BlackBerry (2023) - A Guest Review by Chad Dixon

The film BlackBerry (2023) has recently dropped on Netflix. I didn't see it on its initial cinema release amongst a slew of films showing how certain products or brands became famous. For example Air and Barbie, both coming out the same year. I've never owned one of these iconic smartphones or any other hard QWERTY-keyboarded mobile device, so might not be as personally invested as some viewers in this story of how this small Canadian-based software company, Research in Motion or RIM, developed - and then was, for over a decade, the maintainer of these iconic business-orientated mobile devices.

We start in 1996 where deep-thinking and softly spoken CEO of RIM, Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel), and his ultra-geeky good friend and co-founder, Doug Fregin (Matthew Johnson), arrive in a very disorganised manner to pitch the idea for a brand new mobile communicator they've named PocketLink to a seemingly distracted businessman, Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton) in his office at a local manufacturing company. Due to a combination of their unpreparedness and Jim's focus being on another project presentation within his own firm, the pitch is unsuccessful. Mike leaves his business card anyway.

Licking their wounds, Doug and Mike head back to RIM HQ - a messy workshop of tech in various stages of disassembly and populated by a dozen or more tee-shirted geeky guys who collectively treat the place more like a frat house rather than a place of work. Seemingly not much later that day, suited and booted Jim arrives unexpectedly in their workshop. Stating he's had second thoughts, he has a proposition for RIM so takes Mike and Doug out for an impromptu business lunch.

His totally no-nonsense persona is front and centre as he offers to invest 20,000 Canadian Dollars in their company and promote the PocketLink device. Fregin convinces Lazaridis
initially to decline the offer as he hates the overly aggressive approach of Balsillie. The lunch ends abruptly but later, back at the workshop, Mike is staring at a huge pile of boxed unsold modems initially developed for USRobotics but was declined. This $1.6 million black hole for RIM weighs on his mind and he takes out Balsillie's card that he left at the restaurant.

This film packs a lot of history into just 2 hours and it felt like the story of BlackBerry was doomed from the very beginning. Wrapped up in the development of their devices, Mike and Doug seem to be totally oblivious as to what's really going on in their company and as a result, the dysfunctional relationship between Balsillie and RIM is chaotic, to say the least. From hiring engineers from other high profile software companies with dodgy contracts to secretly pursuing a future career at the NHL (National Hockey League) as a backup plan.

Jim never appreciates the people that create the tech, including Mike and Doug, and doesn't take any time to really understand how it functions. Changing the work regimes of their software engineers, he bullies everyone that doesn't do what he says and swears at them in almost every conversation. As a result, this film has been given a (15) Certificate. The acting overall is solid and although I found the film easy to watch, the environments portrayed are uncomfortable enough to make me happy that I never pursued a corporate office-based career.

I'm guessing that in the mid 1990's lots of software companies in North America may have had that initial laid-back environment and some have disappeared before they'd even got started but here, the addition of the ruthless business tactics of Balsillie seemed to be the ingredient that allowed BlackBerry to briefly shine - very brightly. However by 2007 a computer company based in California with another fruit-based name had a whole other direction to where the mobile communicating device was going.

Barry Lyndon (1975) - A Guest Review by Chad Dixon

I watched this for the very first time today at the independent Garden Cinema, London. Which, amongst other selected West End screens is currently showing, for a limited period, a 4K restored version to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Stanley Kubrick's sumptuous 3 hour 5 minute period epic. Before you wonder, yes - there was a 10 minute intermission!

Also written and produced by Kubrick, this historical drama is based on the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray. Our story starts in the mid 18th Century rural Ireland. After his father has recently died in a shooting duel, young Redmond Barry, played by the American Ryan O'Neill, has become infatuated with his flirty cousin Nora Brady (Gay Hamilton). However, the English Army are in town and a very impressive officer, Captain John Quinn (Leonard Rossiter), has also caught Nora's eye. Against the wishes of his extended family, Redmond, only just out of short trousers himself, challenges the Captain to a duel for Nora's affections. Quinn accepts as he really wants Nora's hand and feels he can easily dispatch the youth.

Later at the flintlock pistol duel, Barry appears to shoot the Captain dead. In the aftermath, his family encourages him that it's best to leave town as not to get into trouble with the Army authorities. But he later finds out that unbeknownst to him, his pistol was loaded with a blank by the Seconds and the Captain's death was faked in a ploy to get Barry away to Dublin and allow the noble Captain Quinn to marry Nora and reward the family with much needed cash to settle old debts.

On his way to Dublin, Barry is robbed of his horse, weapons and the bag full of gold coins given to him by his Uncle to start a new life in the city, by highwaymen. Penniless and homeless, Redmond feels his only option is to join the English Army and after some basic training, heads off with his regiment to the current war, waging on the continent with France.

Basically, this is a story of a young Irish man who, with his boyish good looks, charm and opportunity, gains advantages over his army superiors. Then, later, after meeting the gorgeous Lady Honoria Lyndon (Marisa Berenson), also near-aristocratic status - as he always seems to be at the right place at the right time to reap the benefits of situations that seem to fall in his lap.

The cinematography is stunning! As well as the atmospheric outdoor scenes, with the use of NASA grade lenses on the extensive candlelit interiors, Kubrick brings the distinctive look of Hogarth paintings of the era to the big screen. As a result, this film won four Oscars at the 1976 Academy Awards.

O'Neill, who is in virtually every scene, is quietly commanding the viewers' attention throughout in an extensive cast of mostly British character actors of varied ages - with superb noses that suit well, the wig and powdered look of the 18th Century. No suspense is employed here, so the script felt a little simple at times. However, all the cast, not forgetting some very stylish ladies in their lavish period costumes, fill the various roles admirably.

Although not written as a comedy, some of the situations reminded me of scenes I've subsequently seen on 1970's & 80's TV sketch shows, so had me quietly chuckling. Especially when Mr Rossiter was on screen, as I cannot unsee Rigsby! For the pace of the story told, it felt a bit longer than was necessary - but I'm glad I finally got to see this legendary film on the big screen.

Oppo Find X8 Pro

I think I'm right in saying that I have only before ever had one Oppo phone in ownership and that was the Find X3 Pro which I reviewed in May 2022. That was the one with the 'microscope' lens/sensor which was the main draw for me - and with which, I had good fun. I now have the Sony Xperia 1 Mk VI in-hand which provides some of that 'macro' goodness, but in a different way. After the Find X3 Pro, Oppo seem to have given up on the idea - and it doesn't make a return here either.

