When we first heard of Oppo, the big name associated with it was the newly-incorporated Cyanogen Inc., makers and developers of one of the most popular custom versions of Android OS, CyanogenMod. The partnership was meant to both publicize the new professionality of Cyanogen, as well as the great design capabilities and uniqueness of the Chinese manufacturer Oppo, based out of Shenzhen. What we got was the Oppo N1, a 6-inch screen on a porcelain white phone, with a new and trademark rotating camera module, allow for a 13-megapixel front AND back camera experience, just not at the same time. It also featured an exquisite design that is still regarded by many as amazing and beautiful, just on too big of a device. And the company answered with, after some time of course, the N1 Mini, a more reasonably-sized device. Oppo was the first company to manufacture a smartphone with a QuadHD, 2560 by 1440 pixel, display panel on the Find 7, and the first FHD (Full HD, 1920 by 1080 pixel) display on the Find 5. Now, we will have another major breaking from the norm with Oppo, coming soon.
The Oppo N3, a follow-up in the N family of devices, who are known for their rotating camera modules, looks, and I mean looks, to be a radical redesign of the N line. GSM Arena was sent, via a tipster, supposedly pictures or renders of the Oppo N3, which we first heard of last week. GSM Arena’s tipster, who is purportedly very reliable, has set free to the site two different angles of renders, showing off the N3’s design, and just how much the phone is different from the N1.
The renders show off the main difference, and that is the camera. The N1 featured a camera that, when in its normal back-facing orientation, was flush with the device, leaving it clean and smooth. The N3 now shows itself, and these renders show off that the device will have a traditional squared-off display panel area, and the camera module will, instead of being flush with the body, be flush with a tube that houses what looks like the speaker on the right end and likely the earpiece used during phone calls on the opposite side of the camera module. The tube is easily twice as thick, or more, compared to the body that looks slim and modern, as all Oppo devices have a tendency to do.
The camera we see in the renders shows off a rather large sensor, like a 16 or higher megapixel unit, with a dual-LED flash (like many top-tier smartphones do nowadays). What is interesting to note, is that the camera sensor, since it is in a round tube, facing out of a curved tube, it may be taking advantage of some new technology involving a more space-efficient curved sensor and lens. It seems odd to, in the age of ‘thinner sells’, make a phone that is thin except for one of the most-used parts, but the likely choice for materials makes perfect sense.
The phone looks to be made of aluminum, or aluminium, given the shiny nature of the body we can see, and it may even be made of titanium, like the Find 5 is known to be. The best part is that we still don’t know much about the Oppo N3, so there will likely be much more to come regarding Oppo and their next rotating-camera N-family phone. Will the bigger area for the camera led to more a reliable, or longer-lasting, rotation mechanism? What is actually inside the phone, and what type and size screen will it be on? These things always come out before the actual device does, so stay tuned in for when we get more info on the Oppo N3.
