Oppo Discover X8 Professional evaluation: The telephone Apple and Samsung ought to worry
The Oppo Discover X8 Professional has emerged as a late-2024 shock that might preserve Google, Samsung, Apple and the like on their toes effectively into 2025. And I could not be happier that that is the case.
Newly returned to the worldwide market — although sadly, to not the U.S. — Oppo and its Discover X8 Professional may provide us a style of what the OnePlus 13 will provide when its international launch happens early subsequent 12 months. (Oppo and OnePlus are owned by the identical firm with their high fashions sharing rather a lot in frequent.) Nonetheless, there are some apparent variations that set the Oppo other than its smartphone cousin, to not point out many rivals, comparable to 4 rear cameras, an enormous battery, an enormous and vivid show and a value that surprises in a great way.
If it is available for purchase the place you’re, the Discover X8 Professional needs to be in your shortlist alongside any of the perfect telephones from Samsung and OnePlus — and perhaps even Apple should you’re versatile about your alternative of OS. The worth that Oppo has stuffed into this telephone has astonished me; even higher, I’ve barely any complaints about the way it all comes along with this telephone.
I promise I am not overhyping this telephone, and after studying my Oppo Discover X8 Professional evaluation, I am certain you will see why.
Oppo Discover X8 Professional evaluation: Specs
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | Oppo Discover X8 Professional |
| Worth | £1,049 |
| Show | 6.78-inch AMOLED (2780 x 1264) |
| Refresh price | 1 – 120Hz |
| Rear cameras | 50MP principal (f/1.6), 50MP ultrawide (f/2.0), 50MP 3x telephoto (f/2.6), 50MP 6x telephoto (f/4.3) |
| Entrance digicam | 32MP selfie |
| Chipset | Dimensity 9400 |
| RAM | 16GB |
| Storage | 512GB |
| OS | Android 15 with ColorOS 15 |
| Battery | 5,910 mAh |
| Charging | 80W wired/50W wi-fi/10W reverse |
| Dimension | 162.27 x 76.67 x 8.34 mm (6.4 x 3 x 0.33 inches) |
| Weight | 215 grams (7.6 ounces) |
Oppo Discover X8 Professional: Worth and availability
The Discover X8 Professional goes on sale November 21, initially through Oppo’s personal net retailer and through provider O2. The price of the only 16GB/512GB model is £1,049, an aggressive value that makes it cheaper than the Google Pixel 9 Professional XL (£1,100) and Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely (£1,250) within the U.Okay, though you may nonetheless choose up a OnePlus 12 (£849) for much less.
The worth is just in kilos as a result of Oppo would not promote within the U.S., even when it does cowl a lot of the remainder of the world. Individuals who’re jealous can nonetheless order the Discover X8 in from overseas through numerous on-line shops, or look forward to the OnePlus 13, which is prone to have related if not similar specs.
Oppo Discover X8 Professional evaluation: Design and show
You’ll be able to see how the design of Oppo and OnePlus telephones have converged to the sleek-looking design with a spherical digicam block as we see on the Discover X8 Professional right here. However adjustments have nonetheless been made out of earlier fashions.
The digicam bump has been flattened out to make it much less prone to catch in your pockets. Oppo has additionally gone for a quad-curved show to make it barely extra snug to carry each vertically and horizontally, although the aspect rails stay pretty flat to match the present development seen on different flagship telephones.
The display screen itself measures 6.78 inches and provides a decision between the standard FHD and QHD requirements different telephones follow. Like different flagship in its class, the Oppo Discover X8 Professional encompasses a display screen with an adaptive refresh price that scales between 1Hz and 120Hz. Oppo additionally guarantees a peak brightness of a powerful 4,500 nits most.
We did not get the chance to check the Discover X8 in our lab, however anecdotally I feel the Google Pixel 9 Professional XL stays the brightest telephone accessible. The Oppo Discover X8 Professional did outshine the Galaxy S24 Extremely to my eye, even with the Samsung’s Additional Brightness mode enabled.