Back in 2022, BBK Electronics was the parent company of Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus, Realme and iQOO, as I reported, but in 2025 the situation has evolved slightly. While the brands still operate under a shared lineage that traces back to BBK Electronics, BBK Electronics itself was deregistered in 2023. This means that while the brands continue to share resources, supply chains, and sometimes even core technologies, they have been restructured into more independent entities. This move is generally seen as a way to clarify revenue accountability, strengthen operational independence and potentially safeguard against regulatory scrutiny on Chinese companies. So, while the interconnectedness still largely exists in practice, the formal corporate structure has shifted away from a single, overarching "BBK Electronics firm" that directly owns all those brands. Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus, Realme and iQOO are now more formally separate, even if they maintain close ties due to their shared history and resources. (Source: Gemini.)

To ensure that everyone remains confused, there have been a glut of variations on this model - the Find X8, Find X8s, Find X8s+ and Find X8 Ultra! As you will imagine, the Ultra is the true flagship, out-scoring this unit in a few ways - but specs between the models meander wildly, so check them before landing! The Oppo Find X8 Pro itself was released in China (under the same branding) but the one I have here is the Global version, released in October/November 2024, fully operational in The West with all Google services, UK-ready. On release, this 512GB/16GB version was priced at £1,049 and it looks like any variations on storage/RAM were not officially available in the UK so needed to be imported. There were 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM, this 512GB 16GB RAM and 1TB 16GB RAM versions out there, depending on region. There's no microSD Card support anywhere here, so buyers should be aware of that.

In the Oppo AI Phone and Hasselblad dubbed box we get a USB-C to USB-A charging cable, USB-A(F) to USB-C(M) adapter, no 80W VOOC charging brick (which you do get in some regions, I believe), TPU case (again, in some regions) and pokey SIM Card Tray tool. The VOOC charger (if you buy one) and cable is how the 80W charging will be achieved. Without it, it tops out at 55W with a powerful-enough charger, so your mileage may vary depending on charger/cable combination.

It's a very classy-looking device in Space Black here. The back (Gorilla Glass 7i) is matt black and pretty slippery of course. Some reviews, over time, have reported scratches to the screen, so one might be wise to get some kind of protector. To get that shimmering/shifting/marble-like finish it looks like you need to source the Pearl White one. There is a third colour, Blue, but it was only available in China. Which is a shame. The back is dominated by the oversized circular camera island, but with this year's model they have slimmed it down a bit (by 'downgrading' some of the camera components, which we'll come to later) - according to Oppo, that's what consumers wanted. It's bigger in circumference (and still sticks out more) than the OnePlus 12R's - but then it's much more capable. Up in the top-left (in portrait) is a sizeable-looking LED flash and between the Oppo branding/logo and camera island, the Qi Charging coil.

Oppo has officially introduced its own magnetic accessory ecosystem, which they call OppoMag. The back of the phone does appear to be magnetic, but it's not very strong. Put on an accessory, designed for OppoMag or MagSafe it seems - like magnetic cases, power banks and chargers - and the magnetism is much, much stronger. So the Find X8 Pro is designed to work with magnetic accessories because it has built-in magnets around its wireless charging coil and all of this is compatible with Apple's MagSafe standard too.

On the right we have the volume rocker above the power key - and further down, the 'Quick Button' for the camera. Again, more on that later. They are metallic, firm and sturdy-feeling, coloured in keeping with the aluminium frame, in this case, black. On the left is the Alert Slider which can be switched between Silent, Vibrate and Ring modes for Notifications and Calls. Nice to see this surviving - and even making a comeback with some phones. Very handy for folk jumping in and out of meetings or going, for example, to the cinema.

On the bottom is one of the pair of stereo speakers, SIM Card Tray, USB-C port and Air Pressure Equalising Hole! Apparently this is designed to balance out air pressure if it becomes too great, helps the speaker to perform better and assist with various weather and barometer readings. Who'd have known! Maybe all phones have this but Oppo are the firm making a song and dance about it! This unit has a double-sided nanoSIM Card Tray and/or support for eSIM. Regional variations may differ. On the top we have microphone and IR Blaster - and littered throughout the metal frame of course we have antenna cut-outs to make sure signals are not blocked!

Gorilla Glass 7i also makes it to the front of the phone which is dominated by the gorgeously-curved 6.78" LTPO AMOLED panel with virtually no bezel. When I was reviewing the Motorola Edge 60 recently I declared that they were first with their Quad-Curved display, but actually this looks incredibly similar. Although the face of the glass looks pretty much flat, the fingers slide gracefully over the curves on all four edges, making swipes delightful, just like on the Moto. Up the top, doubling as the earpiece for the phone, is the other stereo speaker and underneath that, centralised, in the selfie camera. There is a factory-fitted screen protector on the front of the glass which, to be honest, I didn't even notice until now - so perhaps I shall rein in my usual urge to rip it off now that I know! It might certainly prevent micro-scratches to the GG7i, as mentioned above. Almost at the bottom of the front glass is the optical fingerprint scanner. The screen has a 120Hz refresh rate and in auto mode can reach 4,500nits of brightness. It is 1264 x 2780 pixels, returning 450ppi. It has 2,160Hz PWM for flickering and healthy eyes, can reproduce media encoded in HDR10+, Dolby Vision and Ultra HDR image support for better, well, images!

Laying aside the huge camera lump on the back, reduced as it might be, it's a beautifully-designed phone which suggests 'premium' and class at every turn. It's a bit less tall than the OnePlus 12R and a bit less wide, which makes it better, I think. It measures 162mm x 76.7mm x 8.2mm thick. It's on the heavier side at 215g but it doesn't really feel it in-hand. The phone is certified for IP6/8 and IP6/9 so it should survive most environmental impacts that most users might expose it to.

So, to the setup then. I thought about setting up from scratch but then decided to see how the switch from another BBK phone did, so used the OnePlus 12R instead. All pretty straight forward in the usual Android way - never offered me the cable route, just wireless. You can refuse the following bloaty-apps during the procedure - Temui, AUTODOC, Flo Period, WPS Office and weather24. Then there's the usual suspects which seem to make it to (almost) every phone (certainly from the east) regardless of price - FaceBook, LinkedIn and Booking dot com. All three uninstallable, thankfully.

