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Stuff.tv
5 days ago
- Stuff.tv
The Oppo Find X8 Ultra is my favourite 2025 flagship for photography – but there's a key drawback
Stuff Verdict Comfortably one of the best cameraphones you can buy in 2025, with top-tier power and longevity. The Oppo Find X8 Ultra's China exclusivity and region-specific software sadly hold it back, though. Pros Astonishingly clear photos in all lighting conditions Flagship-grade performance and fantastic battery life Gorgeous flat OLED display Cons Only officially available in China Regional software restricts things like Wear OS support Camera button feels a bit 'me too' Introduction Westerners aren't short on options when it comes to picking the best smartphone, but for a few years now hardware-obsessed shoppers have been forced to turn to China to get their fix. Xiaomi, Vivo, Huawei and Oppo have been leading the charge for oversized sensors, tremendous telephotos and algorithms that get close to analogue film, but not all of them ever leave home. The Oppo Find X8 Ultra is the latest China-only flagship, with what some would argue is the greatest rear camera setup of any smartphone. A 1in lead lens and twin telephotos take top billing, with a colour-conscious spectral sensor and expansive ultrawide also on board. Factor in the top-tier Snapdragon silicon and one of the biggest batteries of any flagship on sale right now, and it's easy to see why fans are keen to import one – despite some local market software stumbles. It launched back in April, but I've only recently managed to get my hands on one. Was it worth the wait? After spending a month with the Find X8 Ultra as my main device, its software limitations aren't nearly as cumbersome as I expected – but as much as I've been blown away by its cameras, the limited availability is hard to ignore. How we test smartphones Every phone reviewed on Stuff is used as our main device throughout the testing process. We use industry standard benchmarks and tests, as well as our own years of experience, to judge general performance, battery life, display, sound and camera image quality. Manufacturers have no visibility on reviews before they appear online, and we never accept payment to feature products. Find out more about how we test and rate products. Design & build: simple pleasures After several years of distinctive styling, faux leather finishes and two-tone colour schemes, the Find X8 Ultra is Oppo entering its minimalist phase. It doesn't stray too far from the Find X8 and Find X8 Pro, with an aluminium central frame and matte glass rear panel that's dominated by a giant circular camera island. The sides are fully flat here, rather than slightly curved, though the subtle bevel at the edges helps it sit comfortably enough in your hand. At 226g this is a reasonably hefty phone, and it's not exactly a slim one either – though it is more pocket-friendly than the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor was as rapid at detecting my digits as the very best smartphones, and I like how it sits almost a third of the way up from the phone's base; it's far easier to locate one-handed than some rivals that put their sensors too close to the bottom edge. There's face recognition if you prefer, but only the type that'll skip the Android lock screen. It's not secure enough for banking apps. My white review unit did a fantastic job at hiding fingerprint smudges, and the home-grown Crystal Shield Glass has held up very well against scrapes and scratches. Like a lot of its compatriots, the Find X8 Ultra gets both IP68 and IP69 protection – so accidental trips through the dishwasher, however unlikely, won't be the end of the world. The other China-friendly feature is the IR blaster built into the phone's top edge; handy if you have gadgets that can't be controlled with an app. The lack of eSIM support might vex some Westerners, though. The customisable Shortcut button on the left side of the phone is a sign of how closely Oppo is working with sister brand OnePlus these days. It's virtually identical to the one seen on the OnePlus 13S, with roughly the same abilities. It can toggle between ring, vibrate or silent modes, activate Do Not Disturb, toggle the flashlight, record a voice note, take a screenshot, open the translate app, or wake the camera. There's no way to have it launch any other apps though, which is a shame. I never saw the point in using it to open the camera, either, because the Find X8 Ultra also has a capacitive camera button on the right side. It's just as awkward to reach as Apple's Camera Control button, though, and not quite as useful. A double press takes you straight to the camera app, where a press will take a still and sliding your finger controls zoom level – but only when holding the phone in landscape. I'd prefer if it could toggle between lenses to avoid any digital upscaling. Screen & sound: shine on On paper, there's