Oppo has additionally borrowed the alert slider from OnePlus telephones to make use of on the Discover X8 sequence. This normal/vibrate/silent toggle could be very helpful to have alongside the common Android Fast Settings model. I did discover myself by chance switching modes when taking the telephone out and in of my pocket, although — one thing I’ve by no means skilled with OnePlus telephones’ sliders.
There’s additionally one other addition to the aspect of the Discover X8 Professional within the type of the Fast button, successfully a simplified model of the iPhone 16’s Digital camera Management.
It is totally haptic, with no bodily button just like the Digital camera Management, and whereas it nonetheless acts as a digicam shortcut and shutter button as you’d count on, its different capabilities are restricted to adjusting zoom ranges with swipes, or taking burst photographs should you maintain the button down. There’s far much less performance to be discovered right here than with Apple’s Digital camera Management, however I feel Oppo’s method is perhaps higher for almost all of customers nearly all of the time.
Oppo is touting its use of a toughened glass show and aluminum rails for the Discover X8 Professional, but it surely would not clarify precisely what’s new or what normal these meet. What we do know nevertheless is that this telephone options each IP68 and IP69 mud/water safety.
IP68 rankings are frequent amongst flagship telephones, and imply that the telephone’s been examined for water resistance by submerging it a minimum of 3 ft 3 inches in contemporary water for a minimum of half-hour. IP69 in the meantime means the gadget can shrug off high-pressure water jets, heated to 176 levels Fahrenheit. It is a stage of resistance you are unlikely to wish in on a regular basis life, but it surely may assist save your telephone in a freak catastrophe scenario.
The very last thing to say listed here are the colour selections for the Oppo Discover X8 Professional. There are solely two: the smart choice of Area Black, or the extra eye-catching Pearl White you see in our photographs. The distinctive coating that Oppo makes use of for Pearl White apparently by no means makes the identical sample twice, so you may really feel a bit of bit extra particular proudly owning this specific mannequin.
Oppo Discover X8 Professional evaluation: Cameras
Oppo managed to stuff 4 cameras into the again of the Discover X8 Professional, rivalling the Galaxy S24 Extremely. Whereas Oppo cannot match the large 200MP max decision of the S24 Extremely’s principal digicam, it could as an alternative boast that every one 4 of the Discover X8 Professional’s cameras are 50MP in decision. In idea, that ought to make for extra constant photographs throughout the zoom vary.
Talking of zoom, the Discover X8 Professional provides 3x and 6x optical zoom, with a max magnification of 120x. There’s an AI Telescope Zoom characteristic on high of that, however we’ll discover this extra later.
Beginning with the primary digicam, we see that in comparison with the iPhone 16 Professional Max, the Oppo Discover X8 Professional tends towards the extra dramatic, with darker shadows and brighter highlights. It is seen throughout these photographs of this classic automobile/ice cream truck.
In opposition to the Pixel 9 Professional XL, the Oppo Discover X8 Professional additionally exaggerates the darkest and brightest areas of this statues of two bears. The Pixel’s interpretation of the scene is far nearer to how I noticed it, however I do not suppose the Oppo model appears to be like worse — simply totally different.
Sticking with the Pixel 9 Professional XL for an ultrawide comparability of a church, the Oppo reveals off rather more element, regardless of the photographs having nearly similar resolutions. The darkish/mild stability distinction I identified earlier than applies right here, too, should you have a look at the sky or the shadowed doorways.
Now it is time for a sequence of zoom comparisons in opposition to the Galaxy S24 Extremely, which just like the Discover X8 Professional makes use of two telephoto cameras. On this preliminary 3x face-off wanting throughout Paddington Station’s rooves, the S24 Extremely takes the lead due to its coloration.
At 5x/6x, there’s much less of a distinction. I nonetheless just like the Galaxy S24 Extremely’s colour remedy of the scene, however the Discover X8 Professional is choosing up barely extra element within the buildings.
Usually I do not take a look at cameras telephones’ digital zoom options, because it’s invariably only a worse, cropped-in model of their highest magnification digicam. However Oppo claims that its new AI Telescope Zoom helps deliver readability to photographs zoomed in over 10x and better, even as much as 60x and above. So I zoomed proper into the GWR brand to check it.
