While they’re a relative newcomer to the mobile phone market, Oppo made a large splash worldwide with the first phone announced with a 1080P display – the Oppo Find 5 – they’ve been set the challenge of following it up with a big release and they’ve just announced their new phone, the Oppo N1.
The N1 comes with Oppo’s version of Android 4.2 pre-installed which is called ColorOS. In a time when all mobile OS’s are beginning to move away from skeuomorphic design, with ColorOS Oppo seems to single-handedly want to keep it alive. Oppo also seems to have taken some design cues from early versions of Sense with some very active animations in their weather widget. It seems to be a very heavy skin on top of Android 4.2 but that’s not the end of it, Oppo are offering the ability to flash CyanogenMod directly to the phone from their stock recovery. As well, Oppo will be releasing a limited edition Oppo N1 Cyanogen Mod Edition that will ship CM pre-installed making this the first Cyanogen Mod Phone in the world.
The Oppo N1 is made out of a full metal aluminium alloy frame which adds strength to the core of the device. The frame is manufactured over a 20-day period and undergoes a 14 step polishing process that involves over a dozen suppliers. Covering the frame is a ceramic like material body over the top, which is smooth but designed to keep the device fingerprint free.
The standout design feature of the N1 is the top mounted camera which can rotate through 206° of rotation, allowing it to be used as both front and rear camera. The camera uses a 13MP sensor and comes with dedicated Image Signal Processor(ISP) and a dual-mode Flash and a F/2.0 aperture lens. With any moving part on a device there is the worry of it breaking down but Oppo advise that the rotation mechanism has been successfully tested over 100,000 times.
For the shutter-bugs out there the Oppo N1 comes with a BLE shutter release device which can operate up to 50 metres away from the phone, called O-Click the device can hang off your keys like a keyring when not in use.
The N1 also contains another interesting feature – a 12CM² touch sensitive area on the back of the phone called the O-Touch panel which can be used to operate the device one handed.
Oppo N1 Specs
:
- 5.9″, 1080p Full HD IPS display (1920 x 1080 pixels) @ 377 PPI, 16 million colors Multi-touch, capacitive screen
- Processor 1.7 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 Quad Core with GPU Adreno 320
- 2 GB RAM
- 16GB or 32GB on-board Storage
- Rotating camera with 13-megapixel sensor with dedicated ISP, Dual-mode LED Flash, Aperture f/2.0, Normal, Panorama, High Speed, Rewind, Beautify, and Slow Shutter scene modes
- Network:
- GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz
- WCDMA: 850/900/1700/1900/2100MHz
- USB OTG, Bluetooth 4.0, 5G Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Display, GPS, Distance sensor, Light sensor, G-sensor, 4D Gyroscope
- O-Touch Slide up or down, left or right, tap, double tap and long press for different functionality
- Oppo’s own ColorOS, based on Android 4.2
- Battery 3610 mAh
- 170.7 x 82.6 x 9 mm @ 213grams
- In the box
- OPPO N1
- O-Click Bluetooth Remote Control
- In-ear type earphones
- Micro USB cable
- Charger
- SIM ejector tool
Oppo will be shipping the N1 from December, you can find more information about the N1 on the Oppo Website and if you’re interested in purchasing the device, Australian suppliers of the N1 are listed on the Oppo Website, rumoured pricing for the N1 is at CN¥3,498 – AUD$606.19.
After the lovely (read sarcasm) young lady at the Samsung Experience Store in Melbourne and her less than courteous behavior sent me back out on the street with a known faulty handset, I’m looking for a new brand to start to follow and this doesn’t look too bad….
I’d be willing to give this a shot if I was still a generation behind, but I only upgraded to the Galaxy S 4 a couple of months ago, so I’ll wait at least another 6-12 months and then make a decision on what to do. Hopefully there will be some other companies willing to ship with CM when I’m ready to upgrade (I buy phones outright). Really digging the concept of the rotating camera on a smartphone too. The front camera on phones is always lacking.
I don’t get all the love for rear touch screens. That is where you grip the phone. Are you meant to grip the screen to operate this part?
I’d love to see how CM runs on a device of this spec. Bit disappointing that it’s the Snapdragon 600 and not the 800; with such a huge screen with so many pixels, I wonder if it’ll struggle a bit?
Really? You think the 600 will struggle with a 1080 screen?
Plus it’s also the GPU that plays a part in it. And the 320 inside is a powerhouse in its own right.
The One and S4 have shown this year that the combination is great.
Perhaps struggle isn’t right word, but I think the added processing power required for processing higher definition images could take a toll on a lesser powered CPU.
But I am NO expert, I’d love to hear what some of the more experienced readers think.
Luckily its not using a lesser chip and should be fine for the next few versions of android. My HTC One is still going fine and has never tripped up once. So like I said. The One and S4 have shown that the 600 and 320 can handle 1080p fine
CM10 ran nicely on my Galaxy S2 back in the day, so I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’m a big fan of MKBHD on Youtube and he rates the Oppo Find 5 very highly; this phone should be even better!
Bit heavy but many people tend To forget to turn the camera after use, then when you receive a call….
But still a good phone with nice Reinvented concept.
I remember 3 Australia selling Motorola phone with rotate camera, I cannot find exact image as my bro used it.
Wow. It is like the feature phone era all over again…
cool