Oppo N1 puts a 13MP camera on a hinge
 

Oppo's been prepping its photography-centric N1 for quite some time, but at last, the teasing stops today as the company unveils its first N-Lens series device in Beijing. We're looking at a Qualcomm quad-core phone with a 5.9-inch 1080p display, a backside touch panel (for scrolling and taking photos) and a generous 3,610mAh battery, but the focus is obviously on the camera. Not only do you get a 13-megapixel imager with an f/2.0, 6-element lens plus dual LED, but it's also rotatable over 206 degrees!

In case you're wondering, Oppo said the N1's swivel camera has passed a 100,000-time rotation test, which works out to be seven years of usage if you rotate it 40 times a day. This is quite reassuring, given that you can also activate the camera -- which takes just 0.6 seconds -- with a rotation of over 120 degrees. Oppo also boasted that its camera's been tested in over 100 scenarios, which is apparently the highest in the industry. Other features include long exposure of up to 8 seconds, an updated version of Oppo's beautification algorithm, and support for video beautification in China's popular IM app, QQ.

On the software side, the phone will come with Oppo's new Color ROM, which is the result of a 10-month development involving 243 developers, 20,000 testers and 43 new patents. Some of the coolest features include live weather themes that interact with the icons (such as snow settling on top of them, or lightning bolt reflecting on them), as well as a drop-down board for drawing patterns to trigger specific apps.

The price? From CN¥3,498 or about US $570. It'll be available for pre-order on Oppo's website later today, and expect full availability in October.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/23/o...&ncid=rss_semi