Although my first mobile phone was a Motorola, it wasn’t the flip. It wasn’t until 2006 I finally convinced my mum I needed the magenta Razr V3. That thing changed my life – I’ve never felt cool since. It has been 17 years between drinks, but I’ve finally got another flip phone: the Oppo Find N2 Flip.
While it hasn’t changed my life, it’s certainly filled me with nostalgia while also making me excited for the future of phones. I’ll elaborate in a second, but first, the context.
Oppo Find N2 Flip
The Oppo Find N2 Flip technically launched in China in November, but only got announced for the Australian market in late February. Actually, it’s the first time Oppo is bringing a folding phone screen to Australia. Oppo is one of the biggest smartphone manufacturers overseas, and here at Gizmodo Australia, we can’t quite understand why its popularity hasn’t spread here – we’re quite big fans of what Oppo does.
@gizmodoau the #OPPO Find N2 Flip is gorgeous. #foldable #smartphone #phones #australia #tevh #technology
Specs at a glance:
- Screen: 6.8 inches (diagonal line) AMOLED/cover screen: 3.26 inches
- Display: Main screen: FHD+(2520×1080) & Secondary screen: (720×382) + 120Hz refresh rate
- Measurements: 166.2 mm x 75.2 mm x 7.45 mm (expanded) & 85.5 mm x 75.2 mm x 16.02 mm (folded)
- Weight: 191 grams
- Guts: 8GB + 256GB
- OS: Android 13, ColorOS 13
- Colours: Astral Black & Moonlit Purple
- Camera system: 50MP + 8MP rear cameras, 32MP front camera
- Price: $1,499
What I dislike
As an iPhone user, the part I like the least about the Oppo Find N2 Flip is its operating system. To date, there has only been one Android phone that I feel really nails it, and it’s the Google Pixel. I think the combination of Google software and hardware is why I love it so much, but unfortunately, it means that every other Android repackager, even Samsung, makes the whole phone feel cheap and immature.
So when life gives you lemons, you….turn the whole phone experience into a fun one.
There are a tonne of customisable features on the Oppo Find N2 Flip, however, but more on that in a sec.
The phone itself is responsive, but not heaps and I feel a lot of this is the software, rather than the hardware. Loading apps isn’t insufferably slow, but this again points back to the Google software/Google hardware partnership that makes the Pixel stand out above other Android phones.
The price ($1,499) is also a bit meh, but my main phone is a 1TB iPhone 14 Pro Max, which is a cool $2,769, and the Samsung equivalent of the Oppo Find N2 Flip, the Galaxy Z Flip 4, is $1,499 – $1,649, which is the same. So, I can’t berate Oppo’s flippy boi for being priced the same as its competitor. Samsung does have the Samsung name, however.
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When the Oppo Find N2 Flip is open and your finger slides over the fold in the middle, it’s noticeable – I’m concerned how that’ll end up in a year (or even a few months). With both Google and Apple rumoured for years to have a flip phone, or a phone that folds in some way, it’s no surprise they’re taking their time while Oppo and Samsung storm out the gate with a ‘we know it’s not perfect but it’s good enough’ attitude.
What I like
I don’t hate the camera, but I don’t love it, either. At a later date, we’ll compare the Oppo Find N2 Flip to the Samsung Galaxy Flip 4, but until then, let’s just take a look at how the camera snaps.
Just some standard lovely natural light shots of the sky and this pot. The colour is gorgeous in the sky snap, but I can’t quite get past the washed-out nature of the pot/timber panelling.
Next up, my beaten-up beauty of a car. First snap is 0.6x, then 1x, 2x, and the furthest it would go, 20x.
Moving into some close-ups. The first shot is fine, the second is trash and the third is taken with the Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max. One of the things the Pro Max is really good at is macro shots. I’ve included it so you can see what cameras are capable of, not to compare it to the Oppo Find N2 Flip. Both phones serve completely different purposes.
And full darkness, aside from street lights.
Now, portrait mode. It’s really bad. The lighting isn’t helping the Oppo Find N2 Flip, however. Thanks to my model Archie.
Lastly, selfie mode. Nick and Zac decided to take a photo on a phone that was laying around in the office, so they’re getting their face published. (I got their consent, dw).
