Oppo has unveiled its new Find N3 and Find N3 Flip foldable phones in Singapore, in a global launch event aimed at taking on the market leader Samsung in the high-end segment of the mobile phone market.
The Find N3 is large-screen foldable much like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 out earlier this year, while the clamshell-like Find N3 Flip takes aim at the similar-looking Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5.
The Find N3 Flip has maintained the same silhouette as Oppo’s previous Find N2 Flip phone, with a large cover screen that is easily read. The new flip phone has expanded its functions with popular apps like Gmail, Grab, WhatsApp, WeChat and Telegram on its small screen.
Both phones are comfortable to hold when closed, at least going by a quick media hands-on event in Singapore on October 20.
The Find N3 Flip is the thicker of the two at 1.6cm, with the Find N3 foldable measuring 1.1cm for thickness. When opened, the bigger Find N3 foldable is only 0.58cm thick, compared to the Find N3 Flip’s 0.77cm.
Like its predecessor, the huge cover screen captures selfies at higher image quality and resolution using the primary camera with a 50-megapixel sensor, so you don’t have to turn the less capable 32-megapixel front-facing camera.
Oppo has also improved the camera system of the Find N3 Flip by including an optical 2x zoom with a 32-megapixel sensor that is useful for capturing portraits. It’s even useful for reading small print, like the price of a plate of chicken rice at the top of a hawker stall.
Separately, the Find N3 Flip’s 48-megapixel ultrawide camera will be helpful for landscape, group and interior shots.
If you are looking for a better camera system in a foldable phone, the new Find N3 Foldable would be better. The new phone is touted to have ‘pro-grade’ cameras for flexibility:
- 14mm full-frame equivalent lens with a 48-megapixel sensor
- 24mm full-frame equivalent lens with a new 2-layer stacked 48-megapixel sensor
- 70mm full-frame equivalent lens with a 64-megapixel sensor
The Find N3 is also touted as the first smartphone with Sony’s 48-megapixel stack sensor technology. The technology enables the 1/1.43 -inch CMOS sensor to receive more light by placing the circuitry behind the photodiode, to improve photo quality.
The stacked sensor helps to create images with better dynamic range and more details without introducing added image noise. Such a sensor has the potential to outperform larger 1-inch sensor on flagship smartphones, say, from Xiaomi and Sony.
The Find N3 also has a periscopic 3x optical telephoto lens for those who want to shoot faraway objects without losing detail. Together with the new sensor, the Oppo foldable phone’s camera system could be interesting for content creators.
What about the foldable screen? Is the hinge able to stand up to repeated use? Oppo’s third-generation Flexion hinge promises 600,000 folds for the Find 3 Flip and 1 million folds for the Find N3.
Good news is, I cannot really feel the crease on the screen when my fingers run across it, when I run my finger over it. Only when you look at the display at an angle can you see the crease against a light source.
For power, the Find N3 Flip comes with a 4,300mAh battery. It packs in an ample 12GB of RAM, though the MediaTek Dimensity 9200 processor (instead of a faster chip) and the somewhat undersized storage space of 256GB might disappoint Oppo fans.
That said, the larger Find N3 sports the top-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip. It coms with 16GB of RAM, a larger 512GB of storage space and a 4,805mAh battery. Yes, that’s more like specs to expect from a flagship product.
The Find N3 Flip will come in gold, pink and black and cost S$1,499. The larger Oppo N3 will sell for S$2,399 and comes in only gold and black. The phones are now available for pre-order.
