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Stuff.tv
04-08-2025
- 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
Techday NZ
24-07-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
OPPO & Hasselblad extend imaging partnership for new phones
OPPO has announced the continuation of its collaboration with camera manufacturer Hasselblad to jointly develop a next-generation mobile imaging system for future smartphones. The partnership, which began four years ago, focuses on pushing the capabilities of mobile photography through close technical cooperation between OPPO and Hasselblad research and development teams. The announcement included details about new imaging technologies and highlighted OPPO's broader efforts in mobile camera innovation. Collaboration continues Pete Lau, Chief Product Officer at OPPO, said: "The partnership with Hasselblad is built on a shared passion for innovation and a commitment to delivering the ultimate imaging experience. Over the past four years, we have brought the truly professional, legendary camera experience of Hasselblad to OPPO's global users. With the extension of our collaboration, we will push the boundaries of mobile imaging even further." The two companies have focused on developing features that bring the Hasselblad camera legacy to OPPO's mobile devices. This includes engineering efforts to integrate several imaging tools into the Find series, OPPO's flagship smartphone line, since the start of the collaboration. Technical achievements Among the technical milestones achieved during the partnership are the adaptation of the Hasselblad Natural Colour Solution for smartphones and the introduction of Hasselblad Portrait Mode, which replicates a classic bokeh effect similar to Hasselblad's traditional cameras. The teams have also developed a professional Master Mode for colour accuracy, drawing on the colour science of the Hasselblad X2D camera, as well as Hasselblad XPAN Mode, which mimics the wide aspect ratio of the iconic XPAN camera. Both brands indicated that their joint development efforts will continue to focus on combining Hasselblad's visual aesthetics with OPPO's mobile imaging technology, aiming to provide users with distinction in image quality and creative potential. A new benchmark OPPO and Hasselblad are collaborating on a next-generation mobile imaging system, designed to establish a new standard for image quality in smartphones. Full details about the system are yet to be announced. OPPO's imaging timeline OPPO highlighted its 17-year history in mobile imaging, referencing its release of what it claims was the world's first stacked CMOS sensor in the OPPO Find 5 in 2012. OPPO also highlighted several previous milestones, including the deployment of pixel binning technology in 2016 with the OPPO R9 and the launch of a periscope telephoto camera the following year. Over successive generations of its Find X flagship devices, OPPO said its approach has covered hardware, software, and visual design. The current flagship device, Find X8 Ultra, is equipped with a Penta Camera System, featuring a True Chroma Camera for colour accuracy and an AI Bokeh Engine for subject-background separation in portraiture. The Find X8 Ultra also features the updated Master Mode, which supports image capture at ultra-high resolutions with 50MP JPEG Max and 16-bit 50MP RAW Max files. Photography Awards announced OPPO also announced the OPPO Photography Awards 2025, centred on the theme 'Super Every Moment', with a total prize pool exceeding USD $100,000. The contest is open globally to users of OPPO devices, with the submission period running until November 20, 2025.
Stuff.tv
17-07-2025
- Business
- Stuff.tv
Oppo's secret camera sauce promises more Hasselbald goodness for future flagships
Phone companies tapping up photography brands is nothing new, but few camera collabs have lasted as long as Oppo and Hasselblad's. The Swedish imaging expert has been lending its expertise for a few years now, resulting in some of the best camera phones on sale – putting big names like Apple and Samsung firmly in the shade – and now the pair have announced they're going to stick it out for the foreseeable. A next-gen mobile imaging system is currently in the works, and will make its debut on the next Oppo flagship. That'll be great news to fans of the firm's HyperTone colour treatment, which closely matches the colour characteristics of Hasselblad's X2D medium format digital camera, and the ProXDR pipeline that does a fantastic job with backlit subjects and skin tones. It also means features like the 65:24 aspect ratio XPAN panorama and Master manual mode aren't going anywhere. The Hasselblad logo first showed up on the Find X5 Pro back in 2012, and made regular appearances on Oppo flagships ever since. Not all of 'em have gone global – the Find X6 Pro and Find X7 Ultra only got a release in the firm's native China – but this year's Find X8 Pro is a lot easier to get hold of. Some of the tech also filters through to sister brand OnePlus' phones, which should keep US phone fans happy. Of course it helps when the hardware is heroic, too. Oppo's currently top-tier handset, the China-only Find X8 Ultra, is rocking four 50MP rear snappers – including a 1in lead lens and twin periscope telephotos for 3x and 6x lossless zoom. There's also a dedicated colour spectrum sensor that measures white balance across 40 different points, not just the scene as a whole. I've been using one for the past week and have been blown away by some its photos. And aside from a few quirks like Breeno voice assistant instead of Gemini and no Circle to Search, the Find X8 Ultra is also a very usable phone for Westerners. It even plays nicely with Android Auto and Google Wallet contactless payments. Fingers crossed the next model will see a wider release. 'Over the past four years, we have brought the truly professional, legendary camera experience of Hasselblad to OPPO's global users,' Oppo chief product officer Pete Lau said at the announcement event in Gothenburg, Sweden. 'With the extension of our collaboration, we will push the boundaries of mobile imaging even further.'
