Oppo Find N3 Flip is the first clamshell-style foldable with three cameras, flaunts an alert slider too

Posted on 30/08/2023 by Gaurav Sood

If you believe the trend of foldable is just a fad, think again with the sheer number of foldable devices launched this year spearheaded by the recently debuted Galaxy Z Flip 5, Motorola Razr+, Vivo X Flip and soon-to-be-launched Mix Fold 3 and OnePlus V Fold. Now, you can add another one to the list to raise the bar of what foldables are capable of doing.

Oppo having released the N2 Flip in late 2022 is now ready with its predecessor with more finance and conviction to gravitate prospective buyers into making the big leap towards buying a foldable device. The Chinese OEM has already proved in the past its affinity to stay on the edge of technological innovations and this new device is no different.

Designer: Oppo

Oppo N2 Flip stayed ahead of the curve introducing a bigger cover display, hardware superiority and a potent set of cameras. Now, the N2 Flip builds on that with key upgrades to make the device more intuitive and powerful, especially for the cover screen. One of the noticeable upgrades is the triple camera array (Hasselblad optimized for post-processing) on the rear, the first ever to be seen on a clamshell-styled foldable phone. These include a 50MP primary sensor, 48MP ultrawide lens and a 32MP telephoto shooter.

Drawing inspiration from the OnePlus smartphones, Oppo has also included a three-position Alert Slider to the equation. Apparently, this is the first-ever Oppo phone to feature such hardware. The foldable device gets a 6.8-inch Full HD+ OLED display tuned for a 120Hz refresh rate, having 1600 nits peak brightness levels and is capable of displaying 1.07 billion colors. The secondary OLED display measures 3.26-inch and gets support for 120Hz as well.

Under the belly lies the MediaTek Dimensity 9200 processor mated to LPDDR5X 12GB RAM and UFS 4.0 storage of 512GB. Powering the high-end hardware of the device with ColorOS 13.2 based on Android 13 is a 4,300mAh battery paired to a 44W Super Flash fast charging. Other specs of the IPX4-rated foldable include a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, facial recognition, Bluetooth 5.3 and NFC.

If you inspect the official pictures closely, the top half has a rounded-over glass back as compared to the flat one on the N2 Flip. To that accord, the sides are also polished for mirror shine and the camera module knurls around it. For now the foldable phone only debuted in China for pre-orders in three color options – Black, Gold and Rose colors.

Priced at CNY 6,799 ($932) for the 12/256GB version and CNY 7,599 ($1,042) for the 12/512GB trim, the device will be available for open sales on September 8. The global launch however is expected in October and November.

The post Oppo Find N3 Flip is the first clamshell-style foldable with three cameras, flaunts an alert slider too first appeared on Yanko Design.

OPPO Watch 4 Pro unveiled with real-time blood-glucose tracking to dethrone the Apple Watch Ultra

Posted on 29/08/2023 by Sarang Sheth

I’m not saying that the OPPO Watch 4 Pro can entirely replace the Apple Watch Ultra… but just on looks alone, that curved display is enough to make one’s heart go aflutter. The curved profile integrates wonderfully with the curve of your wrist, creating a watch that has mass but doesn’t look like it does. The Watch Ultra, on the other hand, feels like a titanium box attached to your wrist. Moreover, the OPPO Watch 4 Pro comes with a few impressive tricks up its sleeve.

Announced alongside the Find N3 Flip smartphone, the Watch 4 Pro is OPPO’s latest flagship wearable. It features a 1.91-inch LTPO curved AMOLED screen embedded within a stainless steel case and a ceramic baseplate below. Running on the inside, the watch’s OS offers more than 200 practical widgets, has support for GPS, tracks over 100 sports, and has a comprehensive health-tracking setup that measures ECG, heart rate, blood oxygen, wrist temperature, blood vessel age, sleep patterns, and stress levels. Moreover, the smartwatch can reportedly also monitor your blood sugar level in real-time using non-invasive tracking – a game-changing feature that, if done right, can radically alter the landscape of wearables. All this and the Watch 4 Pro still reportedly has a battery life of nearly 14 days with light usage (or that’s what Oppo has us believe) and comes with support for devices running on Android 8 and higher or iOS 13 or above.

Designer: Oppo

Keen observers will notice a slight difference in the Watch 4 Pro’s design – namely in the form of flatter sides and a more pronounced button and crown on the side (and even visible lugs on the top and bottom). The highlight of the watch, however, remains its “Micro-Arc” curved display that cascades across your wrist, creating a sleek appearance that’s just a pleasure to look at and interact with. The AMOLED display offers 378 x 496 resolution (326 PPI) and boasts an always-on feature.

Two chipsets power the watch – a Snapdragon W5 SoC for heavier tasks, and a BES 2700 chip for less intensive tasks. This clever balance between the two chips helps the Watch 4 Pro boast of its wild two-week battery life (which charges in just 65 minutes). You’ve also got built-in Bluetooth 5.0, eSIM support, NFC, and Gesture control… although there seems to be a deliberate exclusion of WiFi as a feature.

The Watch 4 Pro’s standout feature remains its reported ability to measure blood glucose levels in real-time. Designed to perform it non-invasively, this feature could render ‘pin-prick’ blood sugar tests completely obsolete, helping over 400 million people who suffer from diabetes. The Watch 4 Pro combines this with blood oxygen measurements (SpO2), heart rate metrics, ECG, sleep quality analysis, and stress-gauging to give you a comprehensive look at your health and lifestyle. Alongside these features, the Watch 4 Pro also provides users with access to over 100 sports modes (with professional-level tracking for pro users).

The Oppo Watch 4 Pro will be available in Polar Night Black (Silicon) and Dawn Brown (Leather) variants, with a China-only release for now. Enthusiasts can pre-order their Watch 4 Pro at a discounted 2,199 Yuan ($302) for the silicon variant and 2,399 Yuan ($329) for the leather variant on Oppo’s website for a limited time.

The post OPPO Watch 4 Pro unveiled with real-time blood-glucose tracking to dethrone the Apple Watch Ultra first appeared on Yanko Design.

OPPO Reno 10 Pro+ Review: A Pretty Shutterbug with Some Muscle to Flex

Posted on 24/08/2023 by JC Torres

PROS:

Simple but memorable design

Impressive telephoto camera

Excellent battery life and charging speed

Accessible price tag

CONS:

Large and conspicuous camera bump

A bit slippery to hold

No water resistance rating

Still has some bloatware

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS

ERGONOMICS

PERFORMANCE

SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY

VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

Eye-catching in both good and bad ways, the OPPO Reno 10 Pro+ delivers on its promise of power and camera excellence but fails to take the final steps that will truly set it apart from the crowd.

