The Best Camera Flip Phone

The OPPO Find N3 Flip is a rather interesting phone. Perhaps more interesting because it’s not coming to the OnePlus brand, unlike OPPO’s other foldable. It’s also perhaps the best flip phone on the market (or soon to be on the market). It seems to check just about every box that most other flip phones neglect. Including the camera, battery life, charging speed, and the display brightness.

But the real question is going to be, how well does it perform in the real world? Is it worth buying in Europe and Asia? Well, that’s what we are here to find out in our full review of the OPPO Find N3 Flip.

OPPO Find N3 Flip Review: Hardware and Design

To be honest, I have not reviewed an OPPO phone in quite a few years, largely because they are not compatible with US networks. But OPPO has always had really great hardware. They’ve always gone the extra mile to make their phones look unique and distinguishable from the competition. And the first thing that makes the Find N3 Flip identifiable is definitely the front display.

While other companies like Samsung and Motorola have opted for square displays on the front, and using as much space as possible, OPPO has opted for a different approach. Giving us a 17:9 aspect ratio display on the front of the phone, to the left of the camera. So it’s similar to what is on the inside of the phone. This allows the display to run full Android apps too. But not quite everything, like the Motorola Razr+ allows you to do.

Another big thing here is the camera module. It’s pretty similar to any recent OnePlus smartphone. Which should come as no surprise, seeing as the two companies recently merged. And that’s not the only OnePlus feature on this phone – the Alert Slider is here too. OPPO was able to cram three cameras into that small section of the Find N3 Flip. Which is honestly really impressive. Sporting a wide, ultrawide and telephoto camera all on a flip phone, is definitely a first.

The Alert Slider is really great to see on this phone. It’s a feature that I really wish more phones would adopt, and now even the iPhone is getting rid of it for an Action Button. But the ability to quickly slide my phone into mute or vibrate, is really useful when walking into a meeting or starting a new Zoom Meeting, so that I don’t get interrupted.

Then there’s the smaller stuff that you’ll really only notice on the phone without the case. The color we have here is the Cream Gold, so that’s what we’ll be talking about. Since each color has a slightly different design. This has a flowing wave texture around the outside of the phone that “dances as light falls on this elegant, subtly standout color” according to OPPO. It does look rather cool, and the matte finish on the hinge is also a nice touch. This does make the phone pretty slippery though, so much that I had to use a case with this phone during the review process. Luckily, there is a nice plastic hard case included in the box.

The sides are slightly curved here, which does make it feel much nicer in the hands, especially if you’re used to a smaller phone. It almost feels like a piece of jewelry, something that Apple typically takes pride in with their iPhones. It’s a stunning smartphone, and is definitely identifiable as an OPPO smartphone.

In the box, the OPPO Find N3 Flip includes a few things that other smartphones in the West don’t. One is the SUPERVOOC charger, capable of charging the Find N3 Flip at 44W, and the other is a case. OPPO has included a plastic case that is pretty much the same color as the phone. It’s not to bad of a case, and definitely one you’ll be using.

OPPO Find N3 Flip Review: Displays

There are two displays on this phone, that includes a 3.26-inch cover display that is 720×382 for a 17:9 aspect ratio. And then there’s the main display which is a 6.8-inch AMOLED display at 2520×1080 resolution, giving it a 21:9 aspect ratio. Let’s start with that cover screen though.

When I was first briefed by OPPO about the Find N3 Flip, I thought this style cover screen was pretty cool. The ability to run full apps like X, TikTok, and other things without opening the phone. Seemed like a good idea. Now after using the phone for a few weeks, I’m not as sold on it. There’s two main reasons, the size and the resolution.

This is a pretty small display, so running apps like Gmail or X here aren’t the best experience. And with the low resolution, you can really see the pixels here. It is good for getting rid of spam email really quickly, but I wouldn’t spend more than a few minutes on this outer display, to be quite honest.

However, it does have Game Snacks. Which is Google’s small game product. It has a number of great games included that you can play, and it’s great to play on the go, while you’re at the doctor’s office or something.

The stunning main display

Then there’s the main display. This display is really incredible. As mentioned, it’s a 6.8-inch AMOLED with LTPO display here. So that means it is a variable refresh rate display from 1 to 120Hz. It’s a great display to use for watching video, whether that be YouTube, TikTok or something else. It’s very vibrant and reproduces colors really well.

