Foldable phones are coming. Samsung has released three generations of foldable phones, and each of those devices have gotten better and better. But the Galaxy Z Fold form-factor isn’t for everyone. Others want something a little more compact, that can still unfold to a big-screen experience as needed. That’s exactly where the Oppo Find N comes in.

The Find N has made headlines for its refind hardware, lack of gap when folded up, and smaller form-factor that makes it easy to use the device when folded. But is it really a great phone…or is it just good for foldable phones, which are still working to find their footing? I’ve been using the Oppo Find N for a while now to find out.

Oppo Find N Foldable Phone

The Oppo Find N sets a new bar for foldable phone form-factors, thanks to the fact that it’s shorter, and wider, and is much easier to use with one hand.

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Pros

Excellent form-factor
Solid performance
Great inside display
Decent camera
Relatively affordable

Cons

Lackluster battery
Only available in China

Oppo Find N design

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 is a great device, but some criticize it for offering a tall and skinny display when folded up. Samsung seems to prioritize the shape of the interior tablet display, rather than the phone on the front. Oppo, however, is taking a different approach. The front display on the device is 5.5 inches, with an aspect ratio of 18:9. That’s pretty normal for a phone.

The result of this smaller build is that the device is much easier to use with one hand. It still doesn’t feel like other smartphones, especially given the fact that it’s much thicker than a traditional phone. But it’s absolutely usable closed, which definitely comes in handy.

There are other things about the build of this phone that help make it look and feel premium. Unlike some other foldable phones out there, Oppo has developed a hinge that allows the phone to close completely when folded, without a gap. It’s a really good look, and helps make the phone feel a little more polished than much of the competition.

Generally, the Oppo Find N is built from premium materials. The device is built with a glass front and back, with a plastic frame, though that frame doesn’t look or feel cheap. On the back of the phone, you’ll find a rectangular camera module that blends a little more into the back of the phone than many other options. It looks good, though for some reason a little weird.

The hinge seems to be very well-designed too. It’s satisfying to open and close, the feels pretty strong. That’s not to say that you don’t need to take care of the phone — you do. But that’s true of any phone.

Oppo Find N display

The Oppo Find N offers two displays — an exterior one and an interior one. Both look fine, however they’re not going to beat the quality of the Galaxy Z Fold 3’s display.

Let’s start with the exterior display. The exterior display is 5.49 inches, with a resolution of 988 x 1972. It’s an OLED display, however unfortunately it only has a 60Hz refresh rate, which is a little disappointing to see. I found that it gets bright enough for most use.

The interior display is a much higher quality. The interior display is a 7.1-inch display with a resolution of 1792 x 1920, which makes for a pixel density of 370 pixels-per-inch. Thankfully, you’ll get a refresh rate of 120Hz on the interior display, and you can tell the difference. Frankly, the inside display makes the outside display look a little rough at times.

The inside display is protected with an ultra-thin glass and a think layer of plastic. It does look a little plasticky like on some other foldable phones, but the crease is barely noticeable in day-to-day use, which is always helpful.

Oppo Find N performance

The Oppo Find N comes equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor, coupled with either 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, or 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. We’re reviewing the 8GB model, and it seemed to perform perfectly well in day-to-day use, rarely stuttering or crashing. I was able to use the phone for gaming, productivity, and more, without experiencing any major issues around performance.

The phone does reasonably well in benchmarks too, though not quite as good as other Snapdragon 888-equipped phones. It’s not a huge issue though, and in general use, you’ll find that the phone is more than quick enough.

Oppo Find N battery

Foldable phones offer two displays, and the result is that battery life can take a hit. All of the foldable phones out so far are known for somewhat lackluster batteries. The Oppo Find N is no exception to that rule, but thankfully it was enough to get through a full day of moderate use.

Now, heavy users are going to run into issues. The phone’s 4,500mAh battery can get through a day of things like emailing, checking social media, and so on, but if you add in things like mobile gaming and watching video — obvious use-cases for the interior display — you’ll start taking chunks out of the battery life.

Battery life is one of the trade-offs of having a foldable phone. You’ll have to decide for yourself if it’s a trade worth making.

Oppo Find N camera

The Oppo Find N offers a triple camera array on the back, with one 50-megapixel main camera, one 13-megapixel telephoto camera with 2x optical zoom, and one 16-megapixel ultrawide camera. It’s a versatile setup, though a little more optical zoom on the telephoto camera would have been nice.

Generally, the phone was able to capture relatively detailed photos, with solid color reproduction. The colors weren’t necessarily the most vibrant, but they’re not overly flat either. The camera is above-par compared to much of the competition, but doesn’t quite reach the heights of the likes of the Galaxy S22 series, iPhone 12 Pro, or Pixel 6 Pro.

The device also offers two front-facing cameras — one on the exterior display and one on the interior. Both cameras are 32-megapixels, and both were a little sub-par.

Oppo Find N software

Then there’s the software, and it’s…tricky. The Find N isn’t actually available in the U.S., and it’s not even really available outside China. In China, the phone doesn’t run Google Play Services, so it takes some workarounds for someone like me, who relies on Google services on Android phones, to get the phone up and running.

But the software itself works pretty well, and is relatively easy to navigate. The software works just like any other Android software. And, it boasts a number of improvements to work better on the foldable display, which is great to see. For example, you can swipe down the middle of the screen with two fingers to “cut” the window, and add a second app next to it the first one. It works very well, and is quite intuitive.

Apart from those features, if you’ve used ColorOS before, then you’ll immediately recognize the interface. It’s a little disappointing that the software is based on Android 11 when Android 12 is available, though.

Conclusions

The Oppo Find N sets a new standard for foldable phones. The device is highly premium, easy to use with one hand, and offers great performance and a solid camera. It’s not perfect. The exterior display isn’t the best, the battery leaves a little to be desired, and the phone isn’t very widely available. But if this sets the tone for foldable devices to come, color us very excited.

The competition

The biggest competition, of course, comes from Samsung, with the Galaxy Z Fold 3. Ultimately, it’s still the foldable phone you should get if you live anywhere except China.