OPPO Discover X8 Evaluate: A Energy Person’s Dream

This 12 months’s development appears to be to construct it just like the iPhone. And actually, I’m not complaining, after all I do use an iPhone so it feels proper at residence. However after having used each the OPPO Discover X8 and Discover X8 Professional, I sort of desire the design of the Discover X8 Professional. That’s not saying something damaging concerning the Discover X8, because it does look beautiful and feels unimaginable within the hand. However the quad-curved show on the Discover X8 Professional appears even higher.

So what’s the distinction between the Discover X8 and Discover X8 Professional, and must you desire one over the opposite? Properly, there are a couple of distinctions between the 2. In fact, it’s a smaller show at 6.59 inches, it additionally lacks that second telephoto digital camera, and it has a smaller battery inside because of the smaller bodily dimension. It additionally has flat sides in comparison with the curved sides of the Discover X8 Professional. Regardless of the very small adjustments between the 2, I believe that they each hit totally different patrons. Let’s discuss concerning the good, the dangerous and the ugly of the OPPO Discover X8, and work out if you should purchase it or not.

OPPO Discover X8 Evaluate: {Hardware} and Design

OPPO, very similar to its different BBK siblings, has at all times produced top-notch {hardware}. And that’s no totally different right here with the Discover X8. This telephone is extraordinarily well-built and feels high-end within the hand. In fact, a part of that’s because of the steel body and the glass again. Surprisingly, the OPPO Discover X8 is considerably skinny, we’re taking a look at a thickness of seven.85mm and a weight of 193g. For a telephone with a 6.59-inch show, that’s fairly respectable. The Galaxy S24 FE, which is a tiny bit bigger at 6.7-inches, can be thicker at 8mm and heavier at 213g.

One other side to think about with the {hardware} right here is the digital camera module. Sure it’s nonetheless large, taking on almost half of the again of the telephone. However additionally it is about 40% thinner. Numbers don’t at all times translate to what it appears like in the true world. As a result of I’ll let you know, when OPPO mentioned the digital camera system was 40% thinner, I didn’t actually anticipate it to be this skinny. However it’s. It measures in at simply over 3mm thick now. It’s really fairly sureal to see in particular person and examine to different telephones just like the OnePlus Open, or the Xiaomi 14 Extremely, each of which have large digital camera modules with the latter having a 1-inch kind sensor inside.

On the proper aspect, there’s the amount rocker above the facility button. Which is the right solution to place these, not with the facility button above the amount rocker, Google. On the left aspect is the enduring alert slider, which I by no means actually realized how a lot I exploit it till I used a telephone with out it. On the underside of the telephone, you’ll discover the USB-C port, SIM card slot, and speaker. On the high are a couple of microphone holes and an IR Blaster. Sure, OPPO can be holding the IR Blaster round. That is one other underrated function that numerous Chinese language telephones have, and it’s actually helpful while you lose your TV distant.

However, regardless of the flat sides, the Discover X8 feels very comfy. And regardless of it wanting very slippery, it’s something however. Not as soon as have I had the Discover X8 slip out of my arms. It’s a shocking telephone that’s comfy to carry and never terribly slick. That’s a win in my e-book.

OPPO Discover X8 Evaluate: Show

When reviewing the Discover X8 and Discover X8 Professional, I really used the Professional first after which began utilizing the common Discover X8 and forming this assessment, and seeing how skinny the bezels have been on the Discover X8 was fairly spectacular. As a result of they’re thinner than the Discover X8 Professional. And it’s actually a very totally different expertise because the Discover X8 Professional makes use of the quad-curved show, and the Discover X8 is flat.

Having mentioned that, this show is not any slouch. It’s a 6.59-inch show with symmetrical 1.45mm bezels. It additionally will get insanely vibrant at as much as 4,500 nits of peak brightness. It’s essential to notice that you simply’ll by no means actually see that in actual life except you’re in some excessive circumstances. The standard brightness is 800 nits, and the excessive brightness mode will get as much as 1,600 nits. That’s nearer to what we present in our testing of this show; we have been in a position to get it as much as 1439 nits. That’s nonetheless a lot vibrant, and I’ll say, I’ve had no points with brightness right here, even outside in direct daylight.