OPPO has been making quite a name for itself, especially with its premium Find line that now includes two kinds of foldable phones. The attention to its flagship series, however, has raised questions about the purpose and future of its other family, the Reno. Launched as the brand’s mid-range offering, the lines between tiers have been blurring the past years, and OPPO has been taking the Reno series higher and higher while still trying to keep to its camera-focused theme. With the OPPO Reno 10 Pro+, it seems ready to pull out all of the stops, but is it enough to qualify as a premium flagship? We take the “Portrait Expert” for a few turns to bring you that answer.

Designer: OPPO

Aesthetics

The OPPO Reno was initially advertised as a more affordable option for mobile shutterbugs, so naturally its designs lean towards emphasizing its cameras. Over the years, this line of smartphones has adopted less than inspiring aesthetics, despite that focus, simply content to use the trending style of each model’s period. The OPPO Reno 10 Pro+ walks off the beaten path with a design that could prove to be a little bit controversial, giving the phone a unique visual identity that also makes its key feature a bit too pronounced.

The most prominent part of the phone’s design is, of course, its camera bump. It’s a large protrusion of glass and aluminum that makes it impossible to ignore its presence, especially with a capsule shape that is rarely seen on the backs of phones. The design is admittedly tasteful, even stylish, though it might not sit well with people who profile subtler profiles. It will at least get the OPPO Reno 10 Pro+ easily noticed and distinguished among a sea of rectangles and bulging circles.

The rest of the phone, fortunately, looks less conspicuous. In fact, one could say it’s pretty simple, with a nod to classic designs. That particularly refers to curved edges, both back and front, like the premium flagship phones of old. The back of the phone is clean and unblemished, save for the obligatory OPPO branding. The Glossy Purple option comes with a very reflective rear, while the Silver Gray that we received for this review has a bit of a glazed matte surface. Unfortunately, that doesn’t help reduce the lack of friction and resistance that this phone offers in your hand.

The OPPO Reno 10 Pro+ exhibits two faces, both of them notable and memorable. On the one hand, its camera bump is a real attention grabber. On the other hand, the simplicity of the rest of the phone’s design presents a sharp contrast. It’s a combination of opposites that seems to work well in OPPO’s favor, resulting in a Reno phone that can finally stand out and stand proud from the crowd.

Ergonomics

At only 194g, the Reno 10 Pro+ is incredibly light to hold, especially when you consider its 6.74-inch screen and somewhat sizable battery. Then again, the use of a polycarbonate mid-frame helps lighten the load, though you might not be able to tell it given how premium it looks and feels. That lightness, however, serves to only reduce your confidence even more, fearing how the phone might easily slip from your hand.

That’s mostly because of how slippery the phone feels, even with the matte surface of the Silver Gray colorway. The curved sides also become too smooth for the palm, comfortable yet also precarious. Fortunately, OPPO does ship with a clear gel case, but you’ll be sacrificing the phone’s pristine beauty in exchange for a better grip.

That camera bump, distinctive as it might be, also adds to the OPPO Reno 10 Pro+’s troubles. When on a fat surface, it makes the phone a little unbalanced since it raises only a corner of the device. When held in hand, the phone feels a little top-heavy, adding to the worries of accidentally dropping the phone. Almost ironically, that thick camera protrusion could actually serve as a place to rest your finger to keep it from sliding off.

Performance

The OPPO Reno 10 Pro+ has the makings of a premium flagship, that is if it was launched last year. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is one generation behind the current titleholder, and the base 12GB RAM and 256GB storage feels a little behind as well. Fortunately, these don’t matter much in practice, even for gamers, with the phone performing admirably no matter what you throw at it. It doesn’t get unbearably hot, but it does get noticeably warm after long periods of extensive use where heavy graphics and processing are involved. The phone runs OPPO Color OS 13.1, which is based on the latest Android 13 release. For all the customization options that this OPPO experience brings, it also unloads a dozen apps that most users never asked for and maybe never even use. Fortunately, you can uninstall almost all of them.

The 4,700 mAh battery might also feel like a holdover, but the phone manages to hold its own quite well. After a day of normal, mixed-use, it still has plenty of juice left to make you not worry about having to charge it overnight. You will eventually need to plug it in, of course, but that that won’t take you more than 30 minutes to go from zero to full. It should be noted, however, that the super-fast 100W charging slows down a bit around the 75% mark in order to help preserve battery life. The OPPO Reno 10 Pro+, despite its premium facade, offers no wireless charging, a feature that is becoming more common even among mid-range phones.

If the hardware specs looked a little disappointing, OPPO pulled no punches when it comes to the Reno line’s key feature. Leading the trio of cameras on its back is the 50MP Sony IMX890 with OIS, resulting in vivid, vibrant, and very detailed images, both in bright outdoor light as well as moody indoor rooms. The camera is so good that it doesn’t even need the dedicated Night Mode to produce pleasing night shots as long as there’s just enough illumination to bring out the details. There is some loss in the richness of details, but the same is true even with Night Mode enabled.

Even more impressive, however, is the 64MP Telephoto shooter with 3x optical zoom, a rare treat for smartphones. Although the main camera is capable of zooming in just as much, it holds no candle to the quality that the dedicated telephoto is able to produce. This camera really shines in portrait mode, which is where the OPPO Reno 10 Pro+ gets its self-professed moniker. But like any camera, quality drops off sharply once you get past that lossless zoom level.

Ultrawide

Given these two heavyweights, the 8MP ultra-wide camera almost feels like a massive letdown. It gets the job done, and a bit nicely with its 112-degree field of view, but it’s definitely nothing to write home about. There are telltale signs of distortion and details are unsurprisingly low. The 32MP front camera is at least great for selfies and video calls, offsetting whatever disappointment the ultra-wide camera might have brought to the team.

Sustainability

OPPO is no longer a neophyte in this industry, and it is thankfully taking concrete actions when it comes to its role in safeguarding the environment. It has a clear vision and strategy for meeting its sustainability goals, which can’t be said of other brands in the market, even the older and bigger players.

Unfortunately, that isn’t clearly visible on the OPPO Reno 10 Pro+. Any sustainability boon this phone brings is mostly a side effect of OPPO’s larger program, like the use of recycled materials for packaging. The phone’s SuperVOOC fast-charging technology even mandates shipping a compatible charger in each and every box, including other models with that same feature. The use of a plastic frame also adds to the phone’s environmental transgressions. It will take some time before OPPO can boast of using recycled plastics and components in its phones, but the planet won’t be waiting for it to get its act together. It also doesn’t have definite dust and water protection, putting its durability and longevity into question.