While Nick’s face (back) is showing movement, the clarity on Zac’s showcases the front-facing cam perfectly. It’s not great, but it’s clear and clean and good enough.
Overall, the camera performs well. Zoom is where it struggles, with the software reallllllllly trying to fill in the gaps but failing.
You’re not buying the phone for the camera quality, though.
Moving on and I also like how light it is. The reason I don’t love how light it is, is because it kept slipping out of my hands when opened. It’s a tiny bit bigger than the iPhone 14 Pro Max, but Oppo choosing to make the Find N2 Flip lightweight has me worried I’ll drop the phone when taking a photo.
The Oppo Find N2 Flip has SuperVOOC charging. The Flip includes up to 44W charging with promises of up to a 50 per cent charge in just 23 minutes and a full charge in under an hour – this is on par with my experience. The battery is 4,300 mAh, much bigger than the 3,700 mAh pack on the Z Flip 4. But there’s no wireless charging, unlike on Samsung’s devices. I personally don’t use wireless chargers as the buzz/hum is intolerable to me. But that’s a story for another time.
I performed Gizmodo Australia’s usual battery test (Avengers: Endgame on full brightness, high-quality stream, max volume) to see how the Oppo Find N2 Flip battery life stood up. After one hour, the battery was down to 90 per cent from 100 per cent, 78 per cent after hour two and by the end of the third hour, it was down to 64 per cent. I made a TikTok, have been using it to play tunes, watch some YouTube vids and I took a bunch of photos for this review and by the end of the day, I was at 18 per cent.
Battery life could be better, but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. Plus, charging is super quick.
What I love
I truly love that it flips. I can’t open and close it with one hand, because it’s so bloody sturdy that I can’t do that, but it’s a phone that folds in half. I can’t understate how cool that is.
While I dislike the ColorOS, I do like that the apps can be made nicer thanks to customisable wallpaper/icons. The ability to personalise the lock screen, home screen, and cover screen is also something worthy of a mention. While I’ve opted for a super cute kitty to live on my cover screen, you can also display your choice of text, a Bitmoji or Omoji, or choose from a tonne of different clock faces/animations. You can also see notifications from the cover screen, flip through to your calendar, and even take a photo with the clam closed. While the OS isn’t the nicest, it’s very intuitive and boasts a handful of flip-specific tweaks Oppo has made for the Find N2.
It may have taken me a week to find it (I thought the box was just padding) but Oppo ships the Find N2 Flip with a clear case. Oh, and the phone changes its camera view based on how you’re using it.
The phone’s got volume. When doing the battery test, the Oppo Find N2 Flip was on the balcony attached to the office. We had a whole office meeting and the sound came through the smallest door opening in the kitchen a fair distance away and we could hear Avengers: Endgame. The phone is loud, but it does come at the cost of quality – it sounds a bit tinny and wouldn’t be great for listening to music. TikTok doomscrolling would be fine, though.
Last, and not least, I love that we’ve reached a point where phone makers are doing extraordinary work to bend what’s considered possible. Apple could be bringing out a flippable iPhone, Google a folding Pixel, and we said last year Samsung had nailed the folding screen that seems to defy science. The Oppo Find N2 Flip is onto something, and the future is looking flipping (sorry) awesome.
Should you buy Oppo’s flippy boi?
If you’re after a phone that flips, and you haven’t yet got yourself a Samsung, (and you have $1,500 to drop), then yes, absolutely. It’s a fun phone, let down only by its operating system and camera. But if you’re an Android stan, it’ll be a lot easier for you to get comfortable with ColorOS than it would for an Apple die-hard. Also, the camera isn’t awful and it has a lot of creative ways to use it. Besides, if a camera system is that important to you, you wouldn’t be considering a phone that flips. The Oppo Find N2 is a lot of fun.
Where to buy the Oppo Find N2 Flip
Oppo $1,499 | Harvey Norman $1,499 | JB Hi-Fi $1,499
While you can’t get the Oppo Find N2 Flip on a plan in Australia, we thought we’d round up the top three SIM-only plans you can get, ones that give you at least 40GB of data a month.