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Business Standard
30-06-2025
- Business Standard
OPPO Find X8 Ultra review: Smartphone photography's new benchmark?
Chinese smartphone maker OPPO's Find X series has long been the company's playground for camera innovation, and with the Find X8 Ultra, it's doubling down on that legacy. Packing four 50MP sensors, including a custom 1-inch Sony LYT-900 main camera, this latest flagship is built to impress mobile photographers. But the hardware is not the only thing that's been upgraded, there's also a refreshed design, a new shortcut button, and Qualcomm's top-tier Snapdragon 8 Gen Elite powering the experience. The Find X8 Ultra isn't officially available in India, but we managed to get our hands on a unit to find out whether it truly delivers on its ambitious promise. Here's how it performed. Design The OPPO Find X8 Ultra looks more refined than its predecessor, with a symmetrical camera layout and a cleaner overall aesthetic. The frosted glass back and flat metal side rails lend the device a distinctly premium feel, especially in the white colour variant (which we reviewed). The textured glass effectively resists fingerprints, adding to the elegance. While the oversized camera module does make it difficult to find a natural resting spot for your index finger, the phone remains sleek considering the hardware it packs. Slightly contoured edges further improve grip and comfort during use. As expected, the large camera bump causes noticeable wobble when the phone is placed flat on a table. However, the slight tilt it creates also helps protect the camera glass from scratches, which is a welcome trade-off. A major design change in the X8 Ultra is the addition of a new shortcut button. It's highly versatile, allowing you to assign a variety of functions—switching audio profiles, launching the AI assistant, recording voice notes, taking screenshots, or opening the camera app. However, there's a dedicated camera control button located on the bottom right edge, similar to the one on the iPhone 16 series. A double-press launches the camera, and a quick third press snaps a photo. You can also slide across it for precise zooming, which works reliably in practice. The only downside is its awkward placement—difficult to reach in portrait orientation and tricky to use in landscape as you fumble to find the right finger to operate it comfortably. Camera Just like its predecessor, the OPPO Find X8 Ultra is a camera-centric smartphone, and that label is well-earned. It packs an impressive array of sensors: a 1-inch 50MP Sony LYT-900 main sensor, a 50MP Samsung JN5 ultra-wide, a 50MP Sony LYT-700 telephoto with 3x (70mm) optical zoom, and a second 50MP telephoto using the Sony LYT-600 sensor for 6x (135mm) zoom. Accompanying these is a 2MP 'True Chroma' sensor designed to work with the others to enhance colour accuracy. On the front, there's a 32MP selfie camera with autofocus. OPPO also continues its Hasselblad collaboration here, using their tuning and colour science. The Find X8 Ultra's camera output is just as remarkable as its specs suggest. Daylight photos are sharp, colour-accurate, and full of detail, with excellent dynamic range. Colours remain realistic across conditions, and the phone impressively adjusts colour tones based on lighting without needing manual tweaks, making it one of the best point-and-shoot smartphone cameras available. Low-light photography is similarly strong, delivering clean shots with well-retained shadow detail and consistent colour reproduction. While the 1-inch main sensor offers great versatility, the real standout is the auxiliary lens setup, particularly the dual telephoto arrangement. All sensors don't deliver the same level of micro-detail, but the consistency of colour across 3x and 6x optical zoom is impressive. Even beyond 6x, images remain highly usable in daylight. At 300mm, sharpness starts to suffer slightly, with textures smoothing out and edges becoming too defined due to over-sharpening. Still, it's arguably the best digital zoom implementation I've seen on a smartphone, even ahead of the Xiaomi 15 Ultra and on par with the Vivo X200 Pro. The ultra-wide lens is the only outlier, occasionally boosting vibrancy under artificial lighting, which can feel a bit unnatural. A standout feature for me was the Macro mode. It's no longer tied to a specific sensor, giving you the flexibility to shoot macros from any of the lenses. What's more, you can toggle between a Natural Blur effect and enhanced clarity, offering fine-tuned control depending on the subject. The level of sharpness and detail the X8 Ultra captures in close-up shots is truly impressive. Portrait mode is equally