Value

It’s hard to argue that the OPPO Reno 10 Pro+ is an impressive smartphone. You might debate the beauty of its design, but its raw performance, battery life and charging, and camera output will hardly disappoint. That’s especially considering its price tag, which is around $600 to $700, depending on where you’re buying it. It’s admittedly higher than what most would consider a “mid-tier” phone, but you do get what you pay for, in a very good sense of the phrase.

The problem, however, is that it isn’t alone, even on this tier. Brands like OnePlus, vivo, and even iQOO have all stepped up with models that either offer better specs here and there or the same set of features at a more affordable price. Adding to the phone’s woes is its selective availability in some markets, leaving many major markets opting for more accessible brands or making a huge gamble on retailers. Although it does stand out aesthetically, the OPPO Reno 10 Pro+ might have a tougher time competing with its peers, making it a bit of a brand battle in the final analysis.

Verdict

It is becoming more difficult to draw lines between smartphones, especially when manufacturers themselves blur those distinctions. Once just a mid-range phone, the OPPO Reno has grown up to rival even the company’s own Find line, at least in terms of offering premium features, and the OPPO Reno 10 Pro+ sits at the top of the pile.

It’s one step short of being considered a 2023 premium flagship, but the corners that OPPO might have cut do little to ruin the experience. Bearing a design that you might equally love or hate, the OPPO Reno 10 Pro+ establishes its visual presence with confidence, though that confidence might not extend to your grip. It shines the most with its cameras, especially that 64MP telephoto shooter, which remains the Reno brand’s bread and butter. It’s hardly perfect, but for fans of the brand looking for the next mobile photography fix, the OPPO Reno 10 Pro+ offers a more wallet-friendly option to consider.

The post OPPO Reno 10 Pro+ Review: A Pretty Shutterbug with Some Muscle to Flex first appeared on Yanko Design.

OPPO Find X6 Pro Review: Maintaining the Balance

Posted on 21/03/2023 by JC Torres

PROS:

Eye-catching but pleasant camera-inspired design

Impressive flagship performance

All three cameras have nearly equal quality

CONS:

Global availability is still uncertain

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS

ERGONOMICS

PERFORMANCE

SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY

VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

From its symmetrical form to its "Three Main Cameras," the OPPO Find X6 Pro's well-balanced design creates a soothing effect that's perfect for a chaotic modern world.

If you don’t have a design that screams at the viewer, you’re unlikely to get any attention, let alone sales. That seems to have been the unspoken rule in consumer products, especially in the smartphone market, for the past years, giving rise to sometimes eccentric and often impractical designs whose novelty wears off easily. Just like in the larger design field, there seems to be a growing counter-movement in the smartphone industry where phone designs are starting to settle down into something more refined, less obnoxious, and, in some cases, almost minimalist. That said, there’s still plenty of room to make a positive impression with some unique aesthetic that will quickly set the phone apart from its peers. That kind of delicate balancing act is easier said than done, so we take a deep look at the new OPPO Find X6 Pro to see if it manages to pull that dance off with finesse and aplomb.

Designer: OPPO

Aesthetics

Finding a good design that manages to enclose the growing camera sensors in today’s smartphones is a true test of ingenuity and craftsmanship. Some manufacturers seem to be content on just slapping whatever design element is trending these days, though some thankfully give the phone’s second most important feature a lot more thought. It’s not easy to hide the fact that you have multiple large lenses on the back of your phone, and OPPO seems to have decided to simply embrace that fact but present it in a more pleasing manner.

The Find X6 Pro is part of the growing number of phones with a large circular island that encloses the imaging sensors on its back. In a way, it’s not exactly space-efficient because it takes up a lot more area than the sensors themselves. At the same time, however, it spreads out the circular form wider so that it doesn’t look like a wart on an otherwise flat, rectangular back. It also improves the phone’s balance, as we’ll see later.

OPPO’s adoption of a large circular camera design isn’t by accident either. It’s meant to emulate the design of a camera lens from a traditional camera or DSLR, and even the small details were chosen for that purpose. The grooves on the aerospace-grade aluminum bezel around the lens is reminiscent of the grip of camera lenses, while the orange dot on the bottom of that bezel is an homage to the alignment dot found on SLR cameras. Given how cameras have become a core feature of phones, it’s not exactly surprising that some try to look like one as well.

As always, the Find X6 Pro will be available in different colorways, but the one that will attract attention the most will be the brown vegan leather variant. The synthetic material doesn’t cover the entirety of the phone’s back, though, but leaves some room for a metal-like glass surface at the top. This dual-material design is also reminiscent of classic cameras that have some amount of metal at the top, with a different plastic or leather material for the rest of the body. The Find X6 Pro will also be available in Black and Green, both of which employ AG glass that has been polished to the point of looking and feeling like metal.

Ergonomics

High-end flagships these days are usually either too heavy, giving your hand a strain, or too light, giving a bit of anxiety that you might accidentally let go of it. With a 6.82-inch screen and a weight of 218g, the OPPO Find X6 Pro is happily straddling the middle ground and gives owners a sense of confidence when holding the phone in their hand. Beyond those figures, however, the phone’s design also has a few qualities that improve its ergonomics.

The material on the back of the phone, for example, adds to the grip, though that’s mostly true for the brown vegan leather variant. The Green and Black glass models might be a different story, so it’s fortunate that OPPO includes protective cases inside the box. Amusingly, the case for the vegan leather Find X6 Pro mimics the phone’s dual-tone design, even though the material is completely made of TPU plastic.

The large circular camera design also gives the phone a more balanced weight distribution. Rather than having the thicker part of the chassis in a corner, having it in the middle and occupying almost the entire width of the phone’s back spreads the weight more evenly. It also means that the phone won’t wobble on your desk or any flat surface, remaining just as usable when laid down as it is in your hand.

Performance

There is really no fault to find with the OPPO Find X6 Pro when it comes to its specs. It is blazingly fast and responsive, which is what you’d expect from a phone running on a top-of-the-line Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 with 16GB of RAM, the latter of which can be expanded a bit thanks to virtual memory function. The same can’t be said for the internal storage, though, which is a fixed 512GB in this review unit. There’s a generous 5,000 mAh battery that, thanks to 100W SuperVOOC technology, can charge from zero to full in around 30 minutes. Wireless charging is no less impressive with a 50W AirVOOC that does the same trick in less than an hour.

The 120Hz 2K AMOLED screen is the star of the show when it comes to the front of the phone, and it’s touted to have one of the brightest panels in the market. Your mileage may vary due to settings and environmental factors, but it’s definitely vibrant and crisp under almost any lighting condition. The curved edges of the display may seem more like a holdover from a past generation, though, especially with many flagships now going flat on almost all sides.

