Oppo’s Find N2 Flip phone takes on Samsung head-on at $1,499

Oppo’s recently announced flip phone the Find N2 Flip is coming to Australia. Pre-orders start on March 2 and they’ll be shipping mid-March.

There’s no Telco option at launch, so you’ll find the Find N2 Flip at JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman for a solid price of $1,499.

Now I personally would have loved to see the price come below that of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 – but when you get your hands on the Oppo device you realise that Oppo has priced this aggressively and it’s Samsung that has to play catch up.

Oppo’s folding screen somehow allows the phone to close flat, not in a wedge shape like the Samsung.

And when you open it up, the “crease” in the screen is far less obvious, and you can barely feel it at all when scrolling on the screen.

That’s a huge win, that crease has always been the first thing people try to point to as a negative about the Flip phone. Running my finger up and down the screen of the Find N2 Flip it’s hard to notice the crease, while on the Samsung Flip it’s impossible not to notice.

If Oppo has managed to do the “folding screen” better than Samsung – is that enough to make the Oppo Find N2 Flip a better phone?

Doesn’t matter – that’s not all we need to look at here.

When closed the Oppo has a 3.26inch “cover screen” – compared to Samsung’s 1.9 inch screen – why does that matter? It makes the whole thing far more usable.

Notifications appear on the screen, and you swipe up to see all your notifications and even interact with them. A WhatsApp chat shows on screen with set replies or emoji’s available all from the cover screen.

Swipe to the left and you’ve got the camera options of Photo, Portrait and Video, another swipe and there’s a very colourful weather page.

Your calendar appears on the next page, which you can swipe up on to view many events into the future.

A final swipe takes you to the timers, with pre-set options for boiling eggs, brushing teeth or just 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 30 minutes and 1 and 2 hours.

Fingerprint ID is on the outer edge on the power button, while Face unlock works well both on the cover screen and main inside screen.

Oppo Australia’s Michael Tran says “Find N2 Flip marks the start of a new chapter for OPPO’s foldable product portfolio and the flip phone segment on the whole,”

“Find N2 Flip breaks through barriers with the largest cover screen on any flip phone. With it, world-class selfies and flagship photography experiences are made possible. We’re confident that the Find N2 Flip is the premium flagship foldable that Aussies will love,”

The foldable screen is tested to over 400,000 folds, and while many might challenge Oppo on this resilience, the fact is the company has been making smartphones for many years, and many have had movable and interactive features. Plus, ask any retailer and you’ll find that Oppo has one of the lowest return rates among smartphones – meaning people are happy and they aren’t breaking easily. Oppo won’t want to jeopardise that with this new device.

A 4,300mAh batter should mean far better battery life than any other flip phone, plus 44W Supervooc charging, to go from empty to 50 percent in 23 minutes, and less than an hour to get to 100 percent.

More than anything, the Oppo Find N2 Flip is a great design. Squared edges, two great colours (Purple and Black) and the hinge mechanism is a winner, feels strong and robust.

Oppo has this device stocked at JB HiFi and Harvey Norman and I think the simplest way for them to sell well is to ensure people test out both the Samsung and the Oppo – because at first glance, to me – Oppo’s got this one nailed.

Pre orders start on March 2.