Despite the pretty low peak brightness, just 500 nits, and a 1600 nits peak brightness rating, this display is actually very visible outdoors. It definitely feels like it gets brighter than 500 nits, especially for a foldables. Typically, foldables are very reflective because of the plastic screens and plastic screen protectors. But that is not the case here. And the reason for that is, OPPO has dropped the polarizer. This reduces display power consumption by as much as 20%. Which does make a huge difference here.

Then there’s the crease. Or is there? The crease is here. It’s not as deep as say the Galaxy Z Flip 5, so it doesn’t look like there’s much crease, but you can definitely feel it. This crease, I actually don’t mind as much as I do on the Flip 5.

The displays here are pretty good, there’s definitely room for improvement on both displays, but both are quite good. In fact the main display might be the best I’ve seen on a flip-style foldable.

OPPO Find N3 Flip Review: Performance

When it comes to performance, it’s been a bit of a mixed bag for me, while using the Find N3 Flip. In the beginning, the phone was quite slow. With some apps lagging a bit, which I figured was due to the MediaTek Dimensity 9200, but then things got better after a software update. And now it’s been pretty much on-par with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 phone like the Galaxy S23 series.

This is a second-generation 4nm chipset that OPPO is using here, and it is actually pretty good, outside of those first impressions. Most apps were running pretty well, some were a bit slow, like Amazon. But I’d chop that up to the October Prime Day event happening right now. Other than that, everything’s been pretty good here, in terms of performance.

The Dimensity 9200 is paired with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage. So it’s quite the beast on paper, and in real world use, it does seem to step up to the challenge. Now the phone did get hot after a bit of time watching video, or using the camera. Which is to be expected. So nothing out of the ordinary, to be quite honest.

Fingerprint and Face Unlock are also available

The fingerprint sensor is side-mounted here on the OPPO Find N3 Flip. Which is pretty much the way all foldables do it. Since you don’t want to apply pressure to the folding display. And let’s face it, a power-button fingerprint sensor is the best fingerprint sensor. This sensor is a bit more sensitive compared to some of the others on other foldables that we have reviewed in recent months. But once you get used to that, it’s pretty easy to use. And works quite well. There is also Face Unlock available, but it’s not as secure, since it is using just that front-facing camera.

OPPO Find N3 Flip Review: Battery life and Charging

Battery life on the Find N3 Flip is pretty good. It’s about what I’d expect from a flip-style foldable with a smaller battery (but still the largest for a Flip phone at 4300mAh). I was able to get about 8 hours of screen on time here. Which isn’t the best for smartphones in general, but when you look at flip-style foldables, it’s actually quite good. For comparison, on the Galaxy Z Flip 5 I was getting 7 hours of screen-on time. While the Razr+ was getting me 8 hours pretty consistently. Keep in mind those both use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which is known to be a beast for battery performance.

Basically, the OPPO Find N3 Flip should get you through a full day, with some juice left. Since it has been lasting me well over 24 hours usually. And that’s with pushing it pretty hard. So that’s really good to see.

Then we have the charging. OPPO does include a charger in the box, which is able to charge the Find N3 Flip at 44W. That’s the fastest charging available for a Flip phone right now. And given the small-ish 4300mAh battery here, it does charge quite quickly. There’s no wireless charging here, which OPPO felt that it was better to include a bigger battery and faster wired charging, versus adding in wireless charging. Which I kind of agree, but wireless charging is still a “nice to have” feature.

OPPO Find N3 Flip Review: Software

The OPPO Find N3 Flip is running on Android 13 with ColorOS 13.2, that is a pretty recent version of Android and the latest version of ColorOS. OPPO is in a weird spot here, since Android 14 just dropped last week, and here they are launching a phone with Android 13. But it will get Android 14, the only question is when. Which we aren’t too sure at this point. It should be before the end of the year though.

ColorOS 13.2 runs really well on this hardware. And has some pretty nifty features, particularly for that cover screen. As mentioned already, the cover screen is able to run full apps, but not all are compatible right now. Some that are include the phone app, camera, timer/clock, X, Reddit, and TikTok. It’s a pretty neat way to watch TikTok and such, as well as getting stuff done on your phone without having to unlock it. Not all apps are available for the cover screen, and you do need to add them to the cover screen. Just head into Settings > Foldable Features > Mini Apps and you’ll see the apps available, and you can move them around to your liking.

