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OPPO once again proves it has what it takes to build one of the very best smartphone hardware packages and it continues to take mobile photography to another level. The Find X7 Ultra leaves us eager to see a return to Western markets for OPPO’s best. We’d hesitate to recommend importing it if you just want a great phone that works out of the box, but if you can stomach looking past the network compatibility issues and finding software workarounds for the rest, you won’t be disappointed.
OPPO Find X7 Ultra review: At a glance
- What is it? The OPPO Find X7 Ultra is the latest flagship entry in OPPO’s Find series. Succeeding 2023’s Find X6 Pro, the Ultra promises to provide best-in-class photography capabilities without scrimping on other specifications you’d expect from an ultra-premium phone.
- Where can you buy it? The OPPO Find X7 Ultra is available in China. You can import the phone, but OPPO has no plans to bring the handset to Western markets officially.
- What is the price? OPPO charges 5,999 Yuan (โผ$834) for the base model of the Find X7 Ultra. You can import the phone from select retailers for around $1,000.
- How did we test it? I tested the OPPO Find X7 Ultra for six days. The review unit was supplied by OPPO.
- Is it worth it? OPPO has built one of the best camera phones ever with the Find X7 Ultra. The display, charging capabilities, and unique design are equally compelling, making this a brilliant flagship phone that should be on everyone’s radar. However, with no official Western distribution channel and a Chinese version of Color OS, we regretfully can’t recommend the phone to global audiences.
OPPO Find X7 Ultra: the best camera phone?
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
I was hugely impressed by the camera quality and versatility of the OPPO Find X6 Pro. Unfortunately, the phoneโs availability was extremely limited, but its photography capability almost made it worth importing for serious mobile photographers. Almost. The OPPO Find X7 Ultra builds on the successful formula by introducing a 6x periscope zoom camera. Itโs another 50MP sensor โ four in total โ although itโs a smaller sensor at 1/2.51-inches. The 2.8x zoom has a large 1/1.56-inch sensor and a narrower aperture than the phoneโs other lenses at just f/4.3. Of course, building a sizeable long-distance zoom lens in a phone is difficult, but Iโm not expecting the additional periscope camera to be quite as good as the other three, despite OPPOโs โQuad Main Cameraโ claims.
Still, its long-range specs are very comparable to the best in the business, and OPPO claims that its four high-quality cameras offer versatility you wonโt find anywhere else, particularly regarding accurate focal lengths and less reliance on digital zoom. Letโs let some samples do the talking. I also grabbed the well-regarded Google Pixel 8 Pro and the new Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra to see how the phone stacks up.
Just like the Find X6 Pro, color, detail, exposure, and white balance are all very, very good across all four rear lenses. The phone also performs admirably in low light, even without the aid of night mode. But Iโm paid to be pedantic: contrast and saturation can be a little high in some scenes, HDR isnโt quite as robust as the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and the dynamic range of the 6x periscope isnโt as quite good as the other three lenses in trickier lighting. But none of these will ruin your pictures.
My biggest criticism is the level of chromatic aberration in bright daylight, a symptom of pushing those lens apertures a little too far. Likewise, thereโs some distortion at the edges of the ultrawide lens that again points to hitting the limits of such a small lens. Still, youโll rarely come away with a bad-looking snap, whichever lens youโre shooting with, and thatโs more than I can say for most other smartphone cameras Iโve used.
I love to zoom when shooting and spent a lot of time moving between the four lenses. I never once worried about receiving an inferior picture by zooming to the wrong level. In fact, this year, I felt much more confident about pushing the phone to longer distances with the new 6x periscope camera.
I found the new second periscope lens very usable at 10x and even a little beyond, so it keeps pace with the competition at a distance. But you also benefit from the 65mm lens for macro and portraits, something you donโt get with the best from Google and Samsung. Even if youโre not a fan of the cameraโs Hasselblad image processing (Iโm a convert to the recent less saturated implementation), the consistency across lenses makes this camera array stand out.
Speaking of, the Find X7 Ultra excels at portraits, even if the selfie cameraโs ultrawide field of view distorts face shapes somewhat. While slightly softer than competitors, mainly while using the selfie camera, youโre always greeted with pleasing lighting and exposure, fine details but not overly sharp skin textures, and solid skin tones. Paired with the natural bokeh and 65mm focal length from the 2.8x zoom lens, the Find X7 Ultraโs portraits are worthy of a moderate mirrorless. Especially when compared to the overly rough Pixel 8 Pro or overly punchy Galaxy S24 Ultra. Itโs miles ahead of the iPhoneโs washed-out faces. If youโre big into taking pictures of friends and family, the Find X7 Ultra is an outright winner.
While the pursuit of perfection may be endless, OPPO has come as close as anyone with the Find X7 Ultra. Undoubtedly, this phone has one of the more consistent and versatile camera packages on the market. Combined with 4K60 recording capabilities on all lenses, robust video stabilization, and 10-bit HDR Dolby Vision, the Find X7 Ultra should be on every mobile photographerโs and videographerโs radar, and raises the bar for flagship camera phones.
Should you buy the OPPO Find X7 Ultra?
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
As great as the OPPO Find X7 Ultraโs camera is, it takes more to be a great smartphone, and this flagship doesnโt scrimp here either. Youโre treated to a brilliantly vivid 120Hz dynamic refresh AMOLED display, luxurious vegan leather casing on the back, familiar OPPO trimmings like 100W SuperVOOC wired and 50W wireless fast charging, an IP68 rating, and a speedy Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor.