If the phone’s design didn’t make it clear enough, the OPPO Find X6 Pro’s signature feature is, of course, its cameras. While almost all smartphone brands will, of course, make similar claims, OPPO really sets the bar higher with its 2023 flagship. It practically breaks down the wall between the “main camera” and “others” by using nearly the same quality hardware on all three cameras. To be precise, all three shooters use 50MP sensors, though their exact configurations still differ according to their purpose.

The “standard” wide camera, for example, gets a large 1-inch 50MP Sony IMX989 sensor that’s partnered with a 1G+7P element lens. The ultra-wide camera isn’t that far behind, with a 1/1.56-inch 50MP Sony IMX890 and a 110-degree field of view. Even more interesting is the telephoto camera that uses the exact same sensor but paired with an f/2.6 aperture lens, perhaps the largest for a smartphone periscope-style shooter. The telephoto camera can handle 3x optical zoom up to 6x hybrid zoom with little loss in detail. On their own, the cameras can take very detailed images and have no problems with low-light situations. They don’t, however, function just on their own.

There is, of course, OPPO’s in-house MariSilicon X Imaging NPU (Neural Processing Unit) that empowers the Find X6 Pro to deliver even more impressive shots, thanks to high-speed autofocus, intelligent resource management, and low-light processing. There is also OPPO’s proud partnership with Hasselblad that brings a distinct Portrait Mode look that simulates the optics expert’s classic lenses, such as the XCD30 and XCD80, to generate beautiful bokehs and portraits. And to prove that those shots were indeed taken in that special mode, there’s a Hasselblad Watermark function that adds details such as shutter speed, aperture, and the like to truly mark that impressive shot.

All in all, the OPPO Find X6 Pro delivers on what it promises, creating a balance between the three cameras, so you don’t have to make compromises in choosing one mode over the other. Transitioning between wide, ultra-wide, and telephoto is seamless and smooth, losing very little quality or detail in the process. It’s almost like simply switching between modes or lenses rather than sensors, which is the camera-like experience that OPPO is aiming for.

Sustainability

Smartphone makers naturally try to make their products durable and long-lasting in order to protect their reputation, but there always comes a time when disasters do happen. Unfortunately, companies don’t make repairing their own phones easy, except if it’s from official yet pricey channels. A phone’s durability goes a long way in making sure it stays in your keep a lot longer than usual. Its ease of repair, however, goes even further in prolonging a device’s life. Unfortunately, the Find X6 Pro isn’t exactly a shining example in that light.

It isn’t exactly a role model in terms of using sustainable materials, and OPPO has been rather silent about the phone’s composition. Vegan leather isn’t exactly a more sustainable option since it’s pretty much synthetic. It’s definitely a missed opportunity for OPPO to boast of its efforts and gains in this area, setting itself apart not just in its design but also in its concrete actions to protect its customers’ future.

Value

If you simply look at the OPPO Find X6 Pro’s core specs, you might get the impression that it’s just another high-end phone in the market, one that has a fancy design on its back, particularly if it’s one made from vegan leather. That’d be selling it short, of course, because what OPPO brings to the table isn’t just another phone but a phone with a symmetrical design in more ways than one. The well-balanced form of the camera bump and the nearly equal qualities of the three cameras make the phone well-rounded in almost every aspect. Unfortunately, its biggest problem isn’t an inherent flaw but a marketing strategy.

As of this writing, there is no clear statement yet on whether the Find X6 Pro will reach its way to global markets. The 6,999 RMB (roughly $1,020) price tag for the 16GB/512GB model becomes a non-issue because it will be difficult to procure one in the first place. Even if you did get your hands on one, though, the lack of official Google Play Support also makes it a deal-breaker for most Android users anyway. That said, most OPPO Find X models do eventually find their way to other regions, so it’s not exactly a done deal just yet.

Verdict

It’s hard to be attracted to phones with rather obnoxious camera bumps that call attention to themselves by screaming into your face. Admittedly, it’s perhaps harder to create a design that balances the contrasting goals of providing enough space for those cameras while keeping things pleasant and minimal. Very few have managed to succeed so far, and OPPO is perhaps a member of that small club. And it does so by embracing the camera enclosure for what it is while also paying homage to the true cameras that came before it.

The OPPO Find X6 Pro emulates the look and part of the feel of an SLR lens in a tasteful and unobtrusive style. It employs a contrast of elements to create a balance that is not only visual but also ergonomic. It also brings that theme of balance to its hardware, particularly with three cameras that are nearly equal to each other. In an industry that thrives on sensational designs and features, the Find X6 Pro is almost like a reminder not only to keep extravagance in check but also to maintain a well-balanced design for the benefit of the user.

Aki Ukita contributed to this review.

The post OPPO Find X6 Pro Review: Maintaining the Balance first appeared on Yanko Design.

Oppo Find N2 Flip: The Official Smartphone of UEFA Champions League

Posted on 12/03/2023 by Al Hilal

Chinese electronics company Oppo has just announced the release of its latest smartphone, the Oppo Find N2 Flip. This device is more than just a smartphone, as it is also the official smartphone of the UEFA Champions League (UCL), one of the world’s most prestigious football competitions. At first glance, the Oppo Find N2 Flip is an impressive device. It features a 6.55-inch AMOLED display that boasts excellent color reproduction and sharpness. It also comes with a 50-megapixel main camera and a 32-megapixel front-facing camera, both of which can take stunning photos and videos. But the Oppo Find N2 Flip…

The post Oppo Find N2 Flip: The Official Smartphone of UEFA Champions League first appeared on Trendy Gadget.

The OPPO Air Glass 2 is easily the most fashionably sleek AR wearable on display at MWC 2023

Posted on 28/02/2023 by Sarang Sheth

In a sea of ski-goggle-shaped AR headsets, OPPO’s 2nd-gen Air Glass is slim enough to be mistaken for an actual pair of glasses. Look carefully, however, and you’ll notice the cleverly concealed reflective display in the eyepieces. To the wearer, however, the display impressively overlays virtual elements right on top of real life, helping you see the time, weather, notifications, etc.

Designer: OPPO

The Air Glass 2 was announced last year at OPPO’s INNO Day event, with a broader reveal at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. It seems leaps and bounds ahead of the first Air Glass that debuted in 2021, with a mildly clunky, Google Glass-esque design. In its second iteration, the Air Glass 2 looks exactly like a regular pair of glasses, albeit with loads of impressive tech underneath its surface.