Finally, Oppo's own 'additions'. With google making (some of) their core apps now available on the Play Store, it does seem to leave the path open for OEMs to not include them but add their own. Like Calculator, for example. And Clock. Google's own versions are not here, but for those two examples, I don't feel the need to add them and not rather simply use Oppo's. Deeper-rooted however are things like Oppo's App Market - which looks like a diluted version of, and attempt at, Samsung Galaxy Store. There's not much in there that I can see, but maybe Oppo is moving in the same direction. It can be force-stopped and disabled of course (or just ignored). I think Clone-Phone made it across from the OnePlus. It uninstalled though.

There's some AI-based apps in there like AI Studio and Documents which I'll come to, their own browser called 'Internet', their own Music playing app, My Files file manager, Notes for, er, making Notes (like Google Keep), Compass, their own Photos (gallery) app, voice Recorder, Theme Store, Weather, their own Camera app of course and Zen Space. Most of which sounds like a load of bloat but somehow, it doesn't feel like it. Maybe I'm getting more tolerant as I get older but some of those apps have some features which are useful and enhance the experience. But more of that later.

The phone arrived with Android 15 on release and Oppo are promising 5 OS updates, so to Android 20, and 6 years of Google Security updates - so to October 2030. This is great and a feather in the cap to the firm. Yes, I know that others are doing more/better, but not by much and this is a good, sensible balance.

It also arrived with ColorOS15 as Oppo's 'skin' over Android which I'm kinda warming to! I've also been playing with OxygenOS15 on the OnePlus 12R recently and very often, thematically, you can see more than ever the way in which they are merging. I used to think this was a shame as OxygenOS had its own personality, but over time I think I've changed my mind as pulling the good bits from each and ditching the not-do-good means that there's a uniformity to the brands and users will know more about where they are. Having said that, both of them - like many other OEMs from the far-east particularly, are often trying to make their skins look just like iOS. Which is a shame as, firstly, I don't much like iOS, nor Apple, but it also moves further towards less and less differentiation between brands - which used to make them feel more signature-orientated and unique. New ideas, different ways. Gone. Oh well. There have been good innovations from Apple too, I concede.

AI is clearly all the buzz and Oppo's not going to left behind. There's a blend of fluid and smooth aesthetics and animations with AI features integrated. There's intelligent photo editing (AI Editor, AI Eraser), Summarisation (AI Summary), AI Reply and Voice Translate amongst many more, significantly boosting productivity and creativity for those who use them. And of course, much scepticism assigning a lot of it to a playground full of toys that beyond 'wow' factor people aren't likely to use much. However, as time goes on, real people in real world situations are beginning to do so more - and one thing seems to be for sure, that it's not going away! It's up to service-providers to convince us that these tools can (and will) be of real benefit in time to come (if not so much now). So everyone's at it - and many of the tools here are emulations of what others are doing (or vice-versa).

A lot of it is to do with imaging of course and inside Oppo's Photo app we have AI Clarity Enhancer (if you have a blurry photo it can make it sharper), AI Reflection Remover (which I have tested against some others and this one is very good in comparison often), Unblur (a bit like Clarity really, but yes, it does work) and Object Eraser (which, again, seems to work as well as various other systems out there). They're dubbing all that stuff AI Photo Remaster.

AI writing tools are next in the shape of AI Writer. Let's say that you're preparing a social media post - it doesn't work in MeWe, nor Bluesky, Mastodon or Google Keep in my testing here but if you open a new Google Doc, or inside Reddit, Twitter - the sidebar then makes available the AI Writer option (which is not there until you do). So it seems to recognise some more mainstream social media outlets - I'm sure it probably works in Facebook, for example, but I'm not a user. Anyway, once you have found a way to invoke the AI Writer option in the sidebar, you don't actually start writing your post (or whatever) in the app, but in the AI Writer space that it offers you. Then, when done, you can copy it out and back into the post. I think other systems do that better - offering you these features on-the-fly wherever you are by highlighting what you want checked. Once you have your text written, you can get it to rewrite it formally, casually or politely, check grammar, spelling, shorten, elaborate, polish and so on. Which it then does well. The big flaw in this system seems to be that it's not really universal - and AI itself decides whether or not to offer AI tools! The irony. Still, AI is evolving and learning. Probably from itself. Eeeek!

AI Reply is supposed to generate quick ideas as to what to say to the person you are messaging with in various styles - formal, polite, sincere, humorous, casual - so you don't have to think for yourself! I really can't imagine using this over saying just what I want to say - but maybe a really busy person might. Though by the time you've read and selected one of them, regenerated more if not happy - you could have written it yourself! I'm testing here with Google Messages, but assume that it works with other messaging clients (which I don't use). By the way, it doesn't work in Google Chat, the only other one I do use - no surprises there! Again, the triggers seem to be in the mainstream apps and not anything on the fringes.

AI Summary is a bit different in that it appears to work fairly broadly across apps in my testing. Most usefully for me probably in Chrome - call up a webpage then select AI Summary from the sidebar. It then scans the page (you see the line going down) and it cooks up a summary. Seems to work OK. While you're there, you can also use AI Speak from the sidebar to and a fairly robotic voice (nowhere near as realistic-sounding as Gemini) will read the page to you (in an annoying American accent). You can change it on-the-fly between male/female, change the speed up to 2x and pause or skip forward/back in the little player that pops up on screen. It doesn't appear to work in a text file or PDF either, so maybe it's just a webpage-based thing. It does work inside their own Internet browser app, Opera as well as Chrome.

Inside Oppo's Notes application things are a bit more straight-forward and don't depend on a decision whether or not to serve the user up with tools! You can import (or create) data then use the various tools to format, clean up, polish, elaborate, formalise, make casual and so on. Which it does. As long as it's not too long! I threw a novel at it and it didn't like that. It summarised some of the beginning of it but certainly not the whole book. Maybe that was a bit of a tall order! I threw one of my film reviews at it and it did a decent-enough shortened version. It didn't want to 'format' it (optimise layout and ensure readability) all though telling me it was too long and it would only use the first 3,000 characters. This it did, by making sub-headings and roundups to place therein, which was nicely done. Clean up didn't really seem to do anything. Maybe because it was brilliantly written to begin with! Polish, similarly, didn't seem to do much, if anything at all. Maybe I need to throw some purposefully muddy text at it! Elaborate did do just that, but again, it was only interested in the first 3,000 characters. Once done, you can then categorise entries into groups. Back on the home page of Notes, there's another tab down the bottom for T0-dos. It's just a simple list-generator like you'd get in any basic to-do app I guess, with reminders if you like and you can tick them off as done, when done. Much like Google tasks I suppose, but not connected to anything. Odd.

