Oppo’s NFC Powered ‘Smart Lens’ Turns Your Phone Into A Legit Camera


Rumors of an Oppo detachable cell phone lens have been floating around the web since September. But after an initial leak of an unfinished lens that didn’t look much different than a DSLR camera’s lens, it kind of fell off the radar and we have not heard much about it since. Now, we have high resolution images of the long rumored device, and it still doesn’t look much different than a DSLR camera lens.

Judging by the pictures, the Oppo Smart Lens appears to use NFC to connect to your smartphone. It also doesn’t appear to attach to the the phone’s camera in anyway judging by how it attaches to the center of the camera.  It also has Wifi capabilities, although it unclear what exactly for, perhaps remote shooting? In one image it appears to be powered on and zoomed in while not being connected to any phone.

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This model is visibly marked as having a 10X zoom. However, previous rumors have it coming  as a 15X model as well. You can see it attached to an Oppo Find 7 below using a built in clip, but it isn’t clear if it will be able to attach to non Oppo phones. My guess (and it is only a guess) is that it will work with a variety of phones.

The rumors back in September had it also sporting an SD card slot, sporting 16MP and image stabilization. If these images are legit, it looks like Sony might not be the only ones in the detachable lens game.

The images leaked onto Weibo a few hours ago. We have contacted Oppo about the device for comment, and will update this space accordingly.

Read Also:  Oppo Pad 2 with Dimensity 9000 is coming soon
[Source: Weibo]
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24 Comments

  1. Andre
    April 24, 2014

    copied Sony, hopefully it will be cheaper ..

    • chris
      April 26, 2014

      yea i hope man

  2. Manish
    April 24, 2014

    Innovation is the key, but i also feel that innovation with right price tag is very important. Sony had fist mover advantage but the % of people who bought that product will be not even 0.5% of world population, looking at prices. Now if Oppo is second mover, but price is right then they can have 5% of world population cover, then that’s what i think is more important over first mover advantage.

    • Andre
      April 24, 2014

      I’m a fan of Chinese smartphones, just think unfair the fact that they almost never innovate, just suck ideas from other companies and put them on the market at lower price .. Apple, Samsung, Sony, LG and others creates, Chinese copy. . would like to see a company like Oppo / Xiaomi / Meizu launching a truly innovative product ..

      • The Chosen One
        April 24, 2014

        To a point I agree with you, the thing is, with anything overpriced, there will be someone who will be able to bring it to market at a lower price.

        • Andre
          April 24, 2014

          perhaps one of the justifications for products that large companies are more expensive is because, to innovate, they need to research, create, test, and invest more in equipment and staff to launch an innovative product in the market, which ends up increasing the final cost. .

          • The Chosen One
            April 25, 2014

            They can attempt to use that argument, but when you have factual info that shows that both Apple & Samsung spend less than $275 per unit to manufacture their flagship smartphones but an unlocked 16GB iPhone 5s costs $649 and an Unlocked 16GB Samsung Galaxy S 5 costs $699.99 then that justification argument flies out of the window.

            In the greater populace of sheeple most are programed to think that the higher the price, the better the product, which, as we know, isn’t always the case in 95% of the items produced from $1k jeans to overpriced electronics, similar to exact specs and quality can be had at a lower price minus the item being a straight out clone of a big brand.

      • inez blafla
        April 25, 2014

        OPPO’s N1 was very innovative: swivel camera, remote shutter release, rear soft touch panel & dedicated CM OS. Yet it is seemingly a bad failure, (they are already price cutting instead of updating CP). For an outsider to win through with a innovative product they not only have to hit the sweet spot in terms of timing, but also get a lot of non tech stuff right.

        Fi, the N1 didn’t get the press/success it needed (deserved) because it was too different / too innovative – and being expensive, it didn’t get wide grass roots enthusiast take up/ a chance at WOM based success. And it wasn’t just the size that kept apple I’s & small pocket fixated reviewers tepid, but ‘they’, and sorry, sweeping statement unfair to GC’s editor follows, prefer to do like for like competitor comparisons and sound bites on value of incremental improvements in model lines.

        Without big hype spend from manuf to ‘assure’ peer concurrence, few journalists are prepared to spend time/dedicate extra space to a bottom up analysis on something genuinely new and potentially disruptive to their bread and butter.Add that to R&D costs, and a manufacturer has to be very brave or deep pocketed – or under immense competitive pressure – to step too far from a ‘follower’ strategy.

        • desponent
          April 25, 2014

          Swivel camera has been around since dumb phone era, I give them back touch (even though PSVita did it first) but giving it to a mammoth of a phone is just dumb, dumb, dumb.

  3. April 24, 2014

    This is a product that isn’t needed. Sony proved that already. The gains from using this device (over using the built in camera) are minimal. The QX series is a marketing failure. Advances in OIS and Optical zoom lenses for smartphones have eclipsed the need for this device.

