I tried using China's best flagship phone this summer, but it fought me every step of the way

Phone Arena

a day ago

I've been trying to land a new candy bar flagship phone to use as a daily driver since getting slightly bored with the otherwise exceptional Vivo X Fold 3 Pro, and my sights were set on a device I actually reviewed a few months ago but totally forgot about.
However, as much as I wished to pop in my SIM card inside this device and call it a day for the rest of the summer, the gremlins associated with this otherwise awesome phone once again raised their heads. The phone in question is the Oppo Find X8 Ultra, and the reason for my woes is the Chinese version of the ColorOS software on board, and all the intricate issues that are associated with it.
Okay, let me talk you through my thought process as to why the forbidden Oppo fruit appears to be so sweet but oh-so-high up the tree.
When it comes to hardware, I stand by my words that no other phone is as well-endowed. It has the Snapdragon 8 Elite, which is among the best mobile chipsets right now, and it is an undisputable necessity when you want a proper flagship in 2025. Paired with 16GB of RAM and up to 12GB of virtual memory, this one is perfectly capable of meeting any multitasking needs.
More importantly here, however, is the simply lovely camera setup at the rear. The Oppo Find X8 Ultra boasts quad 50MP cameras at the rear, with a short 3.0X telephoto and a longer 6.0X periscope zoom, but the key number here is the size of the sensor behind the main camera. It's an 1-inch sensor, which puts the phone in an exclusive club of phones with exceptionally large camera sensors. Obviously, a very appealing hardware feature that I'd certainly love to have on deck!
Then, there's the extra-large 6,100mAh battery, which helps the Oppo Find X8 Ultra find itself in the top three in terms of battery life among all 2025 phones we've tested so far. With a nearly nine-hour battery estimate, it's pretty much ahead of its rivals in our custom tests, save from the Vivo X200 Ultra.
Now, some may argue that the Vivo X200 Ultra is technically a superior device, and I'd definitely agree to a point, but the combination between awesome camera, battery life, and performance is admittedly superior on the Oppo Find X8 Ultra in our tests. This makes it the logical choice if you want to squeeze out the best value out of any 2025 Ultra flagship.
And the rest of the package is excellent, too! We get extremely decent stereo speakers, a very bright OLED screen, precise and strong haptic feedback, IP69 water and dust resistance, and a capacitive camera button that's actually useful.
However, this is where the hardware bliss ends and the software nightmare begins.
The Oppo Find X8 Ultra has the best camera I've seen
See, I really wanted to use the Oppo Find X8 Ultra. I thought I was perfectly aware of all the sacrifices I'd have to make when dealing with a phone intended for the internal Chinese market.
I was ready to give up the Google Discover panel to the left of the home screen, I was okay with losing Circle to Search, and I was almost ready to part ways with Gemini as the default voice assistant. Likewise, I was also mentally prepared to debloat the interface by uninstalling whatever preinstalled Chinese apps I could.
Then, I migrated all of my data with Oppo's handy PhoneClone app and went through the tedious process of setting up all accounts and apps, customizing the home screen layout and all other phone settings, and then the issues began.
First things first, although there wasn't an obvious issue with my SIM card, the Oppo Find X8 Ultra would only receive half of all the messages I was supposed to receive.
How do I know that? Well, I didn't receive 2FA for half of the apps I use, and the worst part is that those apps are banking and messaging ones, so absolutely crucial. Telegram, an essential app for me, doesn't let me log in because the SMS code I was supposed to receive never actually came through. And while Google Pay seemingly works fine on this phone, the app simply wouldn't let me add a specific credit card, which is another major deal-breaker.
My unfortunate muscle memory always seemed to trigger the Breeno assistant on the phone with the power button. One could think that a possible workaround would be to download a button mapper and manually map Gemini to get enabled instead of the stock Chinese AI assistant with the power button, yet none of the apps I tried seemed to work reliably; the system just wouldn't let me do what I wanted.
The same applies to the stock launcher. While Android launchers really fell off in the past few years with nothing exciting happening on the scene, I tried running the good ol' Nova Launcher on the Oppo Find X8 Ultra, and lo and behold, ColorOS would once again show its teeth and put a stick in my wheel. I had to go through some crazy hoops to be able to set a custom Android launcher as the default one, and every time I'd swipe up to get to the home screen, the phone would deliberately lag for two seconds.
While I'm no quitter, the combination of all these software problems sadly sealed the fate of this phone as my daily driver.
This is why I can't recommend the Oppo Find X8 Ultra, even though its hardware is pretty much perfect.
You may have a good experience with phones intended for the internal Chinese market. Some of you definitely have the skills necessary to nullify all of these interface handicaps and turn a phone never destined to reach the Western markets into a perfectly usable and capable device.
To my great ire, the Oppo Find X8 Ultra never got a global release, so whatever you, or I do, it will never work 100% as intended outside of China. Alternatives? Of all Ultra phones released so far in 2025, only the Xiaomi 15 Ultra got a global release, but it was ruined with a smaller battery, which isn't ideal when paired with HyperOS 2's awful battery optimization. The Vivo X200 Ultra is out of the question, as it's also a China-exclusive. What you're left with is the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which isn't bleeding-edge tech, and you also have to deal with the quirks of One UI 7. Secure your connection now at a bargain price!
We may earn a commission if you make a purchase Check Out The Offer