Oppo Find N3 Flip: Unfolding The Future Of Smartphones With Dual Displays

Body and Design

First things first, let's talk about its physique. When unfolded, it stands tall at 166.4×75.8 mm, but fold it up, and you get a compact 85.5×75.8 mm package. Here are the relevant specs:

Weighing in at just 198 g, it's light enough to carry around effortlessly. The Find N3 Flip boasts a sleek combination of a plastic front and back when opened, elegantly framed by an aluminum body. Plus, you get to choose from three chic colors: Astral Black, Moonlit Gold, and Mist Rose. Talk about style meets substance!

Picture this: a phone that folds and unfolds, akin to a sleek sci-fi gadget. The benefits of such a foldable device? Well, they're as clear as day, my friend!

• Space-Saving Marvel: When folded, the Find N3 Flip becomes compact, slipping into pockets with ease. No more bulging pockets or awkward phone placements!
• Dual Displays, Double Fun: Two screens mean two real estates for multitasking. You do not have to use the main screen for mundane tasks like reading the date and time.
• Future-Proof Fashion: Foldables represent the future of smartphones. Owning one not only means you're on the cutting edge of technology but also turning heads wherever you go.
• Innovative Design: Foldable phones boast an innovative and eye-catching design, making a statement about your tech-savvy personality.

However, there are also some drawbacks of a foldable body that you should be aware of before taking the plunge:

• Durability Concerns: Foldable phones, while advanced, still face questions about long-term durability. The hinges and flexible displays must withstand constant folding and unfolding, raising concerns about wear and tear. Oppo claims the hinges stay durable after 600000 folding operations.
• Price Tag: Foldable technology doesn't come cheap. The Find N3 Flip carries a price on the higher side, making it a hefty investment for the average consumer.
• Weight and Thickness: Foldable phones tend to be slightly heavier and thicker than their non-foldable counterparts, albeit by a marginal amount.

For someone accustomed to non-foldable smartphones, transitioning to a flip phone might feel like stepping into the future. While there might be a slight adjustment period, the transition to a flip phone is more about embracing the future than adapting to a completely alien device. The Oppo Find N3 Flip, with its intuitive design and impressive features, makes this transition smoother than ever.

We commonly see glass used for the (non-foldable) phone bodies. When it comes to foldable displays, the game is a bit trickier, but fear not, we're here to demystify it all for you.

Using traditional glass for foldable displays presents a challenge. You see, glass, while elegant and scratch-resistant, lacks the flexibility needed for constant folding and unfolding. That's where innovation kicks in! Manufacturers have been experimenting with ultra-thin layers of glass combined with polymers, creating what's often referred to as "UTG" or Ultra-Thin Glass. UTG provides the durability of glass while being flexible enough to withstand the bending in foldable phones. While it's not entirely glass in the traditional sense, it strikes a balance between aesthetics, durability, and flexibility.

In the realm of foldable phones, UTG and plastic fronts are often used because of their flexibility, ensuring the display can fold without breaking. These materials are engineered to be robust, offering durability while accommodating the folding motion.

Having a glass back in a flip phone, especially one that folds, isn't the norm. The fragility of glass, especially in a moving part like a foldable phone, makes it a risky choice. Plus, it would add unnecessary weight, potentially impacting the user experience. Manufacturers usually opt for materials like plastic or metal for the back panel of foldable phones due to their durability and lightweight nature.

When it comes to non-foldable phones, glass builds have been the go-to choice for that premium look and feel. They offer a polished, high-end aesthetic and are generally more scratch-resistant than plastic. However, they come with a downside - they're more prone to shattering upon impact.

Plastic builds, on the other hand, are lighter, more durable against drops, and can endure the wear and tear of daily use. While they might lack the perceived premium quality of glass, they offer practicality and resilience, making them a preferred choice for many users.

