Oppo Find N2 first impressionsThe handy foldable

By Aman RashidI had a chance to spend a brief time with Oppo’s latest top-of-the-line foldable smartphone, the Oppo Find N2, and I have a few thoughts about it. First, for those who don’t know, the Oppo Find N2, like the original Find N, does not sell in the Indian market. In fact, with Find N2, it was only recently that the company released the phone out of the Chinese market, and introduced it to the European market. Sadly, no sign of it coming to India, yet. However, despite the hurdles, and after hearing a lot of positive things about the Oppo Find N2, I finally got a chance to go hands-on with the device at MWC 2023, and here are my first impressions of it.

Oppo Find N2First impressions

The idea of a foldable phone is simple. When folded it should be able to function like a normal phone, and when unfolded, you should be able to transform it into a tablet. A pretty simple thing and Samsung has been doing just that for the past few years, which led us to think that the company’s idea of the form factor was the perfect one. However, after seeing and holding the Oppo Find N2, the form factor just makes so much sense. Automatically, the first thing that came to my mind is that this is how a foldable phone factor should be. Not that Samsung, or recently I checked Honor’s foldable too, not that they are doing anything wrong, but Oppo has done something seriously better.

So, on the outside, what you get here is a handy 5.54” 120Hz AMOLED display, and by today’s standard, you might think it is a small panel, but for all the one-hand use, for things such as browsing, texting, using social media etc., the display size is just perfect and manageable. Now, once you unfold the device, what you get is a larger 7.1” 120Hz AMOLED display, and number-wise, the Oppo’s display is smaller than that of the Galaxy Fold, but since it is a wider display, it is more ideal for consuming content. And not to forget, there’s simply no crease in the middle. I mean, yes, you can notice the separation of the hinge in between once in a while, but trust me, it is not as prominent as you get to see it in the Galaxy Z Fold 4. However, one little con here that I find with the Find N2 is its hinge and this is where the Galaxy foldables prove, why they are the best in the business. So, Oppo boasts about its Flexion hinge in the Find N2, and it’s a good hinge, but whenever you try to prop it at anything beyond a 140-degree angle or anything lower than a 50-degree angle, the phone snaps shut. Something which is not the case with the Galaxy foldables at all. Prop the Galaxy Z Fold 4 at almost any desired angle, and the phone holds up.

However, on an overall note, I think I loved the overall form factor of the Oppo Find N2. Even the rear panel, which sports a faux leather sort of finish feels premium in the hand. And as I have mentioned in the headline, this is one heck of a handy foldable that I have never seen before. I mean, a foldable such as this, can give a good run for the money to the flip foldables of the world.

Moving on, in terms of software, you get the usual ColorOS atop Android 13 on the Oppo Find N2. Unfortunately, it was the Chinese variant of the phone that I was fiddling with, so I am not very sure about how I feel about the software. But yes, from what I could see, the bloatware situation is even worse in the Chinese version of ColorOS as compared to the Indian version. Other than this, the smartphone is also powered by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, which is coupled with the Mari Silicon X NPU. This combo, along with the Hasselblad-tuned cameras makes me believe that the camera on the Find N2 must be a thing, but sadly, I didn’t have enough time to fiddle around with the camera as well. Moreover, you are also getting a 4520mAh battery under the hood, which is a little more than what you get with the Fold 4. But what I really appreciate here is the fact that you get 67W fast charging here, which should really benefit from the charging times. And I have heard that the Find N2 usually charges pretty quickly, so that’s a good thing.

Summing up, the Oppo Find N2 has left a lasting impression on me. I felt so good using the device, that if there’s a company and a phone that I would love to spend my own money on right now, apart from Samsung and Apple; it is Oppo, and I would specifically like to get myself the Oppo Find N2 foldable. What I really loved about this phone is its foldable form factor, and also how conscious the company has been thinking about what could be the perfect manageable size. Other than this, the phone also scores high in terms of build quality and robustness. The device feels premium to hold, and the hinge quality is good, although a little work is needed on the angles. And with all the good hardware, I think, ColorOS at its core is a good software implementation, that has only improved over the years. But yes, the Oppo Find N2 is a device that I’d really want to see in India. Maybe the company is testing the waters with the Find N2 Flip, and maybe the company thinks that the Indian audiences may not be that accepting of a top-of-the-line Oppo Foldable. And that is why the Flip has been introduced first? Whatever the case, I really wished the Find N2 was available in India. Maybe, next time Oppo, eh?