Back in February of this year, Oppo gave us the Find 5, the first smartphone with a 1080p display. After this emerging company found itself beating all other mobile tech giants to a huge milestone, it now finds itself on the verge of launching its next generation flagship phone. The Oppo N1 comes packed with an impressive bundle of hardware, features and a snappy price point to boot, and will be available later this month all around the globe.
The phone's body features a 5.9-inch Full HD IPS display on the front, with a swiveling 13MP camera on the top, for crystal clear selfies. Powered by Android 4.2 with a Snapdragon 600 clocked at 1.7 GHz and 2 GB of RAM, the phone certainly lives up to today's speed requirements. But it's not the internal specs, or even the swiveling camera that gives this phone an edge. It's that it'll be the first phone that will ship with official CyanogenMod support, one of the most popular Android ROMs.
The phone is the first of its kind that features a 12 cm² touch panel on the back, called O-Touch. This feature allows for scrolling and tapping on the back of the phone so that the large device cradles easily in your hand, and your fingers don't get in the way of what you are trying to scroll. The phone also ships with a small Bluetooth remote, called the O-Click, which looks like a small coin with a keyring attachment. The idea is that the remote can trigger basic events at a distance of up to 15 meters, such as a camera shutter for group pictures, or a distress signal for when you lost your phone between your bedsheets. While the idea is good, the practicality is yet to be determined.
The downside to the phone is that Oppo decided on the Snapdragon 600, which does not support 4G/LTE connectivity out of the box. While unfortunate, the trade does result in an excellent operating time on the 3610 mAh battery. The expected release date is December 10, with a predicted price point of $599 in the US, and €449 in Europe. However, the launch will not only be limited to those areas, but will focus on the wider international market, with most phones being available contract-free through online retailers.
