Over the past few years, the world of foldable smartphones has been gradually gaining momentum, largely led by Samsung’s groundbreaking Z Fold and Z Flip lines. However, 2022 saw a shift in the landscape, as competitors like Motorola, Honor, and Oppo entered the fray with their unique takes on the foldable form factor. Among these contenders, the Oppo Find N2 Flip has emerged as a compelling alternative to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip, offering several advantages that make it stand out in the crowd.
A Bold Design Approach
One of the best things about the foldables market at the moment is how distinct each fold phone is. And this is all thank to the different approaches each company takes when designing their displays and hinges. The Oppo Find N2 Flip is quite a looker and the placement of its cover display means you’re unlikely to confuse this with any other foldable clamshell smartphone.
When you unfold the Find N2 Flip, nearly half of the front cover’s available surface area is dominated by a conspicuous black rectangle. Subtle, it decidedly is not. However, this design choice leans more toward practical functionality than aesthetic form.
When observed from the sides, there’s a chance of mistaking it for Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip, particularly if you’re looking at the purple variant I’m reviewing. This iteration boasts a gentle hue of light purple or lilac glass gracing both the front and back surfaces, complemented by polished, purple aluminum edges encircling its sides.
Slippery Back
The outer surface’s glossy glass texture lends it a notably slippery feel. In fact, during my testing phase, it exhibited a strong liking for gravity, frequently finding itself on the floor. Its slipperiness is reminiscent of an eel’s, readily sliding off nearly any surface it’s placed upon. Thankfully, there’s a case included in the box that sort of remedies this problem.
There’s also an alternative variant, Astral Black. This particular version features a nano-textured matte glass akin to that seen on recent Oppo and OnePlus devices. Consequently, if concerns about your phone’s tendency to slip off surfaces, out of pockets, or your grasp are ever-present, the Astral Black variant is the recommended choice.
I Wish We Had More Colors To Choose From
In terms of color and finish options, Oppo’s offering seems to have culminated in two choices, and I can’t help but feel that the company overlooked an opportunity here. Compact phones, especially of the flip style, have long been regarded not just as futuristic tech, but as fashion statements in their own right.
Samsung appears to have grasped this concept adeptly by providing a variety of color selections, I mean, have a look at the color option available with the Z Flip 5. In contrast, Oppo’s offerings are limited to just two colors, failing to capitalize on the fashion-forward potential of these devices.
The Invincible Crease
Another pivotal element of the design pertains to the hinge and the folding screen housed within. Similar to the design principles used by Motorola and Huawei, the screen adopts a water-drop curvature when the phone is closed. This design choice serves to solve the issue of a solitary line across the display bearing the brunt of pressure, thus preventing the formation of an evident crease.
Dubbed the ‘Invisible Crease,’ this distinctive feature may prove elusive to the naked eye, yet not entirely imperceptible under specific lighting conditions and viewing angles. Although notably less visually obtrusive compared to Samsung’s counterpart, this crease is discernible and lacks tactile prominence under one’s fingertip.
An additional advantage of this design is the virtual absence of space between the two halves of the phone’s display when closed. The lack of a discernible gap means there’s no space for dust and pocket debris to collect, solving another pain point for most foldables.
An Immersive Display Experience
The Cover Display
Oppo’s focus on display innovation shines through in the Find N2 Flip. The phone features a unique 3.26-inch AMOLED cover display with a vertical resolution of 382 x 720 and a peak brightness of 900 nits. This cover display provides a practical space for notifications and interactions.
However, the absence of a typing or voice-to-text option for writing proper responses feels like a limitation. The cover display should ideally allow users to compose quick replies using a small on-screen keyboard or voice input without the necessity of preconfigured presets.
Relying solely on single emoji reactions or preset responses might fall short for some users. However, the cover screen compensates for this limitation by offering a range of other useful widgets to explore.
Among these widgets, you’ll find a detailed weather widget, calendar events, notifications, a voice recorder, timers, and even controls for connected earphones/headphones. For instance, if you have ANC earbuds, the cover screen grants quick access to noise cancellation controls and provides battery status updates for both the earbuds and the charging case. Moreover, the cover screen serves as an excellent view finder for capturing selfies with the main cameras, particularly for those fond of taking portrait selfies.
Playful Lock Screen Wallpapers For The Cover Display
Oppo has also incorporated an element of playful creativity into the cover screen’s software. It introduces interactive pets as an alternative to conventional wallpapers. Users can choose from a selection of animals, such as cats, dogs, hamsters, budgies, or rabbits.
These virtual pets engage in various activities like eating, listening to music, playing, sleeping, or reading, depending on the time of day and your activities. For example, when using earbuds to listen to music, your chosen pet might appear on-screen, enjoying music through its own Find N2 Flip. This whimsical feature adds a charming and lighthearted touch to the user experience.
However, it’s worth noting that my experience with the software on the cover display revealed some bugs. The media player widget occasionally persisted on the screen, even after manually stopping and closing the music app. Additionally, there were instances when the screen remained active indefinitely while charging, though this inconsistency occurred only a few times during our testing.