not much to split the Find X8 Ultra's display from the outgoing Find X7 Ultra's. Both have palm-stretching 6.82in panels, both have impressively pixel-dense 3168×1440 resolutions, and both have 1-120Hz LTPO adaptive refresh rates for the best balance of smooth motion and power efficiency. But while the last-gen phone stuck with curved-edge glass, despite it having fallen out of favour elsewhere, the new model abandons it in favour of a fully flat display. Ultra-slim bezels on all four sides help minimise its footprint as much as possible, and viewing angles are top-tier. The punch-hole selfie camera isn't really a distraction either. Dolby Vision, HDR10+, Oppo's ProXDR picture format and Google's Ultra HDR are all supported, putting punchy highlights alongside deep shadows when showing compatible content. Peak brightness has taken a step back from the Find X7 Ultra's heady 4500nits, but a claimed 2500 nits is still pretty potent. Combined with the impactful colours you expect from OLED, visuals really pop no matter what you're looking at. While it can't match the Pixel 9 Pro XL in a face-to-face, there's still enough shine here to make outdoor visibility a breeze – even while wearing sunglasses. I also can't really knock the speakers, which deliver clean and clear stereo sound. While not the absolute loudest I've heard, there's a good balance between the down-firing main driver and earpiece tweeter. Cameras: the best gets better Given how the camera island monopolises the rear of the phone, it's clear photography is the Find X8 Ultra's main event. The circular colossus doesn't protrude out as dramatically as some, but still finds room underneath for a 1-inch lead sensor, two periscope telephotos, and an ultrawide snapper, all with a 50MP pixel count. The zoom lenses each use sensors far larger than the ones you'll find on most rival smartphones, and the main camera's 1in unit is physically as big as it gets on a phone – only Xiaomi and Huawei match it in 2025. The leg-up this gives the phone in low light conditions is dramatic, and means you're able to get dreamy depth blur on close-ups that can rival dedicated digital cameras. Equally important is the dedicated spectrum sensor, which splits scene into a grid and measures white balance multiple times, ensuring colours are convincing even when facing multiple light sources. Photography expert Hasselblad lent a hand with the colour science, and the image processing in general looks deliciously warm and film-like. And that's before you start fiddling with the extensive manual mode or film simulation filters. The latter are incredibly easy on the eye, straight out of the camera. Even in the automatic mode, the Find X8 Ultra is simply the best phone for photography I've used in 2025. It delivers outstandingly clean and clear images across all four lenses, regardless of light level. The lead lens in particular is phenomenal, with the sort of detail and sharpness that put a lot of flagships to shame. There's a depth to portraits and close-ups you simply don't get from phones with smaller sensors, colours are wonderfully well-judged, and I can't fault the clarity on moving subjects. Contrast and exposure are handled brilliantly, with huge amounts of dynamic range. Extremely bright lights and areas of deep shadow are captured side-by-side.; Macro close-ups using the 3x zoom lens are delightfully crisp and detailed, while at the other end of the scale the 6x lens achieves impressive clarity all the way up to 20x with digital upscaling. Going even further brings AI processing into the mix, but not the kind that creates objects which weren't there in reality. On other phones you'd need to use artificial portrait modes to achieve the level of background blur seen in the samples below; here they come naturally, and are fast enough to process that you don't miss fleeting moments with animals (and in my case, hyperactive toddlers). I took more shots with the 3x lens while on a recent trip than the other lenses combined, as it's the ideal focal length for portraits and architecture. There's a great colour consistency between it and the lead lens, and it maintains its performance once the sun sets. Being physically larger than many rival flagship zoom cameras certainly helps here. The ultrawide isn't nearly as jaw-dropping as the other three lenses, but that's not to say it's a bad effort; I'd comfortably put it on par with most of this year's flagship phones, with only the Sony Xperia 1 VII doing any better. Same with the selfie camera up front; it takes first class photos, but ones that aren't a major leap forward from rivals. Yet when they're part of a package that otherwise impresses so much, it's hard to grumble. Performance & battery life: bring it on If you've got a need for speed, look no further than the Find X8 Ultra. With a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and 16GB of RAM on board, there's no Play Store