Next up is Translate. This is much like Google's own tool where you throw some text (or a document) at it, choose a language from an inexhaustive list compared to Google, then let it translate. When done, you get it to speak the result aloud. You can similarly do this on-the-fly for if you're sitting with someone and neither can speak each other's language. You can also involve the front-facing camera if you like so both can see each other whilst doing it. I'm guessing that all this will rely on the other person also having an Oppo phone and the Oppo Translate app installed - otherwise everyone will just use Google! Which they probably would anyway! Exhausting, all this AI ain't it! Oh for the simple life.

I guess we'd better head for AI Studio now! It's all much of a muchness really. Everyone's doing the same thing with image creation/manipulation and it does indeed tend to feel like fun, cartoony kid's stuff. Here we have three elements - AI Portrait, AI Reimage and AI Motion. In AI Portrait you throw it a photo of a person, select a template then it goes off to generate the result. Which can be some time, depending, presumably, how overloaded their servers are at any one time. Here's one I prepared earlier of me as a female student (so beard gone) in a library! Bizarre. AI Reimage takes a photo then 'reimagines' it in a different scene/context - like two people on a picnic as a cartoon, or oil painting. AI Motion takes a photo and turns it into an animation - imagine a beach scene being turned into the same but with crashing waves. Or a picture of your cat, now animated so moving a bit, eyes/mouth changing etc. Look - I told you it all feels a bit like it was designed for kids! I don't see a tool here to, like other systems can, create a picture from text description - but maybe that's tucked away and I've not found it. There also seems to be a points/token system. I was given 5,000 of them at the outset and creating one image seems to have 'cost' me 10 tokens. So now I have 4,990! If you visit the AI Studio app and 'check in' it looks like each day you can grab 50. So now I think I have 5,040.

So, there's an overview/flavour of what Oppo are bringing to the AI table. I think there are some gaps, but it looks like they are trying. Some of the Google stuff is baked-in too, like Circle to Search and the Gemini launch option from the power button - but to be fair, I think most OEMs are now doing this. Perhaps now a dive into the actual UI to which ColorOS defaults. Beware, Apple haters from hereon in as there's so much here that's clearly been nicked! Starting with the home screens, which feel very Vanilla in many ways but with their own leanings. For example, when long-pressing a space, one gets a multi-selection layout rather than a link to menus, so the user can execute actions (like creating a folder) in a different way. The optional Google feed/app is available with a right-swipe and pages are laid out with left-swipes as created. In the Vanilla way (not Samsung), when there's nothing on the page, the page disappears from the carousel. Swipe up for the App Tray (or change it to Apple-style multi-page if you like) with an A-Z running down the right for quick-leaps. The drop-down Quick Settings/Notification shade, by default is very Apple control-centre like (or whatever it's called) which everyone seems to be copying now (especially in the far-east). It will be interesting to see what they do with Android Material 3 Expressive and Google's own ideas for layout/tiles that is currently available in Android 16 QPR Beta builds, when that's broadly available. Like Samsung (for the time being) there's an option to change the Quick Settings and Notifications to 'classic' (so 'together') or 'split' - this so-called 'modern' way. While you're in that menu, you can also change the shape of the home screen tiles between six options. So yes, big-buttons on the Quick Settings but no resizing (like with M3E and NothingOS, for example).

Recents can be invoked in the usual way with resulting carousel of cards to dismiss, jump to or enter a menu for each, where a bunch of options pop up - Pin, Lock, Hide content, Manage, Split Screen, Floating Window. If you hit Manage it lets you choose the style of carousel, stacked (overlapping) or the more traditional 'flat'. By the way, Gesture Navigation can still be changed to 3-button (for now) and you can also choose to put the back button on the left (where it belongs)! As referenced above, there's a Smart Sidebar which can be used (or not) to give shortcuts to pretty much whatever you like in terms of core apps, functions or installed apps. On top of those, as I mentioned above, you get context appropriate links depending on what you're doing - so yes, those AI Writer (and so on) tools when it can support them. When that's not the case, you get two ever present buttons - File Dock and Recent Files. When you're managing files (only in their My Files app by the looks of it) you can long-press a file and up pops the sidebar's File Dock where you can dump a shortcut to and then it will hold that until you clear it manually. When you want to revisit the file, it will throw it up for you. Recent Files is more of an automatic version of the above which tracks whatever you've been doing and makes available links to a trail of recent activity. Not sure how far that goes back but mine here has about 50 items going back quite a few days. There's also an Images/Documents view toggle/filter and View All button at the base which does that, invoking the Photos app or their own Documents one.

Speaking of their Documents App, this collects whatever documents it can find on the device (Doc, XLS, PPT, PDF, OFD and TXT) and displays them. It can be filtered by file type and has some of its own tools to work with the documents therein. It can create a summary (up to 30,000 characters), translate between various languages (doesn't look like there is a character limit, but it does take a considerable time for long ones) and convert to PDF any that are not. You can also import files by Bluetooth directly into the app and offers a Private Safe (presumably for the Artful Dodgers amongst us)! Their Internet App is a very simple affair with various tools built in like Ad blocking, AI Summary, AI Speak (as above) and code scanning. Those folk (unlike me) willing to meander away from Chrome do report that it is indeed a good, clean internet browser worthy of use. There's an IR Blaster function too, but as usual, try as I might, I can't get it to talk to any of my other hardware! There are oodles of choices, too, from Air Conditioners to Water Heaters and much between. I guess I just have the wrong stuff. It's something that I've never really used and kinda feels like it's a bit archaic in 2025 - but I'm sure others will disagree if they have it working and it saves them using remote controls or whatever. There's a Music App too, which, when launched, every time, throws up a full-screen advert asking the user to sign up for a paid 'qubuz - rediscover music' thing (which I'd never heard of). It can be dismissed but then the landing page for the app is also the qubuz online tab, not one's own My Music tab - which needs selecting every time. Once there, the Music app is decent enough. Filters for all sorts as you'd expect like Artists, Albums, Songs and so on - it's just annoying that every time you go there it's a minimum of 2 extra taps/dismissals to get to one's music. But this is one of the few music playing apps that make it to the Live Alerts function.

