Oppo N1 hands-on: First look

GSMArena team, 23 September 2013.

Introduction

Oppo is starting to make a name for itself in the West with its high-end phones, but the company is now more ambitious than ever – today's Oppo N1 promises an impressive camera takes on the likes of the Xperia Z1 and Lumia 1020. It's associated with CyanogenMod, the best-known custom Android ROM, to help it really raise its profile.

The company puts a strong focus on design, "beauty above everything else." And the Find 5 was definitely a looker, but the Oppo N1 has a more rounded design than that. Oppo is calling it "Restricted art." It's also quite a bit bigger, it's firmly in phablet territory with a 5.9" screen with 1080p resolution.

It will run Oppo's so-called Color OS, which is a heavily skinned Android. The company claims it took 43 patents and a lot of research with users to get Color OS where it is today.

Oppo is aiming high with the N1 saying the iPhone brought "Touch 1.0" but Oppo is introducing "Touch 2.0" with its innovations like O-Touch. It's a touch-sensitive control on the back that enables scrolling gestures, touch to record audio and so on. An API will be available to develop games.

One of the most impressive features on the Oppo N1 is actually an old one – the camera can be rotated to point towards the front, as well as the back. We haven’t seen such a design in quite a while. The camera has 13MP resolution, a dual-LED flash and a custom PureImage ISP.

This part has proven to be very complex - there are as many as 67 parts in it and Oppo has calculated the gaps so that it can rotate 206° with smooth resistance the whole way through.

Oppo also announced the O-Click remote control – it doesn’t submit to the smartwatch craze, instead it uses the remote to snap photos from a distance, it buzzes when you get a new message and will alert you if you get separated from the phone. O-Click is a keychain too and you can use the phone to find your keys – this is the best thing since sliced bread.

Stay tuned, we're at the event live and updating this article with news as it comes in!

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