The Air Glass 2 is an ‘assisted reality’ wearable that now has two displays, one in each eyepiece. The way these displays work is using a MicroLED built into the frame, which projects images onto a resin SRG-diffractive optical waveguide lens, developed as a joint partnership between OPPO and meta-bounds. These new lenses are lighter, more drop-resistant, and safer, in line with consumers’ daily habits of using glasses, making them perfect for the Air Glass 2.

The eyepieces get their visuals from 0.13″ green microLED displays built into the sides of the eyewear, capable of outputting an impressive 1,000 nits per eye. You’ve also got an environmental light sensor, a touchpad for registering input, microphones, and speakers built into the Air Glass 2’s temple stems, completing the entire wearable experience. The glasses are powered by a Snapdragon 4100 processor, and the entire wearable runs on a built-in 200mAh battery that has a 3-hour lifespan and can be charged via a pogo-pin charger that connects to the end of the spectacles’ temple stems.

The entire hardware comes with a magnesium-lithium alloy outer construction and weighs a paltry 38 grams, making it about 8 grams heavier than its predecessor, but with double the tech. This lightweight design also means that the Air Glass 2 can’t be used as a standalone wearable. It needs to be wirelessly connected to a smartphone, which can then beam data to the eyepieces, allowing you to view navigation data, live translations, calendar alerts, weather updates, fitness tracking data, and other datasets. The microphone and speakers help wearers take calls, give voice commands, or even listen to music.

The OPPO Air Glass 2 app lets you control what you see in the eyepieces

Ultimately, the Air Glass 2 is perhaps the biggest flex from any company in the AR space (note: the Air Glass 2 is an ‘assisted reality’ wearable). The Air Glass 2 is surprisingly small and light, while looking just about as fashionable as any regular pair of acetate frames. The MicroLED display and diffractive optical waveguide lens system are light-years ahead of the competition, although the elements on the screen have their own limitations – they’re green, exist in only a small part of your FoV, and don’t do much as of now. That being said, the Air Glass 2 is still leaps and bounds ahead of other wearables, even though Google teased a similar pair of glasses last year in a concept video but didn’t show any actual hardware.

A close-up of the pogo-pin charger for the OPPO Air Glass 2

The OPPO Air Glass 2 was unveiled in both black and white frame variants, although pricing and release date details haven’t been made public. If this is anything like the 2021 Air Glass, OPPO will probably sell a limited number of units to enthusiasts in China before considering a global rollout.

The post The OPPO Air Glass 2 is easily the most fashionably sleek AR wearable on display at MWC 2023 first appeared on Yanko Design.

OPPO Find N2 Flip Foldable Phone Review: Challenging the Foldable Status Quo

Posted on 15/02/2023 by JC Torres

PROS:

Beautiful gap-less folded design topped with a crease-less inner screen

Largest Cover Screen in its class

Impressive Hasselblad-tuned camera and large battery

Multi-angle Flex Mode enables different photography styles

CONS:

No water resistance rating

Missed opportunity for apps on Cover Screen

No telephoto camera

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS

ERGONOMICS

PERFORMANCE

SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY

VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The OPPO Find N2 Flip offers a beautiful and more usable foldable clamshell but falls a bit short of utilizing its strengths to the fullest.

By now, almost everyone knows that foldable phones exist, even if most still don’t understand what they’re useful for. Thanks to Samsung’s heavy push, foldable phones are becoming more known, but the majority of the attention in that niche market is placed on “horizontal” foldables like the Galaxy Z Fold 4. That’s not the only foldable form factor, of course, and foldable clamshells like the ones started by the new Motorola Razr are coming into focus as more affordable and more fashionable options. Just like with its Find N2, OPPO is staking a claim to a part of this largely unexplored territory, presenting a design that is meant to push the envelope when it comes to foldable clamshells. But is the OPPO Find N2 Flip just a pretty face, or does it have something truly special to bring to the table? We take the newest kid on the foldable block to find out.

Designer: OPPO

Aesthetics

As far as appearances go, the OPPO Find N2 Flip seems to be aiming to make a good impression without being overbearing. It is sleek, stylish, and elegant without stunning your eyes with an overabundance of luxurious details. To some extent, it sends a message that you don’t have to be extravagant or excessive to make an impact. You just have to be tasteful, and this “vertical foldable” definitely has plenty of that.

The devil is in the details, as they say, and so is beauty. The two color options of Astral Black and Moonlit Purple each have their own distinct personalities to match your style or taste. The black colorway, for example, has a silky texture that also makes the surface look like it has been littered with powdered crystals. The milky purple, on the other hand, has a gentle diffuse that doesn’t attract as many fingerprints as glossy glass. Regardless of the version, the OPPO Find N2 Flip’s hinge captures light in a unique manner that makes it look like dancing waves on the surface.

The biggest attraction of the phone isn’t its foldable inner screen, surprisingly. It’s actually the large 3.26-inch Cover Screen that makes it seem as if there’s a second, tinier phone on its back. That’s not completely far from the truth since the display’s 17:9 aspect ratio is nearly similar to most phones, though there’s a big catch that we’ll get to later. This screen sits flush with its surroundings, creating a seamless visual. Of course, that detail becomes pointless if you opt to protect the phone with the included transparent crystal case.

The rest of the phone’s design is what you would consider “normal,” which is actually good for making this unconventional form factor more approachable for regular phone users. The flat aluminum edges of the phone offer no surprises, which also means no headphone jack. The inner screen, while practically bezel-less, does have a raised border to protect it. The focus, of course, is on what you won’t see. Although it’s still there, the crease is hardly visible unless you really look hard, a feat made possible with OPPO’s latest-gen Flexion Hinge. Whether folded or opened, the OPPO Find N2 Flip offers the eyes a pleasant sight but also dials down the extravagance to make the foldable phone feel less alien and a bit more normal.

Ergonomics

Foldable phones complicate the ergonomics of mobile devices a little bit. Just as we were getting used to large slabs of glass and metal in our hands, these form-shifting phones stretched the ratio a bit more. Compared to regular handsets, foldable phones are often taller and narrower, and the OPPO Find N2 Flip is really no different. Compared to its peers, however, it is a little bit wider, bringing it closer to normal proportions. What this means, in practice, is that you’ll really have to stretch your thumb farther to reach higher UI elements on the screen, though it’s probably safer to just use your other hand anyway.

Fortunately, it is possible to use the Find N2 Flip with a single hand, especially when folded. The larger Cover Screen leaves plenty of room for notifications, buttons, and other interactive elements that you can comfortably reach with either hand. This allows you to answer calls, toggle certain phone settings, or even fire off canned responses to messages, all without having to open the phone at all.

