Oppo N3 review: Motor head

Snapdragon 801 in charge

The Oppo N3 is built around a capable Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset. It's got a quad-core 2.3GHz CPU and an Adreno 330 graphics chip. The N3 offers 2GB of RAM. It's an overlal respectable setup but nothing to ogle at. Smartphones are starting to utilize the more powerful Snapdragon 805 with Adreno 420 and 3GB of RAM is quickly becoming the norm.

Still, the Oppo N3 shares an identical setup with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S5, the HTC One (M8), the LG's G3, the OnePlus One and Oppo's own Find 7 series, so you can bet the chipset is no slouch either.

The next couple of benchmarks show the CPU-specific and overall performance. GeekBench 3 and AnTuTu 5 focus on the entire platform and give the Oppo N3 an okay result but it's still way behind the cream of the crop.

Basemark OS II shows a capable overall score regarding the CPU performance but the breakdown of single and multi-core scores isn't as impressive. Single-core performance on the Oppo N3 is in line with its Snapdragon 801 peers but multi-core one falls behind. Keep in mind that these scores have loads to do with vendor-specific optimization - otherwise all Snapdragon 801-yellding phones will have identical scores.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

• Meizu MX4
  3556
• Motorola Nexus 6
  3285
• Oppo Find 7
  3178
• Oppo Find 7a
  3093
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  3011
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  2925
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  2884
• Oppo R5
  2806
• Oppo N3
  2704
• OnePlus One
  2663
• LG G3 - EU version
  2563
• HTC One (M8)
  2367

AnTuTu 5

Higher is better

• Motorola Nexus 6
  49803
• Meizu MX4
  46922
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  46824
• HTC One (M8)
  44020
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  43164
• LG G3 - EU version
  39905
• Oppo N3
  39245
• Oppo R5
  31417

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• Motorola Nexus 6
  1509
• Oppo N3
  1280
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  1222
• Oppo Find 7
  1212
• OnePlus One
  1196
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  1181
• HTC One (M8)
  1126
• LG G3 - EU version
  1126
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  1082
• Oppo Find 7a
  1057
• Oppo R5
  772
• Meizu MX4
  695

Basemark OS II (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  4031
• Oppo Find 7
  2606
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  2588
• Oppo Find 7a
  2580
• HTC One (M8)
  2428
• Oppo N3
  2417
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  2415
• LG G3 - EU version
  2213
• OnePlus One
  2213
• Motorola Nexus 6
  1967
• Meizu MX4
  1729
• Oppo R5
  1657

Basemark OS II (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Meizu MX4
  12268
• Oppo Find 7
  10391
• Oppo Find 7a
  10256
• OnePlus One
  10234
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  10063
• Oppo R5
  10000
• Motorola Nexus 6
  9915
• HTC One (M8)
  9860
• LG G3 - EU version
  9611
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  9604
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  9446
• Oppo N3
  9320

Graphics on the Oppo N3 are handled by the Adreno 330 GPU. Its test scores show that it gives way to the superior GPUs found inside the Apple iPhone 6 Plus or the Adreno 420 one in the Motorola Nexus 6 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4.

Among its peers with a Snapdragon 801 chipsets and 1080p screens the Oppo N3 clinched the very last spot besting only the PowerVR G6200 Meizu MX4 and Adreno 405 Oppo R5.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Motorola Nexus 6
  20901
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  18684
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  18297
• Oppo Find 7
  14968
• OnePlus One
  13129
• HTC One (M8)
  12396
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  11744
• LG G3 - EU version
  11552
• Oppo N3
  10168
• Meizu MX4
  8324
• Oppo R5
  4855

Browsing performance is measured in dedicated HTML 5 and JavaScript tests. In this discipline the Oppo N3's hardware and software make for a middling performer at best. HTML 5 was very poor tying the Oppo N3 to a second to last place.

There was more hope with JavaScript performance where the N3 managed to squeeze out a better score more or less in line with the Oppo Find 7 and 7a and the LG G3.

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  4650
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  5351
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  6043
• Motorola Nexus 6
  6088
• Oppo Find 7
  6363
• Oppo N3
  6460
• Oppo Find 7a
  6660
• LG G3 - EU version
  6987
• OnePlus One
  7008
• Meizu MX4
  9408
• HTC One (M8)
  10296
• Oppo R5
  11656

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  3389
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  2208
• LG G3 - EU version
  1474
• Oppo Find 7
  1452
• Motorola Nexus 6
  1447
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  1398
• OnePlus One
  1339
• Oppo Find 7a
  1327
• Oppo R5
  1319
• HTC One (M8)
  1069
• Oppo N3
  730
• Meizu MX4
  720

The Oppo N3 didn't give us a thrilling ride with its hardware rig but didn't disappoint either. The scores it was able to put out were in line with what a Snapdragon 801 chip can produce.

It seems the Oppo N3 was let down by poor optimization of the hardware and software as it was bested by most devices running the same hardware build. Of course, these results hardly translate ideally into real world performance.

Our impressions are that the Oppo N3 handles beautifully and we didn't experience any hiccups or slow-downs on Color OS 2.0. The software flies through animations and opens up apps as quick as the next flagship. You'd really have trouble finding something to frown at in real life usage.