On paper, the hardware is top-tier, and the phone is equally exquisite. The faux leather is lovely to hold, and OPPO has made the humungous camera housing look stylish. This is a seriously sumptuous smartphone.
However, we have reservations about the phoneโs Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 implementation. For starters, we couldnโt install Play Store benchmark apps on our review unit, and the spoofed APKs we installed scored pretty lowly in GeekBench 6 and PCMark 3.0 unless putting the phone into its high-performance mode. Worse, our graphics stress tests caused the handset to display an overheating message and drained a ton of battery. Still, I didnโt have any problems running apps and games on the phone, but our results suggest the Find X7 Ultra might struggle to keep up with the most demanding users in the long term.
The Chinese version of Color OS 14 (Android 14) installed is equally disappointing. I eventually navigated through Baidu and the finicky keyboard to install the Play Store and my familiar app ensemble, but it was a frustrating experience. Even after a lot of work, you canโt remove all the apps and services that are useless for a Western audience. Potential importers beware. Looking past the roadblocks, Color OS 14 is a perfectly usable take on Android 14, boasting plenty of customization options and slightly overly aggressive battery management.
The OPPO Find X7 Ultra offers sumptuous hardware, but it’s hard to get the
The OPPO Find X7 Ultra turns things back around in the battery and charging departments. The 5,000mAh battery is enough to take power users through a full day, but our benchmarks suggest the Find X7 Ultra doesnโt quite have the longest battery life in a super-size phone. The battery drain while running our gaming benchmark is particularly worrisome, but itโs likely the GPU is running at full tilt, which doesnโt happen in most games. Still, Color OSโ aforementioned aggressive background task killing can take you into a second day of lighter use. If you need to top up, the phone can draw 85W from the wall to hit full in just 30 minutes. Speedy.
Overall though, the software setup and lack of warranty makes it impossible to recommend the OPPO Find X7 Ultra to global consumers despite the otherwise solid hardware package. Hopefully, OPPOโs recent agreement with Nokia will see its flagship smartphones return to Western shores in the near future.
OPPO Find X7 Ultra
Wonderful build quality โข Brilliant cameras โข Rapid charging
One of the best camera phones ever.
The OPPO Find X7 Ultra is the 2024 flagship entry in OPPO’s Find series. Succeeding 2023’s Find X6 Pro, the Ultra promises the best-in-class photography capabilities without scrimping on other specifications you’d expect from an ultra-premium phone.
What are the best OPPO Find X7 Ultra alternatives?
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
With OPPO Find X7 Ultra availability limited to China, the phone is out of reach of most consumers. Thankfully, there are plenty of brilliant alternative flagship handsets to pick from, even if they arenโt quite as stylish as OPPOโs wonderful vegan leather.
- Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra ($1419.99 at Samsung): If youโre looking for an ultra-premium Android flagship you can buy virtually anywhere in the world, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is hard to beat. As youโve seen, it sports a solid quad camera setup, serious screen real estate, cutting-edge Galaxy AI features, and an S Pen for added productivity. Not to mention familiar high-end trappings that include wireless charging, an IP68 rating, and high-end performance thanks to its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chipset.
- Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max ($1199 at Amazon): For those willing to venture outside the Android ecosystem, Appleโs iPhone 15 Pro Max is a gargantuan phone built for power users. With ultra-durable battery life, speedy A17 Pro performance, solid video recording capabilities, and a wonderful titanium build, this is a fine pick when shopping at the top of the market.
- Google Pixel 8 Pro ($999 at Amazon): While not quite in the same price category as the rest of this list, itโs impossible to ignore the Google Pixel 8 Pro when talking about camera phones. Googleโs latest flagship is an incredibly consistent shooter that wonโt disappoint the discerning photographer. Itโs not a top-tier gaming handset, but it boasts Googleโs latest AI capabilities to help get more done than your typical flagship phone.
OPPO Find X7 Ultra specs
OPPO Find X7 Ultra | |
---|---|
Display |
6.82-inch AMOLED LTPO |
Processor |
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 |
RAM |
12/16GB |
Storage |
256GB/512GB |
Power |
5,000mAh battery |
Cameras |
Rear:
– 50MP main, f/1.8, OIS (LYT-900, one-inch) – 50MP ultrawide, f/2.4, autofocus (LYT-600, 1/1.95-inch) – 50MP 3x periscope, f/2.6, OIS (IMX890, 1/1.56-inch) – 50MP 6x periscope, f/4.3, OIS (IMX858, 1/2.51-inch) Selfie: |
Audio |
Stereo speakers |
Video |
4K at 30fps/60fps
480fps at 720p 240fps at 1080p |
Durability |
IP68 rating |
Connectivity |
Wi-Fi 7 |
Biometrics |
Ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor |
Ports and switches |
USB 3.2 Gen 1 via USB-C |
Software |
Android 14 |
Dimensions and weight |
164.3 x 76.2 x 9.5mm |
Colors |
Ocean Blue |
In the box |
100W charger |
OPPO Find X7 Ultra review: FAQ
Yes. However, the OPPO Find X7 Ultra does not support all the 5G networking bands major US carriers use. Coverage and network performance will not be as good as region-specific phones.
The OPPO Find X7 Ultra sports in IP68 rating for water and dust resistance.
Yes, the OPPO Find X7 Ultra supports wireless charging at up to 50W when using a compatible SuperVOOC charger.
The OPPO Find X7 Ultra has dual-SIM support but lacks eSIM capabilities.
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