The colours on this show are additionally fairly spectacular. Whereas the content material melting off the aspect of the Discover X8 Professional does look nicer, the flat show of the Discover X8 additionally appears unimaginable. The colours are fairly correct, and it additionally helps many alternative HDR specs. This consists of Dolby Imaginative and prescient, HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG.

It’s a shocking show, which makes watching video on YouTube, Netflix and different video apps fairly superb.

OPPO Discover X8 Evaluate: Efficiency

The MediaTek Dimensity 9400 powers the OPPO Discover X8, which is the most recent and biggest from MediaTek. The Discover X8 and X8 Professional have been my first expertise with the brand new Dimensity 9400, and I’ve to say, I’ve been pleasantly impressed. The Dimensity 9400 is sort of speedy, with out getting very heat.

In day-to-day duties like looking X, Fb, and Instagram, or spending a great deal of time on TikTok, the Discover X8 doesn’t get sizzling in any respect, and doesn’t throttle both. Even whereas gaming with Wild Rift or Genshin Impression, it stays fairly cool, which is reasonably spectacular to be fairly sincere.

In fact, having 16GB of RAM on board does undoubtedly assist with that. We now have run some benchmarks to see the way it stacks as much as the competitors, too.

Benchmarks

For our benchmarking, we run Geekbench 6, and 3D Mark Wildlife Excessive Stress Check, in addition to a video export check with Capcut. For this assessment, we’re going to match the OPPO Discover X8 to the realme GT 7 Professional which sports activities the Snapdragon 8 Elite and the Vivo X100 Professional from final 12 months which sports activities the Dimensity 9300 – the predecessor to the Dimensity 9400.

In Geekbench 6, as you possibly can see above, we’re taking a look at a reasonably wholesome enhance over the Dimensity 9300, round 30% right here. Although, the Dimensity 9400 does nonetheless run decrease than the Snapdragon 8 Elite, which is anticipated provided that Qualcomm has their processor clocked at 4.32GHz. Although surprisingly, the Discover X8 has a greater GPU rating than the Realme GT 7 Professional with the Snapdragon 8 Elite.

Subsequent up is the 3DMark Wildlife Excessive Stress Check. This check will push the telephone so far as it could possibly go, and likewise check its thermals and any throttling it might need. So its greatest loop was 6,138, which is the very best rating I’ve seen in our testing. The bottom loop was 2,635, which suggests there’s fairly a little bit of throttling right here, particularly with a stability of 42.9%. Usually, we contemplate something over 70% stability as fairly good, when it comes to throttling. That is a part of our thermal checks, which we’ll speak about in a second.

Lastly, now we have a video export check. What we do right here is, we import the identical 1-minute video into Capcut after which export it. Timing how lengthy it takes to export at 1080p60. Now we do 1080p30 as a result of not all telephones we check can export at 4K60, sadly. That is typically a reasonably fast check, with most telephones exporting the video in underneath 10 seconds. For the OPPO Discover X8, it exported it in 7.03 seconds. Now in comparison with the realme GT 7 Professional which was 6.34 seconds, it’s a distinction, however not an enormous distinction in day-to-day utilization. However it’s a reasonably large enchancment over the Vivo X100 Professional and its Dimensity 9300 chipset.

Thermals

Shifting onto the thermals, we even have a couple of checks to take a look at the thermals on each machine. There are three checks that we carry out to verify the thermals on every machine. First up is 3D Mark Wildlife Excessive Stress Check. That is going to get the telephone as sizzling as it is going to ever get, it’s probably not indicative of each day utilization, but it surely does present us how a lot the telephone may throttle. The OPPO Discover X8 hit a temperature of 110.3 levels throughout this check. That’s proper in the course of the pack of the telephones we’ve reviewed up to now 12 months. Curiously, it’s a few levels hotter than the Discover X8 Professional.

