Hi,
This year, Oppo showed a number of unusual new products at its annual Oppo INNO Day presentation. I know that the majority came to look at the pictures of smartphones. However, I propose to start with Bluetooth wireless audio technology, which Oppo wants to make the world standard.
Table of Contents
MariSilicon Y
Just recently there was discussion of a version of Bluetooth 6 that, using the 6 GHz frequency, would be able to transmit high-quality audio at a bandwidth of 10 Mbps per second, while current standards have a bandwidth limit of 2 Mbps.
In the comments they wrote that I am such a merry fellow and an inventor, and 2 Mbit / s is for the eyes.
We discussed all this in the context that public organizations, designed to create standards and specifications, do not keep up with the technological gallop of corporations. So there are not even Wi-Fi 7 specifications yet, and modems that are installed in smartphones and routers are already available on the market. Mad marketing pushes companies to push the boundaries. Customers demand innovation!
A similar situation is planned with the wireless sound market. Bluetooth 5.2-5.3 already gives good quality, and most importantly, minimizes audio lag, allowing you to use wireless headsets for video games and movies. However, Hi-Fi audio is still wired. And a few audiophiles slap their favorite Sennheiser HD (substitute the model number for your wallet, ideally the 800S, of course).
Oppo engineers are going to make a fairy tale come true.
The company says that even 10 Mbps is not enough for high-quality sound and introduces a standard with a theoretical bandwidth of 12 Mbps.
Last year, Oppo introduced an NPU called MariSilicon X, designed to work with photos and videos. It is used in Oppo Reno 8 Pro smartphones, for example.
This year they took on the sound by showing MariSilicon Y. MariSilicon Y is a full-fledged chipset that has a dedicated NPU (neural processing unit used for hardware acceleration of AI algorithms, that is, neural networks) capable of processing 590 GOPS, that is, 590 billion operations in give me a sec. The figure is big, but how good it really is, I can’t judge. Oppo brought to light a new characteristic that was not measured before, but only listed in the characteristics in specialized magazines.
There are several ideas behind MariSilicon Y:
- Lossless music, Hi-Fi music via wireless connection – 24-bit/192 kHz.
- Built-in artificial intelligence should create a new level of spacious sound. The specified 590 GOPS should be enough to render sound in real time. This will give the user new options for customizing the sound. For example, it will be possible to independently highlight the vocals to the fore, move the drums, on the contrary, back. That is, the user will be able to control the scene through the capabilities of artificial intelligence. Another example is when watching a movie it will be possible to amplify the voices.
As you understand, for high-quality music you won’t be fed up with one chipset, so Oppo immediately introduced the Ultra Resolution Lossless Codec, or URLC, immediately following. At the same time, they explained that the chipset also supports all other codecs on the market (LDAC, LHDC, L2DC, L3C, AAC, SBC).
This was not mentioned, but I assume that for full-fledged Hi-Fi audio, you will eventually need a smartphone that supports MariSilicon Y, headphones that support the URLC codec, and of course, you will need the original Hi-Fi content itself. So, probably, for the first time we will just enjoy the possibilities of “spatial sound”, which, as I understand it, MariSilicon Y will be able to calculate on an Oppo smartphone and pack it into one of the traditional codecs.
Undoubtedly, in this field, Oppo is the first of many. The same Gary Gieves, Apple’s VP of acoustics, complained in an interview with What HiFi regarding the limitations of Bluetooth, and hinted that the company was working on options.
Oppo hopes to make the presented technology a global audio standard. Depends on the licensing terms, but most likely it won’t happen. The company has already promoted its ideas for fast charging. The ideas are great, but each company ended up choosing to develop its own solutions. It will probably be the same here. And it’s sad, of course.
OHealth H1
Oppo has introduced a rather strange thing – a gadget-egg for family health monitoring.
Here is such a pill (it reminded me of a Yota Egg router) weighing 95 grams, capable of measuring the level of oxygen in the blood, monitoring sleep, measuring heartbeat, body temperature, ECG.
As you noticed, the stethoscope function stands out separately. OHealth H1 is equipped with a proprietary piezoelectric ceramic transducer that acts as an electronic stethoscope, allowing you to listen to cardiopulmonary sounds.
All data is uploaded to the application, where statistics, recommendations, etc. are issued.
Oppo says that such a joke will be useful in the so-called telemedicine, that is, a remote consultation with a doctor. The doctor will be able to see all the data, remotely listen to the patient with a stethoscope.
Basically it looks interesting. A kind of home store of information regarding health. Every day I held such a thing in my hands, measured the data. synchronized. And artificial intelligence will report deviations.
As always, you have to watch how it works live.
