Are Foldables Cooked?

Summary

In this video, the presenter delves into the evolution of foldable smartphones, focusing on the OPPO Find N5, the world's thinnest book-style foldable. The device boasts impressive specs, including Snapdragon 8 Elite, a 50MP primary camera, and a 5,600mAh battery, all packed in a sleek, ultra-thin design. While it provides an iPad Mini-sized screen in a pocketable form, the square screen shape remains a challenge for certain tasks. Despite these challenges, foldables like the Find N5 are pushing boundaries in hardware innovation and multitasking, offering significant value for niche users. The video explores the potential future of foldables and their place in the market.

Takeaways

• 😀 The OPPO Find N5 is the world's thinnest foldable smartphone, boasting impressive specs like Snapdragon 8 Elite, 16GB RAM, and 512GB storage.
• 😀 The Find N5 features a triple-camera system with a 50MP primary camera, ultra-wide, and telephoto, but the camera quality is still not quite flagship-level.
• 😀 Despite its compact size, the Find N5 has a large 5,600mAh battery, thanks to advancements like silicon carbide battery tech and a 3D-printed titanium hinge.
• 😀 The phone folds to a slim 8.93mm thickness and weighs only 229g, comparable to the iPhone 16 Pro Max in terms of weight and thickness.
• 😀 The external screen is a 6.6-inch AMOLED display with a 21:9 aspect ratio, making it feel like a regular smartphone when closed.
• 😀 When unfolded, the Find N5 reveals an 8.1-inch internal display with 120Hz LTPO and a 412ppi, making it one of the best foldable screens available.
• 😀 The square aspect ratio of the internal screen provides more screen area than the iPad Mini but may limit certain media or multitasking experiences.
• 😀 Foldables like the OPPO Find N5 are evolving into more polished devices that approach the ideal of being regular phones that unfold into tablets.
• 😀 The Find N5 is designed for multitasking, offering features like split-screen and floating windows, which improve productivity for users who need to juggle multiple apps.
• 😀 Despite the advancements in foldable tech, the main challenge remains the high price point, making it hard for foldables to become mainstream devices.
• 😀 The next major goal for foldables is to reduce costs while maintaining high performance, battery life, and innovative features like thin designs and large screens.

Q & A

What makes the OPPO Find N5 stand out compared to other foldable phones?

The OPPO Find N5 is notable for being the world's thinnest foldable phone, featuring a flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, 16GB of RAM, a 50MP primary camera, and a large 5,600mAh battery, all while maintaining a slim profile. It has an 8.93mm thickness and weighs 229 grams, making it feel like a regular phone that happens to fold in half.

How does the display of the OPPO Find N5 compare to the iPad Mini?

The OPPO Find N5 features an 8.1-inch foldable display with a higher pixel density, a brighter screen, and a higher refresh rate than the iPad Mini, yet it has a square form factor. While it has more screen area than an iPad Mini, the iPad Mini still provides a better experience for landscape use, such as watching videos and browsing the web.

What are the key design and hardware innovations in the OPPO Find N5?

The OPPO Find N5 incorporates several hardware innovations, including a silicon carbide battery, a 3D-printed titanium hinge, and engineering advancements that allow it to be ultra-thin while still housing flagship specs. It has an ultra-bright 1,600-nit exterior display and an interior screen that peaks at 1,400 nits, making it highly viewable even in bright environments.

Why is the square aspect ratio of the OPPO Find N5 a potential drawback?

The square aspect ratio of the OPPO Find N5, while providing more screen area than the iPad Mini, can be limiting for certain activities. Landscape-based tasks, such as watching videos or using larger web browsers, benefit from wider displays. The square shape makes these activities feel more constrained compared to the iPad Mini's traditional 16:9 ratio.

What challenges do foldable phones like the OPPO Find N5 still face despite their advancements?

Despite its impressive thinness and specs, the OPPO Find N5 faces challenges typical of foldables, such as limited flagship camera performance due to space constraints and the inherent durability risks associated with foldable displays. Additionally, the higher cost of production and the niche market for foldables still make them less accessible for general consumers.

How does the OPPO Find N5 handle multitasking and app management?

The OPPO Find N5 excels in multitasking with features that allow for multiple apps to run side-by-side or even a floating window. This is ideal for users who need to reference information on one side of the screen while working on another, which makes it highly effective for productivity tasks like scripting, emailing, or web browsing.

What are the key camera specifications on the OPPO Find N5?

The OPPO Find N5 is equipped with a triple-camera setup, including a 50MP primary sensor (LYT-700), a 50MP telephoto with macro capability, and an 8MP ultra-wide camera. While the primary camera is its closest to flagship-level performance, it still falls short compared to slab-style smartphones with more powerful camera setups.

What does the term 'Betteridge's Law of Headlines' mean in the context of foldable phones?

Betteridge's Law of Headlines states that any headline ending in a question mark can usually be answered with 'no.' In the context of foldable phones, the law is applied to the question of whether foldables will ever become mainstream; while early hopes were high, the conclusion suggests that while foldables have a place, they may not fully replace regular smartphones for everyone.

How does the performance of the OPPO Find N5's Snapdragon 8 Elite compare to other devices?

The Snapdragon 8 Elite in the OPPO Find N5 provides impressive performance, but due to the slim design of the phone, the cooling system is limited, causing the device to heat up during intense use. This is a challenge for powerful processors in compact foldable designs, but the overall performance remains strong.

What role does the silicon carbide battery play in the OPPO Find N5?

The silicon carbide battery in the OPPO Find N5 plays a crucial role in maintaining the phone's slim design while providing a larger battery capacity. With a combined 5,600mAh battery, it offers impressive battery life despite the phone's thin form factor, and it also supports fast charging at 80W and wireless charging at 50W.