The following check that we run is with Genshin Impression. Since that is an insanely well-liked recreation that can be fairly demanding, we really feel like this can be a good check for every telephone. We play Genshin Impression for an hour (beginning at room temperature) and put the telephone at max brightness, with the maxxed-out graphics settings. The OPPO Discover X8 hit a temperature of 95.3 levels. That’s fairly spectacular, but it surely additionally reveals how optimized Genshin Impression really is now.

The ultimate check is a digital camera check. We report video at 4K60 for 10 minutes, taking temperature readings at 5 minutes and once more at 10 minutes. Video recording does sometimes get the telephone fairly heat, and right here, it really acquired hotter than taking part in Genshin Impression. 5 minutes in, the Discover X8 was recorded at 93.2 levels Fahrenheit. And at 10 minutes, it went as much as 100.2 levels. That’s larger than another telephones, however given the scale, this isn’t dangerous in any respect. We’ve had bigger telephones get a lot hotter.

So does the Dimensity 9400 overheat or run sizzling? Not in our testing to this point. In fact, we’ve solely examined it one design, the Discover X8 collection.

OPPO Discover X8 Evaluate: Battery life and Charging

As I discussed earlier, I used the Discover X8 Professional first and put that assessment collectively earlier than shifting onto the Discover X8, and I’ve to say, I anticipated the battery life to drop off on the Discover X8. Though it’s nonetheless a reasonably large battery at 5,630mAh – that’s 12% bigger than the Galaxy S24 Extremely in a a lot smaller physique. And I’m joyful to report that’s not the case. It’s nonetheless a legit two-day telephone, if not three days, relying in your utilization.

I used to be routinely getting 10 hours of display time right here over the course of virtually two full days. That’s fairly spectacular and never one thing I can say about numerous different telephones I’ve examined this 12 months. I’ve no worries about battery life with the Discover X8 nor the Discover X8 Professional. Moreover, should you do have to high up, there’s 80W SUPERVOOC charging.

OPPO says that it takes simply 48 minutes to cost the Discover X8 to 100% battery with the included 80W SUPERVOOC charger, which I discovered to be fairly correct. In my testing, it took

The one situation I’ve with these quick chargers is, USB-A. That’s proper, they’re utilizing USB-A to do these quick charging speeds – and it’s not simply OPPO. Which signifies that if I deliver a USB-C charger with me, I gained’t get wherever close to these charging speeds. As a substitute, it’ll be nearer to 20W. A lot for USB-C being so common, proper?

Benchmarks

We additionally run a couple of benchmarks for battery life and charging. For battery life, we cost the telephone to 100% after which max out the brightness and play a YouTube Video, till the telephone drops to about 1%. Sometimes, something over 20 hours is nice battery life, with only a few telephones that we’ve examined having handed the 24 hour mark.

The OPPO Discover X8 lasted 23 hours and 21 minutes. That’s a strong two hours shorter than the OPPO Discover X8 Professional, however nonetheless very respectable. Right here’s how that compares to a number of the competitors.

After we end the battery check, we then plug it in, utilizing the charger that got here with the telephone – within the case of the Discover X8, that’s the 80W SUPERVOOC charger. In any other case, we use a USB-C charger that outputs the max pace that the telephone helps. And we time how lengthy it takes to do a full cost.

It took the OPPO Discover X8 56 minutes and three seconds to go from 1% to 100%. Surprisingly, that’s about 30 seconds quicker than the OPPO Discover X8 Professional, which has a 4% bigger battery. Right here’s how that stacks as much as another current, fast-charging smartphones.

OPPO Discover X8 Evaluate: Software program

OPPO is delivery the Discover X8 on ColorOS 15, which is predicated on Android 15. So it’s the most recent and biggest model of Android, that’s actually nice to see, since Android 15 solely acquired pushed to AOSP about 2 months in the past. Very like the Discover X8 Professional, the Discover X8 did have a few small updates accessible out of the field, which I put in earlier than beginning to use the telephone.