While the rest of the cover might be made of plastic, the cover display of the Find N3 Flip, being a critical touchpoint for users, benefits greatly from the toughness of Gorilla Glass Victus. "Why not plastic?" - You might ask. Well, plastic might be more prone to scratches, especially in pockets or bags where it could come into contact with keys or other items. By adorning the cover display with Gorilla Glass Victus, Oppo ensures that this frequently used surface remains scratch-resistant and durable, maintaining its clarity and touch responsiveness over time.

If we compare the Find N3 Flip with its predecessor, the Oppo Find N2 Flip, the new model is very slightly bulkier. (The Find N2 Flip was 166.2×75.2×7.5 mm unfolded, 85.5×75.2×16 mm folded, and 191 g.) It sported the Gorilla Glass 5 for the cover display, a plastic back, and an aluminum frame.

IP Rating

The Oppo Find N3 Flip lacks an IP rating. For those who are new to it, IP ratings, or Ingress Protection ratings, indicate a device's resistance to water and dust. While many traditional smartphones proudly wear their IP badges, foldable phones, with their intricate folding mechanisms and unique designs, often pose challenges for achieving high IP ratings. The folding parts, especially, create potential entry points for water and dust, making it trickier to seal them effectively.

It's quite common for foldable phones to lack official IP ratings. Should you, as a potential buyer, be concerned? Not necessarily. While an IP rating offers peace of mind, it doesn't mean a lack of it equals a fragile phone. Manufacturers rigorously test their devices for various environmental factors, including moisture and dust. However, it's essential for users to exercise caution and avoid exposing their foldable phones to excessive water or dusty environments.

For most users, everyday usage won't pose a significant risk. Accidental spills or light raindrops are usually nothing to worry about, but a dive into the pool might not be the best idea.

Using a protective case and a screen protector for your Oppo Find N3 Flip would be a good idea. Are these available for foldable phones? Absolutely, protective cases and screen protectors have marched right along with the evolution of smartphones, including foldable ones! After all, even the most cutting-edge technology needs a little armor, right?

Protective cases for foldable phones are designed with the unique shape and folding mechanism in mind. Some cases are engineered with reinforced corners and hinges, providing extra protection in vulnerable areas. Screen protectors for foldables are typically made from advanced materials that offer durability and flexibility. Given the folding and unfolding nature of these phones, traditional rigid glass protectors won't cut it. Instead, specialized polymer-based or hybrid protectors are used

When choosing the protective accessories for your Oppo Find N3 Flip, ensure that they are specifically designed for it. The unique shape and folding mechanism mean that one size does not fit all in the foldable world.

Displays

(Related: Know more about the various kinds of displays and screen specs.)

Now, let's talk about the stars of the show - the displays! Here are the relevant specs:

The main act is a 6.8-inch foldable LTPO AMOLED screen, offering a mind-boggling 120 Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support, and eye-popping brightness levels of up to 1600 nits. Your content has never looked this good! But wait, there's more! The cover display, a 3.26-inch AMOLED beauty, protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus, shines at 800 nits, making it perfect for quick glances and notifications on the go.

The main display is LTPO (Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide) AMOLED type, which is known for its lower power consumption. The LTPO technology is a game-changer. It allows for dynamic adjustment of refresh rates, meaning the display can switch between high and low refresh rates based on the content being displayed. This flexibility results in significant energy savings, prolonging your phone's battery life.

The AMOLED technology provides deep blacks and vibrant colors by illuminating individual pixels. Combined with LTPO, you get a display that not only looks stunning but also offers excellent contrast ratios, making images and videos pop with lifelike vibrancy.

The LTPO AMOLED screen responds quickly to touch, ensuring a seamless and responsive user experience. Whether you're scrolling through your feed or gaming, you'll enjoy smooth and precise interactions.

Next, let's delve into the brightness realm! HBM, or High Brightness Mode, is a feature that boosts the display's brightness temporarily, ensuring exceptional visibility in direct sunlight or bright environments. It's like a turbo boost for your screen's luminance, making it easier to read texts or view content outdoors.

