It’s surreal that the Oppo Find N2 Flip is the Chinese company’s first foldable flip phone. Not only does it feel like a really refined foldable device with a smooth hinge, large cover screen, and minimal crease on the flexible display, it’s also priced quite competitively.

That being said, while the hardware of the N2 Flip are solid, its software isn’t quite up to par. It also has some drawbacks here and there, but overall, the Find N2 Flip is a solid phone that can compete with the other clamshell-style foldable phone – the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 – in the Malaysian market now.

What It Is

Looking at its spec sheet, the Find N2 Flip is quite well-equipped. While the MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ isn’t quite as popular as Qualcomm’s high-end chips, it’s still a capable SoC that can deliver flagship-tier performance. In fact, I’d even say it’s comparable to the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC found in Samsung’s Z Flip 4.

Another hardware of the N2 Flip that’s worth pointing out is its generous 4,300mAh battery, which is quite a bit bigger than the (again) Z Flip 4’s 3,700mAh cell. This translates to longer battery life than Samsung’s offering, and I can easily get a day’s worth of use out of this phone on a single charge.

The Good Stuff

Design is easily one of the key highlights of the Find N2 Flip. This Moonlit Purple colourway, for one, is a nice shade of purple with a smooth, glossy finish that is (surprisingly) not a fingerprint magnet. The Astral Black colour option is quite nice too with a matte finish instead, which feels very nice to the touch.

I also appreciate the “wave” design on the N2 Flip’s hinge. It’s just a small touch, but it does give the flip phone a unique aesthetic. Speaking of the hinge, I absolutely love how smooth it is. The tension of the hinge is consistent when I fold and unfold the phone, and it closes with a reassuring thud too.

It’s also worth mentioning that the Find N2 Flip closes completely flat. As there’s no gap between the two halves of the phone, dust wouldn’t get inside the primary display when I keep it in my jeans pocket. In my opinion, this is a distinct advantage over the design of Samsung’s Z Flip 4.

However, I do wish the hinge of the N2 Flip was a tad stiffer, which would’ve made it easier to hold the screen at a certain angle.

Next, we have the Find N2 Flip’s primary 6.8-inch 2520 x 1080 AMOLED foldable screen with a 120Hz refresh rate. The panel’s high refresh rate lends to a pleasant user experience with smooth animations, and the display itself is bright and vibrant with punchy colours and deep blacks. While its viewing angles could be better, it’s still a nice display to look at overall.

What about the crease on the N2 Flip’s main screen? Well, it’s markedly better than the crease found on the Z Flip 4. It’s not completely invisible, but it is a minimal crease that’s hard to notice in normal use. Of course, you can still see and feel the crease if you really look for it.

And then there’s the cover screen of the N2 Flip. It’s a sizeable 3.26-inch 720 x 382 AMOLED panel, which is touted as “the largest of its kind” by Oppo. That’s certainly true (at the time of writing), and I love the fact that the extra screen real estate makes it easier to read my notifications. What I don’t love is the limitation of the cover screen; I’ll elaborate more in the next section.

In the performance department, the Find N2 Flip’s Dimensity 9000+ can keep up with my demands. Whether I’m juggling between different apps or gaming, the phone remains fast and zippy. But there is one caveat: I can’t play Genshin Impact smoothly at 60fps with maxed out graphics settings on this phone, though once I lowered the graphics settings, it runs quite well.

As for battery life, the Find N2 Flip is a long-lasting phone. I can get between five to six hours of screen on time out of the 4,300mAh battery, which is respectable for a foldable flip phone. I have no trouble at all getting through a typical workday with the phone, even with a couple of gaming sessions thrown into the mix.

Value proposition of the N2 Flip is quite good too. Retailing at RM3,999 for 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM, it undercuts the price of the Z Flip 4 with the same amount of storage and RAM for RM4,499. That being said, Samsung Malaysia is currently offering its foldable phone with a RM400 discount. This brings down the price of the 256GB Z Flip 4 to RM3,999, matching Oppo’s offering.

Lastly, there’s the camera performance of the Find N2 Flip’s Hasselblad-branded dual camera system (50MP primary + 8MP ultra-wide). The 50MP main sensor, for one, can take some good-looking shots, even in low light conditions. The camera interface is also quite responsive, lending to a pleasant shooting experience.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the 8MP ultra-wide lens, which brings us to the next section.

The Bad Stuff

Even under ideal lighting conditions, the difference in quality between the 50MP primary camera and 8MP ultra-wide sensor is very noticeable. The latter’s detail preservation isn’t quite as good, and its colour reproduction is quite muted too. Judge for yourself with these sample shots.

Even with the Hasselblad branding, the N2 Flip’s camera performance – more specifically, the 8MP ultra-wide sensor – leaves much to be desired. For what it’s worth, at least the 50MP main camera performs quite well, especially in this segment.

Software experience of the Find N2 Flip could use some work too. It runs on Oppo’s ColorOS 13.0, which feels remarkably similar to OxygenOS 13.0. This comes as no surprise, in view of the affiliation between Oppo and OnePlus.

Anyway, that also means ColorOS 13.0 shares the strengths and weaknesses of OxygenOS 13.0. It has a lightweight, responsive user experience, but it is also not as responsive as it should be. When I’m opening the recent apps page, for example, I have to wait a split second before I can interact with the screen. I also don’t like the fact that I can’t swipe down on multiple notifications from the same app to expand them.

And that brings me to the cover screen of the Find N2 Flip. Yes, I can look at my notifications and interact with them with pre-set texts or emojis, but if I want to craft my own reply, I’d have to unfold the phone. Given the size of the cover display, Oppo could’ve easily implemented, say, a T9 keyboard on this screen, which would’ve been really useful to quickly type out a reply.

Beyond that, there’s also the lack of any IP rating with the N2 Flip. This is one area the Galaxy Z Flip 4 has the upper hand with its IPX8 water resistance rating. Considering the fact that the two phones are priced similarly now, Samsung’s offering does appear more compelling if you’re concerned about water damage.

Is It Worth It?

Despite its shortcomings, the Oppo Find N2 Flip is still an excellent foldable flip phone. It has a minimal display crease, a large cover screen – even if it’s not fully utilised – long battery life, good level of performance, and a reasonably capable camera system, though this is mostly applicable to the 50MP primary sensor.

Retailing at RM3,999, the N2 Flip is not budget-friendly by any means. But it’s priced relatively well for a foldable phone, especially for one that’s as refined as this device. If you’re looking to get a clamshell-style foldable phone, the Find N2 Flip is definitely worth shortlisting.