Live Alerts is another Apple copy in that it sends the user real-time updates about transport, food deliveries, Music playback, Game timers, screen recording timers in a 'capsule' at the top of the screen - which everyone seems to be emulating now. As is usually the case with these evolving features, it feels quite limited at the moment - only working with very specific services, relying on developers to code their apps and APIs being released widely too. It works with their (ad-riddled) Music App (as above) but the only other music playing app I can get it to work with is VLC. And I have tried quite a lot. Not sure which food delivery services you need to use to make it work - or in what country - nor which 'ride hailing' ones either. It does work with their own Clock App when a timer is set. The capsule grows a bracket each side if there is more than one thing on the go and you side-swipe it to move between them (rather than Samsung's up/down). It seems to work OK though, just feels like a project in progress (like for all of them that I have used).

There is a 'proper' Always on Display. Well, I say 'proper' and 'always' but it's still a little bit under testing. It is pretty bright, so up there with Samsung (tweaked by LockStar), Xperia and Moto (Razr) but I'm having a slight difficulty as it seems to turn itself off now and again. I'm trying to get to the bottom of what the conditions are during which it does it. I sometimes wake in the night (with it on a Qi Charger) and it is off (so inactivity or darkness?) but if I nudge it, it tends to then stay on for the rest of the night. I sometimes sit watching the telly in the evening with it on a simple, non-charging stand, subdued lighting, not extensive inactivity, and it's off. Nudge it and it's back on. Bedtime Mode is off. Focus Mode is off. Zen Space (which, incidentally, is their time-out and away from interruptions app) is off. All the battery-saving features are off. Nothing that I can further see is making this happen by optimisation means. Somebody on Reddit is suggesting that "the light sensor detects there is zero light so puts it into "pocket mode" and turns the screen off". Laying that aside, there are a bunch of AoD options to choose from. Not infinitely exhaustive like with Samsung's tools, but certainly more than most out there. Information can be added such as time, clock, day, date, weather, notifications - and music playback (but get this) only if it is Spotify! Not even their own Music App. Bonkers. I guess it a sponsorship deal. Infuriating again!

Wallpaper and Style options are aplenty with a Moto-style central control area with themes and tweaking available for the user. There's also what looks like the makings of a marketplace, Samsung style, Theme Store, but there's not much in there and what is there, is all 'free' so I guess that's also a work in progress. Same applies to Font and Icon options, Live Wallpapers. Maybe this Theme Store only works in China and is not a global option for developers yet. You can get there via the Settings menu or by long-pressing the home screen spaces. Talking of which, there are of course Widgets and some of the Oppo home-baked ones are actually quite attractive. They have a range for Clock, one for Internet, a few for the Music App, one for the Notes App and Phone Manager. So not a huge amount but what is there looks decent-enough. The Phone Manager app, as I meander all over the place now(!), is their own app which carries out various tasks like cleaning up the storage, monitoring for viruses and 'risky' apps, boosting system smoothness, offering data about the battery, storage, RAM and a whole bunch of security-based stuff. Again, just like Samsung and Motorola offer within their systems. When actions are invoked, you get a nice pretty progress circle, then congratulated when it has done its thing and the user can swell in their pride of being 100% Optimised! (If only life were that simple!) 

The Settings App is generally pretty well organised compared to some. I do get lost now and again but unlike some, the search feature usually finds what I'm looking for. You get colourful icons (depending on whether you 'theme' the wallpaper/icon options or not) and various sections/grouping (untitled) where stuff has been lumped together. There's so much to unpack here that if I covered it all, I'd be up to 10,000 words (and nobody would read it)! So highlights, trying to focus on what is clearly Oppo's own, include the 01 Ultra Vision Engine which gives the user auto-image-sharpening in photos and video and Video Colour Boost which changes lousy footage into HD. Apparently! Advanced Visual Effects change various backgrounds across the UI to be slightly blurry - like wallpaper, there's a Lock Screen Magazine feature which picks from a bunch of their (or yours, or both) images and serves up a different one every time the Lock Screen is invoked. There's Clear Voice to filter out background noise when on a call, O-Haptics which gives enhanced feedback for taps and swipes, Battery statistics, graphs and charts galore - and loads more besides. Exploring the system throws up something I'm sure I haven't seen before at every visit! Generally well thought-out, logical and better than when I last used an Oppo phone.

But enough of software for a while - there's so much to unpack, as I say! Let's talk about Speakers and Sound. There are stereo speakers, one bottom-firing and one using the phone's earpiece in the usual way. The speakers are very, very good - certainly not the best speakers I’ve heard on a phone, but loud and good quality with some bass. Sadly there’s little access to fine tune with their software using speakers, only headphones. OReality offers Smart, Movie, Gaming, Music - with or without the ‘Spatial’ effect (which doesn’t seem to really do much - unlike Sony’s). The Spatial effect is called Holo Audio, which they say produces the best sound depending on location in a Sony 360 Reality type way. It does seem to throw the sound around (better with headphones) but as we said with Sony, the whole 'spatial' thing is pretty much smoke'n'mirrors. Feels just like stereo really! Anyway, plug in USB-C headphones and the ‘Music’ option pops up an Eq. which does indeed make a difference. As we would expect, my Sony XM4 headphones by Bluetooth sound phenomenal - and all the Eq. options are available (or, of course, one can use the options for sound in the Sony Sound Connect app). There's no 3.5mm audio port I'm afraid. The soundstage/width for stereo effect with speakers is decent-enough - up to about 18” separation can still be heard, but pretty much disappears at arm’s length (well, my long arms anyway)! I generally don't have any complaints about the speakers or sound though. Well above-average and very enjoyable to hear.

