Pop-up cameras will be the next big thing in smartphone. After the announcement of the Vivo Nex, we’ve got another mostly screen device with hidden front camera, the OPPO Find X. As smartphones dedicate more of the front of the device to screen pixels, the normal front-of-phone components like cameras, earpiece, and brightness sensors are starting to feel the squeeze. The big trend for 2018 imitate Apple phones going for notched design, which pushes the display up to the corners of the device, this cuts a large piece out of the display for the components. It’s hard to see these non-rectangular screens as anything other than a temporary solution, and OEMs are already coming up with ways to work around a notch design.
Vivo’s implementation where only a small section of the top device pops-up to reveal the selfie camera, now OPPO’s mechanicals pop-up the whole top of the phone to reveal the selfie camera, 3D face scanners and even the main camera.
The OPPO Find X claims a 93.8% screen-to-bezel ratio, which would be the highest ever on a smartphone. The OLED display stretches to fill 6.42 inches with curved sides and rounded corners like Samsung phones, with a 2340*1080 resolution. The back and front are made out of glass, there’s no wireless charging. It has an 8GB of RAM with 256GB of onboard storage, powered by a Snapdragon 845 processor. The Find X runs on Android 8.1 Oreo with the infamous ColorOS 5.1 on top. The battery is of 3730mAh, capable of fast charging thanks to the company’s proprietary VOOC Flash Charge.
The slide-out top houses a ton of components. On the front there’s a 25MP front camera and earpiece. Back of the slide pulls cameras duty, housing a dual camera system with 16MP and 20MP camera sensors and an LED flash. On the front, we also have a 3D facial scanning system that will be used to unlock the phone – it’s the only biometrics available, we have no fingerprint scanner. Aside from biometrics, the scanner can be used to create personalized animated emojis.
The first release will happen in August, OPPO hasn’t said if that is for all territories or its home country only. Though the OPPO Find X will be making its way to Kenya, much later in the year. The number one concern is the price. The OPPO Find X retail price has been set to 999 Euros, or about 1,157 Dollars in certain markets, but OPPO says our market will be getting a trimmed-down version of the device, that will cost significantly less.
