Oppo Find N2 Flip review: Flipping awesome hardware puts Samsung on notice

Oppo did what Samsung couldn’t. It convinced me to believe that flip phones can be more than a novelty. Samsung has been making flip phones for years now. And Oppo is only just starting. Obviously, it has taken many cues from Samsung, but despite the many similarities, Oppo’s flip phone – Oppo Find N2 Flip— makes some smart(er) choices. It is not necessarily better, or worse than the Galaxy Z Flip 4, but that’s hardly the point. There’s nothing wrong with novelty, but at some point, you’re bound to ask yourself where is all this going. With the Find N2 Flip, Oppo is going somewhere and Samsung needs to get there fast.

There’s very little doubt that flip phones are very cool. Almost a fashion statement. A lifestyle choice. But they’re also –currently—the cheapest option if you’re considering a foldable. So, technically, they fall under the “mass-market” category— for a foldable— and that market seeks value. And trust. While Samsung’s perseverance has laid the foundation and cleared some of the trust deficit associated with these devices, the time is ripe for version 2.0 to take things to the next level in utility. Oppo’s Find N2 Flip could be the catalyst.

Oppo has taken Samsung’s base design (even the proportions and button placement are all very similar) and infused it with a touch of adrenaline. The Find N2 Flip, in lot of ways, feels like a Galaxy Z Flip 4 on steroids, at least as far as hardware is concerned. It is ever so slightly bigger (6.8-inch versus 6.7-inch) and wider, and so one-hand use takes a bit of time getting used to, even more so if you have small hands. It is slipperier than Samsung’s flip phone and so, the bundled clear case come handy (Samsung doesn’t give you one).

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The astral black version’s finish is very reminiscent of OnePlus’s “sandstone” shenanigans. Interestingly, you can get the Find N2 Flip in a very Galaxy Z Flip 4-like purple shade as well. The glass used is resistant to smudge and fingerprints, though Oppo doesn’t mention the type (Samsung uses Corning Gorilla Glass Victus Plus). The frame is made of polished metal. There is no ingress protection, so it’s advantage Samsung here (the Flip 4 is IPX8 rated).  

The inner display is virtually indistinguishable with Oppo going toe-to-toe with Samsung in terms of overall quality, with a slight edge, in that the Find N2 Flip’s can get slightly brighter so outdoor legibility is ever so slightly better. But it is the outer screen where Oppo is really giving Samsung a run for its money. The Find N2 Flip’s cover screen is “massive” – for a flip phone— at 3.26-inch, almost the size that phone screens used to be at one point so you can tell Oppo –must be—up to something amazing. Makes you want to pick it up and check out everything it can (and can’t) do. Samsung’s 1.9-incher doesn’t hold a candle to it, or so it would seem.

Performance is comparable with the Find N2 Flip’s MediaTek Dimensity 9000 Plus being up-to-the-task for anything and everything you throw at it, though efficiency seems a bit off which is reflected in the phone’s battery life. Oppo’s flip phone has a bigger battery (4,300mAh versus 3,700mAh) but gains are just about marginal next to Samsung’s. The Find N2 Flip should get most users through a day but you can kill the battery faster if you start to stretch it with say extended gaming sessions. The good thing is, it can charge faster at up to 44W (versus 25W) and Oppo is happy to supply a compliant charger in the box, too.

The 50PM main camera takes good photos regardless of lighting, a feat not easy for a flip phone like this. It easily beats Samsung. The 8MP ultrawide is a different story. It is average at best. The 32MP front camera does well when you give it lots of natural light (though being a flip phone means the main camera can double as a selfie camera, to give you a much better picture). Video recording tops out at 4K@30fps on the main and 1080p@30fps on the front.

So far, as you can probably tell, the Find N2 Flip’s looking “flipping” unbelievable. But that’s all-textbook stuff mostly. Oppo’s real big-ticket feature is actually the hinge. That is the one giving Samsung a reality check. The waterdrop-style “Flexion Hinge” is designed to withstand 4,00,000-fold and unfolds (roughly about 100 times daily for more than ten years) and results in a “significantly shallower and narrower crease than other flip phones” which is seemingly “almost invisible in most environments,” Oppo says. And, it makes the Find N2 Flip fold completely flat.

While there’s no way of telling how Oppo’s long-term durability claim will hold up, but credit where it’s due. The Find N2 Flip feels solid and reassuring no matter how you look at it. Not to mention, it is more modern as well (relative to Samsung’s). For a first attempt, Oppo’s hardware choices are immaculate and on point. Which makes some of its software choices all the more frustrating.

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The big outer screen had the potential to rewrite the textbook that Samsung wrote. Imagine how awesome that would have been. Instead, Oppo chose to launch it with an anaemic feature set— just a handful of widgets and quick custom responses for select notifications are available at the time of writing, in addition to a few personalisation options. They are useful and for what it’s worth, Oppo says more will be added in the future, but as things stand today, the Find N2 Flip’s big cover display feels like the very definition of unrealised potential giving it no real advantage over Samsung’s much smaller setup. (Also, you can prop the phone between 45- and 110-degree only even as Samsung’s can support more angles.) Oppo’s ColorOS 13 on the whole is also riddled with bugs here and there, though none come at the expense of hampering the user experience. Oppo is committing to 4 years of major OS and 5 years of security updates, much like Samsung.

Despite its quirks, there’s no reason why anybody won’t come out being unimpressed by Oppo’s first showing. Oppo has pulled a rabbit out of its hat, out of nowhere. One can only expect even greater things from the second-generation model. But what it’s done, really, is that it’s shown the world all the tremendous possibilities that exist for foldable flip phones. And it’s surely a wakeup call for Samsung to put its affairs back in order. I flipping loved the Find N2 Flip. It’s a great underdog story to tell to somebody. It’s got me all the more excited about the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip 5 and hopefully— fingers crossed there— Samsung will put on a tough fight.