A brightness level of 1200 nits for HBM is impressive! This level of brightness ensures exceptional visibility even in the brightest sunlight, making outdoor usage a breeze. Whether you're reading texts, watching videos, or simply admiring your favorite photos, the Oppo Find N3 Flip's display will shine brightly, quite literally!

And peak brightness, as you know, refers to the maximum brightness a display can achieve under ideal conditions. It's the brightest the screen can get, regardless of the environment. Like HBM, this also has an excellent value of 1600 nits in the Find N3 Flip's display.

Now, let us move on to the cover display - the mini window to your smartphone's soul! It is a 3.26-inch AMOLED screen - compact yet powerful - designed for quick glances, notifications, and essential interactions without the need to unfold the phone entirely.

By the way, the cover display of the Oppo N3 Flip allows you to access 40+ essential apps (including navigation, social networking, and music apps) without having to open the main display. You can easily access mini apps and send one-touch replies from the cover screen.

Image credit: Oppo

The AMOLED screen guarantees vibrant colors, deep blacks, and excellent contrast for a visually pleasing experience. With a resolution of 382×720 pixels, it offers sharp imagery, ensuring text and icons are clear and crisp.

Boasting a brightness of 800 nits (HBM), this compact display shines brightly even in challenging lighting conditions, providing clear visibility outdoors and in well-lit environments.

The predecessor Oppo Find N2 Flip sported very similar displays (same types, resolutions, refresh rates, and brightness values) with matching features.

Networks

With GSM, CDMA, HSPA, LTE, and 5G connectivity, you can browse, stream, and download to your heart's content.

SIM

The Oppo Find N3 Flip supports dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by).

Chipset and Performance

Under the hood, the Oppo Find N3 Flip is powered by the robust MediaTek Dimensity 9200 chipset. Here are the relevant specs:

The Cortex-X cores are like the muscle-bound athletes of the CPU world. They are designed for raw power and high-performance tasks. Think of them as the sprinters in a race - they can handle intense bursts of activity, making them ideal for applications that demand maximum processing power. These cores are optimized for tasks like gaming, video editing, and other resource-intensive applications. When you need your Find N3 Flip to deliver top-notch performance, the 3.05 GHz Cortex-X core kicks into high gear, ensuring swift and efficient processing.

The Cortex-A cores are the all-rounders of the CPU family. They strike a balance between performance and power efficiency, making them versatile and efficient for a wide range of tasks. These cores handle day-to-day activities such as web browsing, social media, and multitasking with ease. They're like the middle-distance runners - they maintain a consistent pace, ensuring a smooth user experience while conserving energy. The three 2.85 GHz Cortex-A715 cores in the Find N3 Flip are designed to handle a variety of tasks efficiently, making them essential for the overall responsiveness and functionality of the device.

The four 1.80 GHz Cortex-A510 cores are the marathon runners of the CPU lineup. They excel in power efficiency and are optimized for tasks that require minimal energy consumption. These are perfect for handling background tasks, sensor inputs, and managing low-power states, ensuring that your Find N3 Flip can run for extended periods without draining the battery rapidly.

And finally, gaming? No problem! The Immortalis-G715 MC11 GPU has got you covered.

Compared to the predecessor Find N2 Flip, there has been a mixed bag of changes in this department. The Find N2 Flip sported the Mediatek Dimensity 9000+ (4 nm) chipset, running an octa-core CPU (1×3.20 GHz Cortex-X2 + 3×2.85 GHz Cortex-A710 + 4×1.80 GHz Cortex-A510) and the Mali-G710 MC10 GPU.

Memory and Storage

Here are the relevant specs:

With 12 GB of RAM, say goodbye to lags and hello to seamless performance. You can choose between two variants of the internal storage: 256 GB and a whopping 512 GB. And with UFS 4.0 technology, your data transfers will be as quick as a blink.

