Poco F1, the new Xiaomi brand Pocophone, is a very popular phone these days because of its hype in the market. It’s the cheapest Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 phone in the world that too by a wide margin. It comes in three colors- Graphite Black, Steel Blue, Rosso Red and with a special Armoured Edition (Kevlar Back). Here is the in-depth review of this Xiaomi’s brand new phone Poco F1.
In the Box
|
|
Key Specifications
| * Processor: | Octacore Snapdragon 845 |
| * OS: | Android v8.1 (Oreo) |
| * RAM: | 6 GB / 8 GB |
| * Storage: | 64 GB / 128 GB / 256 GB |
| * Camera: | Front: 20MP ; Rear: 12MP + 5MP |
| * Battery: | 4000mAh (Quick Charge 3.0 ) |
| * SIM: | nano SIM + nano SIM / micro SD |
| * Display: | 6.18 inches IPS LCD |
Price in India
The initial price of (6GB+64GB) variant is Rs. 20,999 ; (6GB+128GB) variant is Rs. 23,999; (8GB+256GB) variant is Rs. 28,999 whereas there is also a special edition with kevlar back which is priced at Rs. 29,999.
Insights
Build Quality & Design (3.5 / 5)
The Poco F1’s body is entirely made of plastic and the handset simply doesn’t inspire that premium look and feel as you’d get from most contemporary glass or metal body phone. The soft-touch kevlar back option feels relatively better in hands but the feel is exclusive to the highest-priced model.
Like iPhone X, the Poco F1 has a fairly big notch but all that space hasn’t been put to waste. Xiaomi has utilized it well by including an earpiece, selfie camera, IR emitter and receiver for facial recognition.
Apart from that, there’s a SIM tray on the left, customary volume rocker and power on/off key on the right, a speaker grills and USB type C port at the bottom and a 3.5 mm audio jack on top. The Poco F1 feels slightly heavy and weighs 186 grams with about 9mm waistline.
As for sound, the Poco phone uses a loudspeaker placed at the bottom and earpiece to create a stereo effect. With Dirac HD Sound support it does gets decently loud compared to what we usually see at this price point. However, while making calls the audio coming from the earpiece isn’t as crisp as it should be.
Display (3.5 / 5)
The Xiaomi Poco F1 sports a 6.18-inch screen with 18.7:9 aspect ratio. It’s an IPS LCD panel which has 1080×2246 pixels resolution, a contrast ratio of 1500:1 and can achieve 500nits brightness. Xiaomi is using Gorilla Glass 3 protection to protect your display from accidental scratches. At default settings, the Poco F1 screen offers decent colors and contrast.
For a premium feel we would recommend increased contrast and brightness but keep the battery drainage in mind.
Camera (4 / 5)
The Poco phone is backed by a dual camera setup that includes a 12MP primary shooter with IMX363 Sony Sensor, large 1.4µm pixels, f/1.9 aperture, and dual pixel phase detection. The second sensor on the rear is a Samsung made 5MP depth sensor. On the front, there is a 20MP selfie camera. On the downside, neither front nor back camera has optical image stabilization.
The camera app is the same as all other MIUI running phones. The layout is simple and clean. The Poco F1 camera offers adequate results if you keep its price in mind. In daylight conditions, the images Poco F1 camera captures have good dynamic range, appear crisp and sharp on screen. In low light, the Poco F1 kicks in HDR almost every shot in auto HDR mode.
The portrait mode is also present on the Poco F1. It manages to detect edges of the subject and blur out backdrop. The 20MP selfie camera also performed very well in our test. It manages to take good selfies well lit out conditions. We also took some shots in portrait mode with selfie camera and results were impressive enough in daylight.
Battery (4.5 / 5)
The Poco F1 comes with a massive 4000mAh battery which is better than its immediate rivals OnePlus 6 and Asus Zenfone 5Z. Even after heavy usage that includes gaming, web surfing, multiple social media apps, calling and music and video sessions it manages to last comfortably for a day with some left in the tank.
To charge this massive battery, Xiaomi includes Quick Charge 3.0 and bundles an 18W charger inside the box. This enables it to recharge about 40 percent of the exhausted battery in 30 mins.
Performance (4.5 / 5)
The phone is driven by Qualcomm’s 2018 star attraction, Snapdragon 845 chipset, which gets a wingman in Andreno 630 GPU. For sustained performance, the F1 also houses a 6GB / 8GB RAM option and up to 256GB UFS 2.1 storage.
Xiaomi also claims to have used liquid cooling technology, which Samsung offers in its tops of the line Galaxy S9+ and Galaxy Note 9, to decimate heat and keep the phone temperature in control even with extensive high-end gaming.
Well, we tested the Poco F1 with back to back PUBG sessions in HD Graphics at a high frame rate. In this endurance test, the phone showed no signs of heating issues and the whole gaming session was a smooth affair. Though, it did get a little hot in the end.
The Poco F1 can be secured using the fingerprint sensor and IR based face unlock. Both the fingerprint sensor and face unlock are blazing fast. While the fingerprint sensor is fast and accurate, the face occasionally fails to recognize my face every now and then.
Like most Xiaomi phones, the Poco F1 also runs on its own custom skin i.e MIUI 9.6. However, for the Poco Sub-brand Xiaomi has made some additions and subtractions to its OS.
Our Verdict
The Poco F1 offers extraordinary value for money. We can wholeheartedly recommend it to power users looking for a mid-range phone. The Poco F1 offers great hardware, a reasonable set of cameras, and long-lasting battery, the most favorite things of people who want a flagship killer phone for a cheaper price.
