Beyond the gimmick, you’ll find a fairly capable camera at your disposal with some rather unusual settings available to it against other phones out there.
Options include RAW file formats, an “expert mode” with ISO and exposure compensation, and even a double exposure layered photo mode.
And the images out of the camera are actually pretty good, with some strong details, good colours, and low-light imagery that looks good, with dark skies at night that won’t feel like the pixels have become stars, unlike other cameras.
But while the strengths of the Oppo lie in the camera and its range of features, we’re stumped by the design decisions for this phone, because it’s big, heavy, and with some remarkably silly port locations that just have us confused as to what Oppo was thinking.
Let’s start with the phone design.
Yes, Oppo has followed the basic logic of designing a phone around a screen, a 5.5 inch screen at that, but it just has a tremendous amount of framing on its top and bottom, and makes the 5.5 inch phone bigger than other phones sporting that screen size.
As a point, the LG G3 relies on a 5.5 inch display, as does the Apple iPhone 6 Plus, but while the iPhone 6 Plus damn near matches the height and width of the Oppo N3, it wins because it’s so much thinner.
On the other hand, the LG G3 is the same thickness as the Oppo, but wins against it because it has so much less bezel, and looks small in comparison, even though they’re technically the same size (though LG offers more resolution).
It’s also heavy… really heavy.
There is no way not to notice the sort of impact the Oppo N3 makes on your pocket, and in many ways, it really does feel like you’re carrying a brick. We’ve seen heavy phones in the past, and HTC’s One Max seems to be the limit at 217 grams, but Oppo’s N3 isn’t far behind at 192.
You might look at that and say “well, that’s only 20 grams heavier than the 5.5 inch Apple iPhone 6 Plus,” and you’d be right, but where as Apple seems to spread the weight, and the phone doesn’t feel tremendously heavy, the Oppo seems to. Maybe it’s the plastic, and maybe it’s the placebo effect from dealing with those huge bezels, but we can feel it, and our pockets and pants do not appreciate it.
Some might scream “well, obviously there’s a big battery adding to that weight”, and with a 3000mAh block, you’d be right, except that the Oppo N3 doesn’t last more than a day of general use. Our test has us making phone calls, taking photos, surfing the web, writing and checking mail, social networking, and listening to music, which is an average day for us.
Use the phone more, however — we call people in this category a “power user” — and you’ll barely see that full day of battery life, which is a shame given that size and overall heft.
There are other odd design elements taken along for the ride as well, such as the leather stitching around the camera.
Sorry, ahem, we mean the obviously fake leather with stitching on the camera.
Not on the rest of phone, or the back like how Samsung tried to get way with on Galaxy Note models. No, this is just a small amount of plastic leather with plastic “stitching” on the camera, as if to say the camera has a leather bit protecting it.
Which it does not, and it looks just plain odd, especially since it appears out of the blue — or white, on our review phone — and doesn’t really connect with any other design element.
The ports on the phone are equally confusing, with the side chosen as best place for Oppo to put the microUSB charge and data transfer port, with the other side used for the 3.5mm jack.
Oppo could get away with the microUSB port on one of these sides. We don’t like it, but when you charge the phone before you go to bed, chances are that you’re not going to care that the charge port isn’t at the bottom.
Headphones, on the other hand, are a bit of an issue.
You see some headphones have right-angle headphone jacks, and others have more direct straight ones, but regardless of what you have, the side-based 3.5mm headphone port on the Oppo N3 means if you decide to listen to music with headphones and then slip the phone into your pocket, that simple move to drop the phone in your pants pocket becomes a struggle between the width of the pocket and this new extra-large width of your phone because of a hardened jack protruding from the side.
As an example, of pair of earphones we’re reviewing has a direct plug in that it’s basically a straight line.
Plug this in and the N3 becomes terribly wide, and requires the phone to weave into place in your pocket, not to mention applying stress on the headphone connection when you move.
Right-angled headphone jacks, such as the sort on Beats headphones, handle this a little better, but you’re still left with a phone that is overly wide, and difficult to get into a pocket comfortably.
Part of this problem comes from the wide screen, which doesn’t help the width, but Oppo should have tested the placement of ports a little better, because the side is definitely the worst place for the headphone jack to plug in.
Even the notification light has us a little confused, simply because it’s so large and noticeable. We suppose if you wanted to be told that you have a message, a breathing light is a good way of getting your attention, but when you’re lying in bed and see this large light blinking on and off at the bottom of the phone informing you a message has come in, well, that’s the last thing you want to see.
Conclusion
Oppo’s latest phone may well be geared at photographers, but its weight makes it hard for someone to carry, occupying more space than other 5.5 inch smartphones, and yet also bringing more weight to the table, enough that your pants might need a belt or replacing quickly, or even both.
The gimmick is neat, that’s for sure, but one you can get over quickly, but if you like options and love taking photos, Oppo’s digital camera phone is decent enough that you’ll like what’s on offer, provided you’re good for carrying something hefty.
