- Best in class battery
- Fantastic cameras
- Cheaper than rivals
- Selfie camera can be inconsistent
- 6x zoom lens struggles with motion in low light
- Shorter software support than the competition
The Find X8 Pro is OPPO's first non-foldable flagship to launch in Australia since the Find X5 in 2022, and it sure makes an impression. It's easily the best value flagship on the market, offering more for less.
$1,799 isn't cheap, but the value on offer here is unmatched. The Find X8 Pro comfortably competes with other manufacturer's top-tier phones - like the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Galaxy S24 Ultra - but for as much as $700 less. That's pretty hard to argue with.
Showstopping battery
The star of the Find X8 Pro show is battery life. It's the longest-lasting Android flagship we've tested in a long time, comfortably achieving at least eight hours of screen time per charge on a 5G network. That's enough for two full days of lighter usage, or a day-and-a-half of moderate.
Notably, the Find X8 Pro is the only flagship Android device we've tested that's been able to keep pace with the iPhone 16 Pro Max. In our testing, the iPhone 16 Pro Max also offered up to eight hours of screen time per charge while on 5G.
The Pro Max iPhones have been unrivalled when it comes to battery over the last few years, with most Android phones maxing out at around six hours of screen time per charge. It's impressive to see OPPO give Android users a device that boasts this kind of longevity.
The Find X8 Pro still comes with a charger in the box, and you'll need to use this for the fastest charging speeds. With the included charge you should be able to get from full to flat in around half an hour. A third-party charger will still offer fast charging, but at a slower rate. Expect more like 50% in half-an-hour.
There's also wireless fast charging at up to 50W, but you'll need to use OPPO's proprietary AirVOOC Wireless Charger to get these kinds of speeds. These retail for $129, but they're currently discounted to $44.95. The Find X8 Pro doesn't support Qi2 wireless fast charging.
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So many cameras
The Find X8 Pro has an unusual rear camera setup with four 50MP lenses: a 0.6x ultra-wide lens, a primary lens, a 3x zoom lens, and a 6x zoom lens.
All of the cameras can take lovely photos with a natural look right out of the box. You get more shadows and contrast than a device like the iPhone 16, which tends to brighten shots by default. This can flatten images, and by comparison, the Find X8 Pro's shots pop that little bit more. The difference is especially visible in low-light images. The Find X8 Pro captures an image more in line with what you can see, while the iPhone 16 night mode has more of a surreal vibe to it.
Here's a nighttime photo from the Find X8 Pro:
And here's the same shot from the iPhone 16 Pro Max:
The primary lens can be a little inconsistent with motion in dark environments, however. I was taking photos on a dance floor with the Find X8 Pro and an iPhone 16 Pro Max, and while both phones took plenty of dud images (it's a challenging place to take photos), the iPhone nailed more shots than the OPPO. I still got some solid results from the Find X8 Pro, but not as reliably.
Swapping to the ultra-wide results in very little degradation of image quality, but it's not as wide as on some phones. OPPO opted for a 0.6x ultra-wide as opposed to a 0.5x. The Find X8 Pro also turn on night mode for the ultra-wide sooner than you might expect. For example, the Find X8 Pro suggested using night mode for a photo under my desk (in a dim room) whereas the iPhone 16 Pro didn't. This isn't necessarily detrimental to photo quality, it just means you need to keep the phone steadier while taking the shot.
The twin periscope lenses are perhaps the most interesting thing about the Find X8 Pro camera. You get both a 3x and 6x lens, and they're very fun to play around with. They're especially good for portraiture and architecture. While two zoom lenses might seem like overkill, it does give you extra versatility. A photo taken with the 3x lens on the Find X8 Pro looks much nicer than the 3x digital zoom you get on phones that go straight from 1x to 5x.
Here's a shot from the 3x lens with portrait mode off:
My only real complaint about the rear cameras is the comparatively slow 6x telephoto lens. It has an aperture of f/4.3, which lags behind the f/2.8 we’ve seen on 5x telephoto lenses on devices like the iPhone 16 Pro and the Pixel 9 Pro. A faster aperture can help compensate for shaky hands or moving subjects, and becomes especially important in low light. The 6x lens can still get decent shots in a dark environment, but you need luck. It's not as consistent as the faster 5x zoom lens on the latest iPhones and Pixels.
Here's a shot from the 6x lens at night. It's not too bad, but a bit blurrier than I'd like given the orchestra hadn't even started playing yet.
The Find X8 Pro's selfie camera is the only lens I'd consider a weakness. It's missing optical image stabilisation and autofocus, which have both become common in flagship selfie cameras over the last few years. As such, you might need a few attempts to get a good selfie in a dark environment. Bright lighting can also pose a challenge, with the Find X8 Pro tending to wash out faces to prevent blowing out the background. You can still get good results from the selfie camera, you might just need to work a little harder than you'd expect.
OPPO Find X8 Pro camera samples
Check out these camera samples taken on the Find X8 Pro. Click or tap on any photo to see a larger version.