strong, with a pleasingly natural bokeh effect enhanced by Hasselblad's tuning. While daytime portraits are excellent, what really surprised me were the low-light portraits. Even with the flash off, the phone uses computational photography to great effect, capturing detailed and well-isolated subjects with soft, realistic background blur. This performance extends beyond the main sensor, delivering solid results from both the 3x and 6x telephoto lenses, using their large 1/1.56-inch and 1/1.95-inch sensors, respectively. View this post on Instagram A post shared by BSTech (@bstechofficial) Though I didn't focus on video recording as much during the review, the Find X8 Ultra still impressed when I did. It supports Dolby Vision HDR at 4K 60FPS across all four cameras, even with ultra-stabilisation enabled. The main and telephoto cameras can also shoot at up to 4K 120FPS. Handy additions like Sound Focus (which suppresses background noise) and a 'Lock Lens' mode (to prevent camera switching mid-zoom and reduce stutter) add further polish to its video capabilities. Display The OPPO Find X8 Ultra features a 6.82-inch flat edge-to-edge display with impressively slim, uniform bezels on all four sides. There's no curve to the screen, giving it a clean, modern look. The panel itself is stunning, with a crisp 3168 x 1440 resolution that delivers vibrant, well-balanced visuals. However, it's worth noting that the phone ships with the display set to a lower standard resolution of 2376 x 1080 by default. Users looking to experience the full Quad HD+ sharpness will need to manually change this setting. For colour tuning, the phone offers a few options: the default is quite natural, but there's a "Vibrant" mode that boosts saturation while maintaining accurate white balance. There's also a 'Pro' mode that sticks to standard colour temperature for a more calibrated output. Outdoor visibility is excellent. I encountered no issues using the phone in direct sunlight, and the display's brightness held up well across different lighting conditions. Viewing angles are equally solid, with minimal colour shifting even when viewed from extreme angles. The display supports a 120Hz refresh rate, ensuring fluid scrolling and smooth animations. OPPO also allows you to customise refresh rate settings on a per-app basis, so you can manually set individual apps to run at higher rates if needed—even if their default cap is lower. As with other OPPO flagships, you get useful enhancements like Image Sharpener and Video Color Boost, which work with select apps to improve extremely low-resolution content. These features aren't always game-changing but do help in fringe cases. Other notable additions include an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor embedded beneath the screen, which is fast and consistently accurate. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass, and the phone comes with a factory-installed screen protector. During testing, the Find X8 Ultra withstood a few accidental drops with only minor scuffs to the aluminium frame but no visible damage to the display itself. Performance and software The OPPO Find X8 Ultra is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite and comes with 16GB of RAM (review unit). Despite being a China-specific unit with Google apps side-loaded, I encountered no performance hiccups or lag while using or switching between apps. Animations are fluid, and the overall experience is consistently snappy. The phone handles intensive tasks with ease. Whether it's multitasking, recording high-resolution Dolby Vision HDR videos, or running graphics-heavy games, the X8 Ultra remains smooth and responsive. Interestingly, I noticed the phone getting unusually warm while using certain local delivery apps—which may point to region-specific software optimisation issues. That aside, it remained impressively cool during extended gaming sessions, with only a slight warmth along the frame. Prolonged camera use does lead to more noticeable heating at the back, but it didn't seem to affect performance in any way. On the software side, the unit comes pre-loaded with a suite of China-centric apps such as TikTok, Weibo, and various Baidu services, which is expected from a model shipped from OPPO's home market. Still, the broader user experience remains on par with OPPO's global flagships. I faced no major roadblocks while sideloading the Google Play Store and other essential apps. Even setting up payment apps, while slightly cumbersome and requiring multiple tweaks in Settings, ultimately worked. Once configured, the experience was stable and familiar. Battery and charging The OPPO Find X8 Ultra is equipped with a 6100mAh battery, and for the most