Oppo Find N2
The first foldable smartphone from Oppo was a pleasant surprise at the time. Even though the boss described the Oppo Find N 5G as “five years of copying the Galaxy Fold,” that doesn’t mean the smartphone was bad. And in general, I would not say that there is copying. Have you adopted the modes of operation and the ability to open your smartphone by half? So what! Lies on the surface as much as possible.
The main thing in the Oppo Find N 5G was a non-standard size, making the smartphone compact and convenient. Pictured below is an Oppo Find N 5G with a Galaxy Fold in the background.
The second generation is rather a soft evolution, in which everything was brought to the ideal. The design has not changed radically.
First, the smartphone has become lighter. Now only 233 grams. A big step forward, by the way. The previous device weighed 275 grams and pulled even a jeans pocket.
Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, we redesigned the hinge mechanism. They also used new materials (for example, in some places replacing metal with carbon fiber) and new engineering solutions. Due to this, as assured at a press conference, the fold will be almost invisible. The first Oppo Find N 5G had a visually imperceptible fold. Now it’s even better. The picture below compares the first generation with unnamed competitors, and below compares the Oppo Find N 5G with the Oppo Find N2.
Well, of course, the smartphone supports all the usual modes.
The dimensions of the internal screen, by the way, have not changed. But due to thinner frames, the external screen was made a little larger. It was 5.49 inches (resolution 988 x 1972 pixels), now 5.54 inches (resolution 1080 x 2120 pixels).
The internal screen has an adaptive refresh rate of 1-120 Hz. Auto brightness will be 1550 nits. Plus, the screen is multi-layered with an abundance of several reflective glare and color-correcting films. They promise that in direct sunlight it will be read perfectly.
Well, next they poked Samsung into their bottleneck. I absolutely agree that it should have been. The external screen of flexible Samsung is inconvenient for work. But they didn’t say anything more. Apparently, the outer screen is still a 60Hz OLED panel protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus.
I’m glad Oppo isn’t playing this crazy megapixel race. Other manufacturers should also give back.
The Oppo Find N2 has a good set of cameras, including Sony’s new 50MP sensor with OIS. Plus, pay attention to the TV camera with RGBW technology. We are still waiting for the 2nd optical zoom, but probably of much better quality. The entire camera system deserves respect, including the 48 MP ultra-wide angle. This, by the way, is one of the features of real flagships: all cameras are suitable for work in them. In mid-range smartphones, the main camera is usually exceptionally good, and all the rest lag behind.
Oppo has a partnership with Hasselblad. And they promise some Hasselblad Pro-mode. As I understand it, the camera uses Hasselblad algorithms when working with color. Well, of course, the smartphone has the MariSilicon X mentioned above for shooting 4K HDR Video at night.
Other features to be expected:
- Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+
- 4520mAh battery with 67W fast charging (100% in 42 minutes)
- Wi-Fi 6
It’s strange that they didn’t say anything regarding MariSilicon Y. Apparently, the new Bluetooth chipset is so new that it’s not yet ready for smartphones. It’s a pity.
Oppo Find N2 Flip
Here we can say that Oppo did not just copy, but improved the developments of Samsung.
The outer screen is larger than Samsung’s. The diagonal will be 3.2 inches:
The Samsung Flip 4 has a 3700 mAh battery, and here it is already 4300 mAh. Charging will be wired. Adapter 44W.
And of course, the fold on the screen, thanks to the new hinge mechanism, is also less noticeable than with Samsung. The smartphone will have a 6.8-inch screen, Full HD +, OLED, 120 Hz.
The most curious thing is that the new smartphone will work on MediaTek Dimensity 9000+, which is better suited for such a compact smartphone. Dimensity is actually a little weaker than Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+, but due to the fact that the chipset is cooler, it shows better performance. For example, the GeekBench test has already been leaked, where the Oppo Flip scored 1306 in single-core and 4293 in multi-core modes, ahead of the Samsung Flip 4 (1293 and 3862 points).
As the main camera, there will be a system of two lenses: 50 MP + 8 MP (ultra wide-angle module). The front camera is expected to be 32 MP.
The fingerprint scanner is located on the side.
Being a consistent researcher of the smartphone market, I have repeatedly touched on the topic that only Apple has managed to go beyond the hardware by creating a unique product for which people are willing to pay a big premium to the average price of a smartphone on the market. And more than once poked Samsung, showing how the company is losing markets around the world, due to the fact that, apart from hardware, the company has nothing unique that would bring it money.
Initially, Samsung made a mini-breakthrough in the field of flexible screens, being the fastest to bring an innovative solution to smartphones and launch products. For regarding 3-4 years, Samsung enjoyed, in splendid isolation, releasing smartphones with a flexible screen. The market is small, so the rest were not in a hurry. Basically, Chinese manufacturers played fashion devices for the home market.
In 2023, we will see more and more devices in the global market. And if now Samsung almost completely owns the market of devices with a flexible screen, then I am sure that in 3 years the company’s share will decrease to at least 25-30%.
