Oppo Find X7 Ultra Rreview: The best phone you can’t have

Finest Costs Immediately: Oppo Discover X7 Extremely

The Discover X7 Extremely is Oppo’s top-of-the-line flagship smartphone for 2024, standing out with a beastly digital camera system and a hanging design. It launched in early January nevertheless it’s at the moment solely on sale in China, and in the intervening time, it appears that evidently’s the place it’s destined to remain. Oppo is the mum or dad firm of OnePlus, and if a OnePlus 12 Extremely had been to exist, it might most likely look identical to this.

With such a stacked spec sheet, you would possibly think about importing this telephone. Be warned, although, that doing so comes with some frustrations. There are many system components which can be untranslated and there are some settings to tweak to get Google companies enabled.

That mentioned, I used to be very excited to see if it’d be well worth the trouble. It’s the primary telephone to return with twin periscope telephoto lenses, and by all accounts, it ought to give camera-focused flagships just like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely and Vivo X100 Professional a run for his or her cash. After dwelling with the Discover X7 Extremely in my pocket for every week, right here’s what I realized.

Design & Construct

• Lovely two-tone end
• Curved edges back and front
• IP68 licensed

The Oppo Discover X7 Extremely has a novel two-tone end, and I completely love the best way it appears. I used to be despatched the Ocean Blue possibility for testing, which has navy blue vegan leather-based overlaying the decrease portion of the rear, and a contrasting high-gloss white end on the highest.

The digital camera module and the body are available in a shiny metallic silver end, it’s very stylish and a bit nautical. It’s the right telephone to whip out on the Yacht membership, not that I’ve ever been anyplace close to a kind of.

Luke Baker

Should you desire one thing extra delicate, there’s additionally a Tailor-made Black colourway, which shifts all the things to a monochromatic black and darkish gray tone. Or, there’s Sepia Brown, which is actually the identical because the Ocean Blue possibility, however the leather-effect materials is brown.

There’s no denying that the digital camera bump is verging on ridiculous, however personally, I believe it appears fairly cool. The sting of the huge round digital camera housing additionally serves as a snug place to relaxation your forefinger when utilizing the telephone one-handed.

It’s fairly a big telephone and it’s not particularly gentle both, weighing 221g. Regardless of its dimension, although, it’s very comfy to carry, because of a curved edge show and matching curves on the rear panel. The result’s a telephone that feels slimmer than it truly is.

Luke Baker

With a vegan leather-based rear, the telephone may be very grippy and immune to fingerprint smudges. So, for those who’re courageous sufficient, you might fortunately use it and not using a case. Nonetheless, you don’t must, as there’s a matte navy blue TPU case included within the field. It’s nothing too particular, nevertheless it protects the telephone effectively and appears quite a bit higher than the clear ones that you simply often see.

There’s a three-position alert slider on the left-hand facet, very like the one on the OnePlus 12. This lets you rapidly swap between silent, noisy and VIP modes. The latter disables the digital camera and microphone to make sure privateness, which isn’t one thing I’ve ever felt that I wanted, however might be helpful for individuals who do one thing extra secretive than writing about telephones all day.

Luke Baker

The haptic suggestions is spectacular, and it looks like there’s a real mechanical clunk whenever you hit the digital camera shutter, for instance. It’s nice for typing, too, feeling exact and highly effective, however I needed to tweak some settings to get it enabled on the keyboard, because it was off by default.

The telephone has an IP68 ranking for mud and water resistance, so you’ll be able to confidently apply it to journeys to the seashore, or for sea-faring adventures. The closest I bought was some rain showers, although.

Display & Audio system

• 6.82-inch AMOLED show
• Quad HD+ decision
• 120Hz adaptive refresh price
• Twin stereo audio system

The show has an ample 1440×3168 decision and a dynamic refresh price that may enhance as much as 120Hz. It’s a spacious display and it’s very sharp and vibrant.

One of many standout options is its brightness output, which is alleged to ship as much as 4500 nits at peak. In regular use, you received’t be coming shut to those eye-melting brightness ranges, nevertheless it means that you could relaxation assured that this show will compete with even essentially the most intense summer time daylight. 

Luke Baker

As talked about, the Oppo Discover X7 Extremely has a curved-edge show, which I’m not at all times the largest fan of, nevertheless it works effectively right here. For starters, the curve appears tighter than it’s on different telephones, so the areas that you simply truly contact are primarily flat. You form of get the perfect of each worlds, because it looks like a flat show for essentially the most half, however the telephone feels slimmer in your hand and gesture controls really feel easy because of the rounded edges.

