Oppo Find N6 Review – Almost perfection, but at a price

A bit of fanfare around Oppo in the last few weeks as they revealed their latest Foldable smartphone, but this time with claims of a “zero-feel” crease on the screen – in our Oppo Find N6 Review I’ll test that, and wonder if the $3,299 price tag is justifiable.

The elephant lurking in the room is Samsung, well into their seventh generation of foldable and their most recent Fold7 was stunningly thin and exceptional in pretty much every way – it’s price tag is $400 less at $2,899, so where does Oppo get off thinking this thing is worth such a premium?

It’s an interesting question. I think if pushed, Oppo would say their screen technology paired with their camera system are worth it.

And they are certainly impressive.

Can you feel the crease on the Oppo Find N6?

No, its sensational.

However, I would argue that anyone who’s owned or uses a Foldable phone will tell you that you don’t notice the crease on any of them. In daily use it’s just not something you even consider.

The Crease is really only mentioned by haters or people who want to argue why it’s a poor smartphone technology. Given that, perhaps Oppo is right to invest in this better screen and hinge technology to allow for what they call “zero feel”. How I would describe this is to say that if you push with pressure on the screen and swipe across the centre you’ll feel a bump.

But with a light more regular pressure it’s almost undetectable. Impressive.

Can you see it? Yes, but again, barely. You’ve really got to shine a light right on the crease at the right angle to give you any indication of it. Again, far better than any foldable crease we’ve seen so points to Oppo for that.

All of this is leading up to the much anticipated and widely rumoured Apple foldable which – they say will be creaseless – Oppo has beaten them to the punch plain and simple.

Is Samsung shaking in their boots? probably not, but they will need to up their game on the Fold8 later this year

Good news is, Android is now well suited to Foldables, offering up video streams like YouTube on the half screen when folded for easier viewing.

Thin? the Oppo Find N6 is Very thin

Its official, smartphone makers have worked out how to jam a whole lot into a small space.

The Oppo Find N6 is as thin as Samsung’s Fold, meaning they have that same packaging engineering capability as the big two.

Strangely, it doesn’t feel thin, but I think that’s the same of all of them when you consider the 8.9mm measurement on both Samsung and Oppo doesn’t include the camera bump.

On the Oppo Find N6 isn’t a giant camera island. Taking up almost a third of the rear of the phone it’s size makes the phone a lot less wobbly on a desk when laying camera down – and I love that. The camera circle is a nod to a traditional camera lens in it’s large black circle, but inside are some impressive lenses.

Did I use the inner screen much?

Honestly, no. That’s why I’m not a mega Fold fan – I just don’t use that screen! When I did choose to doomscroll with it there was rarely any content that was vastly better.

Our EFTM app came up better in the menus, but again, how much more content are you really seeing.

I think this style Fold is for someone who properly multi-tasks. That ain’t me.

Hasselblad Camera

A 50Megapixel ultra wide camera gives you the 0.6 photos, another 50MP gives you telephoto zoom at 70mm optical with plenty of hybrid steps above that right up to 120x “Super Zoom” with Optical Image Stabilisation.

The “main” camera is a 200MP at 23mm focal length.

On screen you are presented with zoom levels of 0.6, 1, 2, 3, 6 and tap 6 to get 10, pinch to zoom to push into the 120x.

Here’s how that plays out on a stunning Sydney morning.

0.6x Zoom:

1x Zoom:

2x Zoom:

3x Zoom:

6x Zoom:

10x Zoom:

I’ve gotta say, when I first snapped that 10x, I was blown away.

Here’s a landscape one. This may be one of my favourite smartphone photos I’ve taken.

Fair play to the Sydney Opera House and a stunning morning sun which played an equal role in this shot, but come on – that’s impressive stuff.

Here’s a few more:

How good is 100x Zoom? This will blow you away – check out a strong 120x zoom onto the Opera House sails:

I was BLOWN AWAY by that, then zoomed in and realised there was some strong AI at work – impressive AI no doubt, and it works “ok” on “things”. Like a Ferry, or Train too.

But, not “real”

Some paddle boarders or kayakers on the Harbour were a good chance to see just how much the phone was “making up” what was in the photos.

Not hating on it, just saying – be careful how much you rely on the detail in a 120x zoom photo.

A quick note on the uniqueness of this camera though.

Oppo has a strong partnership behind the scenes with “One Plus” a brand we don’t get here in Australia. Why do I mention this? Let me show you another photo and leave the default “caption” in place:

“oplus” on every single Image. Surely that tells us that the camera system here is drawn from the One Plus “Open”? No?

Anyway, just a note too that Oppo isn’t trying to play Samsung’s Moon photo game – I tried to capture the Moon with Artemis II behind it – fail.

Because you can open up the Fold and use the main front display and the main rear cameras to take selfies, I checked that out, and of course, they are better, but shoutout to the 20MP pinhole internal camera – doing pretty solid Selfies too!

I gotta say, that’s a huge result for the inside camera which I expected very little from

Battery Life and Charging on the Oppo Find N6

A 6,000mAh battery is giant. Split across the sides it’s a smart design to pack that in, because we want great battery life!

I found a strong day and a half on this, if I had busy days, two days life easy. If I was chilling (and scrolling) a lot then this was chewing 70% in a day, so like any phone, you’ll get out of it what you use – but like for like, I’d call this a two day battery.

Interestingly, with an 80W “SuperVooc” charger included, I expected some speed on charging.

Pulled it down to 1% and set the stop watch. Took 82 minutes. Ouch.

Daniel suggested to me I hadn’t turned on the “Smart Rapid Charging” toggle in the Battery settings.

Oh yeah, why the hell is that not on by default?

Anyway, did another test. Getting to 100 – just as shocking, but the mid-curve charge, the sweet spot, definitely better.

I think ignore the total times, because watching a phone go from 98% to 100% is like watching grass grow, and I’m convinced it is part of the design to just do this overnight and on long charge. Who the hell needs that last couple of percent anyway.

I’ll take battery safety any day over that last few steps of the journey being rushed.

So, is it worth it?

Damn it’s expensive.

I suspect Oppo Australia will have brought in a good bunch of these to please their most loyal fans in the country. I doubt they expect these to stay on shelves for a long time, or even be replenished. For those fans, they can charge what they want.

Would I choose this over the Samsung Z Fold7? I mean, yes – to stand out, to be different. But not for any feature-set reason.

I do love the Oppo ColourOS operating system, its a far more clean version of Android to me than Samsung, but for Samsung there are many many more accessories and cases.

You can even get a stylus for the Oppo if you want – they call it an “AI Pen” and for 9 you get an S-Pen experience, really targeting those Samsung fans out there – love it.

This is a great phone, I have no complaints other than the price, so if you can stump up for it, go for it.

Web: JB HiFi / OPPO