part, it gets the job done. It typically lasts a full day under regular use, but if you rely heavily on the camera, especially for extended shooting sessions, you might start to feel a bit of battery anxiety by evening. In day-to-day use, I often resorted to overnight charging using the phone's Smart Bedtime Charging mode—which helps preserve long-term battery health by optimising the charging cycle. When you do need a quick top-up, the phone's 100W wired charging support (with a charger included in the box) ensures you're never waiting long. With Smart Rapid Charging enabled, the battery charged from 7 per cent to 100 per cent in just 35 minutes during testing. You also get 50W wireless charging support (with compatible chargers), and 10W reverse wireless charging, which came in handy for topping up my earbuds on the go. Verdict OPPO has no plans to launch the Find X8 Ultra is India. The unit reviewed here has been sourced from China by OPPO. Despite initial setup friction with sideloading apps and tweaking settings, the overall experience remained smooth and uncompromised, especially once configured with Google services. What stands out most is just how well-rounded the X8 Ultra feels, especially for a camera-centric flagship. While competing devices that I have reviewed in the past like the Xiaomi 15 Ultra and Vivo X200 Pro excel in specific scenarios, the Find X8 Ultra presents itself as a more balanced smartphone while still offering similar imaging capabilities. From ultra-realistic colour tones to versatile telephoto zoom and surprisingly good low-light portraits, it's easily the best camera-centric phone I have used this year. Add to that a premium design, flagship-tier display, excellent performance, and fast wired and wireless charging, and the Find X8 Ultra makes a strong case as OPPO's most refined and complete flagship yet.
Android Authority
28-06-2025
- Android Authority
If only this Android camera powerhouse was easy to buy, I'd recommend it in a heartbeat
OPPO Find X8 Ultra The OPPO Find X8 Ultra is one of the best Android phones for photography and videography, but it's ultra difficult for most of us to find and purchase due to its regional exclusivity. I've been waiting a long time for this, but finally, I spent some time with the OPPO Find X8 Ultra. I was a big fan of the Find X8 Pro that preceded it, especially its camera capabilities, and the Ultra builds on that, so I was eager to give it a spin. Unfortunately, this is the Chinese model so there are a few caveats to what I could test, as some of the AI capabilities won't work in other regions. But that also exposes this phone's biggest drawback — you can't buy it outside mainland China. Let's dive in and see what we're missing. The good Paul Jones / Android Authority The Find X8 Ultra ditches the retro two-tone vegan leather rear that the Find X7 Ultra had last year. I wasn't the biggest fan of this design, so it's an overall positive in my book. OPPO has also rounded the sides of this phone and added a nice matte finish on the back, which I vastly prefer. The flat display is another positive, with a 6.8-inch stretch, 120Hz refresh rate, and a peak brightness of 2,500 nits. The colors really pop when watching content on the Ultra. The fingerprint reader takes a big step up with the introduction of an ultrasonic module. Another positive is the upgraded fingerprint reader. OPPO ditched the optical fingerprint reader on the Find X7 Ultra for an ultrasonic alternative that works really well. The Find X8 Ultra also packs an IP68/69 water resistance rating, which will protect your phone from hot jets of water. Let's talk internals. The OPPO Find X8 Ultra is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite, the same chip you'll find on a gaggle of flagships in 2025. Regarding benchmarks, it's pretty much hitting the numbers you would expect from a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. Anything you throw at this, it's mostly going to handle with ease. My other big favorite feature on this phone is its battery, specifically the 6,100mAh silicon-carbon battery. Let me tell you, this phone is tough to kill. In the days I've been using it, there hasn't been a day where it has dipped under 30%, unless I'm really pushing it. The Find X8 Ultra is an immensely impressive smartphone considering the overall design and hardware package. The not-so-good Paul Jones / Android Authority But not everything is good news, and the obvious one is that pesky issue of availability. If you're looking to pick up the Find X8 Ultra, you'll find it incredibly difficult. I asked OPPO if it would launch outside China anytime soon, and the answer wasn't promising. I wouldn't hold your breath for