HDR content material appears improbable on this show, with the deep inky blacks that OLED panels are identified for, contrasting with dazzling highlights. I ought to notice, nevertheless, that Netflix refused to play in HDR resulting from DRM certification points, which isn’t superb, and hopefully is one thing that will get addressed in future updates. YouTube HDR content material labored tremendous, a minimum of.

The show helps Dolby Imaginative and prescient, however with Netflix not taking part in ball, you would possibly wrestle to search out Dolby Imaginative and prescient content material to look at. Alternatively, you’ll be able to file movies in Dolby Imaginative and prescient utilizing the native digital camera app, so there’s nonetheless some utility right here.

Luke Baker

There are many customisation choices within the OS for those who’d prefer to tweak the best way colors are displayed. You get three predominant profiles, Pure, Professional and Vivid, and every one has its personal color wheel that permits you to shift the color temperature and tint. There’s additionally the choice to make use of the telephone’s media processing engine to sharpen low-resolution pictures, and even convert SDR content material to HDR.

Should you undergo from eye pressure you’ll be happy to know that the Oppo Discover X7 Extremely boasts a 2160Hz PWM dimming price, making certain low flicker in any respect brightness ranges. There are additionally low blue gentle choices accessible within the OS, as you’ll discover with most units as of late.

Luke Baker

The telephone has twin stereo audio system and so they’re fairly succesful. There’s extra bass than you’ll discover on most telephones, and nice readability, too. They’ll get very loud, however they do begin to distort at most quantity.

Total, I used to be very impressed with the audio system, however one factor bothered me; for those who’re holding the telephone horizontally, it’s nearly not possible to not muffle one of many audio system, resulting from their positioning. No less than they at all times sound their greatest when held vertically.

Specs & Efficiency

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
• 12/16GB RAM
• 256/512GB storage

The Oppo Discover X7 Extremely runs on Qualcomm’s strongest SoC, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. We’ve already witnessed this chip’s blazing-fast efficiency in handsets just like the OnePlus 12 and Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely, so it’s not too stunning to see it performing effectively right here, too.

My check unit got here with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, however the telephone can be accessible with 12GB RAM and 256GB of storage. In any case, it has loads of reminiscence for multitasking, and it may be just about expanded for those who really feel you want extra.

Luke Baker

In use, the telephone feels speedy and responsive in all conditions, animations are easy and apps open in a flash. You may run nearly any sport within the Play Retailer at most settings, and the telephone stays fairly cool within the course of. 

There’s a built-in sport overlay which supplies you entry to the same old goodies like efficiency modes, notification blocking and community optimisation. It’s extra feature-packed than you’ll discover on most telephones, however not fairly on the extent of gaming-focused handsets just like the RedMagic 9 Professional. Nicely, so far as I can inform, some components in these menus are displayed in Chinese language, so it could be extra succesful than I realise.

Luke Baker

I seen the telephone begin to warmth up after a prolonged Genshin Impression session with “Gaming mode” lively, nevertheless it by no means grew to become uncomfortable to carry, and the efficiency stayed rock strong all through.

You may see all our ordinary benchmark assessments beneath in comparison with key rivals. Be aware that GFXBench wouldn’t go over 60fps regardless of the telephone being able to increased framerates.

Oppo Discover X7 Extremely Benchmarks

Cameras

• 50Mp 1-inch predominant sensor
• 50Mp ultrawide
• 50Mp twin periscope zooms
• 32Mp selfie digital camera with autofocus

It’s clear from the outset that this telephone is basically about digital camera efficiency, with such an enormous digital camera array on the rear, it nearly appears extra like a digital camera than a telephone.

Fortunately, this design is justified, because the digital camera system right here would possibly simply be essentially the most able to any smartphone available on the market proper now.

Luke Baker

There are 4 cameras on the again. The primary digital camera has Sony’s second-generation 1-inch sensor, which ought to give it a bonus over the 1-inch sensor within the Oppo Discover X6 Professional and Xiaomi 13 Extremely. It’s a stacked sensor, which ought to imply that it’s extra delicate to gentle, whereas additionally drawing much less energy in use.

This meaty predominant sensor is joined by an ultrawide digital camera and twin periscope zooms, one with a 2x focal size and one other with a 6x. The entire rear cameras are 50Mp and have colors and picture processing that intently match, so it doesn’t look jarring whenever you swap between cameras whereas taking pictures video, for instance.