And when you do need to flip it open, you can do so with a single hand as well by carefully sliding your thumb in between the two halves and then pushing it inward to widen the gap. Of course, the OPPO Find N2 Flip folds completely flat without any gap, unlike the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, so there might be some hesitation in slipping your thumb inside for fear of scratching the sensitive inner screen. Fortunately, that screen isn’t so fragile, and the sturdy gives you a more solid feel when opening or closing the device with one hand.

That new hinge also opens up new ways to use the phone as a camera, no pun intended. Since it can remain open at almost any angle, you use the lower half of the phone as a steady tripod or go low and still see the preview on the lower half of the screen. You can even hold it like a mini camcorder, giving you that cinematographer feeling while shooting the next YouTube sensation.

Performance

Just like with its more horizontal sibling, the OPPO Find N2 Flip is fighting in the foldable arena not just with looks but also with brawn. Powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ with 8GB of RAM, the pretty clamshell has plenty of muscle to drive your mobile experience to the fullest, from browsing to video to games. There’s only 256GB of internal storage, though, which sounds a little too modest, especially considering you can’t expand it with a microSD card.

Along with all that power, the Find N2 Flip packs the largest battery in its class. Sure, we’ve seen larger, but considering space constraints, it’s definitely quite a feat to cram 4,300mAh inside, far larger than any of its foldable clamshell peers. It charges fast, too, with a 44W SUPERVOOC tech that goes from zero to full in an hour. One rather disappointing detail is that the phone doesn’t support any form of wireless charging, which has already become a standard these days. Not a complete deal breaker unless you’ve completely committed your mobile life to wireless charging everywhere.

The OPPO Find N2 Flip packs two cameras on its back and a whopping 32MP front-facing camera for normal selfies and video calls. Of these three, the 50MP Sony IMX890 is definitely the highlight, especially with its Hasselblad-tuned lens and special filters. Together with OPPO’s custom MariSilicon X imaging NPU, the camera takes great shots, regardless of the lighting condition. Colors are accurate, and details are rich, though faces do come out a bit pasty thanks to default beautification effects. In comparison, the 8MP ultra-wide camera is so-so, making it feel like it’s simply there for the sake of specs. There is no dedicated telephoto lens, so you’ll have to settle for the, unfortunately, underwhelming digital zoom.

The inner foldable screen measures 6.8 inches on the diagonal and has an FHD+ resolution of 2520×1080, which isn’t that different from other foldable clamshells. While the display is definitely bright, responsive, and fast at 120Hz, its crowning glory is the near-absence of a crease. Thanks to the hinge design that Samsung still hasn’t adopted, the phone is able to fold completely flat without straining the screen in the middle and lessening the effect of a visible crease. It’s still there, and you can see it at certain angles, but it’s almost invisible in day-to-day use.

As mentioned, the star of the show and the feature that really sets the OPPO Find N2 Flip apart is that 3.26-inch 720×382 Cover Screen. It’s not exactly the sharpest, but its tall rectangular shape leaves room for more content, including a more natural camera preview similar to the main screen. Unfortunately, it is also the biggest source of disappointment for the phone, and it feels that OPPO barely scratched the surface of what such a display can be used for.

At the moment, you only have a fixed selection of screen widgets, including an animated wallpaper, a camera shortcut, weather, events, and a timer. The Chinese version of this phone has two more widgets specific to the market, but none really comes close to offering more functionality. You have room to see up to six notifications at a time, and you can even reply to supported messaging apps. You can only use pre-set phrases or voice recognition, though. Given how much space the screen has, you’d expect there to be more, but as of this writing, that just isn’t on the table yet.

Sustainability

OPPO, along with Realme, is one of the major phone brands making a strong push for reducing their carbon footprint and increasing the sustainability of their products and processes. There are quite a few notable phones that take that mission to heart, but the Find N2 Flip isn’t part of that still small circle. If anything, it’s almost as if it takes one step back, at least when it comes to packaging and longevity.

The foldable phone comes in a big white box that does it a bit of a disservice. While the way it pushes the phone up at an angle when you lift the top is nice, that’s pretty much all there is to it. It isn’t space efficient, and while the design is minimal, it isn’t particularly elegant. To put it bluntly, it is quite plain, a stark contrast to the phone itself, and is probably wasteful as well.

The phone also doesn’t come with any guarantee of water resistance, especially an IP rating. That may have been understandable for a foldable phone a few years back, but technology has progressed since then. IP certification is admittedly expensive, but some assurance would still go a long way in giving buyers peace of mind for their investment.

Value

Even after four years, it’s still difficult to pin down the true value of a foldable phone, at least in ways that most consumers would appreciate. Horizontal foldables like the OPPO Find N2 offer a larger screen that you can still cram in your pocket, but it also comes with some awkwardness in use. We’re still a few years away from a perfect form factor, and the current generations feel more like stopgaps and milestones rather than finished products.

A foldable clamshell might actually make a bit more sense, especially since we’ve already been used to their ancestors like the iconic Motorola RAZR. They feel and look more stylish, and the small external screen helps set your expectations low. The OPPO Find N2 Flip definitely brings both benefits to the table, but the clincher will always be the price tag. Now available in global markets, it will compete with the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 in both reach and price, and at £849 (roughly $1,000), it’s going to be a very close call, especially when you consider how young OPPO’s foldable is in comparison.

Verdict

The OPPO Find N2 Flip is undoubtedly a charming device that cements the foldable segment as something for normal folks to enjoy. It carries an elegance that isn’t overwhelming and a style that is more approachable yet also distinctive. It is no slouch when it comes to performance, especially with its large battery and larger-than-normal external Cover Screen. Its main camera is quite impressive, but the ultra-wide shooter and the lack of a telephoto lens could disappoint mobile shutterbugs, especially when they can pretend they’re holding a camcorder with the phone’s Flexion Hinge.

Unfortunately, the Find N2 Flip’s biggest asset is also its biggest letdown. For all the space it gives, that Cover Screen feels so underutilized that it could have been just half its size, and none would be the wiser. Fortunately, it’s something that can be addressed with future software updates, presuming OPPO is willing to put in the work before its next-gen foldable. As it stands, the OPPO Find N2 Flip is an admirable first step as far as vertical foldables go, but it feels lacking that extra punch that would make it OPPO’s best yet.

The post OPPO Find N2 Flip Foldable Phone Review: Challenging the Foldable Status Quo first appeared on Yanko Design.

OPPO OHealth H1 is a pebble-shaped device that keeps tabs on your family’s health

Posted on 16/12/2022 by Ewdison Then

Although we should always be aware of our body’s condition, it wasn’t until recently that people became more acutely aware of the need to monitor our health on a regular basis. Regular checkups might not always be feasible, especially if they’re spaced too far apart or too pricey, and that’s one of the major reasons why people put it off until it’s too late. Smartwatches and some fitness trackers have now gained the ability to keep track of some of these health points, but that isn’t really practical when you want to monitor the health of every member of the family. That’s the kind of situation that OPPO designed its first-ever product under its OHealth brand, bringing together the equivalent of six pieces of medical equipment in one beautiful device.

