Galaxy Z Flip4 vs. Find N2 Flip: Our long-term Flip review

Camera setup

The similarities between these two phones are not confined to the form factor, the overall looks, and even the colors of our review units. They even have the exact same number of cameras: two on the "back" and of course a selfie snapper too inside a hole punched into each of their inner screens. The main snappers are of the same varieties too: a wide and an ultrawide. There's no optical zoom to be found here anywhere, and we're guessing that's due to size constraints.

With all that said, the camera sensors themselves are pretty different. For the main snapper, the Flip4 goes with a 12 MP shooter, while the N2 Flip packs a pixel-binning 50 MP sensor that shoots 12.5 MP pictures. The Flip4's ultrawide is 13 MP but outputs 12 MP images, while the Oppo's is just 8 MP. So on paper, the N2 Flip should produce better stills from its main camera, while the Samsung should take the win for the ultrawide shots. Right? Well, let's take a look and see for ourselves.

Daytime samples

The Flip4's main camera produces great shots during the day with a lot of resolved detail and low noise levels, great contrast, and good dynamic range. Colors are unsurprisingly Samsung-like, and if you've been around for a few years you know exactly what that means. These may have a bit too much 'pop' for purists, but average Joes across the world seem to prefer the look, so that's what we get.

Flip4: Daytime samples from the main camera

The N2 Flip also has great detail levels in daytime shots from its main camera, minimal noise (with a few exceptions here and there), plenty of contrast, and even better dynamic range. The colors do sometimes lean greenish. Overall both present good quality pictures, so it's mostly down to a matter of personal taste which you prefer. We'd say most people are probably going to end up liking the 'Samsung look' a little bit better, but your experience may be different. This is more or less a tie.

N2 Flip: Daytime samples from the main camera

Ultrawide shots during the day come out reasonably detailed on the Flip4, even though there's a very obvious hit in quality compared to the main camera. Automatic distortion correction is applied but the corners do oftentimes look soft compared to the center of the image. Colors, contrast, and dynamic range are very similar to what's produced by the main snapper.

Flip4: Daytime samples from the ultrawide

The N2 Flip has less resolution to work with for its ultrawide, and we're sure we're not the only ones instantly associating "8 MP ultrawide" with bad quality shooters fitted to mid-rangers left and right. The N2 Flip's ultrawide isn't quite that bad, but it's not amazing either. The shots it captures are generally on the soft side and noise does have a habit of creeping in a lot. Dynamic range is good though, and the colors are accurate enough. The main problem with the N2 Flip's ultrawide, at least in direct comparison with the Samsung's, is that it's not as wide. For that reason, and the extra resolution, we'd give this to the Flip4 then.

N2 Flip: Daytime samples from the ultrawide

There's a not very easily accessible 2x toggle in the Flip4's camera app, and a very easily accessible one in the N2 Flip's, so we put these to the test as well. Note that they're both working without any dedicated zoom hardware, as previously mentioned, so the Oppo is at a distinct advantage since its main camera has more resolution to work with than the Samsung. The Flip4's 2x shots are decent and usable in a pinch, but they aren't very sharp.

Flip4: Daytime zoom samples

On the other hand, while the N2 Flip's zoomed shots aren't anything to write home about, with pretty dramatic sharpening applied and a lot more noise than we're used to from the main cam, they're very good if all you want to do is look at them on the phone's screen and share with your friends. At least they are sharper, even though that's taken over the top sometimes. The N2 Flip wins this one.

N2 Flip: Daytime zoom samples

Daytime photos winner: Tie for main cameras; Better ultrawide on the Flip4; Better 2x zoom on the N2 Flip.

Selfies

Before we dive into selfies, let's get the elephant in the room out of the way. Of course you can take selfies with the main cameras on both of these phones, and, in fact, you probably should - most of the time, at least. In that case, you will get quality that's on par with what those main cameras provide in general - see this entire section up until this point. And yet, if you are wondering how selfies captured with the cameras embedded in each device's inner, foldable screen fare, this is for you.

So, the Flip4's inner selfie camera delivers selfies that have great detail levels, good exposure, low noise, and good dynamic range, while contrast is also very good. These aren't the sharpest shots you'll ever capture, but they're generally far from too soft. As usual on Samsung devices there are two icons in the viewfinder for selfies, one delivering a more wide-angle shot than the other.

At night things do take a plunge, quality-wise, but not as much as you may expect. There's some auto night mode processing going on too, and overall we were very satisfied with the nighttime selfies that this camera was able to produce. They are, in fact, among the best we've seen recently on handsets we've reviewed long-term, and given the form factor here, we weren't expecting that. Of course, to improve things when you aren't around a lot of ambient light, the use of the screen flash feature is a must, and it works really well to emphasize faces.

Portrait Mode is very good too, with good exposure, great subject separation, good detail levels, and practically the same colors as in Auto mode.

Flip4: Selfies

The N2 Flip is no slouch when it comes to its inner camera either. It one-ups the Samsung in zoom levels going all the way up to three - 0.8x, 1x, and 2x, the former being the actual native field of view of the sensor, which is 21mm equivalent according to Oppo. That makes it easier to fit more people in the frame, but keep in mind that the other two are just crops - and at night you can't manually choose which one to use if Auto night mode is employed - the phone simply picks for you for some reason.

Anyway, during the day selfies come out with outstanding detail levels, excellent dynamic range, and a tendency to 'greenify' your surroundings - something we've noticed in the main cameras as well, so it must be a quirk of Oppo's software processing algorithms. At night you still get very good images, and again we suggest using the screen flash when there isn't enough light around you.

N2 Flip: Selfies

Portrait Mode on the N2 Flip's inner camera works pretty well too, and overall we'd call the inner selfie experience a tie.

Selfie camera winner: Tie.