app this phone can't handle. Synthetic benchmark scores put it up among the best flagship phones, for both 2D and gaming. Effective cooling and power management mean performance doesn't crater like it can on some rivals, and it consistently outperformed the 'for Galaxy' version of the same silicon found in a Samsung S25 Ultra. Oppo Find X8 Ultra benchmark scores Geekbench 6 single-core 2949 Geekbench 6 multi-core 9137 Geekbench AI 4516 PCMark Work 3.0 18,136 3Dmark Solar Bay 11,259 In daily use this phone absolutely flies, with zero stutter or slowdown. Apps load in a flash, multitasking is always smooth, and the rear panel never got uncomfortably hot even when the hardware was being pushed. My recent rotation of mobile games all put in sterling performances, with high frame rates free from lag or dropped frames. Even more impressively, the Find X8 Ultra is able to keep this up without slaughtering its battery life. Oppo has been quick to adopt silicon-carbon battery tech, like a lot of Chinese phone brands, and the result is a mammoth 6100mAh capacity cell that'll last a day and a half of use without any real effort. Steer clear of more demanding apps or games and it'll do two days before needing to charge. That's basically as good as it gets from a flagship phone right now. Charging is equally impressive, with 100W wired top-ups needing just 44 minutes for a complete empty-to-full refuel. 50W wireless charging is up there with the best as well, being faster than a Galaxy S25 Ultra or Pixel 9 Pro XL can manage through a cable. Software experience: far from home If I've mostly painted a pretty picture of this phone up to now, the Oppo Find X8 Ultra sadly comes undone on the software side. Or at least it does if you don't live in China. As it isn't officially sold anywhere else, you can only get one with a version of Android 15 aimed at the domestic market, meaning a lot of the features Westerners take for granted are missing – often permanently. Oppo does admittedly do more to help the situation than some rivals, with some low-level Google functionality buried in the Settings menu. That means Android Auto and Google Wallet are both on board, once you've side-loaded the Play Store to install all the other apps you use on the daily. Once you do, the Find X8 Ultra feels a lot like the global Find X8 Pro variant – just with a significant amount of local market bloatware and AI-assisted apps you'll need a translator to be able to use. Even after a lot of tweaking, you still can't swap the shortcut that wakes the firm's Breeno digital assistant to Google Gemini, and a long-press on the navigation bar wakes the Breeno take on Circle to Search instead of Google's own. There's no Google Discover a swipe away from the homescreen (unless you use a third-party launcher) and a double-press of the power button is hard-wired to Oppo's contactless payment app. Wear OS smartwatches sold in Western markets are seemingly incompatible, too. Oppo's aggressive memory management and notification silencing are seemingly universal, as even with the phone set to ring rather than vibrate, a lot of messages and apps simply wouldn't ping up. I found I would check apps more frequently than with other phones, as I was never convinced the status bar had up-to-date info. Five years of new Android generations and six years of security updates is a decent effort in terms of software support, though Samsung, Google and Honor remain your best bets if you want to hold onto your handset for the long-term. Oppo Find X8 Ultra verdict Had Oppo launched the Find X8 Ultra worldwide, it would surely have scored a full five stars here. This is an exceptional smartphone, with some of the best rear cameras you'll find anywhere. Regardless of zoom level and lighting conditions, this is a photography powerhouse that shows what can be achieved when you go all out on top-tier sensor hardware. The silicon-carbon battery also has outstanding staying power, even when tasked with powering Qualcomm's fastest silicon and an impressively bright display. Sadly, though, it's only on sale in China. Even if you went to the trouble of importing one, the software won't play nicely with some things Western devices take for granted, like pairing with Wear OS watches, Gemini voice commands, and Circle to Search. You'll never truly be able to strip out all the region-specific apps and settings, either. As the Xiaomi 15 Ultra is more readily available in Europe and beyond, it's simply easier to recommend to keen phone photographers. Stuff Says… Score: 4/5 Comfortably one of the best cameraphones you can buy in 2025, with top-tier power and longevity. The Oppo Find X8 Ultra's China exclusivity and region-specific software sadly hold it back, though. Pros Astonishingly clear photos in all lighting conditions Flagship-grade performance and fantastic battery life Gorgeous flat OLED display Cons Only officially available in China Regional software restricts things like Wear OS support Camera button feels a bit 'me too' Oppo Find X8 Ultra technical specifications Screen 6.82in, 3168×1440 AMOLED w/ 1-120Hz CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Memory 12/16GB RAM Cameras 50MP, f/1.8 w/ OIS, dual pixel PDAF + 50MP, f/2.1 periscope telephoto w/ OIS, PDAF, 3x optical zoom + 50MP, f/3.1 periscope telephoto w/ OIS, PDAF, 6x optical zoom + 50MP, f/2.0 ultrawide w/ PDAF rear 32MP, f/2.4 w/ PDAF front Storage 256GB/512GB/1TB Operating system Android 15 w/ ColorOS (China version) Battery 6100mAh w/ 100W wired, 50W wireless charging Dimensions 163x77x8.8mm, 226g