a global release of this. Let me focus on another disappointment with the Find X8 Ultra: the missing alert slider. OPPO replaced it with a unique shortcut button, similar to Apple's Action Button. You can assign it to perform actions like muting, turning on the flashlight, and others. However, you can't set it to open any app you want, so you're limited to OPPO's default options. That falls well short of Apple's capabilities. OPPO replaced the iconic alert slider with an Apple-like shortcut button. It can also open the camera, which is odd because there's a dedicated button for quick camera controls. I wasn't a fan of this button on the Find X8 Pro, and I still find it lacking on the Find X8 Ultra. OPPO hasn't improved it, which is disappointing on this pricier version of the device. A double tap opens the camera, and it's a touch-sensitive button that lets you zoom in and out when taking photos. The zooming is decent, but it only works in landscape mode, not portrait. A single press takes photos, but you can't switch modes or change camera settings, even in pro mode. This button is ill-conceived, and its unrealized potential makes its addition so frustrating. The simply brilliant Paul Jones / Android Authority Button aside, and on a positive note, the camera performance on the Find X8 Ultra is impressive. There are four dedicated lenses: a 50MP ultrawide, two 50MP optical telephoto lenses (with 3x and 6x zoom ranges), and a standout 50MP one-inch sensor primary camera. This snapper has a 69% larger sensor than the S25 Ultra's and 63% larger than the iPhone 16 Pro Max's. The difference is noticeable, especially in low light. You can also take JPEG Max photos in master mode, utilizing the one-inch sensor. Yes, this primary camera is impressive. The details are accurate, and the dynamic range is fantastic. The photos look lifelike, with no oversaturation. This might be one of my favorite phone cameras in 2025. The AI zoom after 30x is surprisingly good, especially for buildings, creating usable details. The 50MP ultrawide is equally impressive, capturing great details despite some oversaturation. Andy Walker / Android Authority I also love the 6x optical zoom results. The details are some of the best I've seen in a long time. The photos are slightly over-sharpened and slightly too saturated, but I can overlook that. I've taken many shots with the 6x optical lens and love the results, especially with the telemacro ability. The details are great, and the over-sharpening doesn't occur in macro mode. The Find X8 Ultra's cameras might be the best Android has to offer in 2025. As for video, I still believe that the iPhone is the best, but OPPO has done a great job. It could potentially match the iPhone and be the best Android video phone. You can record at 4K60, with an update coming for 4K120, matching the frame rate potential of the iPhone 16 Pro Max. The stabilization is almost gimbal-like, buttery smooth. Switching between lenses is usually rough, but OPPO has made it nearly seamless, with only slight color shifting. The video details are excellent, too. In daylight, it handles well, and in nighttime video, it performs excellently, with great shadows and minimal noise. This might be my go-to Android video option right now. Check out all the photo samples I took in the video embedded at the top of this review. OPPO Find X8 Ultra: The best Android camera phone you can't buy? Paul Jones / Android Authority You might have guessed it already, but I love the Find X8 Ultra, even with the silly button issues and quirks. The problem is that this phone is not available in the US. In fact, it's not available anywhere outside of China, at least at this point, which is a crying shame. To get your hands on one of these, you'll have to import it, and sometimes, due to price and carrier compatibility, that's just not worth the effort. I do have to give credit here to OPPO, as it has done what vivo and Xiaomi are also doing with their Ultra-tier flagships — keep pushing for what is possible, especially with their cameras. I hope that, in turn, this makes Samsung, Google, and even Apple take note and stop playing it safe regarding their flagship releases. OPPO Find X8 Ultra MSRP: $959.00 Camera champ. The OPPO Find X8 Ultra is one of the best Android phones for photography and videography. See price at Giztop Positives Brilliant main and tertiary cameras Brilliant main and tertiary cameras Video performance rivals the iPhone Video performance rivals the iPhone Silicon-carbon battery lasts and lasts Cons Many AI features limited to China Many AI features limited to China Half-baked, awkward camera button Half-baked, awkward camera button Not officially available outside China
