The OPPO Find X8 Pro is an Ultra Android flagship in all but name

It’s been some time since OPPO made its method to Europe. The model is accountable for among the best Android phones lately. Now, the OPPO Discover X8 Professional has landed, however you may be extra accustomed to this cellphone than you assume, particularly when you’re an iPhone consumer. It’s undoubtedly an Android cellphone, however attracts loads of inspiration from Apple’s flagship.

The OPPO Discover X8 Professional presents an identical design to the X7 sequence however with a extra uniform rear digicam association. Gone is the awkward center lens on the Discover X7 Extremely, and in comes 4 equidistant round voids positioned inside a bigger round digicam bump — pleasing symmetry. The X8 Professional additionally wears a single colorway throughout its rear shell that appears far cleaner than its predecessor.

The OPPO Discover X8 Professional’s specs additionally stand out. Up entrance is a 6.78-inch OLED with a 4,500 nits peak brightness determine. That’s burning brilliant. It’s paired with a MediaTek Dimensity 9400 SoC, a superb gaming processor. In our benchmarks, the chipset bests the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely in multi- and single-core Geekbench scores and barely trails behind the Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered ASUS ROG Telephone 9 Professional — a confirmed gaming contender. I didn’t spend a lot time gaming on this gadget, however realizing these credentials are there brings welcome consolation.

Rounding off the expertise is a 5,910mAh battery that supplied me glorious endurance. It doesn’t matter what I used to be doing, whether or not it was watching content material or utilizing its quad cameras to take photographs and movies, I simply couldn’t kill it. It will probably cost as much as 65% in half-hour.

It’s additionally price mentioning ColorOS. Like iOS, it’s fast and responsive, and I really like which you could truly discover what you’re in search of within the settings with out having to dig via each single menu. There are additionally some actually good AI options this yr. You get Circle to Search and all of that goodness with Gemini. There’s AI Abstract that may summarize net pages for you that works on nearly all browsers, and there’s additionally AI Converse that may be a bit temperamental however can learn net pages for you aloud fairly properly.

OPPO has stated there may also be 5 years of OS updates for this, which I believe is very nice, however it doesn’t fairly evaluate to Google and Samsung’s guarantees.

The very first thing I observed in regards to the Discover X8 Professional was its new fast digicam management button along with the cellphone. I do know that Android telephones have had this fashion earlier than the iPhone 16 was launched (Sony telephones have additionally had them for ages). Nevertheless, Sony doesn’t have a touch-capacity button, which the iPhone does, as does the Discover X8 Professional. However is it any good? Briefly, no. It’s not simple to make use of and may be worse than Apple’s implementation.

You double-click it to open the digicam after which swipe your finger forwards and backwards to vary the zoom, which is tough. I may by no means get the zoom I wished with out going previous it or falling quick. I both should go actually slowly or attempt about 5 instances to have it cease the place I’m truly making an attempt to get it. I’d quite simply use the on-screen buttons.

The short button doesn’t mean you can do something apart from zoom in the intervening time, and you may’t change any extra capabilities throughout the digicam app. You possibly can single-tap to take a photograph or press to burst, however that’s about it. Now, OPPO did say that an replace is coming to mean you can do extra with this, however I’m unsure any quantity of updates could make me need to use the short button.

Different points of the gadget additionally lack a level of polish. OPPO has launched an nearly AirDrop-like function known as O Plus Join, which is supposed to make picture and video sharing with iPhones somewhat bit simpler (in concept). For me, this app didn’t work the entire time. You want to obtain the O Plus Join app in your iPhone, have that open, after which hook up with the OPPO cellphone’s hotspot to obtain the file. I did attempt it a number of instances, and it failed far too many instances when it labored, and it sort of simply made me not need to do this once more.

As a lot as I take pleasure in Coloration OS, the pores and skin has flaws and annoyances you gained’t discover on a Pixel. I don’t just like the variety of random apps you’ve downloaded onto your cellphone or are closely instructed to obtain via scorching apps. Then there are the cut up fast controls and notification shade, which I truly don’t like. Fortunately you get the prospect to show this off on setup.

This brings me to the largest promoting level right here, and that’s the cameras. As there isn’t any Extremely for the Discover X8 sequence (at the very least not on the time of this writing), we’re going to take this as the perfect that OPPO may give us.

Whereas the cameras are literally a slight downgrade from the Discover X7 Extremely, with the primary digicam providing a smaller sensor than the one-inch instance on that Extremely, it nonetheless takes some nice photographs. Try the YouTube video on the prime of this evaluate for all of my samples.

All 4 of those lenses are 50MP, and the primary digicam nonetheless captures some actually spectacular footage. The main points that you simply get are nice. Possibly these particulars aren’t so nice within the shadows, however general I truly had no complaints.

For telephoto calls for, you get the choices of both 3x or 6x instances zoom ranges, and each of those lengths seize some nice photographs. I truly actually love having the choice of each as a result of it covers you for just about every thing. You get AI telescope zoom, which kicks in after 10x, and the AI right here helps to reinforce that picture. At decrease zoom ranges, this does a extremely good job, and it may well do a great job as properly at 60x zoom if the picture is obvious. However when you zoom in on one thing that’s obfuscated, no quantity of AI will save the picture.

The video capabilities peak at 4K 60fps, and it’s okay, however I discovered it to be somewhat jittery when shifting. Whereas the video isn’t that unhealthy, I struggled to look previous that jitteriness when shifting round with the cellphone.

The OPPO Discover X8 Professional is a compelling flagship contender with a big battery, nice gaming chipset, and 4 succesful most important cameras. A good replace help interval alongside stable construct high quality makes it a smart possibility for individuals who like trying past the large contenders.

Nevertheless, crucial issue when contemplating buying the OPPO Discover X8 Professional is the value, and the value is sky-high. At £1,049 within the UK, you’re taking a look at round $1,300 within the US. That locations the gadget above each Google and Samsung’s 2024 flagships. Whereas I had a extremely good time utilizing OPPO’s newest flagship, it’s positively a distinct segment decide at this value level. Nevertheless, when you don’t thoughts paying up, it’s the proper gadget for these in search of one thing somewhat completely different past the same old suspects.