One of the fabulous aspects of the phone is the 5,910mAh Silicon-Carbon battery with 80W wired charging, let down by a couple of things, but not deal-breakers. Firstly, it only gets that charging rate if used with BBK's own superVOOC charger and cable. Otherwise it drops to a maximum of 55W - which still ain't half bad! Secondly, there's no charger in the box! Now, in some regions there is, but this one, not. (I got my unit second-hand and market of origin is not clear.) However, when I plug in my UGreen 100W GaN charger and quality cable, I get a pop-up on the phone's screen that says superVOOC charging. So that's confusing. The performance of the battery is staggeringly good though. In fact, I think it's probably my new champ (for a powerful flagship phone anyway)! It lasts and lasts and lasts, two days for my average use. At least. And my 10% Reading Test is off the scale - I can’t conduct it really, as after an hour it’s only dropping 1% (tested from 100% and 50% starting points), so I'd be there all day! I'm regularly ending a long, busy day with 75% left (with my average use of about 4hrs SoT). Qi Charging works as expected on a simple Qi Stand (and you can get 50W wireless if you buy an AirVOOC wireless charger for £79) but there’s also this circle on the back of various accessories for MagSafe (or OppoMag as they are calling it), as I said above. The magnets in the accessories (well, I only have cases here) are very strong. As soon as an accessory is added it clacks on like a barnacle to a ship's hull! And Qi charging commences. As always, without a car here, I find the appeal limited, but one good use is being able to quickly/easily clack a charger onto the back and carry on using the phone (assuming the charger’s cable is long enough). You can do this with a USB-C cable too of course, but I can’t deny the convenience. There's also 10W reverse wireless for sharing or charging peripherals. Great power options all-round, much like Moto (but not Samsung).

BBK’s wired Windows Desktop Mode - Multi-Screen Connect (or now O+Connect) doesn’t really do much - file-sharing mostly. It’s certainly no DeX/Smart Connect but it does get the full suite on Microsoft’s Phone Link (like Samsung) - apps, passthrough audio etc. HDMI-Out works but (like Xperia) it’s kinda dumb - screen is cast to the monitor/TV and if you run a video in landscape it’ll switch round - but mostly you’re working in portrait. Connect a BT mouse/keyboard to the phone and it works as expected - but there’s no ‘desktop mode’ - for that you need the above-mentioned Multi-Screen Connect/O+Connect and MSWindows. I attached my NexDock Touch by USB-C and nothing happens! (Given the last point, this surprises me - I was expecting a repeat of the Xperia experience with it at least.) This could be a fault of the NexDock Touch being pretty old now, though to be fair it works perfectly still with Samsung phones.

Some eyebrows were raised at the use of the Mediatek Dimensity 9400 (3nm) chipset instead of a SnapDragon blazer, but I can't fault it - and neither can anyone else it seems. I have looked at plenty of deep dives on YouTube with even demanding, heavy gamers as they test it out and very few of them can find anything negative to say about it. I have been using the phone now for a couple of weeks and I, too, have no complaints at all. Everything I throw at it is executed quickly and processed efficiently - at least, on-device (referencing the above and cloud-based image processing). Those who know about these things are saying that it really is as good as the SnapDragon choice available at time of release in autumn 2024. There's plenty of analysis online for those who want to drill down to the nitty-gritty comparisons, but I'm happy that this is a very fast chipset and the phone flies.

Connectivity is good as I have been testing during the last fortnight. Cellular for Voice calls sounds good at either end and connection is held onto well-enough, even in my test usually-dodgy area. The WiFi is speedy (WiFi 7 for those who have it), tested with 3 different routers locally and with the 5G connectivity on cellular with EE it is very fast too, not dropping out at all - though we do have very good EE coverage here. In terms of GPS and mapping, again, tracking locks on fast and holds on well with various apps, NFC works well for various uses and Bluetooth v5.4 seems to have a good range and consistency, as always, depending on the quality of the receiving gear. So yes, it seems like decent-enough components used which work well. Incidentally, if you buy the 1TB/16GB RAM model in China, you can get in on satellite connectivity if you live there and the service is supported where you live (apparently via Tiantong) - and then only emergency/messaging rather than voice calls (as I understand it).

I mentioned security earlier in relation to the onboard apps and services, but also a mention for the under-display optical fingerprint scanner and face recognition. These are both quick and easy to set up and work very well. I always prefer physical capacitive or ultrasonic - considering optical to be the poor cousin - but I do think it's getting better as time goes on and working in tandem with the face unlock, I have no worries or concerns - one of them leaps in and works, even in pitch darkness!

Lastly I come to my least favourite topic, photography on phones! Yeah, I know, this is one of the primary selling points of this device, but with phones, I'm a casual-snapper (at best)! I must admit that it's nice to have a 6x optical zoom for the odd occasions when needed, but frankly, I've never had cause to complain about using 6x (non-optical) zoom on my Pixel phone (or any other recent one really). There's a lot of hype about cameras being the be-all and end-all on phones and I find that it's over-egged and, a bit like the MP-race, tick-boxes by OEMs so as to in some way make their offering stand out. The truth is that for 95% of the people doing 95% of photography with phones, putting the results to 95% of uses, any of 'em will do. However, no phone review would be taken seriously without so I will tell you that there are four 50MP cameras on the phone, the main shooter has an aperture of f1.6 and OIS, the second is f2.6 and is a 3x periscope optical zoom with OIS, the third, f4.3 and 6x periscope optical zoom with OIS and the last, f2, wide-angle, with Autofocus enabling decent close-up shots. Laser AF is on the spec-sheet and also, in the centre of the huge camera island, a big Hasselblad "H" denoting that they have had a hand in colour calibration. There's a 32MP f2.4 Selfie via a punch-hole, top-centre of the front screen and 4K video can be shot at 60fps both front and back.

On opening the camera app, it, again, looks very Apple-like to me, but then I guess that outside of Sony, most of them probably do now. The Master Mode is the one which most people seem to talk about - a kind of Pro Mode on steroids by the sound of it with adjustments for everything it seems (except Aperture of course), filters, RAW shooting, the tinkerer's delight. The rest of it is by-the-numbers as far as I can see, but what do I know! Lots of modes and Smart features. The so-called Macro Mode, even on the 6x zoom is not anything to challenge Sony's Xperia's Telephoto Macro, nor even Moto's wide-angle AF. But it's OK and works well enough for the 95% again. Anyway, enough of this as I have no idea what I'm talking about really so over to our good friends at GSMArena for those who want to get the proper lowdown from people who do! Their coverage of the phone's camera starts here and I'd encourage readers here to support them as they do keep us all right up to date with lots of the nitty-gritty regarding phones released across the globe. They find some aspects of the Oppo's handset here hard to fault while others could be better, but overall really like it.

