Smartphone cameras are a “solved” problem. Almost any phone at any price is capable of taking quality pictures, some with more flaws or strengths than others. But after spending a few weeks with the Oppo Find X9 Ultra, I suddenly started wanting more from my phone’s camera because, frankly, this device has raised the bar and I’m not sure I can go back.
Starting with generic hardware, the Oppo Find X9 Ultra is primarily a camera phone. In the Tundra Umbra variant that I tested, this is very obvious at first glance. The metal frame is accented with faux leather inlays, giving it a traditional camera look with a point where the metal runs through.
It’s simply amazing.
Visuals aside, the Find X9 Ultra is well built. The whole phone feels like a tank, you might have mixed feelings about it. This is definitely a great phone. Measuring 8.7mm for most of the frame, the camera module, which looks like a giant Oreo cookie on the back, will nearly double that thickness. It’s a pretty different look compared to most phones that cross my desk, but I think Oppo handled it nicely. The notched bezel feels great and still reinforces the whole classic camera aesthetic. Even the weight feels so unbearable. Weighing in at 235 grams, it’s heavier than the foldable in my back pocket, but it’s worth every gram.
This is mainly due to the treasure trove found inside.
Powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, the Find X9 Ultra is a fast experience and has plenty of power with a 7,050 mAh battery. That said, no battery life pretty much as great as I expected. It’s not a phone you can kill in one day, but it’s also one I can’t comfortably use for two days. A full day of my usage (4-6 hours of screen time) usually drains the phone to 45%. It’s at least good enough that if I don’t charge it overnight, I can plug it into the charger early in the morning and top it up for another day. The lack of Qi2 is as annoying as ever, but unlike some past Oppo models I’ve used, wireless charging is at least reliable.
We’ll get to the cameras soon, I promise, but first let’s touch on the software.
If you’ve tried OxygenOS on a OnePlus device, you might be familiar with Oppo’s ColorOS – they’re essentially two sides of the same coin. ColorOS shamelessly copies Apple in many ways, with liquid glass-like designs.
Compared to something like the Pixel, it’s a foreign experience. Usually, I’m fine with that, but this device in particular has some annoying tweaks. First, the notification shade does not support gestures built into Android. You can’t expand notifications without tapping the arrow on the side, which is just annoying. Additionally, there is no double-tap gesture on the power button to access the camera that some other Oppo releases offer. I personally will never understand why so many Android brands want to hide the fact that they are Android, but at least I can accept it. Changes like these are just user-hostile because if you’re used to other Android phones, it breaks your muscle memory, and if you’ve never used Android before, they just make the experience feel limited and clunky. I hope Oppo will address these, at least the notification gestures, in future updates. Even so, I’ll put up with it, and it’s nice to see Oppo jump in with some new features early. Like AirDrop support.
As mentioned earlier, performance is stellar to say the least, but given the use of Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon chip paired with 12GB of RAM, that’s no surprise. It never happened no it will be fine.
And with that, the camera.
The “phone look” has started to bother me in recent years, especially with the likes of the Google Pixel destroyed his personality and made a choice instead flat and boring, but consistent, view of the world around. Oppo and other China-based Android brands have been working around this for a while now, partnering with camera brands to fine-tune camera hardware and output.
But nothing convinced me like the Find X9 Ultra.
Indeed, this is a camera that blows me away on a regular basis. The rear unit consists of two 200-megapixel cameras – one with a standard lens and the other with a telephoto lens with 3.5x optical zoom. Two other 50MP sensors are used for ultra-wide shots and a 10x telephoto lens. The results speak for themselves.
You’ll still end up with “normal” phone shots via the main camera, but I find them to be a bit more lifelike. Hasselblad’s tuning doesn’t feel like a marketing gimmick, with each image looking like it has real choice and personality in its color output. Ultrawide is in a similar boat here.
It’s those telephoto lenses that really sell me. The prime 3.5x lens is the one you’ll use for portraits and just normal shooting, and it really takes on a whole new meaning. When using this lens there is a ton of natural bokeh that gives every shot a sense of depth. Is it the same as a traditional camera? Absolutely not. But compared to most phones popular in the global market today, it stands out massively. The 10x lens takes this a step further, and the Oppo’s portrait mode can build on that bokeh even more – although I don’t often need it.
I’ve seen this expressed most often in videos. You can fake bokeh in stills with portrait mode, but natural bokeh takes phone video to a new level. Switch between lenses smoothly and you have a real winner here for both photo and video output.
Oppo processing, as mentioned, is indeed pretty good. At first glance, the shot may not look the best. I’ve noticed strange artifacts in some shots, but after a few seconds the final version arrives and often looks better than I expected. The worst-case scenario from the Oppo Find X9 Ultra is better than most smartphones I’ve tested, and processing is a big part of that. Consistency has always been one of the most important parts of a smartphone camera for me, and that’s what Oppo delivers through post-processing.
And that’s not even talking about how deep this camera experience goes. “Master” mode captures in RAW format and adjusts ISO, shutter speed, etc. offers full manual control over the camera, including the ability to adjust settings such as There are also built-in filters for Hasselblad-matched colors.
On the hardware side, there’s also an “Earth Explorer” kit that includes a camera grip case that pairs over Bluetooth (long press the zoom wheel to pair) and a lens mount. A 300mm lens can be attached, providing 13x optical zoom and up to 200x hybrid zoom. As expected, optical zoom looks great, but also offers the diminishing returns of digital zoom. A tripod mount can be attached to the telephoto lens, and you can also add an ND filter for the main cameras using the included adapters.
Since the Find X9 Ultra’s built-in 10x lens is perfectly capable, and the kit as a whole is quite difficult, I never managed to get my hands on this kit. He said, yes indeed cool and the biggest draw is the extra bokeh and detail you get. These don’t just look like smartphone photos.
The camera is really what sold me on this phone – a definite “duh” statement. While it’s true that the best camera is the one on you, the Oppo Find X9 Ultra proves that there’s something better between an average smartphone and a traditional camera setup.
Oppo has been making phones like this in China for a while, but the Find X9 Ultra is the first phone to hit global markets. I’m still sad that it doesn’t (officially) cover the US, but I’m pretty happy that a global release means more people will experience it. It also puts a bit more pressure on other Android brands, especially Samsung. Samsung’s definition of “Ultra” has fallen flat thanks to half a decade dropping the same phone over and over againbut Oppo shows here what an “Ultra” phone really is.
If you choose to import one (at your own risk, of course), the global variant I tested (CPH2841) worked fairly well on Google Fi throughout my testing in North Carolina. As this device is not designed for US networks, your results may vary. In Europe, the Find X9 Ultra starts at €1,699.99 – just over $2,000 USD (when converted directly).
I’m not sure I can recommend the phone any better than this – it’s a device I’ll be owning for the foreseeable future. It’s not for the software the Pixel has, and it’s not for the form factor like the Galaxy Z Fold 7, which I’ll be carrying around in my other pocket. On the contrary, as the Oppo Find X9 Ultra gets more things right, the camera is number one among them, I really do i want to use
What do you think?
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