Oppo Find X7 Ultra takes on S24 Ultra with TWO periscope zoom cameras in amazing HyperTone set
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Oppo just announced its 2024 Find X7 Ultra flagship and the new naming scheme and release date suggests that it may do to the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra what the X6 Pro specs did to the S23 Ultra, namely beat it at its own zoom camera game.
Instead of chasing zoom counts, Oppo installs large high-quality camera sensors across the zoom range, and, as our Find X6 Pro review showed, this is the better approach when it comes to taking zoom shots under low light conditions.
The X6 Pro consistently produced better night zoom shots than the S23 Ultra, even at the 10x zoom level that is supposed to be the Samsung's phone native optical magnification count. We expect nothing less from the Oppo Find X7 Ultra now, as it is the first phone equipped with two periscope zoom cameras with folded optics!
Oppo Find X7 Ultra camera and the HyperTone Image Engine
Find X7 Ultra is first with dual periscope zoom camera
Expanding on its all-main camera philosophy, Oppo introduces not one or two but a Quad Main Camera 50MP system on the Find X7 Ultra, with a unique two periscope zoom kits that each sport 50MP sensors, too. Compare that to the puny 10MP telephoto and periscope sensors on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, and you'll see why Samsung is said to up the ante to 50MP on at least one of the S24 Ultra zoom cameras this year.
Zoom range
The other standout photography specs on what is already one of the best camera phones in 2024 are the second generation Sony LYT-900 1-inch sensor of the main shooter and the custom 50MP Sony LYT-600 sensor used for the ultra-wide camera. Add to these the largest periscope camera zoom sensor on any phone - a 50MP 1/1.56" Sony IMX890 sensor - and the 50MP 1/2.51" Sony IMX858 at the end of the 6x periscope zoom lens, and the Find X7 Ultra becomes the ultimate versatile shooting machine.
Its low-light prowess now spans the range of 14mm telemacro to 270mm equivalent focal lengths with equal quality, aided by the new HyperTone Image Engine. The AI-powered HyperTone system aims to end the unnatural looking HDR photos that so many computational photography efforts now churn out. Oppo says that HyperTone "safeguards photo integrity, preserving highlights, shadows and mid-tones with a natural look," and the Find X7 Ultra camera samples comparison with and without it below prove its point.
Portraits
Needless to say, the fullest high-quality zoom range on any phone also brings the ability to make stunning portraits and macro shots. The Find X7 Ultra’s Portrait Mode increases the available focal lengths to four - at 23mm, 44mm, 65mm, and 135mm - each "calibrated to a different Hasselblad lens, producing cinematic bokeh with foreground and background depth" that can isolate the subject down to a single hair. Oppo's Hasselblad Portrait Mode is "also incredibly respectful of individual differences" now, faithfully representing skin hues and facial features at up to 30 feet from the subject.
Hasselblad Master Mode
Last but not least, all that incredible phone camera engineering comes with the new Hasselblad Master Mode for advanced manual controls over ISO, shutter speed, EV, focus, and white balance, as well as saturation, contrast, sharpness, and even vignette control, tuned to the experience with the iconic Hasselblad X2D 100C camera results. In the new Master Mode, the "discerning professional photographers" can now capture in a new RAW MAX1 format with 13 dynamic range stops, and a whopping 16-bit color depth in the BT2020 color space. We are putting the Find X7 Ultra camera through its review paces and will report all the festivities back to you.
Oppo Find X7 Ultra design and specs
The Oppo Find X6 Pro earned our Best Phone Backs award last year and its successor is no exception with its beautiful two-tone rear that evokes leather and metal impressions, with matching cases to project the unique rear design to the outside world as well. This time around, the phone comes in three co-ordinated color schemes - Ocean Blue, Sepia Brown, and Tailored Black - for added variety to match everyone's taste.
The record-breaking Oppo display line is present on the Find X7 Ultra, complete with 4,500 nits of peak brightness, granular refresh rate and all the Dolby Vision HDR certification your heart desires. Oppo calibrates each panel individually to give you the utmost in color presentation, worthy of the DSLR-class camera kit on the back and its new HyperTone Image Engine.
As usual, Oppo has kitted the Find X7 Ultra with the latest flagship phone specs, complete with Qualcomm's high-end Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, up to 16GB RAM, and up to 1TB of flash storage. Again as usual, it adds a little something something to set its phones apart, such as an IR blaster to control your TV, AC, or other home electronics.
The large 5,000 mAh battery unit can be charged completely in less than 30 minutes with the 100W brick, and Oppo also offers record fast 50W wireless charging, faster than the Galaxy S24 Ultra's wired top-ups, what gives, Samsung?
Oppo Find X7 Ultra price and release date
All that record-breaking display specs and camera jazz that Oppo managed to cram in the ultimate Find X7 Ultra flagship comes at a price of a bit over $900 for the 16GB/512GB version, way lower than the Galaxy S24 Ultra pricing. Oppo has thus scheduled the phone for a January 12 release to clash with Samsung's pride and joy directly this month, that's how confident it is that it can overpower it in most of the ways that matter.
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