ColorOS 15 is definitely a reasonably main replace for OPPO. They’re touting that it has over 800 new animations, it additionally provides Circle to Search and Contact to Share. However maybe much more essential than all of that’s, how clean it’s. OPPO has slimmed down the ROM, permitting you to have much more on-board area, whereas additionally making it snappier and smoother. Who can complain concerning the software program being even smoother? Which we skilled throughout our time utilizing ColorOS 15. It’s been fairly unimaginable simply how clean it’s.

This replace additionally brings in a visible overhaul, with new app icons and adjustments to the Fast Settings panel. Now you possibly can select to have it break up with the notification shade, or have it a separate web page. Consider it because the Management Middle and Notifications on iOS, besides you possibly can swipe between them.

One of many extra helpful options in ColorOS 15 is Contact to Share. With this function, you possibly can share photographs and movies with iPhone customers, such as you would with different Android customers. This can be a very helpful function, and it really works as marketed. Nonetheless, the iPhone person wants to put in the O+ Join app on their telephone for this to work. It could be higher if no app was wanted, however that is higher than nothing.

ColorOS 15 continues to be as clean as ever, and it continues so as to add extra helpful options that all of us develop to like.

OPPO Discover X8 Evaluate: Digital camera

OPPO is constant its partnership with Hasselblad on the Discover X8, which was a stroke of brilliance by OPPO. As a result of since they’ve been working with Hasselblad, their cameras have change into fairly superb. And that’s no distinction on the Discover X8. Not like the Discover X8 Professional, there’s solely three rear cameras right here. This features a 50-megapixel major sensor, a 50-megapixel ultrawide, and a 50-megapixel 3x telephoto lens, which may do a sensor crop for 6x. The primary distinction right here is the dearth of a devoted 6x telephoto, which the Discover X8 Professional does have.

The most important function for the digital camera that I actually recognize is the Zero Shutter Lag. Many telephones do have a little bit of shutter lag, although it’s not at all times noticeable. Nonetheless, while you’re photographing motion or children and pets that don’t cease shifting, you possibly can actually discover the shutter lag. That’s gone with the Discover X8, which ends up in some fairly beautiful motion photographs.

OPPO can be utilizing AI for Zoom right here. Which, yeah I do know I do know, we’re all uninterested in listening to about AI gimmicks. Nonetheless, this isn’t a gimmick. I’ve taken photographs that have been at 30x on this 3x telephoto lens, they usually’ve turned out fairly unimaginable. Sometimes, 30x digital zoom photographs seem like watercolor work, however that’s not the case with the Discover X8. They, as an alternative, seem like it’s optical zoom. AI is pulling additional time right here with these Zoom capabilities, and I like it.

Beneath, you possibly can see many samples I’ve taken with the Discover X8 over the previous few weeks. I’ve been very shocked at how good this digital camera is, and I don’t actually miss the devoted 6x telephoto lens from the Discover X8 Professional, both.

Do you have to purchase the OPPO Discover X8?

The OPPO Discover X8 is a reasonably unimaginable telephone. The one actual purpose I can discover why you shouldn’t purchase this (legitimately) is as a result of it gained’t be coming to the US. Although it really works fairly effectively on T-Cell’s community, I used to be getting 5G connectivity on it with Google Fi.

In case you’re out there for a brand new telephone and are on the lookout for one which has an awesome digital camera, unimaginable battery life, and the most recent model of Android – none of Samsung’s telephones have that – then the Discover X8 is a good telephone to choose up proper now. This assessment was written earlier than we knew the worldwide worth, so we aren’t in a position to put that into respect with this assessment.

You can purchase the OPPO Discover X8 if:

• You need unimaginable battery life.
• You need superb cameras.
• You desire a telephone that appears just like the iPhone however isn’t confined to iOS.
• You desire a telephone that may do every little thing and do all of it effectively.

You shouldn’t purchase the OPPO Discover X8 if:

• You desire a bigger telephone – go for the Discover X8 Professional as an alternative.
• You don’t desire a telephone that appears just like the iPhone.