The selfie digital camera has a 32Mp decision and comes with autofocus, which remains to be one thing of a rarity. Now that each the Galaxy S24 Extremely and Pixel 8 Professional have adopted it, although, I’ve a sense it’ll develop into extra widespread. It primarily signifies that your selfie snaps are at all times sharp and detailed, regardless of for those who’re up shut, or at arm’s size for a gaggle shot.

The outcomes from this totally stacked digital camera lineup are fantastic. The massive predominant sensor permits for glorious low-light seize and might create some beautiful pure bokeh while not having to faux it in portrait mode. To be utterly trustworthy, I didn’t discover an enormous generational distinction in comparison with the 1-inch snapper of the Vivo X90 Professional, however that already carried out extremely effectively, so it’s no unhealthy factor.

The opposite standout lens is the 3x periscope zoom, which has one of many largest sensors that I’ve seen on a smartphone telephoto digital camera, at 1/1.56-inch. When mixed with the compression of the longer focal size, it permits for a really shallow depth of area, and you may snap photographs that appear to be they got here from a DSLR quite than a smartphone.

The ultrawide is a bit more run-of-the-mill, nevertheless it’s nonetheless very helpful, and the excessive decision ensures that there’s loads of element. The identical may be mentioned for the 6x telephoto, nevertheless it’s adequate to commerce blows with the 5x zoom of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely, and that’s no imply feat.

Luke Baker

The picture processing, which was tuned in collaboration with Hasselblad, makes for some very practical color rendition, and there’s much less exaggeration and oversaturation than you’ll discover with some competing manufacturers. Photos come out wanting sharp and detailed, even with transferring topics and in dim lighting. Dynamic vary is spectacular, too, and relying in your taking pictures mode, you’ll be able to seize ProXDR photographs that may show in HDR within the gallery.

The portrait mode may be very dependable, and I even managed to get good outcomes with fast-moving animals, although as ordinary, it really works greatest with individuals. There are some very nice-looking filters to accompany the impact, and I used to be regularly shocked at how effectively the telephone managed to isolate stray strands of hair.

At evening, the big sensors of the primary digital camera and the 3x will help you cut back the publicity time and keep away from movement blur, however with evening mode activated, you’ll be able to obtain glorious photographs with the entire lenses. There have been some situations the place evening mode was in a position to select particulars that I might barely see with my very own eyes, what extra might you ask for?

Luke Baker

Relating to taking pictures movies, all cameras help as much as 4K/60fps. I used to be somewhat shocked to see an absence of 8K recording, however in equity, I by no means use it when it’s there. The stabilisation is strong and the microphones sound good, as long as there’s not an excessive amount of wind hitting them. 

Battery Life & Charging

• 5000mAh battery
• 100W wired quick charging
• 50W wi-fi charging

The Oppo Discover X7 Extremely has a 5000mAh battery, which is about typical for a contemporary flagship telephone.

It helps as much as 100W wired charging and this extremely speedy charger is included within the field. It’s also possible to cost the telephone wirelessly at as much as 50W, however you’ll want a really particular charger to attain these speeds.

In my expertise, the battery life was good, if unremarkable. It noticed me by means of a median day’s use with ease, and if I used to be doing one thing somewhat extra battery-intensive like taking pictures numerous photographs and movies or gaming, then it’d nonetheless make it to the tip of the day, nearly.

Luke Baker

Nonetheless, that’s all you actually need, and when you’ve gotten such speedy charging capabilities, it turns into much less of a priority. The included charger will zap the telephone from utterly useless to 50% charged in simply over 10 minutes, whereas a full cost takes lower than half an hour.

I simply so occurred to have Oppo’s AirVooc 50W wi-fi charger available, too, and I selected to cost with that more often than not. It’s extremely handy, you simply stick the telephone on the stand whilst you’re at your desk and it’ll cost tremendous quick.

In reality, it’s quicker than a variety of flagships will cost with a cable inserted.

Luke Baker

Software program & Apps

• ColorOS 14
• Primarily based on Android 14
• Designed for the Chinese language market

To date, the Oppo Discover X7 Extremely has impressed on all fronts, nevertheless it’s with the software program that issues get somewhat sophisticated. This telephone has solely been formally launched in China, and that signifies that the software program isn’t very Westernised. 

To start with, it doesn’t include Google Cell Providers enabled, and you must sideload the Play Retailer to get entry to your ordinary app library. It’s not a troublesome course of, nevertheless it does imply that issues aren’t fairly assured to work as you’d anticipate.

