OPPO's folding smartphone "Find N" is a good rival of "Galaxy Z Fold3 5G": Yasuhiro Yamane's overseas mobile exploration

　The "Find N" released in China by OPPO is a folding smartphone that opens the display sideways. Speaking of horizontal folding smartphones, Samsung's Fold series is a major presence, and "Galaxy Z Fold3 5G" is on sale in various countries including Japan. Find N has a price of 7698 yuan in China, about 134,000 yen, which is much cheaper than the Galaxy Z Fold3 5G, which costs nearly 200,000 yen. However, the specs are not dropped, and it is a high-spec product with high performance.

　The difference between the two was emphasized at the Find N presentation, but when the main unit is opened, the Find N is longer in the horizontal direction. It becomes a display and can be used as it is in the same style as the tablet lying down. When you open both and put them side by side, the Galaxy Z Fold3 5G is certainly long in the vertical direction when you open it, and when you display photos and videos as they are, you can't display them all over the screen. However, with Find N, it can be used as a display of about 4: 3 as it is.

　The circumference of the display is 158.2×128.1mm for the Galaxy Z Fold3 5G and 132.6×140.2mm for the Find N. Find N has a shape slightly closer to a square. Therefore, when closed, the width of the Galaxy Z Fold3 5G is 67.1 mm, while the Find N is 73 mm thick. However, the iPhone 13 has a width of 71.5mm, so the Find N is not that thick. The Find N is 15.9mm thick, and the Galaxy Z Fold3 5G has a gap, so the cross section when folded is "wedge-shaped (V-shaped)" and the thickness is 14.4 to 16mm. I felt that the grip comfort of the Galaxy Z Fold3 5G was slightly better.

　The 5.49-inch display size when closed is classified as a small smartphone for recent smartphones. By the way, the "BALMUDA Phone", which has become a hot topic, is a 4.9-inch model. Find N is a hybrid terminal of "small smartphone" and "4: 3 7.1-inch tablet", so it is a product with a slightly different direction from Galaxy Z Fold3 5G, which is "vertically slim" and "larger display tablet than 7.6-inch". It seems to be.

　Find N may be viewed as a miniaturized model of the Galaxy Z Fold3 5G. If you think so, you can be convinced that the price is cheap. However, I felt that Find N was easy to use as a UI (user interface) that makes effective use of the large tablet screen when opened. If you swipe down with two fingers from the information on the display while using an app, you can split the app. When you pinch the application screen, it becomes a floating window display.

　Google also plans to make major improvements to the UI and operation of this tablet screen with Android 12L. What makes Android tablets more difficult to use than iPads is that it is difficult to take advantage of the large screen, and Samsung also implemented its own UI using the sidebar on the Galaxy Z Fold3 5G. Google is said to have abandoned the development of folding smartphones, but it seems that smartphone manufacturers are one step ahead of Google in developing optimal UIs for tablets, not just folding smartphones. .

　Find N was so popular that the first lot was sold out immediately after it was released in China. It may have been natural that it became popular because of its low price, high performance, and good product finish. There must be many people who would like to use it in Japan as well. In order to make Samsung's next foldable smartphone even better, I would like you to expand it overseas.

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