It’s been a minute since Oppo last released a premium flagship in the Philippines.
A few years ago, the Chinese phone maker dropped out of the premium segment in Southeast Asia and Europe to focus on building its brand and retail networks in these markets. Now, with the global release of the Find X8, Oppo is back to once again challenge the likes of Apple and Samsung in what has become one of the most competitive segments in the phone industry.
So is this the triumphant return Oppo had hoped for? It very well could be, with the Find X8 delivering one of the best flagship phone experiences of the year. This feature-rich all-arounder has a great display, speedy performance, and a stellar triple-rear camera system.
iPhone-like design
Before I get to those, however, I want to first talk about the Find X8’s design. After all, it’s the design that immediately grabbed my attention when I first got my hands on the phone. And it did so because of how similar it looks and feels to the iPhone. So similar that you might mistake it for the iPhone 16 Plus or Pro Max if you only view from the front and the sides. The Find X8 even shares the same overall shape, punctuated by the rounded corners. But its backside is Oppo through and through, and that’s largely thanks to the massive circular camera array.
Usually, I’m not a fan of flagships that ape other flagships’ designs. With the Find X8 though, I don’t mind it so much because the design is both attractive and functional.It also feels very premium, with the back panel featuring a smooth glass finish.
Up front, the phone has a 6.59-inch AMOLED panel with HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support. It’s a bright and immersive display with rich colors and deep blacks, making it great for watching movies and shows on-the-go. I like how the display’s bezels are very thin, which helps give it a sleeker, more modern aesthetic. It also has a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, enabling you to scroll through content smoothly.
Top-notch performance
The Find X8 is one of the first global releases to be powered by the Mediatek Dimensity 9400, a flagship chipset manufactured on TSMC’s 3nm process. It’s one of the best-performing chipsets in the market today, boasting clock speeds of up to 3.6GHz, so you can expect it to handle just about anything you can throw at it.
To check the chipset’s performance, I put the phone through its paces by multitasking with resource-heavy apps and running graphically demanding games at max settings, and I didn’t run into any issues at all. Apps open in a snap; multitasking is smooth; and games feel responsive.
I just wish Oppo considers bringing more configurations of the Find X8 to the Philippines soon. Right now, only the version with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage is available in the country. If you’re the type to snap a lot of photos, you definitely want more storage than 256GB.
Stellar cameras
Speaking of snapping photos, the Find X8’s triple-rear camera system, which consists of three 50MP sensors, is perhaps its biggest selling point. The Sony LYT-700 main sensor with an f/1.8 aperture has all the bells and whistles you expect from a flagship sensor, including optical image stabilization and a 24mm focal length. Shots taken using this sensor look stunning, packing plenty of detail with vibrant colors, though they can look a tad bit oversaturated at times. Low-light shots are almost just as good, optimizing exposure just enough to make details pop.
The main sensor has up to 2x zoom, but if you want to get closer to your subject, you’ll have to switch to the telephoto sensor. This sensor, which pairs a Sony LYT-600 with a periscope lens, has great zoom capabilities, enabling you to get some impressive close-ups with barely any compromises.
If 3x zoom is still not enough, you can zoom even further with Oppo’s digital zoom feature, which it calls AI Telescope Zoom.
Digital zoom rarely yields great results because unlike optical zoom, it doesn’t use physical lens elements to magnify subjects. Instead, it crops your shot to make the subject appear larger than it is and scales it to the aspect ratio and dimensions you have set. This is why the further you zoom, the greater the loss in image quality.
But with the Find X8, you’re more likely to get better shots using the digital zoom than on other phones. I was surprised at how well it manages to retain details in 10x zoom shots. You can probably push it beyond that and still get sharp-looking shots with crisp details. That’s likely all thanks to the camera system’s AI, which works its magic in cleaning up the image quality. It’s so impressive that it now makes me wish other phones could implement digital zoom as well as the Find X8.
Finally, the 50MP ultra-wide sensor, quality-wise, lags slightly behind the two, but the differences are subtle.
For video, the Find X8 can record at up to 4K resolution with a refresh rate of 60fps. What’s more, you get stabilization at this setting, allowing you to get good quality footage even if you have shaky hands.
Overall, this is one of the more robust and flexible camera systems you can find in this price segment. It delivers in every key department, and the impressive zoom capabilities give it a unique edge over other flagships.
The Find X8 is powered by a sizable 5,630mAh battery cell, which can easily give you a full day’s worth of moderate usage. I had the screen resolution and the refresh rate at the highest setting for most of the time I used the phone and not once did I ever have to charge more than once a day. You can probably even push it up to two days, if you don’t play games or turn down some of the settings I mentioned. This battery packs some serious power.
If there was a phone that I’d put against the base versions of the Samsung Galaxy S24 and Apple’s iPhone 16, spec-for-spec, it’d be the Oppo Find X8. This phone is an exceptional all-arounder with excellent hardware, highlighted by one of the best flagship camera systems available today. It’s also one of Oppo’s best flagships yet, offering a very compelling premium experience at P54,999. While not cheap, it’s one of the better options, when it comes to value-for-money, in this price segment. Again, I just wish Oppo also puts out a variant with 512GB of storage. – Rappler.com