Here too, the changes from the predecessor Find N2 Flip have been of the mixed variety. The Find N2 Flip offered 3 variants with RAM 8 GB, 12 GB, and 16 GB, and the corresponding internal storage 256 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB. It used UFS 3.1 type of internal storage.

Cameras

When it comes to photography, the Oppo Find N3 Flip doesn't disappoint. Its Hasselblad triple-camera setup comprises a 50 MP wide lens, a 32 MP telephoto lens with 2x optical zoom, and a 48 MP ultrawide lens. Whether you're capturing landscapes or zooming in on the details, your photos will be nothing short of spectacular.

Rear Camera

Image credit: Oppo

The Oppo Find N3 Flip is the first flip phone to feature a triple-camera setup on its cover. The camera island is placed beside the cover screen. Here are the relevant specs:

Specification	Oppo Find N3 Flip
Number of Cameras	3 (Triple)
Resolution (Megapixels)	50 MP, 32 MP, 48 MP
Focal Length	24 mm (wide), 47 mm (telephoto), 14 mm (ultrawide)
Aperture	f/1.8, f/2.0, f/2.2
Sensor Size	1/1.56″, N/A, N/A
Pixel Size	1.0 μm, N/A, N/A
Autofocus	Multi-directional PDAF, PDAF, N/A
Image Stabilization	OIS, N/A, N/A
Field of View	N/A, N/A, 114°
Optical Zoom	N/A, 2x, N/A
Video Recording	4K at 30 fps, 1080p at 30/60/240 fps, gyro-EIS
Other Features	LED flash, panorama, HDR

Let's focus our lens on the impressive rear camera setup of the Oppo Find N3 Flip! The 50 MP wide lens (24 mm, f/1.8) is your go-to for capturing standard shots. With its high resolution and wide aperture, it excels in low-light conditions, ensuring vibrant and sharp images even in challenging environments. It's your everyday photography workhorse, capturing everything from landscapes to portraits with finesse.

The 32 MP telephoto lens (47 mm, f/2.0) brings distant subjects closer without compromising image quality. It's perfect for capturing details from a distance, whether you're at a concert or admiring a scenic view. The 2x optical zoom ensures your zoomed-in shots remain sharp and clear, preserving every detail.

The 48 MP ultrawide lens (14 mm, f/2.2) expands your horizons, allowing you to capture vast landscapes, group shots, or architectural marvels without missing a single detail. Its wide (114°) field of view adds drama to your photos, giving them a dynamic and immersive quality.

The Oppo Find N3 Flip doesn't just excel in photography; it's also a capable video recording powerhouse. With gyro-EIS (Electronic Image Stabilization), your videos remain steady even if your hands aren't. Whether you're shooting 4K footage at 30 fps or enjoying smooth 1080p recordings at various frame rates, the gyro-EIS ensures your videos are free from annoying shakes and jitters, resulting in professional-quality clips.

The LED flash illuminates your low-light scenes, ensuring your photos are well-lit and vibrant, even in dim environments. With the panorama mode, you can capture sweeping landscapes or wide cityscapes, stitching together multiple images seamlessly to create stunning, wide-angle photos. And the HDR (High Dynamic Range) technology balances the light and the dark areas of your photos, ensuring that both bright and shadowed areas are well-exposed. This results in photos with rich detail and vibrant colors, even in challenging lighting conditions.

The rear camera setup is a massive upgrade from the Oppo Find N2 Flip, which sported a dual camera setup (50 MP, 23 mm, f/1.8 wide; and 8 MP, f/2.2, 112° ultrawide). The Find N2 Flip did have similar video recording capabilities and also featured LED flash, panorama, and HDR.

Battery and Charging

(Related: Battery specs and charging types explained.)