A final word for the elephant in the room, the Apple-copy Quick Button on the side of the phone. I would agree with most commentators suggesting that it's too far from the bottom-edge (as was Apple's) which only Sony seem to have got right. Sony also got it right making the button physical and two-stage for focusing and firing. Here it's capacitive and relies on haptic feedback when touched. You can double-tap it to open the camera software, then slide a finger along it to zoom, tap it again to take a photo and long-press it to (by default) take a burst of photos (this can be changed in settings to invoke a video recording instead). It seems to work as described but I can't really imagine people bothering to get their heads around it instead of just interacting with the screen as if it were not there. It would be much more useful as a music play/pause button! Anyway, there it is. Hope you made it to the end of this without falling asleep. My reviews do seem to be more of a commentary of findings/discovery really - an Unboxing on Steroids!

It's a really nice phone, the killer-feature for me being the amazing battery. It feels high-end and is packed full of goodies for those who are OK with the far-east style of UI and blatant Apple-copy stuff - and having a sizeable phone in their pocket with a huge lump of a camera island! Obvious benefits being a nice big screen to consume data, but one-handed use starts to get tricky even for those of us with big hands. Otherwise, it ticks pretty much every box one could hope for and is highly recommended if you can pick one up for half the release price now. Paying the full release-price now would put the buyer in a more tricky place, where for that money there's lots of competition - but as I often say, wait a year, buy a used flagship - and you'll get a much better value option. Images are official ones from Oppo UK or my own.

Echo Valley (2025)

This is a tidy little thriller/drama/mystery available on AppleTV+ (and probably elsewhere by now) directed by Michael Pearce (Beast, Encounter) very nicely as he pulls the strings together in a well-paced, unfolding tale of greed, money, motherly love and betrayal.

Julianne Moore (Still Alice, Hannibal, Sharper) plays Kate who has a backstory of  being married to a man (divorced), then a woman (she died) and throughout, running a horse stable - supposedly paying for itself by her offering out riding lessons to the wealthy locals. However, she's still (not) recovering from the tragic loss of her wife, so it's all going a bit to pot. She leans on wealthy ex-husband for money when needed - and it looks like he usually kicks and screams, but gives in.

They have a now-grown-up daughter, Claire, except that she's not terribly grown-up and lives a life of addiction, mixing with the wrong people and turning up at mum's when in strife, looking for a hand-out to fuel her (and her friends') drug-fuelled lives. Claire is played by Sydney Sweeney (Immaculate, The Voyeurs, The Handmaid's Tale) and does an irritatingly good job as the wayward, privileged brat, expecting the world (or at least mum) to serve her desires.

Claire turns up one day, looking to groom mum, as usual, showing her affection/emotion, then dropping the clanger after a couple of days about 'needing' cash. As usual, mum gives in, try as she might to not. This time, however, Claire is in real trouble it seems as she's thrown away one of her friend's stash, worth $10,000. It just so happens that Kate has been able to get $9,000 from ex-husband to mend a stable roof. So yes, mum digs her out of the hole with it.

Waster boyfriend Ryan, played by Edmund Donovan (Civil War, Your Monster) and his mate Jackie, played by Domhnall Gleeson (Ex Machina, Alice & Jack, Brooklyn) are lurking around during this time, threatening mum that if Claire doesn't cough-up the cash, they'd all be in for big trouble. Kate, mum, is pushed over the edge into capitulating when Claire turns up during her stay, covered with blood, telling her that there's been a tragic incident which has left Ryan dead. What's a loving mother to do - see her daughter embroiled in a police investigation (or possibly worse) or take matters into her hands by mopping up the mess!

Fiona Shaw (Kindred, Killing Eve, Fleabag) plays Leslie, her friend, who lends support and help during this time and fully understands Kate's unconditional love for her daughter, regardless of what a mess she has become, so they both go to it, covering the tracks and sorting it out. This is where the mystery bit comes in as twists and turns start to happen - maybe everything is not quite as it seems. Ryan's friend Jackie gets wind of something he can make money from - so becomes even more threatening towards Kate and Claire.

It's really well-paced in terms of the reveals, some of them in very recent flashbacks, filling in gaps in the narrative which have been skipped over on first-run for impact later. The cinematography is nicely executed with interesting visuals and there's some real edge-of-the-seat moments when you wonder where on earth it's going next, who is doing what and whether or not there's even one final twist or turn to come!

It's very much Julianne Moore's show, in pretty-much every scene, and she, as usual, does a grand job of anything she turns her hand to, convincing the audience of her character's authenticity. It's a great little intelligent thriller which covers many themes from family bonds, betrayal, blackmail, money, crime and much more. Really worth a watch, but don't read reviews too deeply, just watch and enjoy the unfolding tale. Highly recommended.

Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), Before Midnight (2013)

Here's a trilogy of films about a couple of young people who happen to meet on a train and start to fall for each other in a short space of time. The films follow their path over the course of the next two decades, as they contemplate the meaning of life, existence, their place in the universe and the social constructs around the role of men, women and relationships.

Richard Linklater (Boyhood, School of Rock, Dazed and Confused) directs and links up with actor Kim Krizan to write much of the storyline - and latterly, joined by the two stars. The two young people were Jesse and Céline played by Ethan Hawke (Snow Falling on Cedars, A Midnight Clear, Boyhood) and Julie Delpy (Three Colours White, Killing Zoe, Europa Europa) and are largely the main players through the three films.

Before Sunrise (1995) is the start of it all when a couple meet on a train and experience an instant attraction. Instead of going their separate ways, they agree to spend what time they can together waiting for connecting transport in Vienna. The film then depicts their whirlwind love blossoming as they spend the rest of the day and throughout the night together, wandering the streets, until she has to get back on the train and he, a plane. They agree to meet back on the same spot in exactly six months.

Before Sunset (2004) catches up with them 10 years later in Paris, he, by this time a successful author, having sold the story of the first film's encounter, in the story, not for real! They spend the day together in Paris, catching up, we find out more details about what happened about the six-month rendezvous back in Sunrise as they reminisce and bump about in Paris together, only to have to part again (or do they?) when the successful author has to catch a plane. Again.

