Oppo Find N2 Review – Beautiful Refined Foldable Flagship

Foldable phones are the new form factor du jour with every manufacturer hopping onto the bandwagon to explore the possibilities the design can offer with mixed success.

Throwing their hat into the ring, Oppo has issued their flagship foldable dubbed the Find N2 that succeeds last year’s original Find N1. While it’s currently limited to deployment only in China for now, we managed to get our hands on an Oppo Find N2 review sample though we only had extremely limited time to test it. Here’s our findings…

Oppo Find N2 Review – What’s the difference between the Find N2 and Galaxy Z Fold4?

No foldable review can go by without comparison to the current gold standard for foldable phones – the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4. Compared to the incumbent foldable flagship, the Oppo Find N2’s somewhat unique dimensions are more readily apparent. 

Not only is the Find N2 lighter by 30 grams compared to the Fold4, it also has a squarer screen aspect ratio with shorter, wider displays for the front and main folding display as opposed to the taller, narrower letterbox front display of the Galaxy Z Fold4 though this is less apparent for the Fold 4’s main display which is relatively squarish and is actually larger by half an inch at 7.6-inches.

Screen sizes and chassis aside, the Find N2 compares favourably to the Fold4 in terms of hardware with a similar Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 CPU to the Fold4 and a base configuration of 12GB RAM and 256GB storage for both phones. 5G connectivity comes as standard for both the Find N2 and the Fold4 though the former has WiFi 6 while the latter has slightly faster WiFi 6E.

Like the Fold4, the Find N2 has a triple rear camera array which features the typical primary/ultrawide/telephoto cameras expected of a flagship phone though this time around they’ve been tuned by Hasselblad. Where the Find N2 stands out is that it has better selfie cameras with larger 32MP sensors on both the front and main display while featuring a dedicated in-house MariSilicon X neural processing unit for better image quality. 

Cameras aside, the Find N2 also has a slight advantage with a slightly larger battery while having faster 67W wired charging. Hardware isn’t the final determinant of what makes a good phone though Oppo has put in exceptional effort in refining the concept of a foldable phone which we’ll get into shortly.

Oppo Find N2 Review – Build and Design.

The successor to last year’s Oppo Find N1, the new Oppo Find N2 is the brand’s latest flagship foldable phone with a similar design as its predecessor with upgrades to its hinges along with a slimmer overall silhouette and the use of lighter materials in its construction. 

Compared to the older Find N1, the new Find N2 ditches wireless charging support – there’s only wired charging here – with the chassis being slightly thinner and 42g lighter. The phone also features an upgraded Flexion hinge design that uses lighter aerospace grade aluminium as well as carbon fibre while reducing the number of moving parts from 138 down to 100 without any compromise in durability.

In terms of design, our Oppo Find N2 review sample is very well appointed with an even heft and excellent tactility on account of the premium materials used in its construction. On the rear, the phone has a textured faux leather backplate with a squarish camera housing emplaced in the upper left corner for its triple-camera array. The provision of the faux leather finish makes it much easier to wield and less likely to slip when held. A higher end version with more RAM and storage is available with a metallic backplate in either white and green.

The sides of the Find N2 are done up in machined aluminium with chamfered edges and gently rounded corners complemented by a metal volume rocker and power button on the side that doubles as a fingerprint reader. Oddly enough, the power button is placed slightly higher than where a thumb would typically rest if you’re holding the Find N2 right-handed which makes it  an ergonomic chore if you are turning the phone on.

On the front, the Oppo Find N2 has a front-facing 5.54-inch flat AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution and a 18:9 aspect ratio which lends it a look more akin to a traditional candy bar shaped phone though the corners facing away from the hinges are gently rounded. Rounding things off, the front display has a robust 120Hz refresh rate as well as a small punch hole in the upper quadrant for a 32MP selfie camera. 

When fully unfurled, the 7.1-inch LTPO AMOLED main display features a dynamic 120Hz refresh rate with 1,792 x 1,820 pixels resolution and 370ppi as well as a squarish 8.4:9 aspect ratio. A 32MP camera for video calls is emplaced way up in the upper left corner of the phone.

Both the front and main displays are also both rated for 100% DCI-P3 colour accuracy and HDR10+ support too befitting a flagship foldable.

The base of the phone, which is to say the side with the USB-C port features a very quaint speaker configuration with both of the phone’s stereo speakers pointing downwards. While this would theoretically affect its sound staging, it should not be too much of an issue for casual use. The base of the phone also houses the nano SIM card tray.

While the Oppo Find N2 looks and feels wonderfully premium in almost every aspect of its design, it is unfortunately not rated for any water or dust resistance so care needs to be taken to ensure that it remains intact when used in adverse environments.

Out of the box, our Oppo Find N2 review sample comes with a fair assortment of kit that notably features a two-piece colour-matched plastic casing that latches onto the front and rear of the phone though the hinge remains unprotected.