The Galaxy S24 Extremely’s model of this shot is fairly clear, but it surely’s fairly gentle when it comes to element. Whereas there is a bit extra noise within the shot from the Discover X8 Professional, the readability distinction is staggering. Its colours are rather more correct to the scene too, with the Samsung making issues look method too yellow.
I additionally checked how the Discover X8 Professional carried out at night time with its low-light digicam mode in opposition to the Pixel and the iPhone, This backyard shot between the Oppo and Apple telephones reveals the Discover X8 Professional’s superior skill to take care of excessive lighting, competently balancing the flare from the photo voltaic mild and the shadows of the bushes and bushes. The iPhone picture is brighter, which helps deliver out element from the darker areas, but additionally makes the better-lit parts of the picture overexposed.
The Oppo’s desire for excessive distinction is proven off most clearly on this shot of statues close to Paddington Station at night time. It is a moody-looking shot of those banqueting animals for certain, however the Pixel 9 Professional XL reveals a lot extra element, sacrificing the legibility of the glowing clock within the background however permitting us to see rather more of our topics.
We’ll end up with a portrait selfie comparability, once more between the Oppo and the Samsung. The Discover X8 Professional’s completed rather a lot higher than I anticipated right here, providing a flattering however extra pure pink hue to my selfie moderately than the yellower tone of the Galaxy S24 Extremely. The Oppo additionally cuts round me and my glasses to use the bokeh impact near-perfectly, one thing I can usually solely depend on the Samsung telephone to do persistently.
One different level in favor of the Discover X8 Professional’s pictures is its minimal shutter lag. The digicam stays quick and responsive even should you’re hammering the shutter button within the hope of capturing a fast-moving object or a fleeting expression in your topic’s face.
Oppo Discover X8 Professional evaluation: Efficiency
Oppo chosen MediaTek’s Dimensity 9400 chip to drive the Discover X8 sequence, eschewing the Snapdragon 8 Elite that we count on lots of the finest Android telephones will undertake over the approaching 12 months. Within the Professional mannequin we have now right here, it comes with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage, a robust default spec in comparison with the 12GB/256GB many Android flagships include.
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | Oppo Discover X8 Professional | Asus ROG Cellphone 9 Professional | iPhone 16 Professional Max | OnePlus 12 |
| Chipset | Dimensity 9400 | Snapdragon 8 Elite | A18 Professional | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 |
| Geekbench 6 rating (single-core / multi-core) | 2,719.67/8,512.67 | 3,207 / 10,227 (X Mode on) | 3386 / 8306 | 2,188 / 6,525 |
| Wild Life Excessive Limitless consequence (rating / fps) | 6371.67/38.16 | 5906 / 35.3 (X Mode on) | 3,822 / 22.9 | 5073 / 30.3 |
| Adobe Premiere Rush time to transcode (minutes:secs) | 0:50 | 0:54 | 0:21 | 0:55 |
Our take a look at outcomes make for attention-grabbing studying, with the Discover X8 Professional outperforming all its rivals on the Wild Life Excessive Limitless GPU take a look at, together with the iPhone 16 Professional Max’s mighty A18 Professional chip and the Asus ROG Cellphone 9 Professional operating the most recent Snapdragon 8 Elite silicon at full energy.
The Dimensity chip can be aggressive within the Geekbench CPU benchmarks, beating the iPhone within the multicore take a look at and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered OnePlus 12 on each single and multicore exams. It lags behind the iPhone on the subject of transcoding a video with Adobe Premiere Rush, although.
Oppo Discover X8 Professional evaluation: Battery and charging
Regardless of being an analogous dimension to its rivals, the Oppo Discover X8 Professional accommodates a 5,910 mAh battery, utilizing a extra compact silicon-carbon materials moderately than the standard lithium-ion that different batteries depend on. The consequence is a big capability in comparison with the 5,000 mAh cell contained in the Galaxy S24 Extremely, and an honest chunk greater than the OnePlus 12’s 5,500 mAh energy pack, too.