    In fact the smarter thing to do would have been to partner with Canon, Nikon, or ANY camera company and make the remove control and capture software on the phone work with their cameras via bluetooth. Then in the odd cases where you really need better glass than your phone has, you can use a real camera, but get the benefits of post-processing and communications of your phone. You’d also gain the ability to remote control your camera from anywhere in the room (an ability with Sonny has added by putting their QX software into their A7 and RX camera line.)

  4. Andre
    April 25, 2014

    copied Sony, hopefully it will be cheaper ..

    • chris
      April 26, 2014

      yea i hope man

  5. Guest
    April 25, 2014

    Innovation is the key, but i also feel that innovation with right price tag is very important. Sony had fist mover advantage but the % of people who bought that product will be not even 0.5% of world population, looking at prices. Now if Oppo is second mover, but price is right then they can have 5% of world population cover, then that’s what i think is more important over first mover advantage.

    • Andre
      April 25, 2014

      I’m a fan of Chinese smartphones, just think unfair the fact that they almost never innovate, just suck ideas from other companies and put them on the market at lower price .. Apple, Samsung, Sony, LG and others creates, Chinese copy. . would like to see a company like Oppo / Xiaomi / Meizu launching a truly innovative product ..

    • The Chosen One
      April 25, 2014

      To a point I agree with you, the thing is, with anything overpriced, there will be someone who will be able to bring it to market at a lower price.

    • Andre
      April 25, 2014

      perhaps one of the justifications for products that large companies are more expensive is because, to innovate, they need to research, create, test, and invest more in equipment and staff to launch an innovative product in the market, which ends up increasing the final cost. .

    • The Chosen One
      April 25, 2014

      They can attempt to use that argument, but when you have factual info that shows that both Apple & Samsung spend less than $275 per unit to manufacture their flagship smartphones but an unlocked 16GB iPhone 5s costs $649 and an Unlocked 16GB Samsung Galaxy S 5 costs $699.99 then that justification argument flies out of the window.

      In the greater populace of sheeple most are programed to think that the higher the price, the better the product, which, as we know, isn’t always the case in 95% of the items produced from $1k jeans to overpriced electronics, similar to exact specs and quality can be had at a lower price minus the item being a straight out clone of a big brand.

    • inez blafla
      April 25, 2014

      OPPO’s N1 was very innovative: swivel camera, remote shutter release, rear soft touch panel & dedicated CM OS. Yet it is seemingly a bad failure, (they are already price cutting instead of updating CP). For an outsider to win through with a innovative product they not only have to hit the sweet spot in terms of timing, but also get a lot of non tech stuff right.

      Fi, the N1 didn’t get the press/success it needed (deserved) because it was too different / too innovative – and being expensive, it didn’t get wide grass roots enthusiast take up/ a chance at WOM based success. And it wasn’t just the size that kept apple I’s & small pocket fixated reviewers tepid, but ‘they’, and sorry, sweeping statement unfair to GC’s editor follows, prefer to do like for like competitor comparisons and sound bites on value of incremental improvements in model lines.

      Without big hype spend from manuf to ‘assure’ peer concurrence, few journalists are prepared to spend time/dedicate extra space to a bottom up analysis on something genuinely new and potentially disruptive to their bread and butter.Add that to R&D costs, and a manufacturer has to be very brave or deep pocketed – or under immense competitive pressure – to step too far from a ‘follower’ strategy.

    • desponent
      April 25, 2014

      Swivel camera has been around since dumb phone era, I give them back touch (even though PSVita did it first) but giving it to a mammoth of a phone is just dumb, dumb, dumb.

  6. Dave Weinstein
    April 25, 2014

    This is a product that isn’t needed. Sony proved that already. The gains from using this device (over using the built in camera) are minimal. The QX series is a marketing failure. Advances in OIS and Optical zoom lenses for smartphones have eclipsed the need for this device.

    In fact the smarter thing to do would have been to partner with Canon, Nikon, or ANY camera company and make the remove control and capture software on the phone work with their cameras via bluetooth. Then in the odd cases where you really need better glass than your phone has, you can use a real camera, but get the benefits of post-processing and communications of your phone. You’d also gain the ability to remote control your camera from anywhere in the room (an ability with Sonny has added by putting their QX software into their A7 and RX camera line.)

  7. desponent
    April 25, 2014

    This thing never took off with Sony, what make Oppo think it would for theirs?

  8. desponent
    April 25, 2014

    This thing never took off with Sony, what make Oppo think it would for theirs?

  9. April 25, 2014

    Slower to market than Sony, like Sony do have a bit of an advantage here. It’s a very brave product. I wonder if it’s full spectrum. But wow, I want one, now just do me a Z2 microphone as well.
    As for unsuccessful? The 2nd most profitable phone company in China! I guess westerners are too poor to afford good design 🙂

  10. Peter Pain
    April 25, 2014

    Slower to market than Sony, like Sony do have a bit of an advantage here. It’s a very brave product. I wonder if it’s full spectrum. But wow, I want one, now just do me a Z2 microphone as well.
    As for unsuccessful? The 2nd most profitable phone company in China! I guess westerners are too poor to afford good design 🙂