Before Midnight (2013) moves us on another 10 years and again, we catch up with what happened in the second film, filling in some gaps and this time, spending time with the couple - and others - on a Greek Island. The film, again follows through a day-in-the-life and lets the viewer catch up with, what is (maybe?) the last of the series of films. I'll stop there, having tried to use my words carefully so as to give a flavour of the chain of events, but not anything away that will spoil viewing. All I've given away really is that they're both alive over a couple of decades and still know each other!

What's different and nice about these films, raising them above the ordinary slushy love clap-trap is the way in which they are presented, filmed and most importantly, reliant on the script and dialogue. It's obvious throughout that the actors are given some freedom to ad-lib with the material, inject philosophy, meaning of life and love stuff - of which Woody Allen would be proud. The dialogue is snappy and engaging, so much so that it almost doesn't matter for a lot of the time which city or country they happen to be in! It reminded me also of the dialogue which might be written by Tarantino, where what people are saying is as important as what they're doing.

It does sometimes feel a bit like a tourist-office supported venture as they wander past famous sights and buildings, but it's never aggressive in that respect, more passive and in keeping with the nature of the story and films. It's refreshing not to have solutions and outcomes served up on a plate but rather engage the audience in imaginative work to create their own idea about endings - or new beginnings. The two actors have a real chemistry going on and that oozes out in almost every scene, whether they're in each other's arms or arguing about their differences. They have been cast well and warm beautifully to the task.

It is a series of films which could easily be passed off as romantic escapism, but they are much more than that, having something meaningful to say about almost every topic and theme under the sun, as well as the character's time and potential future in each other's lives. Good stuff, well produced, excellently performed - a thinking person's romantic trilogy.

Novitiate (2017)

I watched this last night. (It's available on various streaming platforms.) Not sure why really as I usually can't stand any religion-centric stuff, but it was well recommended/reviewed so thought I would. And much like with Conclave (2024) I'm glad I did.

It's based on extensive research into the real experiences of nuns during the period of Vatican II (the Second Vatican Council, 1962-1965). It's not a true story in the sense that it's a direct biography of one specific person, rather dramatised out into that within the backdrop as we follow the path of young Cathleen training to become a nun.

Director Maggie Betts drew from a "rich canon of memoirs of ex-nuns" and consulted with former nuns and experts to create a story that reflects the dramatic changes and challenges faced by Catholic sisters during that era. The film aims to portray the authentic emotional struggles as well as the impact of Vatican II, on women, isolation, abuse and sexuality in religious life.

The whole cast are terrific, the production values top-notch, cinematography lovely as the potentially dour tale is whipped up into something much more - almost gripping! Melissa Leo is terrific as the scary, domineering, abusive, old-fashioned-values, "acting on behalf of God" Reverend Mother in the convent, the cute Margaret Qualley in the lead grabs the attention in pretty much every scene and Julianne Nicholson is solid as her mother. There's a distant feeling of The Handmaid's Tale (2017-2025) about some of it.

They've weedled in some sexuality stuff for ratings no doubt - who knows how much of the fine detail is true - there's very brief nudity but it's a really well played-out drama worthy of a look. I might even have a look at the referenced-within film starring Audrey Hepburn now, The Nun's Story (1959).

Superman (2025) - A Guest Review by Chad Dixon

James Gunn, well known for the Guardians of the Galaxy films in the MCU has now been put in charge of rebooting the DCU. His first directorial offering for us under this new regime is Superman. Now I'm old enough to remember seeing the classic 1978 film with the iconic Christopher Reeve as the Alien from the Planet Krypton. I've seen every other Superman film since. Even the much-maligned Zack Snyder directed offerings with Henry Cavill in the lead and I've got to say, David Corenswet is definitely the most charismatic actor to have been cast since Reeve.

Dispensing with showing the well-known origin story this time, Gunn starts with the Man of Steel fully established both as the world famous superhero and mild-mannered, experienced reporter Clark Kent at Metropolis's Daily Planet newspaper. Also his passionate relationship with colleague, Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), is in full-swing.

We join the story in the aftermath of a controversial situation where Superman has unilaterally intervened in a foreign conflict. Physically threatening a megalomaniac dictator to stop an invasion of a poorer, neighbouring sovereign state. To save lives, of course, but it has caused a rift between him and the Pentagon.

It's also causing a temporary rift between him and Lane as they argue over the incident in her apartment after work one evening. Meanwhile, across town at the Luthorcorp offices, tech mastermind and CEO Lex (Nicholas Holt), is beside himself. Through arms sales, his plan in cahoots with President Ghurkos of the aggressive nation to obtain territory for his own use has been foiled by Superman's intervention. Assembling all his allies, he is now determined, once and for all, to take the Kryptonian out of the picture by hatching a plan to discredit him in the glare of the World's media.

With a very similar feel to Guardians of the Galaxy, Gunn is definitely going for a more screwball approach to these familiar DC Comics characters. There is an awful lot packed into the 2 hours 9 minutes run time. A constantly challenged and battered Superman faces many different foes sent by Luthor, including two genetically-engineered superpowered villains, an army of flying soldier drones and on one occasion, a giant fire-breathing Godzilla-type creature, terrorising Metropolis! There's even a Subatomic Universe that Lex has opened a portal to in which he is holding prisoners he deems a threat to his overall plans to portray himself as Saviour of Planet Earth!

The Fortress of Solitude now in Antarctica is run by numbered robots that watch over the Kryptonian archive. Oh - and our hero has a Superdog called Krypto that has behavioural issues! As well as help from this superpooch to assist leveling the playing field to a degree, Superman is also helped by a trio of nonchalant non-aligned superheroes led by Guy Garder, The Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion) calling themselves the Justice League International.

There's heartwarming brief performances by Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell as Jonathan and Martha Kent, respectively, Wendell Pierce as Daily Planet Chief Perry White and Skyler Gisondo as Lane's colleague, Jimmy Olsen - all worth an honourable mention. However there are many more peripheral characters, too numerous to name.

Now with all this going on, you may think that this story sounds like it may get a bit incoherent. I guess that being familiar with previous James Gunn projects, I took in everything very well - and even with all the ultra-fast paced action with much smashing and crashing, I enjoyed this first DCU outing. A lot of that enjoyment has to do with a very confident performance by Corenswet who statuesquely embodies the red and blue cape and underpants with a swagger that belies his newcomer status to the role. Take your whole family along!