Luke Baker

I didn’t run into any large points throughout my testing, however there have been just a few unusual issues like I wouldn’t at all times get my Gmail notifications. Nonetheless, this might simply be associated to Oppo’s overly-enthusiastic battery optimisation measures. It’s good to go into the settings menu and disable optimisation for your entire vital apps if you wish to get notifications in a well timed method.

Whenever you first boot up the telephone, you’ll be greeted with a variety of bloatware, and except TikTok, it’s just about all geared toward Chinese language clients. So that you most likely received’t be capable to use any of it. Fortunately, it’s simple to uninstall the lot, nevertheless it’s a little bit of a tedious course of to undergo on such a high-end telephone.

Should you chosen English through the setup course of, many of the OS might be in English, however I continuously discovered areas and options that hadn’t been translated. For instance, the AI assistant, Breeno, is all in Chinese language, and there’s no method to swap it to English or swap it to Google Assistant. A number of the search performance seems in Chinese language, too.

Luke Baker

In any other case, ColorOS has some good options, and doubtless lots extra that I can’t entry because of the language barrier. There’s numerous customisation, and it’s fast and straightforward to navigate. These small frustrations add up, although, and for most individuals, it received’t be well worth the trouble.

Worth & Availability

The Oppo Discover X7 Extremely is simply accessible in China, the place it retails for CNY 5,999. Nonetheless, you too can discover it accessible for import by means of websites like Wonda Cell, Giztop and AliExpress. Pricing varies, however you’ll be able to anticipate to pay round £800/$1000 for an imported mannequin.

Oppo has not introduced any plans to carry the Discover X7 Extremely to different areas, however I’d like to see that change. The Discover X6 Professional by no means bought a global launch, both, so likelihood is wanting slim in the intervening time.

Because it’s not accessible within the UK, you received’t discover any contract choices, so the perfect various is to discover a good SIM-only deal. Nonetheless, you’ll possible have a greater total expertise with a tool that has been formally launched in Europe. 

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is one other top-tier photographic performer, nevertheless it’ll price you extra, beginning at £1,249/$1299. The Pixel 8 Pro can be wonderful within the digital camera division, however you received’t get fairly the identical processing efficiency if that issues. That telephone carries an MSRP of £999/$999, and might usually be discovered discounted.

In any other case, see our chart of the perfect smartphones and greatest digital camera telephones for extra choices.

Must you purchase the Oppo Discover X7 Extremely?

The Oppo Discover X7 Extremely is an absolute beast of a smartphone.

It impresses in nearly all areas, with a stunning design, speedy efficiency, a surprising show and a few of the most succesful cameras that you simply’ll discover in a smartphone at this time. I genuinely assume it might be top-of-the-line telephones of the 12 months, however there’s an issue.

For the reason that telephone isn’t prone to launch internationally, the one method to get one within the UK, US or Europe is to import. This implies you’re caught with software program that’s not optimised for Western clients, and the quirks and untranslated options are certain to trigger irritation – to not point out sideloading Google Providers.

As a lot as I really like this telephone, finally, it was a reduction after I popped my SIM again right into a telephone with higher localisation. That mentioned, for those who’re a little bit of a tinkerer, you might undoubtedly stay with this as your predominant system.

There’s even a case to be made for utilizing it as a alternative for a compact digital camera, as a result of the photographs are actually that spectacular. For me personally, although, I’ll simply be retaining my fingers crossed for a world launch.

Specs

• ColorOS 14, primarily based on Android 14
• 6.82in, 3168×1440, AMOLED, 120Hz, curved show
• In-display fingerprint sensor
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
• 12GB / 16GB RAM
• 256GB / 512GB storage
• Cameras:
  • 50Mp, f/1.8 predominant digital camera (1-inch)
  • 50Mp f/2.0 ultra-wide
  • 50Mp f/2.6 3x telephoto
  • 50Mp f/4.3 6x telephoto
  • 32Mp front-facing digital camera with autofocus
• As much as 4K @ 60fps rear video
• Stereo audio system
• Twin-SIM
• Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be), Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), 802.11a/b/g/n/
• Bluetooth 5.4
• 5000mAh battery
• 100W wired charging
• 50W wi-fi charging
• 164.3 x 76.2 x 9.5 mm
• IP68 licensed
• 221g
• Colors: Tailor-made Black, Ocean Blue, Sepia Brown