Oppo N3 Philippines Price and Release Date Guesstimate, Full Specs, Features : Pricey Smartphone with Motorized Swiveling Camera

Simply put, the recently announced flagship-level smartphone Oppo N3 is a 5.5-inch phablet with a motorized swiveling camera as opposed to mere 'manual' on last year's release.

It's smaller and more pocket-friendly than its ginormous 5.9-inch predecessor, the Oppo N1, but it comes with improved technical specifications and - at least, in my eyes - a more attractive design.

Oppo N3

Obviously, the main selling points of this high-end release would have to be its unique, rotating camera module as well as its massive 5.5-inch Full HD IPS display panel, which should provide a greatly enjoyable gaming, web-browsing, or photo and viewing experience on the device.

Oppo N3

“Oppo’s N3 was built and designed with our users in mind. We took what our users loved about the N1 and made it even better. The N3 is a perfect demonstration of our commitment to design and innovation," shared Mr. Sky Li, General Manager of Oppo’s Overseas Mobile Phone Business

Looks wise, the Oppo N3 features an innovative hollow underside design that not only make the phone look and feel lighter, but gives notification to consumers as well. The hollow space houses Oppo's skyline notification light 2.0, which takes the form of polar light and breathes when there are incoming messages. Whenever consumers receive a text, email or message, the lights - visible from every angle when looking at the phone - provide instant notification.

Also, this hollow underside protects the phone from 'drop damage'. For example, if the phone accidentally falls on the ground, the hollow space between the bottom of the phone and the screen bears the brunt of the impact, protecting the glass display and the device's innards.

Oppo N3
At the back, you'll find the phone's fingerprint reader called 'Touch Access', which - supposedly - delivers a higher recognition rate compared to similar sensors on competing handsets. (Photos by PhoneDog and PocketNow)

According to the company, "Oppo N3’s camera has the ability to rotate 206 degrees and is capable of taking pictures using its free-stop and multi-angle shooting features, a truly unique experience in mobile technology and mobile photography."

Oppo N3

In addition to that, the camera can take panoramic shots - such as cityscapes - with a simple click activating the automatic rotation to capture clear, stable images -- in both landscape and portrait orientations. With Oppo focusing more on imaging details, its 16 megapixel camera with Schneider Optics can take high resolution images, and is perfect for high quality prints.

Furthermore, the camera features Oppo’s unique target-tracking focus shift function, this means that all its users need to do is to identify the target in focus and the active, moving camera module will constantly modify its angle to follow the moving target, helping users shoot clear and interesting photos and videos.

Oppo N3

To make the camera even more user-friendly and easy-to-use, the N3 supports three ways to control the camera rotation  – by O-click, gestures and touch access.

The handset also includes the next generation of the company's market leading Pure Image processing technology, the PI 2.0 plus. Oppo shares, "Before consumers press the shutter, PI 2.0 plus will complete the white balance settings, brightness adjustment, auto focus, face recognition and other actions intelligently. The N3 delivers a user experience equivalent to that of a professional DSLR camera."

Oppo N3
This swiveling camera also makes Oppo N3 one of the best selfie cams out there in terms of utter clarity of shots. I mean, there's no compromise; The main camera is also the front cam.

As for the innards, Oppo N3 runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system skinned by the company's very own sleek Color OS interface with its Quad Core 2.3 GHz Krait 400 and Adreno 330 GPU based Qualcomm MSM8974AA Snapdragon 801 chipset. This SoC is complemented by 3GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage that easily be augmented using the phone's microsD card slot supporting up to 128 GB.

This Dual SIM Dual Standby LTE-enabled flagship is powered by a non-removable 3,000 mAh Li-Po battery pack with fast-charge technology allowing it to go from 0% to 75% in just 30 minutes.

So how much will it be? The official suggested retail price of Oppo N3 is other territories is $649 USD or roughly Php 30,000 with current conversion -- making it more expensive than Sony Xperia Z2, which has almost the same stellar internal hardware, and more than twice the SRP of the smaller Octa Core powerhouse Gionee Elife E7 Mini, which also has a swiveling camera module. As for its release date, N3 is expected to hit store shelves in various countries around the world - including the Philippines - within this month, November 2014.

TechPinas Smartphone Technical Specs Table (TSTST)
Name Oppo N3
Type Slate Form Factor (Full Touchscreen), Phablet
Price Category High End (Flagship Level)
Dimensions161.2 x 77 x 9.9 mm
Weight 192 grams
Available Colors White
Operating System Android 4.4.2 KitKat
Display 5.5 inches (~403 ppi pixel density), 1080 x 1920 pixels, IPS LCD, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Processor Quad Core 2.3 GHz Krait 400 CPU, Adreno 330 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8974AA Snapdragon 801 chipset
RAM 3 GB RAM
Internal Storage 32 GB, expandable via microSD card slot supporting up to 128 GB
Camera Swiveling: 16 MP (Schneider Kreuznach certified), 3456 x 4608 pixels, autofocus, dual-LED flash, Motorized Swivel Design
Features: O-Click remote control, 1/2.3'' sensor size, 1.34µm pixel size
Video Capture Swiveling: 2160p @ 30fps, 1080p @ 60fps, 720p @ 120fps
Audio and Video Playback MP4, WMV, H.264, MP3, WAV, WMA, eAAC+, FLAC player
Ports microUSB v2.0, USB On-The-Go, 3.5 mm audio jack
Connectivity Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth v4.0 with A2DP, EDR, 3G HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps, HSPA+; LTE 50 Mbps UL, 100 Mbps DL (TBC)
GPS Yes, with GLONASS and A-GPS
Sensors Accelerometer, Digital Compass, Proximity Gyroscope, Fingerprint
Network 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, 3G Network HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100, 4G Network LTE (depending on model)
SIM Card Type Dual SIM: nanoSIM and microSIM
Battery Non-removable Li-Po 3,000 mAh battery
Uptime TBD
Value-Added Features Color OS, Motorized Swiveling Camera, Fast-Charging Battery: 0% to 75% in 30 Minutes
Announcement October 2014
Availability November 2014
Price Official SRP: $649
TP Guesstimate for the Philippines: Php 30,000