Oppo Find N2 Flip review

Probably the most tempting feature of using a foldable smartphone is its design. The thing folds its screen in half and slots in your pocket without creating a 6in bulge. The Flexion Hinge uses aeronautical steel and doodahs to make the hinge flexible but not too rigid, and the waterdrop fold has a larger bending radius to keep the thing folded shut without gaps. There’s a whole press release Oppo sent us for why their hinge is better and after using the Oppo Find N2 Flip and its competitors, we can say with certainty that this is easier to use. It’s not waterproof or anything but it’s just easier to use with one hand. So don’t dip the thing in water, definitely keep it away from the sand. We took it to the beach but we know that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4’s IPX8-rating would serve us better in these situations.

It’s squared from the sides and the fingerprint sensor is embedded in the power button. You also get a clear case in the box which can be snapped on easily. Once unfolded, it’s not too different from a regular smartphone. Although it's got a 21:9 aspect ratio which spans 6.8 inches. If you’re doing the math correctly, this is a very tall smartphone. You better have long fingers and a happy spouse.

At the back, you get a 3.26in cover display which is the biggest we’ve seen on a flip smartphone. It’s extremely useful for folks who take lots of photos and videos of themselves. The cover display serves as a tool for photography and videography foremost, other than that its uses are very limited on the Oppo Find N2 Flip. Oppo’s OS doesn’t make complete use of this screen real estate. You can’t type messages or open apps here. You can only have weather, timer and camera as quick access widgets on this display. You can’t access these widgets without unlocking the phone with face recognition or the fingerprint sensor. Oppo can definitely improve this 3.26in display with better software support but when that’s going to happen is anyone’s guess.

Well, there are two here and both of them are exceptionally good with brightness. The glass backside (cover display and body) is protected by Gorilla glass 5 meanwhile the main foldable display is a 6.8 inch AMOLED with LTPO display with 2520 x 1080 resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. It also supports HDR10+ for Netflix and movies.

Contrast and HDR content look boosted and oversharpened. You’ll definitely get better colour quality on iPhone 14 and Samsung S23. The Oppo also crushes the highlights and oversaturates the greens in any scene. It’s clearly not the most natural-looking display but some folks like the vivid colours. The selfie-obsessed ones I assume.

The Flexion Hinge barely lets you feel the crease in the centre which is a massive leap in foldable display technology and this is something only the Oppo Find N2 Flip can achieve at the time of writing. Kudos to Oppo for actually making us forget that this is a flip smartphone when unfolded. The hinge is strong enough to stay upright when you need it and flexible enough to be opened with one hand. Folks who need a mirror to put cosmetics on will find the 3.26in cover screen a true delight to use.

There’s a MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ processor with 8GB RAM (LPDDR5) and 256GB storage (UFS 3.1) which is more than enough for daily use and everything in between. We wouldn’t call this a performance powerhouse like the iPhone 14 Pro and Samsung S23 Ultra but it could easily take on most number-crunching tasks. It’s not lacking in the performance department so to speak, and in our one month of daily use, it hasn’t shown any hiccups in the performance at all.

Battery life too is fairly good with 5 hours of screen on time between full charges. The 4300mAh battery will last you a full day thanks to some clever background app control. It can also be fast charged using the 44W SuperVOOC fast charger (included in the box) from 0 to 100 in an hour.

There’s also dual SIM with 5G support, a very good haptic motor for gaming and dual stereo speakers. It sounds a bit harsh but it's not tinny which is good because most Android smartphones sound tinny and hollow.

There’s Hasselblad branding on the rear side of the smartphone which means this camera is tuned by the masters of their craft. Unfortunately, the camera quality is barely anything more than just a commercial partnership. It’s a good camera but we expected it to perform as well as the iPhone, Samsung and even the Xiaomi 13 Pro.

Photos from the 50MP main Sony IMX890 sensor have inconsistent quality. It’s rich in contrast and the HDR performance oversaturates the colours. Photos with decent sunlight and dark tones are often boosted to look richer. In direct sunlight, the photos are quite Instagram-worthy. It’s not accurate but I could see myself liking these photos simply because of the detail and higher vibrancy. The AI tends to make all skies bluer than they should be and it even attempts to lighten your skin tone.

Low-light performance is good at picking up details. The red Naruto figurine shot and the bar shot have plenty of detail and a good balance of shadows and highlights. Something with one source of indoor light and a dark colour cat might smudge the shot and your expectations but these tricky scenes can be easily overlooked.

The portrait mode blur isn’t as soft as the rivals. It does a fantastic job of separating the subject from the background but it doesn’t smoothen the blur effect to keep it natural. However, that’s just us being a bit nitpicky with this ninety-grand smartphone. Its cutout of my dishevelled beach hair is quite remarkable.

Even the 8MP ultra-wide camera is no sloucher. It’s a step back from the main camera’s performance but as long as the lighting conditions are adequate, the shots are pretty darn good here as well. Same story for the selfie camera. It does tend to brighten my skin and remove some details but since the massive cover display is great for camera preview, we barely used the inside selfie camera.

This is a fun smartphone and that’s why we love the Oppo Find N2 Flip. As a reviewer, it feels great to review smartphones that actually push the boundaries of technology and the Find N2 Flip sets a new benchmark for decreasing the crease on flip phones.

It’s not without its shortcomings. The Hasselblad integration could’ve been more than just three filters and the cover display can serve a more useful purpose. These shortcomings never truly take away from the fun of using a flip smartphone, and don’t forget it opens with one hand!