OPPO Find N3 Flip review
A few months ago, OPPO made headlines for launching the OPPO Find N2 Flip in the country. OPPO was successful in pitting it against the Galaxy Z Flip4 despite being an imperfect foldable smartphone.
Six months since the time they made the Find N2 Flip in the country, OPPO is yet again launching a new one. It is – again – another easy recommendation for those who are looking for a premium foldable device.
Design and New Hinge
There’s really a lot going on in this new version. The new N3 Flip is IPX4 water-resistant and features dual-friction plates for better usage ng mga flip features nya.
The new hinge has 25% improved load-bearing strength, and has been independently tested to withstand 600,000 folds. This means that if you have been folding and unfold your device for about 100 times a day, your phone will last for 16 years.
Now, since the hinge has been improved, flex and resistance to various angles have been improved as well. Whether you’re going to use this to take photos, selfies, or for just watching videos, the Find N3 Flip is now a much foldable smartphone that its predecessors.
Display
Just like the OPPO Find N3 Fold, the Find N3 Flip has zero-gap inside display, which gives it a more seamless and aesthetic look. There won’t be any issues about unwanted materials getting inside its display either. It’s something that most foldables are doing now like Samsung and Tecno. In fact, we’ve seen OPPO do this in their previous iterations.
I also love its new displays – both inner and outer. Both screens are protected by Gorilla Glass Victus. The specs of the displays are not too different from its predecessor, there’s something about the outer display that really made me happy.
One of my major complaints sa Find N2 is how limited its functionalities are. There isn’t enough applications that are compatible with the outer display. I really wanted to use YouTube, TikTok, and other important that I usually use on it. With the Find N3, it now finally feels like the outer display is not just an extension of the inner display but a very good alternative.
The outer display now supports a lot of mini applications, and OPPO keeps on adding more. This makes the choice of having a vertical outer display orientation is an excellent decision by OPPO. It has more function, albeit smaller than what the competition offers.
Right now though, there does not seem to be any games that support the outer display. Well, I don’t think there will be people who will be interested in playing games using the smaller display, so this thing is more of like a luxury or novelty.
There’s quite a lot of FlexForm features that you can do with the Find N3. While this isn’t something original to the Find N3, there’s just a tone of features that users can get from this.
There’s FlexForm selfie that will allow you to take a selfie using its main camera and use its outer display as a viewfinder. You can also flex the phone like a camcorder to make it more convenient to shoot videos. The inner display automatically conforms to the function required at the moment, which is really excellent!
Hardware and Performance
The new OPPO Find N3 Flip is also powered by MediaTek Dimensity 9200 chipset. It is able to deliver good performance at minimal power draw. While it isn’t something that you’ll get exclusively for gaming, it can definitely give enough performance juice to play your favorite games.
You will not be able to play the usual games found on Google PlayStore on the Find N3 Flip. Instead you are given an app called gamesnacks that hosts a collection of casual (very casual) games that fit perfectly well on its smaller cover display.
In terms of benchmark performance, it stacks quite well compared to flagship competition. However, since this is priced very close to the flagship pricepoint, I believe it’s logical to compare it to flagship competition.
Should you be worried that this might not be able to keep up with your gaming demands? No. It can surely take on games like Diablo Immortal and Honkai Star Rails. It can also definitely be used for retro game emulation, if you are into that kind of thing. (Game preservation, baby!)
Camera Performance
Now, let’s talk about the cameras of the Find N3 Flip. What we have on the Find N3 Flip is a 50MP Main Camera, which is a Sony IMX890, and has 1/1.56-inch sensor and f/2.2 aperture. It also has 48MP Ultra Wide camera with f/2.2 aperture, and another 32MP telephoto with f/2.0 aperture elns.
In terms of selfies, this smartphone has 32MP with Sony IMX709 RGBW sensor with f/2.4 aperture.
Similar to the Find N3 Fold, this also has OCP or OPPO Computational Photography, and ProXDR. This feature helps in achieving and viewing better results of photo output. What this does is it uses the phone’s HDR system to fine tune your shot to create a more natural image with the right amount of highlights and shadows. You will also be able to view the changes made by OCP on N3 Flip’s gallery, thanks to ProXDR certified display.
When it comes to the quality ng photos, they are nothing short of ordinary. Saturation and contrast details are good, even at default. When computational photography Hasselblad technology tuning on shots kick in, you will appreciate what OPPO did to improve its camera than its predecessor.
I remember a few years ago that I was really very straightforward with my criticisms with Hasselblad on the phones of both brands until they really made things way better. Props are due for OPPO for nailing this particular feature. I will have a more thorough article about this feature very soon.
Software
Similar to what we found on the OPPO Find N3 (Fold), OPPO did some strides to improve the software of the Find N3 Flip. The user experience is much better on both outer and inner displays. There are also more things to do without even unfolding the display. Multiple cover screen apps are also being added almost on a weekly basis. I love the fact that I am able to watch TikTok and YouTube Shorts on its small outer display – a clear departure from my experience with its predecessor. Clearly, the Find N3 Flip flipped all the limitations we found on the N2 Flip.
The performance of the software also feels very snappy. It does not take more than a second to fully make the phone usable at its unfolded state. It is also almost instantaneous to start the camera up from both folded and unfolded state, which is perfect especially if you really want to capture an unforgettable moment.
Interactive pets also make a good return on the Find N3 Flip. It does more cute things, and there are plenty of pets to choose from. I picked the dog because dogs are lovely (while cats are cool).
Battery Performance
At full charge, the Find N3 Flip’s battery gives me about 13 hours of battery, and that’s decent enough for a foldable. I believe it’s an acceptable performance for a flip smartphone, but I think this is Find N3 Flip’s weakest feature. Despite this, its battery performs much better than the Galaxy Z Flip , overall.
It’s worth nothing though that it includes a 44W SuperVOOC charger. Charging speed is really fast – about 58% when you get this hooked up to the charger for 30 mins. It is good enough, in my opinion, and having this feature is a godsend, especially for those who have little time to juice up their devices.
Verdict
It is very easy to recommend the OPPO Find N3 Flip as it has every I need on a flip smartphone. However, the only thing that can send people off is its price. It currently costs PhP64,999, which is much higher than the introductory price of its predecessor. It is also, in fact, slightly more expensive than the Galaxy Z Flip5. Despite this, it is still a better choice – at least for me – because of its superior camera and better battery performance.
Giancarlo Viterbo is a Filipino Technology Journalist, blogger and Editor of gadgetpilipinas.net, He is also a Geek, Dad and a Husband. He knows a lot about washing the dishes, doing some errands and following instructions from his boss on his day job. Follow him on twitter: @gianviterbo and @gadgetpilipinas.