Phone Arena
06-07-2025
- Phone Arena
I tried using China's best flagship phone this summer, but it fought me every step of the way
I've been trying to land a new candy bar flagship phone to use as a daily driver since getting slightly bored with the otherwise exceptional Vivo X Fold 3 Pro, and my sights were set on a device I actually reviewed a few months ago but totally forgot about. However, as much as I wished to pop in my SIM card inside this device and call it a day for the rest of the summer, the gremlins associated with this otherwise awesome phone once again raised their heads. The phone in question is the Oppo Find X8 Ultra, and the reason for my woes is the Chinese version of the ColorOS software on board, and all the intricate issues that are associated with it. Okay, let me talk you through my thought process as to why the forbidden Oppo fruit appears to be so sweet but oh-so-high up the tree. When it comes to hardware, I stand by my words that no other phone is as well-endowed. It has the Snapdragon 8 Elite, which is among the best mobile chipsets right now, and it is an undisputable necessity when you want a proper flagship in 2025. Paired with 16GB of RAM and up to 12GB of virtual memory, this one is perfectly capable of meeting any multitasking needs. More importantly here, however, is the simply lovely camera setup at the rear. The Oppo Find X8 Ultra boasts quad 50MP cameras at the rear, with a short 3.0X telephoto and a longer 6.0X periscope zoom, but the key number here is the size of the sensor behind the main camera. It's an 1-inch sensor, which puts the phone in an exclusive club of phones with exceptionally large camera sensors. Obviously, a very appealing hardware feature that I'd certainly love to have on deck! Then, there's the extra-large 6,100mAh battery, which helps the Oppo Find X8 Ultra find itself in the top three in terms of battery life among all 2025 phones we've tested so far. With a nearly nine-hour battery estimate, it's pretty much ahead of its rivals in our custom tests, save from the Vivo X200 Ultra. Now, some may argue that the Vivo X200 Ultra is technically a superior device, and I'd definitely agree to a point, but the combination between awesome camera, battery life, and performance is admittedly superior on the Oppo Find X8 Ultra in our tests. This makes it the logical choice if you want to squeeze out the best value out of any 2025 Ultra flagship. And the rest of the package is excellent, too! We get extremely decent stereo speakers, a very bright OLED screen, precise and strong haptic feedback, IP69 water and dust resistance, and a capacitive camera button that's actually useful. However, this is where the hardware bliss ends and the software nightmare begins. The Oppo Find X8 Ultra has the best camera I've seen See, I really wanted to use the Oppo Find X8 Ultra. I thought I was perfectly aware of all the sacrifices I'd have to make when dealing with a phone intended for the internal Chinese market. I was ready to give up the Google Discover panel to the left of the home screen, I was okay with losing Circle to Search, and I was almost ready to part ways with Gemini as the default voice assistant. Likewise, I was also mentally prepared to debloat the interface by uninstalling whatever preinstalled Chinese apps I could. Then, I migrated all of my data with Oppo's handy PhoneClone app and went through the tedious process of setting up all accounts and apps, customizing the home screen layout and all other phone settings, and then the issues began. First things first, although there wasn't an obvious issue with my SIM card, the Oppo Find X8 Ultra would only receive half of all the messages I was supposed to receive. How do I know that? Well, I didn't receive 2FA for half of the apps I use, and the worst part is that those apps are banking and messaging ones, so absolutely crucial. Telegram, an essential app for me, doesn't let me log in because the SMS code I was supposed to receive never actually came through. And while Google Pay seemingly works fine on this phone, the app simply wouldn't let me add a specific credit card, which is another major deal-breaker. My unfortunate muscle memory always seemed to trigger the Breeno assistant on the phone with the power button. One could think that a possible workaround