Impressions of OPPO Find N3 Flip: foldable, cool, unattainable

Folding phones are becoming more and more popular. Not so long ago, we got acquainted with this year’s novelties: the flagships Samsung Galaxy Flip5, Motorola Razr 40 Ultra and the quite affordable Motorola RAZR 40. An interesting novelty was recently released by OnePlus, it is a large folding phone – OnePlus Open. On the other hand, OnePlus’ sister brand, OPPO, showed its “clamshell” – Find N3 Flip – a few days ago. We managed to get to know it better at the presentation in Warsaw. We’ll show you photos and tell you about our impressions!

In Singapore, two foldable phones were introduced – the Find N3 and the smaller Find N3 Flip. This pair aims to challenge Samsung with its Flip5 and Fold5 in the top segment. However, the Polish OPPO representative office showed us only the Flip.

A significant portion of OPPO’s foldable smartphones are sold in China and account for 20% of the market for this type of device. Unfortunately, the sales results in Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific combined do not match those in China. Therefore, the new products will not be available in all regions.

Design and external screen of OPPO Find N3 Flip

The Find N3 Flip retains the same look as the previous OPPO Find N2 Flip phone. It has a large, easy-to-read screen (3.26″, AMOLED, 720×382). However, it’s slightly smaller than its predecessor, as the camera unit has become larger.

But now this external display is more useful, you can use applications such as Gmail, YouTube Music, Netflix, GMaps, WhatsApp, WeChat, Telegram, calendar, calculator (more than 80 different applications – but the list is limited, you can’t add any application to this list like on Motorola).

You can add fun and colorful themes and icons to give your phone a more interesting look. There are even animated 3D animals available.

The external screen can also be used to take photos with the high-quality 50-megapixel camera. The external screen also has a 32-megapixel camera built in.

The Find N3 Flip is only 1.6 cm thick when folded, and 5.8 mm when unfolded, which means that the phone is incredibly thin.

A pleasant surprise was the notification mode slider (Alert Slider), which resembles the one on OnePlus phones. With the help of this small detail, you can quickly switch to silent mode.

I didn’t like the fact that the power and volume buttons are very close to each other. When using the power button to unlock the device, the volume button is accidentally pressed.

Find N3 Flip

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What about the flip-up screen? Will it hold up to heavy use? OPPO’s third-generation Flexion hinge is 25% stronger and guarantees at least 600,000 trouble-free folds, which translates to many years of use (up to ten!).

The advantage is that the crease is not visible visually and cannot be felt when you run your finger over it. The fold can only be seen from a certain angle in special lighting. This is very good, because you can’t say that about Samsung.

Another plus is the absence of a gap in the closed position. This is an improvement over its predecessor.

Unfortunately, there is no protection against water, only against accidental drops – IPx4. This is where Samsung Flip and Fold have an advantage.

The smartphone has an aluminum frame, a plastic front panel (when closed) and a glass back panel (Gorilla Glass 5).

OPPO Find N3 Flip

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Read also: OPPO Reno8 T review: a mid-budget smartphone with a microscope

OPPO Find N3 Flip cameras

Compared to the previous model, it has an additional 32-megapixel telephoto lens with 2x optical zoom. There is also an ultra-wide-angle camera with a resolution of 48 megapixels, which is useful for shooting landscapes, group shots, and interior shots.

Along with the 50MP main camera, we have three lenses, which is atypical for clamshells. In addition, OPPO has used its relationship with Hasselblad to fine-tune the sensors in terms of color. Judging by the first detailed reviews of this model from other countries, the OPPO Find N3 Flip is a worthy flagship.

Main screen

The main display is LTPO AMOLED (6.8 inches, Full HD+ 2520×1080) with a refresh rate of 120 Hz, which provides a smooth viewing experience for applications, saving battery life by switching between 1 Hz and 120 Hz modes depending on what is displayed on the screen.

The screen quality is quite good, and the brightness of 1600 nits allows you to comfortably view content even in bright sunlight. The only drawback is the wide bezels, and in general, it seems that the screen has not changed at all compared to its predecessor.

Read also: OPPO Enco X2 headphones review: is sound the most important thing?

Performance, memory

In terms of hardware, the Find N3 Flip has 12GB of RAM, which is good, but the MediaTek Dimensity 9200 (4nm) processor is a bit disappointing, it could have been more advanced. Despite this, we hardly noticed any lag in the phone’s performance during our short test, and there were no overheating issues either.

The storage capacity of the basic version is 256 GB, which is not much. You can buy a 512 GB version, but it will cost about $150 more and is not available in all countries. The type of memory is UFS 4.0, which is faster than its predecessor Find N2 Flip.

Battery

The new Flip’s battery is 4300 mAh, which is far from a record, but a good value for a clamshell. The first tests showed that it provides an average of 6-7 hours of screen time. Again, not much, but this is the “appeal” of modern flip phones. OPPO Find N3 Flip supports 44W VOOC charging, which allows you to charge it from 0 to 50 percent in about 22 minutes. No wireless charging yet.

The Find N3 Flip supports eSIM and has a dual-SIM slot, but no memory expansion. The phone has a USB-C 2.0 port (could be newer), stereo speakers and a fingerprint scanner on the side.

Read also: Samsung Galaxy Flip5 review: There’s simply no better foldable smartphone

OPPO Find N3 Flip software

The smartphone runs on Android 13 with the Color OS familiar to OPPO users. It is pleasant, convenient and multifunctional. The new version has more options for personalizing the additional screen.

We’ve already talked about animated pets, but you can also use a screensaver in the form of a weather widget that shows animations that change depending on the weather conditions. There is also a GIF editor that can then be played on a small screen. These new features are also expected to be available on OPPO Find N2 Flip.

The Oppo Find N3 Flip is guaranteed to receive updates to at least Android 17 and promises support for security patches until 2028.

Prices and availability

Find N3 Flip is available in gold, pink, and black colors. As for the price, it ranges from $1100 to $1450 on average in different countries. We suspect that many people will say that this is too expensive for an OPPO-branded phone – and rightly so. In addition, many smartphones from China, despite their attractive price in the local market, no longer look so good on European shelves when import costs, taxes, and marketing activities are added.

Conclusions

Nevertheless, in our opinion, OPPO Find N3 Flip is a worthy upgrade to Find N2 Flip and a worthy addition to the line of foldable smartphones on the market. It’s easy to use, has good cameras, fast charging, and a fairly large and high-quality external screen.

As for its predecessor, the OPPO Find N2 Flip, it’s available in Ukraine for about $1200 and doesn’t differ that much from the N3, so we recommend considering it if you’re interested in a modern flip format.

Read alsо:

• Motorola Razr 40 Ultra Review: Trend-setting Foldable Smartphone
• Motorola razr 40 Review: What is the cheapest folding smartphone capable of?
• New products from Prologix: cases to create work or gaming desktops