If you are in the market for a foldable smartphone today, you will find about two eligible devices that suits your fancy. If its compact you are looking for, you have the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4. For the larger form factor that features a larger, tablet like display, you have Samsung as well with their Galaxy Z Fold 4, and HUAWEI with their Mate Xs 2. We mentioned three devices but if practical is what you are looking for, you are probably going to end up with either the compact Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, or the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4.
Now though you might have a proper third choice. You now can choose between a Samsung, or an OPPO. To be fair, there is no practical competitor to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 at this point of time. The new OPPO Find N2 that they just launched is more of a Galaxy Z Fold 4 competitor instead.
The OPPO Find N2 is really as successor to the very interesting OPPO Find N that was launched very late in 2021 as well. In some sense, we want to consider the Find N2 a 2023 device. At the same time, the OPPO Find N2 packs hardware more comparable to 2022 flagship devices, hence.
Inside, you find a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 powering the Android 13 based ColorOS 13 user interface (UI). You have up to 16GB of RAM to play around with, so the device will never feel slow even if you max out your tab limit on Google Chrome or have more than 20 apps open at the same time. With the larger display, you might want to have a few apps open in multiple windows too. At the same time, if you are counting on the Find N2 to be productive, you get up to 512GB of storage to work with for all sorts of documents and even photos.
Folded, the device features an expansive and rather regular factored display that is a 120hz 5.54-inch AMOLED display with 18:9 aspect ratio. It offers Full HD+ in resolution and up to 1350 nits brightness for when you want to work with it under the sun. Unfold it and you will find a large 7.1-inch LTPO AMOLED display greeting you. It is smaller than the Galaxy Z Fold 4’s 7.4-inch display, but hey it is a little more sensible in your hands. It also offers up to 120Hz in refresh rate, HDR10+ colours, and up to 1550 nits in peak brightness which, in any way you look at it, is really bright. It is smaller and more modest compared to its Samsung competitor with only 1,792 by 1,920 pixels packed in.
Out the back, you will find a 50-Megapixel shooter. That main shooter is backed up by a 32-Megapixel telephoto shooter and a 48-Megapixel ultrawide camera. You also get the clever Hasselblad calibration, obvious with a large Hasselblad branding at the camera bump this time. What they did not brand on the device is the MariSilicon X they put into the device for image processing. Of course, the camera can also do 4K video recording, which should not be a surprise anyway. Out the front, when folded, you find a 32-Megapixel front facing camera on the cover display. Inside, you find another 32-Megapixel camera.
It packs a 4,520 mAh battery to keep everything running for the day. It is larger than its competitor’s, but not by so much that it gets a significant advantage in battery life. Still, you can charge it at 67W with OPPO’s clever SUPERVOOC technology, which is a clear advantage over Samsung’s charging implementation. There is no wireless charging though, bummer.
What separates the OPPO Find N2 and its competitors apart is something you can hardly see. They call it a Flexion Hinge technology. Its aim? To minimize the display crease that is infamous with foldable devices today. It is also designed to be lighter than before with less moving parts for added reliability.
In fact, OPPO claims that they have reduced the number of moving parts within the hinge by 38 parts. There is now about 100 moving parts within the hinge. Less moving parts also means less things might go wrong. It is supposedly more rigid and stronger in construction too thanks to exotic materials like Carbon Fibre and high-strength alloy used in its construction. All these adds up to a weight saving of 42g over the older Find N.
The hinge also allows OPPO to reduce the stress on the folding display. Less stress also means less visible crease than before. OPPO claims that the visible crease has been narrowed by 67%, which sounds like a larger improvement, but we cannot confirm anything until we see the device ourselves.
The OPPO Find N2 is currently only available in China. Prices starts at CN¥ 8,000 (MYR 5,072*) and tops out at CN¥ 9,000 (MYR 5,705*). If the current conversion rates are anything to go by, the OPPO Find N2 is priced at a much more accessible price range than its competition too. There are no confirmations on its availability and official price range in Malaysia just yet. More on the OPPO Find N2 can be found on their website. It is in Chinese though, since the device is currently only available in China.
*Approximately based on exchange rate of CN¥ 100 = MYR 63.40 as of 19/12/2022 on xe.com
