Oppo Find N, company’s first folding phone launched to take on Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3: Design, specs, other details
Oppo says it’s taken four years of intense R&D and six generations of prototypes to build.
Oppo launched the Find N, its first folding phone during its annual Inno Day event in China on Wednesday, 15th December 2021. This is Oppo’s answer to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3. Quite expectedly, the company is claiming it to be a more durable and a more functional folding phone than anything seen in the market today. Oppo says it’s taken four years of intense R&D and six generations of prototypes to build, leading to a product that seemingly solves nearly all the major pain-points that mar current gen foldables.
“Oppo has invested a significant amount of time and effort into coming up with a better approach to a foldable smartphone, experimenting with a range of form factors, hinge designs, display materials and aspect ratios, to create a new device that meets the needs of more users,” Oppo chief product officer—also OnePlus founder—Pete Lau said in a statement. “With the Oppo Find N, we aim to change people’s perceptions about what a smartphone can offer and begin making foldable devices more accessible to an even larger audience.”
Oppo Find N hinge, folding display
The hinge inside the Find N, that Oppo calls “Flexion”, has a water-drop design and is made up of 136 components in total packed together with a precision of up to 0.01 mm. Oppo claims the hinge is designed to work as smoothly as the joints in the human body.
By widening the angle of the fold in the display and offering a buffer when it folds, Oppo has been able to minimise the crease that’s said to be “up to 80 percent less noticeable compared with other devices” and eliminate the gap between the displays when folded.
The inner folding display—that’s being called “Serene”—has twelve layers including a 0.03 mm layer of Flexion UTG (ultra-thin glass). Oppo claims it can be folded “over 200,000 times while still maintaining an overall smooth folding experience with next to no crease.”
Oppo Find N design, ergonomics, and software experience
Unlike most current gen folding phones, Oppo has opted for a more “landscape” look with its foldable. The most immediate benefit of this is that the outer cover display is more akin to a regular smartphone. The all-round compactness should, also, ensure it’s easier to hold and manoeuvre on a day-to-day basis. The body, meanwhile, is made of curved Corning Gorilla Glass Victus with the main camera island on the back—which is clearly inspired from the Find X3—uses ceramic. The Find N will come in three colourways—black, white, and purple.
The inner screen is 7.1-inch and has an aspect ratio of 8.4:9. The cover display is 5.49-inch with an 18:9 aspect ratio. Like the Fold 3, Oppo is using an LTPO display on the inner screen with up to 120Hz refresh rate support. It has a touch sampling rate of up to 1,000Hz. Both screens can pull 1,000nits.
Also Read | Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 review: Best of both worlds, now in the palm of your hand
Like the Fold 3, the Find N can be propped on a surface and basically be used in split screen mode at certain angles—between 50-120 degrees—giving compatible apps like camera, notes, and music more scope and function to work with. Oppo calls this “FlexForm” mode. The Find N will, similarly, support app continuity between inner and outer screens. Oppo has also designed new gestures like two finger swipe down in the middle to enable split-screen and four finger pinch to turn a full-screen window into a floating window to help make the most out of the inner screen.
Oppo Find N hardware, specs
Under the hood, the Find N has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip paired with up to 12GB LPDDR5 RAM and 512GB UFS3.1 storage, 4,500mAh battery with 33W fast wired and 15W wireless charging. There is 10W reverse wireless charging support as well.
For photography, the Find N has a 50MP Sony IMX 766 main sensor, a 16MP sensor with ultra-wide lens, and another 13MP sensor behind a telephoto lens. There are two other selfie cameras on both the inner and outer displays.
Rounding off the package are dual speakers with Dolby Atmos support and side-mounted fingerprint scanner for biometrics.
Oppo Find N price, availability
Oppo has launched the Find N at a starting price of CNY 7,699 (roughly Rs 92,300). It will be sold only in China starting December 23.
