Oppo Electronics has a bit of a cult following among Android fans. The Chinese manufacturer offers high-end specs for pretty cheap prices, along with the kind of flexibility that core Android fans go nuts for. Oppo just announced that their latest flagship phone, the Oppo N1, is getting a release date of Dec. 10 - and it comes with a piece of software pre-installed that you can no longer find on Google Play.

Oppo announced it's new high-end Android smartphone, a phablet called the Oppo N1, in September 2013, setting its availability for sometime in December of this year. On Dec. 1, Oppo posted on its Google+ page, "this is what you have been waiting for. The Oppo N1 will be available for purchase starting from December 10, 2013."

The Oppo N1 comes with some interesting innovations in both hardware and software, unique to the cultish Oppo brand. It also comes with some pretty good hardware specs, especially considering the unlocked price it's selling for.

Hardware Specs

The Oppo N1 is officially a phablet, coming with a 5.9-inch IPS LCD touchscreen on a device that measures 6.72 x 3.25 x 0.35-inches. The display is as state-of-the-art as they come, with 1080 x 1920p Full HD resolution, brining an incredible 373 pixels per inch on the almost 6-inch screen.

The device is run on a Snapdragon 600 processor, clocked at 1.7GHz with 2GB of RAM, which is speedy enough, though not high-end. For storage, there's a 16GB or 32GB option, but no microSD card slot support for expansion. There's no official data yet on how long the N1's battery will last, but it's a 3610 mAh monster - bigger, even, than the battery on Samsung's Galaxy Note 3 - so you should be able to get some use out of the device.

The Oppo N1 comes with most standard smartphone connectivity features and sensors, including Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi, GPS, and NFC, but Warning: the device only has quad-band GSM and WCDMA connectivity, so if it's LTE or bust, the N1 is not suited for you.

Hardware Innovation

The Oppo N1 features a 13-megapixel camera, with a 1/3.06-inch sensor with an f/2.0 aperture and six physical lenses, but that's not all. Joining a trend of smaller Android manufacturers (or subsidiaries) looking to differentiate themselves from the standard flagship smartphone, Oppo has put a lot of thought into how a smartphone's camera could work better.

Their solution? Make the main camera the only camera, and create a rotating swivel mechanism so that the sensor can face anywhere. The Oppo N1's 13-megapixel camera can shoot facing the back, front, or any upwards angle in-between in its 206-degree rotation.

Oppo also built in two different LED flash modules; depending on the kind of shot you're taking (think selfie vs landscape), which is basically the same as what Apple did with its new two-tone "True Tone" flash on the iPhone 5s.

On top of that, Oppo features a remote Bluetooth accessory called "O Click" that can control the device, including taking pictures: bringing the old-timey remote shutter release for cameras into the 21^st century.

Finally, Oppo brings a band new navigation feature that makes using a large smartphone less cumbersome, and this is something that will hopefully catch on as smart devices continue to balloon in size: "O Touch," which is a touch panel on the back that allows extended gesture input on the Oppo N1 while using one hand.

Software(s)

As far as versatility and flexibility goes, the Oppo N1 obviously brings some interesting hardware innovations to the increasingly unimaginative smartphone market.

But it's also flexible inside, allowing for big modifications to the Android software - even if you're not an Android-rooting expert. That's because, in addition to its own custom "ColorOS" layer on top of Android 4.2, the Oppo N1 comes with CyanogenMod pre-installed.

For those who don't know the saga of CyanogenMod, it's an installer app that allows users to unlock or "root" their devices and install custom firmware with ease.

It's a great tool for Android users who would like to dive into some unofficial Android firmware, upgrade their device with newer versions Android than the manufacturer will allow, or simply get rid of a layered UI they may not like, like Samsung's TouchWiz, and go with a purer Android OS instead. And it doesn't require the tricky, scary, painstaking process of manually flashing an Android device, which for beginners can often "brick" the phone, rendering it useless. CyanogenMod does it automatically and safely (or at least more safely than if I tried it myself, for example).

The CyanogenMod Installer app hit the Google Play store only a couple of week ago, quickly gaining popularity and a high rating. But Google asked the CyanogenMod team to pull its app from Google Play (otherwise, the Mountain View company promised it would be "forced to remove it administratively") because it was encouraging "users to void their warranty." (Most warranties forbid changing the base-level coding). They acquiesced, and CyanogenMod is now only available at their website.

And on the Oppo N1, pre-installed. Oppo is fine with users choosing not to run it customized Android OS, though the company boasts over "400 unique features and improvements" over plain Android.

Availability and Price

The Oppo N1 will be available at Oppo's online store on December 10^th, for $599 unlocked in the U.S. and €449 in Europe. Don't be surprised to find Oppo selling on Amazon.com and other retailers as well, though that has not been officially announced. To check on availability from country to country, check out Oppo's handy store locator on or around Dec. 10.