In my very own testing, the Discover X8 Professional misplaced 14% cost after 3 hours of YouTube over Wi-Fi. In that very same time, he Pixel 9 Professional XL drains 15%, the Galaxy S24 Extremely 21% and the OnePlus 12 18%, so the bigger battery has paid off for Oppo, however maybe not as a lot as anticipated.
For energy, Oppo’s utilizing an 80W SuperVOOC wired normal for the Discover X8 Professional, however it could additionally cost at as much as 55W through USB PowerDelivery, which means you continue to get good speeds even when you do not have an Oppo-made charger. There’s additionally 50W AirVOOC wi-fi charging on provide should you purchase the proper charging stand or certainly one of Oppo’s new Magazine Cost circumstances, which allow a MagSafe-style magnetically-aligned puck to simply connect with the telephone to start refueling.
Oppo despatched us a Discover X8 Professional with a SuperVOOC charger within the field, though this apparently is not normal worldwide. After plugging within the Oppo at 0% cost, the brick powered the telephone again to 46% full after quarter-hour, 81% after half-an-hour and 100% on the 48-minute mark. That is not fairly as quick because the OnePlus 12’s sub-30-minutes full refill time, however we are able to forgive that contemplating the additional capability the Oppo has to replenish.
Oppo Discover X8 Professional evaluation: Software program and particular options
The Discover X8 Professional runs on the Android 15-based ColorOS 15, which provides 5 years of full updates and 6 years of safety updates. That is behind the seven years provided by Google and Samsung for his or her newest telephones, however maybe that will not matter to you should you intend to improve your telephone once more earlier than then.
One of the crucial attention-grabbing upgrades made to the Oppo Discover X8 Professional is it could now share information with iPhones extra straight. A brand new Share with iPhone choice might be discovered when opening the sharing menu for a given merchandise, and iPhone customers can set up the O+ Join app to just accept them. This works by organising a brief Wi-Fi hotspot for the iPhone to hook up with, and it really works successfully. That mentioned, it isn’t that a lot simpler than simply sending information by a cloud folder or via a messaging app.
In step with trendy traits, Oppo has bundled up some new AI options for the Discover X8 Professional to make use of. All of those capabilities are consistent with what we have seen rival telephones provide — summarization, translation, audio transcription, textual content era and picture enhancing instruments are all current, as is Google Gemini because the default digital assistant, plus Circle to Search. These instruments all work to various ranges of effectiveness, because of the inconsistent nature of generative AI.
What I’ll reward Oppo for is the choice to entry related AI instruments from a toolbar you may summon by swiping in from the aspect of the display screen. It retains the options accessible with out completely taking on display screen house within the interface; the toolbar additionally does its finest to recommend the almost certainly software you will want moderately than letting you swipe via all of them each time.
Oppo Discover X8 Professional evaluation: Verdict
I might fortunately advocate the Oppo Discover X8 Professional to anybody who needs a well-balanced flagship telephone. The Discover X8 Professional is perhaps more durable to seek out in the US, and its software program replace schedule is shorter than the perfect within the enterprise, however all over the place else, this telephone is top-tier.
Having 4 cameras on a telephone that has a extra typical flagship telephone value moderately than an “extremely” one is exceptional. A battery that is almost 20% larger than main rivals, a handsome-looking display screen, and aggressive benchmark outcomes solely reinforce what worth you will acquire with the Discover X8 Professional.
Oppo could have left it a bit of late in 2024 to launch the Discover X8 Professional, but it surely’s a telephone of the 12 months contender that might proceed to be a thorn within the aspect of Apple, Samsung and Google effectively into subsequent 12 months relying on how these firms develop their premium telephone choices.
I had feared that the Discover X8 Professional and the incoming OnePlus 13 would find yourself clashing, however from the specs we have seen after the OnePlus 13 launch in China, that won’t find yourself taking place. It appears to be like like OnePlus’ new product goes to stay an incredible deal for customers who need a normal flagship telephone, whereas Oppo will undercut and outperform Professional and Extremely fashions from different telephone makers. All Oppo must do is deliver the Discover X8 Professional to U.S. carriers for simpler buying, and the stage might be set for an actual smartphone showdown.
