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The Oppo N3 will have a stainless steel version as well, lithium-aluminum one confirmed again

posted by Peter K. / Sep 26, 2014, 9:06 AM

The Oppo N3 will have a stainless steel version as well, lithium-aluminum one confirmed again

Oppo has been teasing us about its upcoming N1 successor, the Oppo N3, quite often over the past week or so, gradually revealing more and more details about the smartphone in question. At this point, we know for sure that the N3 will be made of a extra-lightweight lithium-aluminum alloy, which is also used in the aerospace industry, and will have some sort of swiveling camera aboard, similar to N1's take on the matter. We also heard that a new type of cooling technology might make a debut alongside Oppo's upcoming handset.

Oppo did not miss the opportunity to spill the beans about the N3 today as well. It was revealed that the device will come in two variations. One of them will be made of the already mentioned lithium-aluminum alloy, which will pave the way for a light device, whereas the other one will rely on rigid stainless steel for extra durability of the device at the expense of lightness. At this point, we don't know if the two versions of the N3 will differ in any other aspect than build material.

The hardware specs sheet of the Oppo N3 is still shrouded in mystery, but we bet that Oppo won't fail to deliver in this segment. The device will be announced sometime in October, so the wait will be over pretty soon.

source: Oppo via GSMDome

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12 Comments

1. magnum44 unregistered

Look, I will only buy it if it is made of metal from the hull of the TITANIC

posted on Sep 26, 2014, 9:15 AM 2

8. Neo_Huang

Posts: 1067; Member since: Dec 06, 2013

Then it wont be waterproof.

posted on Sep 26, 2014, 4:49 PM 4

2. techspace

Posts: 1037; Member since: Sep 03, 2012

steel looks better than aluminium(i used to love those steel ipod touches).

posted on Sep 26, 2014, 9:18 AM 2

3. Chuck007

Posts: 1410; Member since: Mar 02, 2014

Looking promising so far keep up the good work!

posted on Sep 26, 2014, 9:18 AM 1

4. Phooey506

Posts: 85; Member since: Sep 24, 2014

Its "aluminum-lithium alloy" not "lithium-aluminum alloy". Word order makes a big difference when describing alloys.

posted on Sep 26, 2014, 9:21 AM 5

5. Birds

Posts: 1172; Member since: Nov 21, 2011

Aluminum is already rather soft but lithium is super soft! Does this type of ionic bond have some strange strength? I didn't bother to read the article.

posted on Sep 26, 2014, 9:28 AM 0

10. vincelongman

Posts: 5645; Member since: Feb 10, 2013

It's due to the slip planes and dislocations in the metal's crystal structure To damage aluminum you have to cause a plane of aluminum atoms to "slip" past another plane of aluminum atoms, or cause a dislocation to move Lithium is a much smaller atom than aluminum So when you replace some aluminum atoms with lithium atoms the crystal lattice get distorted The distortion and lithium atoms make it harder for the planes to slip past each other and make it harder for dislocations to move https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium-lithium_alloy