Hands-on: Oppo Find X8 Pro is worth a look for its opinionated camera alone [Gallery]

3 hours ago 3

The Oppo Find X8 series is hitting the global market and after spending some time with the new hardware, we think it’s worth your consideration.

Oppo’s new flagship Find X8 series consists of two new devices, the Find X8 and the Find X8 Pro, and the two share a lot in common. You can find a run down of the specs at the link below.

Oppo Find X8 and Find X8 Pro launch globally

I’ve spent around a week testing out the Oppo Find X8 Pro in particular, and it’s been an absolute delight.

The hardware is one of the first things that stood out to me, with Oppo’s hardware really just going above and beyond. It’s getting hardware to make a slab-style phone feel impressive, but Oppo certainly gives it a run. The matte finish of the entire device feels comfortable in the hand, and the “Pearl White” color variant is genuinely stunning. Every model is also truly one-of-a-kind, with a special “multi-layer texture” under the glass that has little “breaks” in the pattern to deliver just a stunning piece of hardware.

The smaller Find X8 is arguably the design that better fits my usual preferences, with a flat display, but the Pro is just too good to give up.

In terms of performance and the software experience, MediaTek’s Dimensity 9400 puts on a good show, especially combined with the slick animations of Oppo’s ColorOS 15 update. The entire experience feels fast and smooth throughout, and ColorOS (and in turn OxygenOS) has really been growing on me, especially as it addresses the dozens of tiny little quirks that I used to find so annoying. It’s still not perfect, but it’s really good. Like everyone else, Oppo has a bunch of AI in its software, but it all sits in the background fairly quietly.

Battery life has also been stellar, with this device easily lasting through a full day (5-6 hours of active use) with 45% or more left by bedtime.

The most important bit, of course, is the camera. Oppo’s cameras have always been impressive, but the Find X8 Pro feels like a huge step up, probably because it is. With two full generations having passed since the last time I spent quality time with Oppo’s camera system, it’s been fun finding all of the special features and things to love in the pictures themselves.

While shooting with the Find X8 Pro, I’ve found myself really enjoying the very decisive processing style of the cameras. It feels like an opinionated camera that goes for a look and sticks with it. You’re still in control for the most part, but you can also really let the camera make the decisions by kicking in the special “film” modes in the camera app. The results are often stunning and can make for a dramatic shot.

Oppo’s “Quick Button” for the shutter and zoom is a fun trick too. The touch-sensitive area uses haptics to emulate a real button, with a double-press opening the camera and another press then taking a shot. It’s handy mainly because, like most devices originally made for the Chinese market, there’s no double-press gesture on the power button for opening the camera, but it was fun to take shots with a shutter button on the hardware too.

Over this past week, I’ve really just come to remember how frustrating it is that devices like this rarely make it to US shores. The Find X8 Pro is a great device, and even though the bulk of its experience will come to the States through the OnePlus 13, Oppo has something special here, and it’s absolutely worth a look if it’s available in your region.