Oppo Find N, the first foldable smartphone from the Chinese maker, could be just what the greatest foldable phones require. Oppo has made a fantastic smartphone that rivals the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 in terms of performance. Except for the fact that the Galaxy Z Fold is available outside of China, we can’t think of many ways in which Samsung’s device outperforms Oppo’s.
I’ve been testing the Oppo Find N, and it differs from the popular Galaxy Z Fold 3 in a few ways. In this in-depth review, we’ll look at what the Find N is all about.
What’s in the box?
The Oppo Find N comes in a premium-looking retail packaging. The moment we picked up that large black Oppo box, we knew we had a flagship device in our hands.
The box is small yet huge as the Find N ships unfolded similarly to the Galaxy Z Fold 3. That’s fine because it’s packed in protective packaging.
Inside that large box, you will find the basic accessories – a 33W power adapter and a USB cable. Unlike previous Oppo flagships, this bundle has no headphones and no case. We understand that this is enough, but if you’ve gotten accustomed to Oppo’s premium service, you may end up disappointed.
Design
The Oppo Find N is a foldable phone that stands out from the popular Galaxy Z Fold 3 in a few ways. Most notably, it’s a compact form factor. We have the Purple model. It’s built around a 5.49-inch cover display which is smaller than what you’ll see on most phones these days. But then it opens up to reveal a 7.1-inch inner screen more like a mini tablet.
If you forget about that double thickness, the Oppo Find N feels hefty and premium. It is protected with a flat Gorilla Glass Victus sheet. Our Purple color model in on the slippery side though the frame and hinge are made of aluminum and the proprietary hinge design called flexion is different from Samsung’s. There are no visible gaps on the phone when the device is folded. The gapless design does make opening the Find N a little difficult and that can get annoying if you are doing it non-stop throughout the day. But at the same time, thanks in part to this hinge design, the crease down the center of the inner screen is much less noticeable than on Samsung’s foldable.
Returning to the frame, there is only one thing of note at the top: another microphone for capturing stereo audio in videos and noise cancellation in calls. The primary microphone, USB-C connector, dual-SIM tray, and two speakers are all located on the bottom. The speakers are in an odd location. They are near to one other when folded, and the stereo sound impression is quickly lost. The sound still comes from one direction when opened, which isn’t the best method to enjoy stereo sound. It’s just the way it is.
When the phone is folded, the volume rocker and the power/lock key are adjacent to each other on the frame. This could be a bit of an issue when trying to touch the fingerprint scanner that’s mounted on the power key’s surface. But it’s so easy to take screenshots by pressing the two keys simultaneously with a single finger, so there is a silver lining.
Display
The Oppo Find N has three displays — a 5.9-inch cover display and dual internal AMOLED screens that combine to occupy 7.1-inch. All of the panels are crisp enough for text and media. Supposedly, the internal displays can hit 1,000 nits of peak brightness, which is pretty good. I’ll say this, the unfolded Find N is easily viewable in direct sunlight. It has wider dimensions than the tall and narrow cover screen of the Z Fold 3 and feels totally usable as a main screen.
You do only get a standard 60Hz refresh rate. Though, colors are accurate and the cover screen is also plenty bright. The inner screen is LTPO AMOLED with a pixel density of 370 ppi and this one has a high 120Hz refresh rate. This means that this screen is quite fluid when swiping around and the refresh rate is adaptive too based on content to save energy. The Oppo Find N doesn’t need to support high frame rate gaming though.
Oppo did a good job matching the two screens color accuracy wise and although the max brightness of the inner screen is a bit less at 580 nits with the auto boost in general, you get matching brightness too. Both screens have HDR 10+ support and content looks good.
Switching between screens is pretty seamless and smooth. The content on one display transfers to the other resized and with the right aspect ratio. We didn’t have any major hiccups. The most noticeable change when switching screens is the refresh rate drop when going to the cover screen, it’s a bit less smooth but it is what it is.
Performance
There’s no lack of power under the hood of Oppo Find N thanks to its flagship grade Snapdragon 888 chipset. It’s been a staple of flagship devices for a while now and still provides chart topping performance.
It has 256GB or 512GB of internal storage but that’s not expandable. The phone’s interface is opposed color OS 12 based on Android 11. Color OS 12 is pretty new and brings a refreshed look over the previous version. But on top of that, you get a few exclusive features here on the Find N that take advantage of its unique design. For example, you can do a split screen on the inner display by swiping down from the top with two fingers. Then you can do a four finger pinch out gesture to minimize an app into a floating window. The camera will move the viewfinder to the top part and the controls to the bottom. If the phone is partially folded, you can stabilize the camera on the table or something and one screen can be used to browse the photo gallery. While the viewfinder on the other side stays ready to shoot.
In short, apps load quickly on Oppo Find N, games run beautifully, and there’s no trouble streaming video or music.
Camera
The Oppo Find N has a triple camera setup on the back including a 50-megapixel wide angle camera, a 16-megapixel ultra wide sensor and a 13-megapixel telephoto lens with 2x optical zoom. There are also two front-facing cameras — one on the cover display and one on the inside panel. Both of these clock in at 32-megapixel in hole-punch cutouts.
The main camera is good with rich detail levels and natural looking fine details like foliage. There’s high end contrast and the dynamic range is good, but not extreme.
This ultra wide photo captured by the Oppo Find N isn’t half bad. Colors look pretty natural without being too subdued, the focus remains strong on the foreground, and I don’t mind the dynamic range here.
With the telephoto camera, 2x is a bit short for a flagship in this day and age, but the results are serviceable. Colors look pretty good on the blue pickup and the yellow curb paint. Exposure seems fine, but this isn’t a photo to write home about.
When it comes to selfies, both the front facing camera on the cover screen side and the one on the inner display are exactly the same with a 32-megapixel resolution. Selfies are good with accurate colors, nice contrast and wide dynamic range. The detail level and sharpness are just average though. But thanks to the Find N foldable design, you can take selfies with the rear cameras too using the cover screen as a viewfinder.
Videos can be captured in up to 4K resolution. The main camera is outstanding in quality. There’s plenty of detail, great contrast, balanced sharpening and accurate colors. The telephoto camera shoots great tow-time zoom videos too. Once again the picture is detailed and sharp. The ultra-wide camera also offers brilliant video quality. The footage is rich in detail with low enough noise, accurate colors, high contrast and above average dynamic range.
Battery
The Oppo Find N features a battery capacity of 4,500mAh, which is somewhat more than the Fold 3’s 4,400mAh. The charging speed is decent, but not as quick as you’d expect from a super VOC charger with a 33W converter. In half an hour, we charge from 0 to 57 percent.
Despite this, the battery life of the Find N isn’t fantastic. This is a problem that all foldable phones face — keeping larger screens powered up eats a lot of energy — and isn’t specific to the Find N.
Verdict
So there you have it, the Oppo Find N. While the Find N and the Galaxy Z Fold 3 both have lackluster battery life and underwhelming cameras, I’d much prefer to use the Find N. My experience with the Oppo Find N was great. It’s attractive, it’s powerful, and it has a lot to offer.
Overall, we enjoy this phone a lot and would strongly suggest it as an alternative for the Galaxy Z Fold 3. Except for the fact that it is now only available in China, the rest of us will have to wait till Oppo Find N goes global.
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