Also on the cover screen, you can choose which style you want to use. You can also use the interactive pets on the cover screen, which are pretty fun to interact with. You can also choose static and live wallpapers, or the current weather. OPPO does let you change out the widgets on the main cover screen too. But when you’re using the interactive pets style, you’re limited to just one widget. There are a good amount of widgets, including some in labs like Gmail, Google Maps and Messages.

Now since this is an Android phone, there are plenty of ways to mulit-task. That includes the ability to jump into Split View. Using a three-finger swipe up, you can quickly jump into split view, allowing for one app at the top and another at the bottom. You can also have floating windows, which makes more sense on a phone like the Find N2, with the much larger display, but it is good to see it here.

ColorOS did adopt a few of my favorite features from OxygenOS over the years too. And this includes the ability to add and remove icons from the status bar. So I’ve added the real-time network speed, and you can also change up the battery icon style. I’ve found that having the percentage inside the battery is a bit tough to read, so you can opt to have it next to the battery, or have it not show at all.

OPPO has added quite a few features to ColorOS 13.2 to help take full advantage of this form factor. And we’ll likely see more coming in the next few updates. Especially now that ColorOS and OxygenOS has merged into a single operating system across OPPO and OnePlus smartphones.

OPPO Find N3 Flip Review: Camera

The camera on the OPPO Find N3 Flip is something that I was really excited for. That’s because OPPO has crammed some pretty good sensors into such a small space. We’re looking at a 50-megapixel main sensor, 48-megapixel ultra wide and a 32-megapixel portrait camera. The portrait camera is basically a telephoto portrait camera, think of the 5x portraits on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. These are actually fairly small sensors, compared to what we’re seeing on other foldables and what’s rumored on the OnePlus Open. But they get the job done.

The main camera sensor has been upgraded with OIS, and it is also roughly 30% larger than competing flip phone cameras. Making it a pretty good sensor. And the pictures from this lens are actually really good. I’ve been quite impressed with what this camera can provide. But then again, most smartphones in 2023 are able to take really good photos, when given a good amount of light.

The ultrawide was also upgraded, and now captures a 115-degree field of view, with a f/2.2 aperture. This sensor is apparently over 100% larger than the flip phone competition. Which allows it to bring in more light, and work better for macro shots.

Finally, we have that Portrait camera. It’s a rather interesting move to add a camera specifically for taking portraits to a flip phone, over a dedicated telephoto camera. But that high-megapixel main sensor does quite well with zoom. This is the Sony IMX709 sensor, which has a f/2 aperture, and is able to take great portraits at night, and during the day.

Here are some photos taken with the OPPO Find N3 Flip.

A few things help to make the OPPO Find N3 Flip an even more impressive camera flip phone however. And one of those is FlexForm Capture. As with a lot of other flip phones, you are able to set the phone at a specific angle to take a photo or record video. And you can use any of the three outer cameras to record and take photos. Making this a really great camera for vlogging. Especially with that portrait camera. OPPO also lets you you use the viewfinder on the outer display and the inner display at the same time. So if someone wants you to take a photo of them, you can show them what they look like, in real time. On albeit, a much smaller display, but it is available.

OPPO is really touting their computational photography on the Find N3 Flip, and you can really notice a big difference here. It’s able to capture the original brightness information from when the photo was taken and then fine-tune the HDR photo pixel by pixel. Giving you a much better photo than what the camera would have normally have taken.

There’s also ProXDR. Available in the Gallery app on the Find N3 Flip, you can use the very bright peak brightness on this display to show you what it would look like on an XDR display. It’s a great way to enjo your selfies, parties, pets and so much more on the OPPO Find N3 Flip.

Should you buy the OPPO Find N3 Flip?

This is a pretty loaded question, especially for someone that lives in the US. I really like the Find N3 Flip, which is saying a lot, since I’m not a big fan of the flip phones out there. I just prefer the more book-style foldables that are on the market, like the upcoming OnePlus foldable. There’s a lot going for the OPPO Find N3 Flip here, and if it is sold and supported in your country, it’s definitely worth checking out.

You should buy the OPPO Find N3 Flip if:

You are looking for a foldable with a big battery.

You want a flip phone with the best cameras available.

You want fast charging.

You want a foldable with a very minimal crease.

You should not buy the OPPO Find N3 Flip if:

You live in the US, unfortunately this won’t work with most of the carriers.

You prefer a larger display foldable.