Designer: OPPO

Nothing scares people more than medical and dental equipment, some of which may look more like torture instruments than health tools. The mere sight of these literally clinical objects sometimes causes stress in some people, which is another reason why some stay away from checkups. Bringing these home for personal use is not only impractical but also pointless since many of them require training to use and decipher.

In stark contrast, the OPPO OHealth H1 device looks clean, smooth, and totally harmless. Its design is reminiscent of a pebble, one of OPPO’s favorite natural objects, or a bar of soap. Either way, it’s imagery that inspires calmness and confidence, and it’s not something you might expect to come from a machine that can tell you if you’re in danger of a heart attack or worse.

Despite its unassuming looks, the OHealth H1 is actually packed with health features equivalent to six diagnostic tools. Some, like heart rate monitoring, blood oxygen measurement, sleep monitoring, and body temperature detection, might sound commonplace, considering how some smartwatches already have these functions. OPPO’s device, however, offers better accuracy and performance since it isn’t space-constrained like wearables. In addition, the OHealth H1 is also able to perform functions not available on smartwatches, like proper ECG reading and, more interestingly, cardiopulmonary auscultation. The latter is the medical term used for what doctors listen for when they place a stethoscope on your chest or back.

The OHealth H1 may sound like a portable diagnostic clinic, but it is designed to be approachable and accessible to ordinary people. All you need to do is to either put your finger on a specific area on the bottom of the device or place the device on a person’s forehead, chest, or back. And you don’t have to be a doctor to make sense of all the data because OPPO’s companion mobile app and AI will make the interpretation for you.

The OPPO OHealth H1 will never be able to replace a professional healthcare worker, but it can at least give parents and family members hints on the state of their health, especially for those in charge of other members’ welfare. More importantly, the health monitor’s gentle and almost disarming design removes psychological barriers to keeping tabs on one’s health, which could be a matter of life or death for people who’d never see a doctor otherwise.

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OPPO Find N2 Foldable Phone Review: A Design Marvel You Can Fit in Your Hand

Posted on 16/12/2022 by Ewdison Then

PROS:

Lighter, thinner, more ergonomic design

Improved Flexion hinge experience

Impressive camera output

Protective case included in the box

CONS:

A few software issues

Not available globally

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS

ERGONOMICS

PERFORMANCE

SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY

VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

Elegant and delightful, the OPPO Find N2 represents a refinement of the foldable phone design that deserves to reach global markets.

Given their marketing strength, you’d think that Samsung and maybe Huawei are the only ones doing foldable phones, with a bit of Motorola on the side. Of course, there are now a few more players in that arena, especially when you turn your attention toward the East. It’s a relatively nascent market compared to the larger smartphone industry, which means there’s plenty of room for improvement but also plenty of temptations to just go with the flow. There are still plenty of unanswered questions regarding foldable phones’ design, from the reliability of its hinge to the very purpose of their existence, but those doubts never stopped companies from attempting to innovate and search for answers. OPPO, for one, seems to have done quite a lot of work for its second-gen “horizontal” foldable, so we take the OPPO Find N2 in our hands to check how much has improved and how much has remained unchanged.

Designer: OPPO

Aesthetics

It’s almost too easy to think that once you have seen one foldable phone, you’ve already seen them all. After all, there are only so many ways you can fold a device, given the limitations of today’s technologies. Right from the start, however, the OPPO Find N bucked the trend to show that there is a slightly different way to design a large, horizontal foldable phone, and the Find N2 iterates over that design almost to perfection.

Unlike all the rest from Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, Honor, and Vivo, the OPPO Find N2 maintains the more familiar aspect ratios and shapes of phones and tablets. When folded closed, the “phone” isn’t an awkwardly tall and narrow piece of screen real estate that makes it difficult to even peck a few words on it. When opened up, the “tablet” is closer to a landscape or horizontal aspect ratio that’s more typical of these slates. That means you won’t have to constantly rotate the phone after opening it to watch videos properly or take advantage of split-screen functionality.

While that basic form has remained the same, OPPO’s second foldable phone does change things in subtle yet meaningful ways. You might not even notice how thinner it is compared to its predecessor, but it adds up to make the device more manageable in your hand. You will appreciate how light it is, though, which isn’t exactly surprising given how smaller it is compared to most foldables of its kind. OPPO also made important improvements in both the look and feel of the device, starting with the anodized metal frame that tastefully matches and accents the phone’s color. The back material has also been changed from glossy glass to a matte texture that helps a lot with grippy-ness. There’s even a vegan leather model that makes the phone look classy while giving something your fingers will enjoy as well.

The OPPO Find N2 is undoubtedly a beauty to behold from any side or angle, especially thanks to how it folds completely flat and how the crease at the fold is nearly invisible. One design aspect that might be a bit divisive is the camera bump, something that it inherits from the first Find N. A bit like the gorgeous OPPO Find X5 Pro, that bump slopes gently upward. Unlike that award-winning design, however, there is a clear demarcation around the camera island, creating an abrupt stop in eye movement. Admittedly, it’s a minor detail that others might actually find tasteful, especially compared to more obnoxious camera bumps on other phones, foldable or otherwise.

Ergonomics

The driving force behind OPPO’s decision to stay off the beaten foldable design path is the ease of use rather than mere technological demonstration. Its smaller size and more familiar aspect ratios make it easier to hold and use even with a single hand, something that’s rare with regular phones these days. Although it might seem like you’re sacrificing screen size, what you’re really getting is a more practical and ergonomic device that looks great and feels just as great in your hands.

OPPO’s “waterdrop” hinge design has always made it possible to close the phone completely flat, which means it takes up less space and is effectively thinner when folded. The OPPO Find N2 further optimizes this design by making the device thinner and, more importantly, lighter, mostly by improving materials and reducing the number of parts needed in its Flexion Hinge. All of these result in a device that’s comfortable to use and puts less strain on your hands and arms. Given how you’re likely to enjoy using it for hours on end, that’s a rather significant quality of life improvement.

At the same time, OPPO has taken pains to also make sure you’re able to hold on better to the phone to prevent accidents. That switch to matte glass for the back adds a bit of texture that helps your finger grip the device better. But if you still fear your clumsiness, OPPO generously includes a two-piece protective case in the box that matches the phone’s color for added peace of mind. It’s the typical silicone case, though, so it does take away some of the phone’s stylish beauty.

