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5.9-inch Oppo N1 has swivel camera, rear touch sensor

Oppo's latest smartphone brings hardware innovations to a new Android 4.2 phablet.

Scott Webster
Scott Webster has spent the better part of his adult life playing with cell phones and gadgets. When not looking for the latest Android news and rumors, he relaxes with his wife and son. Scott also is the senior editor for AndroidGuys. E-mail Scott.
Scott Webster
2 min read
The Oppo N1 lets users decide which version of Android to use. Oppo

Chinese hardware maker Oppo on Monday introduced the Oppo N1, a new Android 4.2 phablet with notable innovations.

The N1 features a 5.9-inch 1080p HD display, a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor, and a 13-megapixel camera. The phone, which comes in 16GB or 32GB storage capacities, also has a 3610mAh battery, and support for quad-band GSM and pentaband HSPA+ support. With no LTE in sight, it stands to reason the handset won't make its way stateside anytime soon.

Diverging from the rest of the Android pack, the Oppo N1's camera features six physical lenses and rotates 206 degrees. In other words, add this to the multiple lighting options, and your selfies should look stunning. Also noteworthy, the rear of the phone features an "O-Touch" panel that lets you use gestures.

In terms of operating system, the Oppo N1 runs a custom ColorOS, which is based on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. According to Oppo, this user experience features more than "400 unique features and improvements" over the stock Android build, but that's also something we hear a lot from manufacturers who add their own Android layers.

An eleventh hour rumor suggested that the Oppo N1 might run CyanogenMod's custom ROM out of the box. While that's not the case (ColorOS is Oppo's custom layer,) the smartphone will let users swap out the ColorOS for CyanogenMod.

Pricing and exact market availability are not yet clear, but Oppo has circled "early December" on the calendar for the flagship device.