The Main Display
The internal display is a spacious 6.8-inch AMOLED panel with a resolution of 1080 x 2520 and a peak brightness of 1600 nits. This display also supports adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz, providing a smooth and vibrant visual experience. During my testing I found the display to be very vibrant with attractive, saturated colors and clean details.
The display is quite capable and offers a satisfying visual experience. With its expansive 6.8-inch size, there’s ample screen real estate for various activities. However, the 21:9 aspect ratio does contribute to a slightly narrower width. Despite this, the cinematic aspect ratio proves advantageous for multimedia consumption, such as watching movies or engaging in gaming sessions.
The presence of black bars on the sides of the screen when viewing content with different aspect ratios is not overly pronounced. As a result, the viewing area remains engaging and immersive. Furthermore, the minimal crease doesn’t significantly affect the overall viewing experience, ensuring that users can enjoy content without undue distractions.
However, like any foldable display, it has its limits. Because the outer is more plastic than glass, it doesn’t have that same crystal-clear quality you’d get from a glass-covered rigid phone. It’s also a fingerprint magnet and I found myself constantly wiping them off the display. Also, while the display is bright enough to cut through most reflections – it does struggle a little with bright reflections obscuring the view.
Performance and Battery Life
Under the hood, the Oppo Find N2 Flip is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ chipset paired with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. This chipset delivers fast and responsive performance, further enhanced by the 120Hz refresh rate of the internal display.
The Find N2 Flip was able to handle every game I threw at it without encountering any performance hiccups. It adeptly maintains smooth animations and consistently sustains the resolution, ensuring a consistently enjoyable gaming experience.
As previously highlighted, the processor truly embodies flagship quality and performs accordingly. Even during extended gameplay sessions of my beloved Hill Climb 2, the phone remained unfazed, exhibiting no signs of lagging or overheating, which is a testament to its robust processing capabilities.
The Battery
The Find N2 Flip is equipped with a substantial 4300mAh battery that supports 44W SuperVOOC wired charging. And yes, the charging brick does come with the box. At 4300mAh, it’s the biggest battery in any Flip phone, however, I was a bit disappointed it didn’t lead to any huge gains over the competition. This could be attributed to the fact that the Find N2 Flip has a larger, more graphically-rich cover display.
Averaging around 5 hours of screen on time, which is quite good for a phone I'm using heavily. I also have data and personal hotspot on the entire time. pic.twitter.com/EK4rgJgpay
— Tony Muchiri (@TonyMuchiri4) July 25, 2023
I should note that I didn’t have a problem getting through an entire day. In fact the Find N2 Flip still lasts longer than most Flip phones including the Z Flip 4. However, I’d often find I had dropped to around 20% at the end of the day with fairly moderate usage. Getting into the second day without charging was a bit of a stretch for the Find N2 Flip, heavy users might still want to carry a charger around with them.
Impressive Camera Capabilities
The camera system of the Find N2 Flip is another area where Oppo demonstrates its commitment to innovation. The phone features a 50MP main camera, an 8MP ultrawide lens, and a 32MP selfie camera. The primary camera delivers realistic colors and balanced highlights and shadows, particularly in good lighting conditions.
The ultrawide camera, while capable, falls slightly short of the main camera’s performance, especially in challenging lighting scenarios. I also noticed that in challenging light conditions the HDR kicks in to balance out highlights and shadows.
For all you zoom lovers out there, you’ll be disappointed to learn that there’s no dedicated zoom camera on the Find N2 Flip. However, with its high-resolution main sensor, it makes use of sensor cropping to offer digital zoom. With this you can zoom up to 20x, although – understandably – the detail and quality of the image does start to drop as soon as you start zooming.
Oppo’s camera software also includes portrait mode for artistic depth-of-field effects, although the bokeh effect can occasionally appear heavy and unnatural. The cover display’s large viewfinder allows users to capture high-quality selfies using the main camera, surpassing the quality of the front-facing camera located within the main display.
OPPO Find N2 Flip: Market Availability
As mentioned earlier, the Find N2 Flip comes in two colors, Astral Black and Moonlit Purple, and goes for a recommended retail price of Ksh 129,999. For the first time on OPPO products, the phone is available for Trade-In service and/or Payment in Instalments option (Lipa pole Pole) at the OPPO Customer Center located at Emperor Plaza, Koinange Street.
At the time of writing this article PhonePlace Kenya are currently selling the Find N2 Flip at Ksh 115, 500, which, honestly speaking, is a steal for what you’ll be getting.
Final Verdict: A Strong Entry
The Oppo Find N2 Flip emerges as a formidable competitor in the foldable smartphone market. Its innovative cover display, sleek design, and powerful performance contribute to an impressive overall package.
While there are some areas for improvement, such as optimizing software for the flexible display and refining the ultrawide camera quality, the Find N2 Flip represents a strong first step for Oppo into the foldable phone arena. With its attractive price point, the Find N2 Flip offers a compelling alternative for those seeking an immersive and unique smartphone experience.