would be to download a button mapper and manually map Gemini to get enabled instead of the stock Chinese AI assistant with the power button, yet none of the apps I tried seemed to work reliably; the system just wouldn't let me do what I wanted. The same applies to the stock launcher. While Android launchers really fell off in the past few years with nothing exciting happening on the scene, I tried running the good ol' Nova Launcher on the Oppo Find X8 Ultra, and lo and behold, ColorOS would once again show its teeth and put a stick in my wheel. I had to go through some crazy hoops to be able to set a custom Android launcher as the default one, and every time I'd swipe up to get to the home screen, the phone would deliberately lag for two seconds. While I'm no quitter, the combination of all these software problems sadly sealed the fate of this phone as my daily driver. This is why I can't recommend the Oppo Find X8 Ultra, even though its hardware is pretty much perfect. You may have a good experience with phones intended for the internal Chinese market. Some of you definitely have the skills necessary to nullify all of these interface handicaps and turn a phone never destined to reach the Western markets into a perfectly usable and capable device. To my great ire, the Oppo Find X8 Ultra never got a global release, so whatever you, or I do, it will never work 100% as intended outside of China. Alternatives? Of all Ultra phones released so far in 2025, only the Xiaomi 15 Ultra got a global release, but it was ruined with a smaller battery, which isn't ideal when paired with HyperOS 2's awful battery optimization. The Vivo X200 Ultra is out of the question, as it's also a China-exclusive. What you're left with is the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which isn't bleeding-edge tech, and you also have to deal with the quirks of One UI 7. Secure your connection now at a bargain price! We may earn a commission if you make a purchase Check Out The Offer
The Hindu
16-06-2025
- The Hindu
Nails almost every aspect of what makes a flagship great
Oppo Find X8 Ultra has been launched, succeeding the impressive Find X7 Ultra from last year. But just like its predecessor, this camera-focused powerhouse isn't making its way to India. That's a decision that's likely to leave many smartphone enthusiasts disappointed, especially those who have been tracking Oppo's experimental trajectory with its Ultra series. With each iteration, the company has been redefining what a flagship camera phone can be, and the Find X8 Ultra pushes that philosophy further. Building on the foundation of the Find X7 Ultra, the Find X8 Ultra introduces a more powerful chipset, a refreshed design, upgraded camera lenses, and a bigger battery. It also sports Oppo's latest advancements in AI and ColorOS, aiming to offer a balanced blend of performance, photography, and finesse. Design There's no mistaking the Find X8 Ultra for anything other than a camera-centric phone. The massive circular camera frame, proudly stamped with the Hasselblad tag, immediately sets the tone. Visually, the phone reminds me of the Vivo X200 Pro, another photography beast. Given their direct competition in the camera-centric flagship space, it'll be interesting to see how users lean when choosing between the two. Despite its visually heavy top end, the Find X8 Ultra doesn't feel as bulky as it looks. The phone offers a premium in-hand feel, aided by a clean monochrome design that departs from the dual-tone vegan leather look of the Find X7 Ultra. Oppo's choice to opt for glass across the back, with a subtle shade of Shell Pink, which people seemed to like. The colour subtly shifts under different lighting, adding a unique personal touch that elevates the design experience. (For top technology news of the day, subscribe to our tech newsletter Today's Cache) In terms of hardware layout, the Find X8 Ultra is well thought out. On the left, you get an Essential Key, much like what we saw on the OnePlus 13s, and just as customisable. The power and volume keys rest on the right, while the SIM tray, USB-C port, and speaker grille sit at the bottom. Ticking all flagship boxes, the phone is IP68/IP69-rated for water and dust resistance and even boasts SGS drop certification. The thin 1.4mm bezels on the front complete the look, giving the phone a modern, expansive screen feel. Display The Find X8 Ultra is equipped with a 6.82-inch LTPO AMOLED display with a 1440x3168 resolution and a dynamic 120 Hz refresh rate. It supports Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and 10-bit colour depth — everything you'd want for immersive content consumption. Whether you're streaming high-quality content or playing a demanding mobile game, the visuals stay punchy and fluid. With peak brightness reaching 2,500 nits, visibility in sunlight is solid, even if slightly lower than some rivals. The display intelligently adapts to content, lowering