Oppo Find N3 review

Introduction

The original Oppo Find N from two years ago was a foldable like no other - really compact when folded, only mid-sized when unfolded - and made us wish more companies would pick that route to bendy smartphones instead of the clear divide between clamshells and phone-turns-tablet designs. Well, with the third generation, Oppo abandoned its alternative ways and brought us a full-size foldable with the Find N3. And we can't blame them after seeing the excellent hardware they came up with.

Sure, the Find N3 is larger than the previous two iterations, but it remains reasonably lightweight, and it still has more sensible screen proportions than the de facto standard for the class, the Galaxy Z Fold. And some properly great screens those are, too.

Naturally, there are top-tier internals to be found here - a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset is in charge, storage starts at half a terabyte, and the 12 or 16GB or RAM ensure smooth operation, even with the numerous multi-tasking capabilities offered by ColorOS 13.2 (some of which are unique and truly useful).

But it's really the camera system that is the Find's true selling point and not just for the Hasselblad badge. The trio of modules on the back makes up a very versatile system - the primary wide camera ushers in a new generation of Sony sensors, the telephoto is almost as good at 6x as it is at its native 3x and the ultrawide, while not spectacular in isolation, is potentially a lot better than that of the Galaxy's counterpart.

All that comes in a body that is quite possibly sexier than what Samsung will give you, and even though it's not quite as svelte as, say, the Xiaomi Mix Fold 3, the Find is still pretty easy on the eyes. Its splash resistance isn't up to the Galaxy's IPX8 rating, so points for the Z Fold there.

Now, as usual with the Finds, the matter of availability is somewhat complicated, even more so this year. While the previous two generations were confined to the China market, this one will be sold in some other countries as well, though we can't quite point those on a map. The global software that we have running on our review unit (with no China-specific apps or remnants or non-translated and possibly non-translatable menu items) is a good indication of the N3's wider reach.

That's hardly surprising, given the fact that the Find N3's alter ego, the One Plus Open, is being sold in the US and Europe as we speak. Yes, the two related brands are selling two products that aren't all that different - rather same-ish, in fact, save for the different colorways and the different names for some otherwise identical software features. We recently tested the Open and were pretty thrilled with what we saw, so we figured another go at this same-but-different-but-also-same device wouldn't hurt.

Oppo Find N3 specs at a glance:

• Body: 153.4x143.1x5.8mm, 239g; Glass front (Ceramic Guard) (folded), plastic front (unfolded), glass back or eco leather back, aluminum frame; IPX4 splash resistant.
• Display: 7.82" Foldable LTPO3 OLED, 1B colors, Dolby Vision, 120Hz, 2800 nits (peak), 2268x2440px resolution, 9.68:9 aspect ratio, 426ppi; Cover display:, LTPO3 OLED, 1B colors, Dolby Vision, 120Hz, 2800 nits (peak), 6.31 inches, 1116 x 2484 pixels, 431 ppi, Ceramic Guard.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM8550-AB Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (4 nm): Octa-core (1x3.2 GHz Cortex-X3 & 2x2.8 GHz Cortex-A715 & 2x2.8 GHz Cortex-A710 & 3x2.0 GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 740.
• Memory: 512GB 12GB RAM, 1TB 16GB RAM; UFS 4.0.
• OS/Software: Android 13, ColorOS 13.2.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 48 MP, f/1.7, 24mm, 1/1.43", 1.12µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 48 MP, f/2.2, 14mm, 114˚, 1/2", 0.8µm, PDAF; Telephoto: 64 MP, f/2.6, 70mm, 1/2", 0.7µm, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom.
• Front cameras: Internal: 20MP, f/2.2, 20mm, 1/4", 0.7µm; Cover: 32MP, f/2.4, 22mm, 1/3.14", 0.7µm.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps gyro-EIS, HDR10+, Dolby Vision; Front camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS.
• Battery: 4805mAh; 67W wired, PD, 1-35% in 10 min, Reverse wired.
• Connectivity: 5G; Dual SIM; Wi-Fi 7; BT 5.3, aptX HD; NFC; Infrared port.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); stereo speakers (Dolby Atmos enhanced).

Oppo Find N3 unboxing

Presentation has always been particularly important to Oppo, and this premium segment does require some extra attention to detail (even though Samsung, for one, doesn't really bother). So the Find N3 ships in a large box with some kinetic opening tricks to make you feel extra special.

The list of contents is also longer than that of the Galaxy. Here, you get a charger rated for 67W and a cable to go with it - already better than the Z Fold's cable-only approach. Also included is a two-piece protective solution with a snap-on back cover and frame for the cover display. Samsung will sell you those at an extra cost; here, they come bundled.