One of the biggest improvements in the OPPO Find N2 is something that you can’t see. The company’s second-generation Flexion Hinge features improved durability thanks to the use of new materials like carbon fiber and high-strength alloy. It also has 38 fewer parts than the previous-gen hinge while delivering improved robustness and reliability. For example, it can now stay open at any angle between 45 to 125 degrees. This is part of the reason why the Find N2 is lighter and more usable, without compromising its functionality.

Performance

The Find N2 is no slouch when it comes to internal components either, though it is a tad late to bear the latest mobile processor. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, however, is very much cable of handling anything you can throw at it, especially when you consider the 12 or 16GB of memory you can utilize. In terms of raw power, there really isn’t much to complain about, and the phone will serve you well whether you’re binging the latest streaming shows, playing your favorite mobile games, or even being productive with work tasks.

Both displays on the OPPO Find N2 are top-notch, and not just because of their aspect ratios. The external 5.54-inch 2120×1080 AMOLED display is bright and vibrant, and its 120Hz refresh rate is decent even for games. The main star is, of course, the internal 7.1-inch 1920×1792 AMOLED LTPO screen that can dial its refresh rate down to 1Hz to preserve the battery. This flexible screen is just as delightful and colorful as any other, but, more importantly, the crease that splits it into two areas is barely visible at any angle. Your finger won’t be able to tell it’s there, either, which is a far cry from the dip that even the Galaxy Z Fold 4 still has at this point.

One problem with most foldable phones is that there isn’t much space to cram large cameras inside them. It’s no surprise, then, that the OPPO Find N2’s set is no match for some of the latest flagships in the market. That being said, it’s actually not bad at all, despite what the specs sheet might suggest. It definitely helps that the famed Hasselblad had a hand in fine-tuning the photography experience, especially through the software and filters. OPPO’s dedicated imaging NPU, the MariSilicon X, also deserves credit for the cameras’ performance, particularly when 4K content is involved.

The 50MP camera on its own produces excellent photos even in low-light situations. The ultra-wide camera gets a decent 48MP sensor, so you’re not actually sacrificing quality by switching to a more panoramic shot, though there are telltale signs of lens distortion at the edges. Just as impressive is the 32MP sensor on the telephoto camera, something that you won’t expect for close-up shots. The 32MP front-facing cameras, both inside and outside, are also good and won’t leave you wanting when it comes to selfies and video calls either.

The Find N2 runs OPPO’s ColorOS 13 version of Android 13, which offers a beautiful and fluid interface as well as plenty of options to customize your experience. What makes this version different are the gestures designed to make it easy to take advantage of the form factor, specifically in “splitting” the screen between two apps. That said, OPPO could only do so much to nudge Android apps to behave well in this context. You’ll find some apps still don’t play nice with foldable phones, but that is a flaw of the platform more than the hardware.

Sustainability

While OPPO is blazing a trail when it comes to innovating on foldable phones, it isn’t making inroads in changing the narrative around sustainability. There are always small steps forward, like the use of recycled paper or the reduction of packaging size, but the phones themselves mostly remain beautiful yet harmful products of human ingenuity and creativity. OPPO has also yet to jump on the slowly growing trend of making its phones more easily repairable by third parties and even owners themselves, but the complexity of a foldable phone makes that a non-starter anyway.

The OPPO Find N2 does at least improve the phone’s reliability a bit so that it won’t find itself in repair shops too soon. The reduction of the number of parts that make up the new hinge also translates to a reduction of the things that could potentially break. Improving the phone’s overall durability might not be a big sustainability gain, but it at least helps prolong the lifetime of a product and delay its arrival in landfills.

One of the three available colors for the Find N2 also uses vegan leather to offer a luxurious aesthetic that doesn’t harm the environment, particularly animals. Vegan leather, however, is also a bit controversial in how it has become somewhat of a marketing buzzword. When implemented properly, however, it’s still a more viable alternative to other non-sustainable materials that make a phone look dashing.

Value

The first foldable OPPO phone challenged the status quo of this niche market with a design that proves there’s still another way to do things. The OPPO Find N2, then, is a refinement of that design that smooths out the rough edges to deliver a product that is almost perfect, at least for what its intended goals are. Stylish and handy, the Find N2 offers a foldable device that feels like a finished product rather than an expensive prototype. Its design is clearly informed by the need to have something comfortable, usable, and aesthetic rather than simply flaunting technical and engineering innovations.

For all its strengths, the OPPO Find N2 has one critical flaw that makes all of the above almost moot and academic. It won’t be available anywhere other than China, at least not in the immediate future. And while you might be able to purchase it through third-party retailers, the software experience might be so different that it detracts from the enjoyment of the device. Fortunately, OPPO hasn’t closed the door on the possibility of a global launch, but it’s taking a wait-and-see approach in order to measure market interest.

Verdict

Many people still doubt that foldable phones, both the larger ones and the clamshell designs, are the future of mobile phones, but it’s hard to deny that they will play a large part in their development. As components become more accessible, more companies will be putting out such devices to the point that they will become commonplace. For now, however, there are only a few that dare dip their toes in that market, and even fewer who dare to be different.

The OPPO Find N2 is clearly a rare breed, not only because of how much smaller it is but also because of its focus. While all phone brands will naturally claim that they are designing for usability, OPPO takes that mission to heart. The result is a foldable device that is elegant, delightful, and practical, able to fit seamlessly into everyday life just like their non-foldable brethren.

The post OPPO Find N2 Foldable Phone Review: A Design Marvel You Can Fit in Your Hand first appeared on Yanko Design.

OPPO Design In Tech: Making technology more nature-inspired yet human-centric

Posted on 20/10/2022 by JC Torres

Xi Zeng delivering “The Pursuit of Innovation and Elegance in Design” speech at OPPO’s Design in Tech Workshop

Technology permeates our lives, and our world revolves around it. From the computers that run the backbone of the world’s information system to the smartphones that are glued to our hands and faces, technology has left an indelible imprint on modern human civilization. Despite its importance, technology is always perceived as an independent entity, rather than something that’s connected to humans. Technology is synonymous with rapid advancement and innovation, but there’s scope for building tech that emotionally resonates with humans. Smartphones, for example, are something that is critical to both work and personal lives, yet some people still see them simply as a “piece of tech” that’s in the same category as appliances and power tools. It doesn’t have to be that way, though, and OPPO is trying to break out of that mold by bringing emotions and passion into these devices, using design as a bridge that connects technology and people.

With few exceptions, smartphones and their accessories, such as earbuds, are designed and marketed around hardware features and specs. While the market has focused on these aspects, the reality is that people are more interested in the practical applications of these points.