Oppo Find 7 preview

Oppo has taken the wraps off its new flagship smartphone in Beijing – and it may just be the most powerful phone in the world.

Read on for all the details.

IT'S GOT A 5.5IN 2K DISPLAY

Oppo might not have the brand recognition of Samsung, HTC and Sony – but it's punching above its weight in terms of specs. Where its rivals' 2014 flagships all sport 1080p displays, Oppo has raised the bar with the world's first 5.5in QHD display on a smartphone.

Yes, the Oppo Find 7 sports a 2560x1440 IPS LCD display, giving you a retina-scorching 538ppi. It's streets ahead of its rivals' 1080p screens; the HTC One (M8)'s 5in display yields up 440ppi, while the Samsung Galaxy S5's 5.1in display manages 432ppi and the Sony Xperia Z2 pumps out 423ppi from its 5.2in screen.

Oppo isn't the first to market with a 2K smartphone screen – the Vivo Xplay 3S takes that honour – but it has delivered the smallest such display, with the highest pixel density in the world.

IT'S ABSURDLY POWERFUL

The Find 7's spec sheet is on a par with other manufacturers' flagship phones – inside, you get a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 MSM8974AC, clocked at 2.5GHz, plus an Adreno 330 GPU and 3GB of RAM.

Comparing that with other 2014 flagships, the Find 7 has the same processor setup as the Samsung Galaxy S5, but the Oppo one-ups it with 3GB of RAM – as found on the Sony Xperia Z2.

Internal storage is a little scanty at 32GB, but you do have the option of expanding that by up to 128GB using microSD. Connectivity options include Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi direct and NFC – plus LTE, for the first time on an Oppo phone.

The Find 7's removable 3000mAh battery charges through a micro USB port on the base of the phone – the phone also features Oppo's new VOOC rapid charging system, which, it claims, will take you from 0 to 75 per cent battery in half an hour.

IT TAKES 50MP PHOTOS. SORT OF

Oppo has past form in innovating with camera tech – its N1 phablet featured a rotating 13MP camera for hi-res selfies – and the Find 7 is no exception.

Its main camera uses a Sony IMX214 CMOS sensor with an f/2.0 aperture – but it can shoot 50MP photos, thanks to some software trickery. In Super Zoom mode, it snaps 10 consecutive shots at speed, and then picks out four images to stitch together into a 50MP, 8160 x 6120 still. As well as its party trick, the Find 7 also features the usual array of camera settings, including HDR, panorama, GIF mode and RAW mode.

It's no slouch at video, either; it'll shoot 4K video at 30fps, 1080p video at 60fps and 120fps slow motion video at 720p.

Round the front, you get a 5MP, f/2.0 camera for selfies and video chat. While that's not quite up to the Oppo N1's rotating 13MP snapper, it's still well ahead of the Samsung Galaxy S5 and Sony Xperia Z2's efforts.

DESIGN AND BUILD

Oppo's played it safe here, with the Find 7 building on the established design language from the Find 5. That's no bad thing, though; it's a sleek-looking device, with a curved carbon fibre back and titanium-aluminium alloy frame in "Midnight" and white finishes.

Also retained from the Find 5 is the unusual button layout; a volume rocker on the right hand side of the phone, and a power button on the left. It's a big device – at 75 x 152.6 x 9.2 mm, it's comparable in size to the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 – so that placement may prove awkward for some users. It's heavier than the Note 3, as well, at 171g – so bear in mind that one-handed use might not be practical for small-handed gadgeteers.

The back pops off to reveal a replaceable 3000mAh battery and microSD card slot, which will give you up to 128GB of additional storage.

The Find 7's screen is tucked away behind Gorilla Glass 3, and is sensitive enough that you can use it while wearing gloves, or through water droplets. Beneath the screen, there's a row of capacitive touch keys and a curved "skyline" bar that pulses blue when you have pending notifications. It's a neat effect, a little like the "breathing" power light on Apple MacBooks.

COLOROS

The Find 7 comes Oppo's ColorOS skin over Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. While it's a shame that it doesn't feature Android 4.4 KitKat at launch, ColorOS comes with some handy features including gesture controls – we particularly like swiping with two fingers to control volume – alternate themes and a vanishing status bar.

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

The Oppo Find 7 will cost US$600 (£360) at launch; an exact UK launch date and carriers have yet to be revealed, but it's expected to arrive in May or June.