Oppo announces the N3 - motorized swivel camera, multi-purpose fingerprint sensor, and lightning-fast charging

Oppo has held an official event in Singapore, where it announced the N3 – the successor to the unique N1 smartphone that sported a swiveling camera, instead of two separate front- and back-facing snappers. The new device brings a hardware bump, together with a few upgrades for the peculiar camera.

The Oppo N3 is powered by a 2.5 Ghz quad-core Snapdragon 801, coupled with 2 GB RAM. Its display has been slightly shrunken – 5.5", compared to the gargantuan 5.9" that was on the N1. The new handset still sports a 1080p resolution, which brings its PPI to 400. The camera's resolution has also received a bump – up to 16 MP, with 1.34 micrometer pixels.

Interestingly, the battery has seen a downgrade, in terms of capacity at least, and is now a 3,000 mAh juicer, much less than the N1's 3,610 mAh. On the flip side, the phone supports OPPO's VOOC technology, which allows one to charge their phone to 75% capacity in just 30 minutes.

One would think that, with a smaller screen and a nerfed battery, the N3 will at least be a much smaller, thinner, and lighter device. It measures at 6.34" x 3.03" x 0.39" (161.2 x 77 x 9.9mm) and weighs 6.77 oz (192g), which, compared to the N1's size of 6.72" x 3.25" x 0.35" (170.7 x 82.6 x 9 mm) and weight of 7.51 oz (213 g), makes it noticeably shorter, though, a tad thicker, and not extremely lighter.

Of course, Oppo invested in further expanding the innovative features of its N line. The swiveling camera now has a motorized mechanism, made in partnership with Schneider Electric, of  that can rotate the sensor around up to 206 degrees, which will allow it to take panoramic pictures automatically, without requiring the user to spin the device around. The camera also features a Tracking Focus feature, which should help users keep moving objects in focus.

On its back, the N1 featured an O-Touch panel, which allowed one to scroll around and launch apps with their index finger rested on the device's rear. The N3 replaces this with a fingerprint scanner, which still retains the ability to be used as a touch pad, but also allows users to assign different fingerprints to different functions and apps, expanding the phone's quick access functionality.