the refresh rate to 1 Hz when idle and scaling up to 120 Hz for gaming or fast scrolling. This not only preserves battery but also ensures a smooth user experience without compromise. OS and AI Running on Android 15 with ColorOS 15, the software experience is clean yet rich. Oppo has subtly redesigned UI elements, giving it an iOS-like polish while keeping Android's flexibility. The updated quick settings, revamped icons, and an improved 'Now Playing' widget bring a refined touch to daily use. AI also takes center stage here. Oppo's Breeno AI powers features like AI Writer, AI VoiceScribe, and the excellent AI Eraser for cleaning up your photos. You'll also find Breeno's take on Google's Circle to Search, plus smart gallery tools like AI Recompose and Enhance Clarity. It's all seamlessly integrated and intuitive — an important step for those looking to get more done with less effort. Performance The Find X8 Ultra runs on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Elite chipset, paired with 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512 GB of UFS 4.0 storage. This is one of the most powerful configurations in any phone today, and it shows in daily use. Be it multitasking or loading graphics-heavy apps, the phone handles everything with ease. Thermals are kept in check thanks to a complex cooling system that includes a vapour chamber, copper, and graphite layers — even the display is copper-backed. It ensures the phone stays cool even under sustained loads, which is especially beneficial for gaming sessions. Speaking of games, the Adreno GPU delivers excellent frame rates in demanding titles like Genshin Impact and Call of Duty Mobile. Touch response is instantaneous, and the stereo speakers help amplify the gaming experience, making the Find X8 Ultra a capable performer all around. Camera Photography is where the Find X8 Ultra shines the brightest. It packs a quad 50 MP rear camera setup — including a 1-inch Sony LYT-900 sensor, two telephoto modules (3x and 6x zoom), and an ultrawide lens. The results? Simply excellent. In daylight, images come out vibrant, rich in detail, and with natural contrast — closing the gap with what we've seen on the Vivo X200 Pro. The upgraded 3x telephoto lens now features a wider f/2.1 aperture and can focus as close as 10cm, making macro photography more accessible than ever. Whether you're shooting portraits or flowers, the lens performs exceptionally well. Oppo's True Chroma Camera, with its 9-channel multispectral system, helps nail the white balance and tone — making skin tones and shadows look just right. Low-light performance also impresses. The main sensor captures sharp, vibrant shots with excellent contrast and minimal noise. But what stands out is the moon shot capability — something Oppo has refined further. Compared to other moonshot-enabled phones I've reviewed, the Find X8 Ultra gets the details, the shadows, and even the halo effect right. Portrait shots are another strong point. Edge detection is on point, and background separation feels smooth and natural. Thanks to the spectral tuning by the True Chroma sensor, you get accurate skin tones even under artificial lighting — a rare feat in mobile photography. The ultrawide camera, while technically a downgrade in sensor size from the X7 Ultra, still delivers crisp and distortion-free images. It may not lead the pack in sharpness, but it's certainly among the better ultrawides out there. Up front, the 32 MP selfie camera with autofocus continues to impress. Whether it's close-up selfies or group shots, images are well-detailed and true to life. Autofocus helps keep your shots sharp regardless of distance, and the dynamic range is solid even in challenging lighting. Battery The Find X8 Ultra comes with a 6,100 mAh battery — a healthy jump from last year's 5,000 mAh. It comfortably lasts a full day of heavy use and easily stretches into the next with moderate tasks. When it's time to charge, 100 W wired, 50 W wireless, and 10 W reverse wireless charging ensure you're never waiting long. With Smart Rapid Charging enabled, it hits 100% in just under 40 minutes. For users who prefer slower, cooler charges to preserve battery health, Oppo provides toggles for that too. Verdict The Oppo Find X8 Ultra is a brilliant phone, and it's unfortunate that Indian consumers won't get to experience it firsthand. From its top-tier camera performance and brilliant display to a smooth UI experience and blazing-fast charging, it nails almost every aspect of what makes a flagship great. Oppo's Find X series has always been about experimentation, and with the Find X8 Ultra, the brand proves it can marry bold ideas with refined execution. For those wondering if Oppo could take its 'Ultra' game to the next level, the answer is a confident yes. The only downside? You'll have to look beyond Indian shores to get your hands on one. It sells in China for CNY 6,499 (around ₹77,924).