Fueling this technological marvel is a non-removable 4300 mAh Li-Po battery. Here are the relevant specs:

The Oppo Find N3 Flip's battery supports 44 W wired charging. Need a quick boost? You can reach 50% charge in just 23 minutes! Additionally, the phone supports reverse wired charging, turning your phone into a handy power bank.

The Oppo Find N2 Flip had a similar battery with the same capacity and features.

Sound

Here are the relevant specs:

The Oppo Find N2 Flip had a similar sound setup.

Connectivity

With support for Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6/7, the Oppo Find N3 Flip covers all the bases, ensuring you can connect to any Wi-Fi network, old or new. But it doesn't stop there - it's tri-band, meaning it operates on three different frequency bands, reducing congestion and ensuring a smoother internet experience. And then there's Wi-Fi Direct, a feature that allows direct device-to-device connections without the need for a router. It's perfect for fast file transfers and seamless collaboration.

The Find N3 Flip boasts Bluetooth 5.3, ensuring a seamless and high-quality connection, whether you're connecting to headphones, speakers, or other devices. With features like A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) for high-quality audio streaming, LE (Low Energy) for power efficiency, and aptX HD for superior audio quality, your Bluetooth experience reaches new heights.

Lost? Not with the positioning capabilities of the Find N3 Flip! It supports multiple global navigation satellite systems, including GPS (L1+L5), GLONASS (G1), BDS (B1I+B1c+B2a), GALILEO (E1+E5a), QZSS (L1+L5). This means your phone always knows where you are, no matter where you travel in the world. Whether you're navigating through bustling cities or remote wilderness, your phone's positioning technology ensures you're always on the right path.

The Find N3 Flip features NFC, together with eSE, HCE, and NFC-SIM. This technology allows you to make contactless payments, share files, and connect with other NFC-enabled devices with just a tap. It's like having a digital handshake, simplifying tasks and making your phone interactions effortless.

Last but not least, the trusty USB-C 2.0 - the universal connector. Whether you're charging your phone, transferring files, or connecting to external devices, USB Type-C 2.0 ensures a reliable connection. It's the jack-of-all-trades, allowing you to expand your phone's capabilities and stay connected to the wider world of technology. And the support for OTG (USB On-The-Go) enables your smartphone to act as host and connect to other USB devices, such as flash drives, keyboards, cameras, and more, without needing a computer as an intermediary.

Sensors and Other Features

The Oppo Find N3 Flip comes equipped with the following sensors:

• Dual Proximity Sensor: A proximity sensor detects the presence or movement of an object (say, with infrared, sound, light, or electromagnetic fields) without physically contacting it. It is used, for example, to turn off the screen when you position your device close to your ear while making a call. The dual proximity sensor enhances the precision and redundancy as a backup.
• Fingerprint Sensor: Used for quick and secure unlocking. It is side-facing in the Find N3 Flip.
• Dual Gyro: The gyroscope can detect when your device is being twisted or turned in any direction. It enhances the accuracy of apps and games that rely on precise motion, like augmented reality (AR) apps and racing games. The dual gyro enhances the precision and redundancy as a backup.
• Accelerometer: The accelerometer detects changes in the device's orientation and acceleration. If you tilt, shake, or move your device, the accelerometer knows.
• Compass: The compass determines your device's orientation. It is essential for navigation apps, map orientation, and augmented reality experiences.
• Color Spectrum Sensor: Measures and analyzes the colors of ambient light in the visible spectrum, ensuring that the device's camera and display consistently deliver true-to-life colors, regardless of the lighting conditions.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

• What is a good smartphone for someone who likes a flip phone?

  The Oppo Find N3 Flip is a very good smartphone, with which you'll feel yourself right at home. With a relatively modest price tag compared to the other flagships, this phone gives you a premium experience without breaking the bank.

• What is the price of Oppo Find N3 Flip?

  The Oppo Find N3 Flip costs about USD 910 (or about EUR 860).