The OPPO Discover X8 Professional is an Extremely Android flagship in all however title

It’s been some time since OPPO made its option to Europe. The model is chargeable for a number of the greatest Android telephones lately. Now, the OPPO Discover X8 Professional has landed, however you is likely to be extra conversant in this cellphone than you suppose, particularly for those who’re an iPhone person. It’s undoubtedly an Android cellphone, however attracts loads of inspiration from Apple’s flagship.

The OPPO Discover X8 Professional gives an identical design to the X7 collection however with a extra uniform rear digital camera association. Gone is the awkward center lens on the Discover X7 Extremely, and in comes 4 equidistant round voids positioned inside a bigger round digital camera 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 vivid. It’s paired with a MediaTek Dimensity 9400 SoC, a wonderful 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 system, 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 pictures and movies, I simply couldn’t kill it. It may cost as much as 65% in half-hour.

It’s additionally value mentioning ColorOS. Like iOS, it’s fast and responsive, and I like that you may really discover what you’re in search of within the settings with out having to dig by way of 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 internet pages for you that works on virtually all browsers, and there’s additionally AI Communicate that may be a bit temperamental however can learn internet pages for you aloud fairly properly.

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

The very first thing I observed concerning the Discover X8 Professional was its new fast digital camera management button together with the cellphone. I do know that Android telephones have had this manner 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 straightforward to make use of and is likely to be worse than Apple’s implementation.

You double-click it to open the digital camera after which swipe your finger forwards and backwards to vary the zoom, which is troublesome. I might by no means get the zoom I needed with out going previous it or falling brief. I both must go actually slowly or attempt about 5 occasions to have it cease the place I’m really attempting to get it. I’d quite simply use the on-screen buttons.

The short button doesn’t will let you do something aside from zoom in the intervening time, and you’ll’t change any extra capabilities throughout the digital camera app. You may 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 will let you do extra with this, however I’m undecided any quantity of updates could make me wish to use the short button.

Different facets of the system additionally lack a level of polish. OPPO has launched an virtually AirDrop-like function referred to as O Plus Join, which is supposed to make picture and video sharing with iPhones just a little bit simpler (in concept). For me, this app didn’t work all the time. You might want to obtain the O Plus Join app in your iPhone, have that open, after which connect with the OPPO cellphone’s hotspot to obtain the file. I did attempt it just a few occasions, and it failed far too many occasions when it labored, and it sort of simply made me not wish to do this once more.

As a lot as I get pleasure from Colour OS, the pores and skin has flaws and annoyances you received’t discover on a Pixel. I don’t just like the variety of random apps you’ve got downloaded onto your cellphone or are closely urged to obtain by way of sizzling apps. Then there are the cut up fast controls and notification shade, which I really don’t like. Fortunately you get the possibility 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 a Extremely for the Discover X8 collection (at the very least not on the time of this writing), we’re going to take this as one of the best that OPPO can provide us.

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

All 4 of those lenses are 50MP, and the primary digital camera nonetheless captures some actually spectacular photos. The small print that you simply get are nice. Possibly these particulars aren’t so nice within the shadows, however general I really had no complaints.

For telephoto calls for, you get the choices of both 3x or 6x occasions zoom ranges, and each of those lengths seize some nice pictures. I really actually love having the choice of each as a result of it covers you for just about the whole lot. You get AI telescope zoom, which kicks in after 10x, and the AI right here helps to boost that picture. At decrease zoom ranges, this does a very good job, and it may well do a superb job as properly at 60x zoom if the picture is obvious. However for those who 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 just a little jittery when shifting. Whereas the video isn’t that dangerous, 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 important cameras. A good replace help interval alongside stable construct high quality makes it a smart possibility for many who like wanting past the massive 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 round $1,300 within the US. That locations the system above each Google and Samsung’s 2024 flagships. Whereas I had a very good time utilizing OPPO’s newest flagship, it’s undoubtedly a distinct segment decide at this value level. Nevertheless, for those who don’t thoughts paying up, it’s the right system for these in search of one thing just a little totally different past the same old suspects.