Gizmodo
01-06-2025
- Business
- Gizmodo
Oppo Find X8 Ultra Review: This Might Be the World's Best Phone Camera
2025 I get it—the smartphone market is boring. Galaxy after iPhone after Pixel, year after year after year—at least if you're in the U.S. Even if you're into phone tech, it can be hard to feel enthusiastic about the prospect of annual upgrades. In Asia, however, the battle for smartphone supremacy is as brutal as ever. Chinese companies like Huawei, Vivo, and Xiaomi are still locked into breakneck competition, releasing multiple devices a year that put Western offerings to shame—at least on paper. The Oppo Find X8 Ultra is one of the strongest recent examples. It's an all-around flagship phone that crams the very best of high-end specs into a sleek form factor. All things considered, I think it's the best camera phone available anywhere in the world. Oppo Find X8 Ultra Oppo's latest flagship Find X8 Ultra has everything you could possibly want from a phone—except availability outside of China. Pros Unbeatable specs Unbeatable specs Versatile camera system Versatile camera system Best-in-class image processing Cons Mediocre ultra-wide lens Mediocre ultra-wide lens Only available in China It's not exactly a Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, but Oppo's stated goal with the Find X8 Ultra's design was to pull off 'the thinnest camera phone.' At 8.78mm thick compared to its 9.5mm-thick predecessor, the Find X7 Ultra, Oppo has indeed slimmed the Find X8 Ultra down beyond any of its cutting-edge competitors. But because of its boxy, squared-off design, it doesn't necessarily seem that much thinner in the hand. This year's Xiaomi 15 Ultra, for example, is 9.48mm thick but has tapered edges that don't dig into your palms as much. That's not to say the Find X8 Ultra is unwieldy. Oppo has basically achieved what it set out to here; it essentially feels like a very slightly thicker iPhone 16 Pro Max, which is a strong achievement considering the hardware. But the design is extremely straightforward and austere, which may or may not be to your taste. Oddly, the Find X8 Ultra looks near-identical to the base Find X8, while the mid-tier Find X8 Pro is sleeker and flashier than both. The display is as good as you'll find on any premium phone. It's a 6.82-inch flat-sided OLED panel with a variable refresh rate (1 to 120Hz) and 1440p resolution. The Find X8 Ultra gets up to 1,600 nits bright in regular outdoor usage and peaks at 2,500 nits with HDR content. The bezels are equally slim on all four sides. It has Dolby Vision support and, more unusually, Oppo's Splash Touch technology to limit unwanted inputs when it's wet. I did make a point of testing this in a hot tub, for science, and the phone really does actually stay more or less usable even when it's covered in drops of water. I'll also mention the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, not just for its speed improvements over the X7 Ultra's optical reader, but for how Oppo improved the way you set it up—now you can register your thumb by just rolling it in a circle a few times rather than tapping the sensor repeatedly with every part of the tip. Not the biggest deal in the world, but a welcome improvement if you're a weirdo like me who goes through that process dozens of times a year when testing new phones. Another design quirk is Oppo's shift away from a mute slider switch, a popular differentiating feature on phones from its subsidiary OnePlus. There's now a customizable button on the top left of the phone called the Shortcut Button, and yes, it works more or less identically to the iPhone's Action Button—right down to the full-screen UI that pops up when you choose its function. I'm fine with the hardware change, but the implementation is a little brazen. Elsewhere, the Find X8 Ultra's spec sheet includes what you'd expect from the top shelf of Android flagships in 2025. The processor is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite and the phone can be outfitted with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. (The base model has 12GB and 256GB, respectively.) This is Oppo's first Ultra-class phone to include silicon-carbon battery technology, following its debut in the X8 Pro and a subsequent appearance in the folding Find N3. Basically, this allows Oppo to get a lot more capacity out of a smaller physical space—despite its slimmer frame, the Find X8 Ultra's battery weighs in at 6,100mAh versus 5,000mAh on the X7 Ultra. As for charging, Oppo's own 100W SuperVOOC adapter can get you from zero to 100 percent in under 40 minutes, which is impressive considering the increased capacity of the battery. The Find X8 Ultra also supports wireless charging at up to 50W with a compatible proprietary charger. Between the fast charging and the large battery capacity, I've found the phone unlikely to die on me in regular use. I'm not going to say it'll never happen on a long day of shooting in the sun, but it's been as solid as any comparable phone I could name. That brings me to the camera system, which—as ever with 'Ultra'-class Chinese flagships—is the main point of differentiation here. The Find X8 Ultra doesn't necessarily have the best hardware in every single category, but there's a strong