Like many other casings for foldables, the case relies on the use of adhesive tape to ensure it stays onto the phone. Seeing the relative paucity of casings for the Find N2, it’s a welcome bonus in lieu of sourcing other options.  In addition to the casing, Oppo also tosses in a USB-C cable, a 67W USB-C charger, a microfibre cloth and, interestingly enough, a pre-applied screen protector on the front display

Oppo Find N2 Review – Redesigned, slimmer and flatter Flexion Hinge

Arguably the linchpin of the design, the Oppo Find N2’s Flexion hinge proves to be an exceptional example of engineering indeed that addresses the aesthetic problems seen in foldables – the gap between displays and the crease when unfolding the main display. 

To address this, the Oppo Find N2’s Flexion hinge gently folds the display in a water drop shape at the fold point. When folded down and viewed from the side, there’s almost no gap wide enough to slip a sheet of paper through which is quite a feat of engineering.

Another interesting engineering problem that Oppo has resolved with the Flexion hinge is that it can now stand up in a 45-125 degree angle what it calls FlexForm Mode analogous to Samsung’s Flex mode for their Z Fold series phones. Unfortunately, there’s not many built-in apps that can take advantage of FlexForm mode save for the camera and the music player for now but it’s nonetheless still a promising prospect. In terms of durability, the Flexion hinge is rated for a whopping 400,000 folds which is vastly more than the lifetime of the phone itself.

Opening the phone and unfurling the main display is an exquisite experience with the hinges moving as smooth as silk. The folding crease on the main display is almost undetectable even to the touch unless you’re looking at a very specific angle with a white background.

When in FlexForm mode, the hinges stay where they are intended to with nary a bit of wobbling or flopping whatsoever. Opening and closing the phone is still a two-handed experience and attempting to flip it open one-handed is still too risky a prospect versus the odds of fumbling and dropping it as the phone lacks any drop protection.

Oppo Find N2 Review – Specifications

In terms of hardware, our Oppo Find N2 review unit is a retail unit from China that has the following specifications on paper.

Price	RMB7,999 about RM5,075 (12GB RAM/256GB) RMB8,999 about RM5,701 (16GB RAM/512GB)
Display	5.54-inch AMOLED 2120 x 1080 pixels, 120Hz, 480Hz touch sampling rate, HDR10+, 1,350 nits (peak outdoors), 17.7:9 aspect ratio (external display) | 7.1-inch AMOLED with LTPO, 1,920 x 1,792 pixels, 1-120Hz dynamic refresh rate, 9.8:4 aspect ratio, HDR10+, 1,550 nits (peak outdoors), 480Hz touch sampling rate (main display)
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 4nm
OS	Android 13 w/ ColorOS 13
Memory	12GB LPDDR5 RAM / 256GB UFS 3.1 (Black) | 16GB RAM / 512GB (White or Green)
Cameras	50MP F/1.8 w/ OIS + 32MP F/2.0 + 48MP F/2.2 ultra wide angle (rear) / 32MP F/2.4 (external) / 32MP F/2.4 (main display)
Battery	4,520mAh w/ 67W SUPERVOOC, 100% in 42 minutes
Size/Weight	132.2 x 140.5 x 7.4mm (open) / 132.2mm x 72.6 x 14.6mm (closed) / 233g

Oppo Find N2 Review – Performance and Benchmarks

Our Oppo Find N2 review sample features hardware befitting a flagship with a few additions unique to Oppo. Under the hood, the phone runs Android 13 and their ColorOS 13 UI on a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor paired with 12GB LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB UFS 3.1 storage. A higher end variant in a green or white colourway has 16GB RAM and 512GB of storage.

This is fairly similar to other mainline flagship foldables with the Galaxy Z Fold4 packing a similar processor, RAM and storage for the baseline model. In keeping with many flagship phones, the Oppo Find N2 also has selectable virtual RAM in 4GB, 6GB and 8GB increments that allocates RAM off the onboard storage.

Where the Oppo Find N2 differs from the competition is that it includes their own MariSilicon X neural processing unit (NPU) which is solely devoted towards enhancing the results from its cameras. Built on a 6nm process, the NPU has ISP to offer computational photography enhancements, AI noise reduction for shots as well as 4K Ultra HDR and low light Ultra Night video recording.

In terms of software, Oppo’s own ColorOS 13 overlay for Android 13 has the rudiments necessary for a foldable phone with app and task migration when you’re using the front display and swapping over to the main display as well as vice versa. You also get multitasking functionality with the option to pop up to two open windows of two different apps at a time and the option to pop up selected apps in a floating window. As expected, not all apps can be converted into a floating window so some experimentation is needed.

Though our Oppo Find N2 review sample is a retail unit for the China market, Google Play was able to be installed and the usual suite of Google apps like Gmail, YouTube and the like ran without issue. 

