It seems clear that the development of traditional smartphones has reached a dead end. The manufacturers of these phones do not have any new ideas for unique designs for their phones, and all they do is change the camera shape and position constantly or copy the designs of competing companies. It also seems that foldable phones will be the dominant fashion during the next decade, as companies are spending a lot of effort and money to invent new phones with innovative forms and technologies that distinguish each company from the other, and after Samsung, Huawei, Motorola, and Xiaomi, now is the time for Oppo To reveal its newness in this field with its foldable phone, which is called the Oppo Find N.
The company may seem late in launching its first foldable phone compared to competitors, but the company says that it is better to launch a product later when it is ready to offer a great user experience instead of simply rushing to keep up with trends. That is why it took Oppo, 4 years of research and development to be able to produce a foldable phone with an elegant design that delivers powerful performance and provides a perfect user experience.
The Oppo Find N, and all foldable phones, consists of a small external screen the size of a regular smartphone screen, and a large external screen the size of a tablet made of flexible foldable glass fibers. What distinguishes this phone is its smaller compact size than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 and its powerful rear camera system consists of 3 cameras, including a 50 megapixels main camera.
The phone comes with what Oppo calls the Flexion hinge, a water drop hinge design that expands the fold angle of the screen and introduces a buffer when the screen is folded, resulting in up to 80% less noticeable slight crease compared to other devices. This design also virtually eliminates the gap between displays when folded, providing a more integrated look, and better protecting the inner screen from scratches.
As for the flexible inner display itself, Oppo's custom 12-layer Serene Display offers excellent protection and durability and works with Flexion Hinge for a seamless folding experience (according to Oppo). The Serene Display is also very reliable, allowing the screen to be folded over 200,000 times without a crease (verified by TUV Rheinland).
Measuring 132.6 x 140.2 x 8.0 mm when unfolded, the device has an internal 7.1-inch LTPO AMOLED display made of a 0.03 mm layer of Flexion Ultra-Thin Glass (UTG) with a resolution of 1792 x 1920 pixels, 9:8.4 aspect ratio, the density of 370 PPI, and HDR10+ support, with a dynamic refresh rate that varies between 1 and 120 Hz depending on the content you are the user is viewing on it. The internal display also features a touch sampling rate of up to 1000Hz and contains a 32-megapixel selfie camera (f/2.4, Sony IMX615 sensor) in the form of a punch hole at the top left of the screen, capable of recording 1080p video at 30 frames per second.
While the Oppo Find N measures 132.6 x 73 x 15.9 mm when folded, it has a 5.49-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 988 x 1972 pixels, an 18:9 aspect ratio, a fixed refresh rate of 60 Hz, protected with a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus layer. The outer screen display has also the 32 MP (f/2.4, Sony IMX615 sensor) selfie camera in the form of a punch hole at the center of the screen, capable of recording 1080p video at 30 frames per second.
As for the rear camera system, as mentioned above, The Oppo Find N is equipped with a flagship-level triple-camera setup for high-quality photos and videos. It includes a 50 MP (f/1.8, Sony IMX766 sensor) main camera, a 16 MP ultra-wide lens (f/2.2, Sony IMX481sensor) and a 13 MP (f/2.4, Samsung S5K3M5 sensor) 2X telephoto lens.
This phone comes with a Snapdragon 888 octa-core processor, and although it is not the latest, it still offers high performance suitable for all user needs, especially as it comes with 8 or 12 GB LPDDR5 RAM, and 256 or 512 GB internal storage memory UFS 3.1.
The Oppo foldable phone has a 4500 mAh battery that supports a 33W SUPERVOOC Flash fast charge, which can charge the battery to 55% in just 30 minutes and to 100% in 70 minutes. It also comes with 15W AIRVOOC wireless charging (compatible with standard Qi) and 10W reverse wireless charging.
To achieve a better user experience, a good operating system that is compatible with the device's hardware is required, and in the Find N phone, Oppo has integrated with its foldable phone the latest version of its customized Android skin as known as Color OS 12 based on Android 11, in addition to other improvements for this model to make the user get the most out of the phone:
To take full advantage of the larger tablet-like experience when unfolded, OPPO Find N includes new gestures to make side-by-side multitasking more intuitive. When using a compatible app, simply use two fingers to swipe down in the middle of the device to split the screen in half or turn a full-screen window into a floating window by pinching it with four fingers. OPPO Find N also supports traditional split-screen gestures, such as long-pressing and dragging compatible icons, while allowing you to save commonly used multi-app split-screen combinations on the home screen.
Oppo Find N has been also optimized to allow users to seamlessly switch between the two screens. When the phone is unfolded, the content is seamlessly transferred from the external screen to the main internal screen. And when folding the device, the user can swipe up on the cover screen to continue using the same function on the outer screen.
In addition, a range of keyboard customizations has been made to the large inter screen including a split keyboard that makes it easy to use two thumbs for typing, and boost productivity.
The cam and spring structure inside the Flexion Hinge allows the device to freely stand when unfolded, at any angle between 50 to120 degrees, this is called FlexForm mode.
Oppo customized the user interface to operate better and more efficiently when the device is in FlexForm mode, in compatible apps like the Music, Notes, and Camera apps. For example, in the Notes app, the Oppo Find N can convert into a mini laptop, allowing you to take notes without needing to hold the device. Since the Find N can freely stand at various angles, the device also serves as a tripod, making 4K HD time-lapse imaging, video calls, and online meetings easy and hands-free.
The new split-camera user interface on the Oppo Find N gives you also the ability to use the large inner display to take photos on one side and then view, share, or delete your most recent photo on the other side. And when taking photos from the main camera with the display unfolded, you can use also both the inner and outer displays for both you and your subject to preview the shot simultaneously. The more powerful rear camera can be used to take even higher-quality selfies, using the cover screen to preview the image. Selfies can also be taken using hand gestures, so you can easily stay in the frame without having to press the shutter button.
The Oppo Find N phone comes in three colors, black, white, and purple. It also supports Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, and contains a stereo speaker, and a USB Type C 2.0 port for charging and data transfer, and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. It is available for pre-order from now, in China, while the company will unveil it officially on the 23rd of this month, at a starting price of RMB 7,699 (~ $1209) for the version 8 GB RAM and 256 GB internal storage, and RMB 8,999 (~ $ 1413) for the version 12 GB RAM and 512 GB internal storage, it is not known if Oppo will market this phone outside of China.