case to be made that it's the most well-rounded and versatile camera system around. The Find X8 Ultra's primary camera uses a 1-inch-type sensor, which is the class-leading standard for Chinese flagship phones; it's the same size as what you'll find on Sony's RX100 range of point-and-shoot cameras or Fujifilm's new X half. What this means in practice is that the lens you use the most gives you far more depth and dynamic range than what you get from an iPhone or Galaxy. The light-gathering ability is simply on another level, and you're able to separate subjects through shallow bokeh (background blur) without resorting to portrait mode, which often still shows imperfections between the foreground and background. The Find X8 Ultra's telephoto lenses—yes, there are two—are also a particular strength. The 3x periscope camera has an unusually large 1/1.56-inch sensor paired to an f/2.1 lens with close-focus ability, allowing for excellent mid-range and macro shots with natural shallow depth of field. There's also a 6x f/3.1 lens with a 1/1.95-inch sensor. The one drawback is the 1/2.75-inch ultra-wide camera, which isn't necessarily weak next to the competition but does feel like a compromise in the name of thinness; previous Oppo flagships performed much better. Oppo has also adopted a thoughtful approach to camera software. The regular photo mode turns out pictures along the lines of what you'd expect from a high-end smartphone, with crunchy sharpness and HDR detail preserved in every shot. I think Oppo has the best color science in that sense, which is why phones like the Find N3 can outperform their hardware. But if you're not into the typical smartphone photo look—which I personally am not—you can swipe on over to the Hasselblad-branded Master mode, which gives you much more natural results right out of the box. While Master mode is fully customizable, its default settings tend to line up with what I'd be aiming for when editing files from a dedicated camera. This year, Oppo's image processing is aided by what the company calls a 'True Chroma Camera,' a low-res sensor dedicated to capturing accurate color information across the frame for better automatic white balance. It's difficult to test exactly how the camera system would work without this additional hardware, but I did see impressive results in challenging situations like low-light portraits. The shooting experience is also helped by the 'Quick Button,' which is pretty much a facsimile for Apple's Camera Control. It gives quick access to the camera app and shutter release, but it's fully capacitive and much easier to press; I found myself using it a lot more often than I do on my own iPhone 16 Pro. The Find X8 Ultra has a vastly more capable camera system than you can get on any smartphone sold in the US, and it trades blows with the best available from domestic competitors like Xiaomi and Vivo. That said, I can't really recommend anyone go out of their way to buy it unless they're based in China. I have personally found it to work well on my NTT Docomo SIM card in Japan, but I can't speak to bands or coverage wherever you might be reading this. Oppo's China-focused version of ColorOS is pretty usable and comes with built-in compatibility for Google Mobile Services through a settings toggle, meaning you can use the Play Store and Google apps along with any third-party software that relies on Google's APIs. Still, an uninitiated Western user might feel blindsided by a bunch of Chinese bloatware and services they won't ever be able to use. The Find X8 Ultra's eSIM support is only accessible through the built-in ORoaming app, for example, and you can only pay for data through WeChat or AliPay. But the bigger picture here is that the Find X8 Ultra demonstrates how Chinese phone makers are simply miles ahead of what's available in the U.S. and Europe. Whether you're shopping for a Galaxy, Pixel, or iPhone this year, you're getting a raw deal when it comes to pure hardware capability and camera performance. This phone launched at 6,499 yuan in China, which works out to around $900. Given the present political climate, it seems less likely than ever that Chinese OEMs will find a way to sell their highest-end devices in the U.S. That's unfortunate for anyone interested in the best hardware available. The Oppo Find X8 Ultra will be my go-to camera phone until something better comes along, and I have a feeling that that something won't be available in the U.S. either. It's not like this particular phone necessarily changes the game—Chinese companies have been leapfrogging Apple and Samsung for years. All in all, the Find X8 Ultra is an awesome phone that's as good an example as any of what's capable today with modern mobile technology. I think it's clearly better than anything Apple, Samsung, or Google are selling in the U.S. today. Does that mean you should import it? Probably not. But it does mean you should raise your standards for the next time those companies try to sell you on new hardware.
Time of India
02-05-2025
- Time of India
Oppo Find X8 Ultra review. Indian smartphone scene is missing on this one
Synopsis Oppo Find X8 Ultra is the flagshop X series variant. The device isn't available in India. This is a long-term review of the device.