When subjected to synthetic benchmarks, the phone has performance relatively similar to other phones with a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 CPU barring some outliers like the ROG Phone 6 which has much heavier cooling arrays for sustained heavy gaming. In synthetic benchmarks with 4GB vRAM, our Oppo Find N2 review sample scored the following:

3DMark Wild Life	Maxed out
3DMark Wild Life Unlimited	11,014
3DMark Wild Life Extreme	2,727
3DMark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited	2,792
Geekbench 5 Single core	1,046
Geekbench 5 Multi core	3,515
Geekbench 5 Vulkan	6,427
PCMark Battery Life (Front only)	15 hours 50 min
PCMark Work 3.0	12,056

Unfortunately Geekbench 5’s OpenCL test did not run so we’ve omitted that for practical field testing. Of note here is the impressive battery life. In PCMark’s battery life test with only the front display and brightness set on Auto, our Oppo Find N2 review sample scored a whopping 15 hours and 50 minutes in ideal conditions. Assuming you factor in use of the main display, you’re looking at a few hours less of usage which is still substantial by any measure.

Under field conditions in our short time with the phone, the Oppo Find N2 proved to be nimble and responsive with ColorOS 13 in tandem with its wide displays offering a pleasant user experience. It takes a bit of a learning curve to master its nuances and design language but getting about isn’t an issue. Apps opened up in seconds and the phone easily ran games like Call of Duty Mobile, Genshin Impact and the like without issue.

The wider, more squarish front and main display makes texting and web browsing a more pleasant affair though this is a double edged sword as the squarish aspect ratio of the main display makes gaming a challenging affair as many games have a 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio which means that your view is cropped in an awkward fashion if you opt to use the main display. On the bright side, this isn’t an issue if you game on the taller front display in landscape mode.

Both the main and front displays offer luscious colour rendition and smooth animations onscreen along with good clarity under sunlight for both displays. The downward firing stereo speakers understandably don’t have much sound staging but offered a surprising amount of volume without distortion even at full volume and a fair amount of detail even for subtle tracks.

Battery life on the provided 4,520mh battery and with auto brightness on saw an average of about 10 hours and 15 minutes of usage with a combination of the front and main display along with liberal usage of data, WiFi along with social media, heavy use of the cameras and some light gaming. 

Charging our Oppo Find N2 is exceptionally fast off its 66W fast charging and it was able to achieve a decent 35% in 10 minutes which is close to its official stated figures and a full charge in just under an hour. In general, the Oppo Find N2 should offer a full day’s worth of heavy use with enough juice left over as a buffer for the odd CODM deathmatch or two on the commute home.

Oppo Find N2 Review – How are the Cameras?

The rear triple camera array of our Oppo Find N2 review unit features a primary 50MP F/1.8 camera using a Sony IMX890 sensor augmented with optical image stabilisation for steady shots, a secondary 48MP F/2.2 ultra wide angle camera using a Sony IMX581 sensor and a 32MP F/2.0 telephoto camera with 2x optical zoom and the ability to go all the way to 20x digital zoom. This setup enables 12.5MP stills and up to 4K@60fps video capture. 

The 32MP F/2.4 selfie cameras on the front and main display are single sensor cameras that are also capable of snapping up to 1080P video. Alternatively, you can use the front touch display as a viewfinder and use the more powerful main triple camera array for selfies in a fashion akin to the Galaxy Z Fold4.

Of note here is that the cameras, including the selfie snappers on the front and main display are all augmented by their MariSilicon X NPU for better results especially when undertaking low light photography work.

In daylight conditions, the ultrawide and primary cameras offer accurate colour rendition with good detail retention and dynamic range up to 2x zoom. Results at 10x zoom get somewhat soft and at 20x digital zoom are dicey at best with murky, grainy outcomes. In general, daylight shots with the Oppo Find N2 are excellent.

In low light, auto mode does a fantastic job in salvaging shadows without overly artificial brightening while retaining detail with both the primary and ultrawide angle shots though anything beyond 2x looks very soft in dim light. While the phone does have a Night mode, you can already yield good shots on auto.

Shots on both the front and main display 32MP selfie cameras deliver similar outcomes to each other with deliver pleasing outcomes in daylight while low light scenarios are augmented by using the screen as a built-in flash with decent results; the primary triple camera in selfie mode delivers far better outcomes which also holds true for videos.

If you stick to the primary camera for 1080p and 4K videos and eschew digital zoom, you’ll enjoy very usable footage with good sharpness and colour rendition. 

In all likelihood, you’ll likely be using the main cameras most of the time and only default to the selfie cameras for video calls. Overall on the imaging front, the Oppo Find N2’s cameras acquit themselves in a competent fashion.

Oppo Find N2 Review – Verdict

At present, the Oppo Find N2 is not available outside of China unless you acquire it through the grey market. This does not detract from its desirability and arguably adds to it as the Oppo Find N2 elevates the foldable form factor to new heights.

You get a premium, highly pocketable chassis featuring a smoother, flatter hinge melded with excellent performance and a great rear triple camera array, making it a desirable foldable indeed. Hopefully it or its successors will see wider deployment in the coming years but at present, it remains the foldable you can’t buy.

Oppo Find N2 review sample courtesy of Oppo Malaysia. Not available for sale in Malaysia for now but you can find more details at their official site at https://www.oppo.com/cn/smartphones/series-find-n/find-n2/