from empty to 100% in just over half an hour. Unfortunately, like the Neo, it lacks wireless charging support. That’s pretty common at this price point, but we’d love to see this feature start infiltrating the mid-range sooner rather than later.

The OPPO Find X3 Lite is certainly worth its mid-range price tag, however there is a sense that, were it not for the ‘Find X3’ badge, this would be any other mid-range OPPO phone. And that’s not a bad thing, because high-quality mid-range phones are what OPPO does best.

That said, there’s nothing that particularly stands out about the Find X3 Lite, and while it fits in with the lineup’s aesthetics, that’s about as much as it shares with its more expensive siblings.

Regardless, it still represents great value, and unless you’re a keen mobile photographer or are clumsy around water, you’ll be perfectly happy with the Find X3 Lite.