The Find X8 Pro also has its own take on the iPhone 16's camera control, called the quick button. Double-tapping the quick button opens the camera, and tapping it again will take a photo. You can also swipe across it to zoom in and out, but you can't half-press to toggle through settings like you can with camera control. I prefer using the on-screen controls - partially out of habit, partially because tapping the quick button can add a little shake to your photos if you're not gripping the Find X8 Pro tightly - but it's nice to have the option.
Since it's 2024, there are naturally AI camera features. OPPO has gone for a lower touch route compared to Samsung and Google, with the functionality mostly designed to improve photos rather than change them by adding new elements, swapping faces, or compositing people into group shots.
The flagship AI feature is long-range zoom. Once you go past 10x magnification, the Find X8 Pro will use generative AI to enhance photos. This can work surprisingly well up to around 30x magnification on some subjects, but once you go further, you start to see the hallmarks of generative AI; text is jumbled and elements don't quite align like they should. AI zoom also works much better with good lighting. Results were far more inconsistent in dark environments, looked worse, and featured more pronounced hallucinations.
AI Zoom camera samples
These camera samples show the Find X8 Pro's AI Zoom. The first is 1x, the second is 30x, then 60x, and finally, 120x. Click or tap on any photo to see a larger version.
The other new AI tools are a bit more basic. There's one that can sharpen blurry images, for example. It won't salvage a bad photo, but it does a surprisingly okay job of making a blurry (human) face a little clearer. It won't work miracles if your photo is very blurry, and it also struggles with dogs.
Here's a blurry photo I tested with:
And here is the sharpened version:
There's also a reflection remover that works well enough, and a clarity enhancer where I didn't notice much of a difference on any photo I used it on.
Curved, but not too curved
When it comes to the phone itself, the Find X8 Pro is a lovely piece of hardware. It's a little lighter than similarly sized flagships and feels good in the hand. Matte backs are common on high-end phones now, but OPPO also opted for matte sides. This means you don't get fingerprints on the frame, which can be an issue on devices with glossier finishes.
While most other manufacturers have stopped using curved screens on high-end phones, OPPO has persisted but with a slight twist. Instead of having the left and right edges taper off aggressively, there's a very gentle curve on all four sides. Most of the curve is on the bezel, so there's no colour distortion on the display itself.
The Find X8 Pro's screen itself is lovely. It's a bright, vibrant 6.78-inch panel; I've got no complaints. OPPO has included LPTO technology, which enables refresh rates from 1Hz to 120Hz. This can help conserve battery by dropping the refresh rate very low when not actively interacting with the phone, while still facilitating silky smooth scrolling.
The Find X8 Pro is rated both IP68 and IP69 for water resistance. Not only can it survive being submerged under water, it also has protection against high-pressure water jets. This is the highest level of protection against water, and the only phone I've come across with this certification. Most of us aren't subjecting our devices to high-pressure water, but extra protection certainly doesn't hurt.
In terms of performance, the Find X8 Pro is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity processor rather than Snapdragon. This is a pretty unusual choice for Android flagships, as MediaTek chips are more often associated with mid-tier phones. Fortunately, the performance on offer here is fantastic. The chip in question - the Dimensity 9400 - goes neck and neck with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in benchmarks, and isn't far behind the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite.
In practice, the OPPO Find X8 Pro is as snappy as you'd expect a high-end phone to be. I had no issues with day-to-day performance, and it handled demanding games like Diablo Immortal on the highest settings with ease.
OPPO's made a big improvement to its update policy, and is now promising five years of Android system upgrades and six years of security. That’s the longest software life of an OPPO phone yet, but it falls short of the competition. The Samsung Galaxy S24 family and Google Pixel 9 family have been promised seven years of both operating system updates and security.
OPPO Find X8 Pro - Final Thoughts
The Find X8 Pro is a fantastic phone that also happens to be great value at $1,799. It goes toe-to-toe with more expensive competitors while besting them on price. And when you consider the Find X8 Pro has 512GB of storage out of the box, the pricing gap between it and the competition widens significantly.
The Pixel 9 Pro XL is the cheapest comparative alternative, starting at $1,849. A 512GB model takes that to $2,199. The Galaxy S24 Ultra starts at $2,199, but you'll pay $2,399 for a 512GB model. The iPhone 16 Pro Max is a minimum of $2,149, which jumps to $2,499 if you're after 512GB.
Despite being cheaper, the Find X8 Pro isn't a compromise pick. It handily bests the Pixel and Samsung in terms of battery and closely matches the iPhone. You'll get lovely photos from the camera. There's more than grunt under the hood, and the screen and build quality are top-notch.
Like most phones, there are a few niggles. The selfie camera can be inconsistent, I would have liked the zoom lens to handle motion in low light better, and another year or two of operating system upgrades would have been nice. In the scheme of things, these should be pretty minor issues for most. They don’t take away from the overall excellent package that is the Find X8 Pro.
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Alex Choros
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