When I first saw pictures of the Oppo “flip phone” I was excited but nervous – a new player in the folding screen smartphone market, yes!. But could they at first attempt even hope to come close to what Samsung has done over now four generations. Hands on with the Oppo Find N2 Flip and my worries were gone, now a month later having used it as my sole daily-driver – I’m still impressed.
Making a phone with a screen that folds in half is hard. I’ve seen prototypes of others and even fully working models from some that just can’t get to market because they aren’t quite refined enough, or they just can’t get the price right.
Oppo has ticked every single box here, so I struggle to see how Samsung sells any Flip 4 models with the Oppo sat side by side.
The actual fold in the screen – how good is it?
Every nark on the planet will tell you that Samsung’s folding phones have a hideous and visible fold on the screen when it’s opened up and used in it’s largest form. That is in part true, but honestly in daily use is just never a factor.
However, Samsung has been shown up on a grand scale here, because what Oppo has achieved with the Find N2 Flip is an advancement in the “crease” that should be generations in the making.
Yes, in the right light it’s still visible. Yes, when you swipe a finger up and down the screen you can feel the crease – however, if you think of this like a pot-hole in the road, the Samsung is 10cm deep while the Oppo crease is barely a centimeter.
Someone far smarter than me will work out a way to actually measure the “depth” or “height” of the crease, but just take my word for it, it’s remarkable what Oppo has done here.
I challenge anyone in a JB HiFi store to feel the crease on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, then the same on the Oppo Find N2 Flip and tell me you wouldn’t buy the Oppo on that alone.
And yes, I’m constantly referring to the Samsung, because that is the target here – no question at all.
The Oppo Find N2 Flip Cover Screen
The large almost half-cover screen on the “front” side of the Oppo Find N2 Flip is an amazing example of smart use of real estate, and also a demonstration of potential opportunity for a device like this.
There are essentially several “screens” you can swipe through, Oppo call them Cover Widgets, and in reality – honestly – I didn’t use them a lot.
- Time/Notifications
- Easily the best feature of the phone besides the design. Notifications here are interactive, so on Messages and WhatsApp I can choose a simple text reply or emoji. So great for when the phone is sitting on your desk.
- Key here is the more you use that the less you use the full phone screen, and thus the better battery life you can get.
- Camera
- Enable the camera in Photo, Portrait or Video mode. This is simple really and uses the main cameras for photos controlled on screen or with the volume buttons. Great, but as someone who takes very few selfies, not entirely usable for me.
- Weather
- A quick swipe and you’ve got the weather info you need – love this.
- Calendar
- Another swipe for a glance at your upcoming calendar and you can swipe to scroll up and down in the day. Nice!
- Timers
- Boiling eggs? Set an easy timer, with fixed durations at a tap, and custom duration easy to access
- Headphones
- Got Oppo wireless earbuds – this would be perfect – I didn’t have any to test sadly.
- Recorder
- Need to record that meeting or make a note to yourself, simple easy access when the phone is closed.
What’s most exciting is the potential though. Imagine a Spotify app where you can browse playlists of yours on the cover screen to fire of songs. Making mini apps as widgets for the main app has some really exciting possibilities for the Cover screen.
Camera performance
Is this a flagship camera? Probably not. Would you notice. Not at all.
Aside from lacking anything more than 2x zoom, the Oppo Find N2 Flip has all the camera features you’d want.
Here’s a night time shot in Barcelona – which I think captures beautifully the scene, as well as the bright and dark areas with clarity:
In Qatar, the airports Biosphere looking attraction has a deep mix of bright light and shaded areas:
On a stunning Saturday morning, the rising Sun doesn’t hurt the Find N2 Flip’s ability to capture the moment:
And for a token race car shot, this comes up a treat:
I took a selfie just so you could see how it performs ok? :
As someone who has used the iPhone 14 Pro for the last five months, let me put it simply – I didn’t find myself wishing for another phone at any stage.
I had all the things I needed at my fingertips, I can’t imagine what anyone but 1% of users might want more than what is on offer in this phone
Oppo Find N2 Flip Battery Life
The biggest Achilles’ heel of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip is battery life. The Oppo Find N2 Flip has the same issue, but not as bad.
If you’re comparing the battery life to a flagship Find X phone then the N2 Flip comes out second best. No doubt.
But is it bad? No. This is a one day battery. And by that I mean I get up early, and at dinner time I’m thinking well, i better get some charge, or just put up with these low power notifications.
If I hit the Tok hard during the day, I may not make it through, but that’s my fault not the phone.
I keep a charger in the car for top ups, but the real saving grace is the super fast charger you get in the box.
None of this “we’ll just give you a cable” stuff, this thing has the cable and the brick all in the box. And that brick does 67W fast charging and the phone even shows a Blue charging symbol when you’re on the good stuff.
I love this and think that as long as you have this handy, frankly you could do a middle of the day lunchtime charge and never need to charge at night, it’s that fast to get back to full.
Price Point targeting
Did Oppo pick the $1,499 price out of thin air? No way. Did Samsung panic when they saw that – yes they did.
I think it’s $200 too much. Given all that’s happening right now, I think $1,499 is an expensive phone, so offering something a touch lower would entice people.
Oppo needs people who are drawn to Samsung to consider Oppo, and the best way do to that is price.
Once they consider, they will buy – but my issue is will people consider it at all if it just looks “the same”.
Little niggles
I had some weird phone call issues, where particularly in-car i’d be on a call with no actual call controls on the screen – making it impossible to hang up.
And some connection issues, which I resolved by turning off WiFi if I was going to be on a call, couldn’t find a place to turn off WiFi calling even if that’s an option.
There was also three times I had to restart the phone because the swipe up action was doing nothing at all. Perhaps Gestures not the best option during setup.
Is the Oppo Find N2 Flip better than the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4?
Yes. In every single way, perhaps except for stability if you take my niggles into account.
But I for one like the Oppo Colour OS Android skin, it works well, is far less of an iPhone copycat and seems just simple to use.
That the Samsung doesn’t fold flat on the side is now a frustrating thing, and that crease on the screen is now hard to miss having seen how much better it can be done.
I try to flip shut normal phones now
The biggest way I know I’ll miss using the Oppo Find N2 Flip? I am trying to flip shut any other smartphone I use. It’s a strange feeling.
And it’s a comforting thing knowing the screen is protected in your pocket or bag. I miss the feeling of shutting the phone already and its only been a few hours.
Oppo has nailed this, in so many ways.
I only hope they continue to innovate, and that they sell a stack of these to show how well they’ve done.
Web: Oppo
