POCO F1
Pros
Powered by a Snapdragon 845 Processor
Excellent Battery Life and comes with a Qualcomm Quick Charge 3 charger
Comes with an infrared camera and emitter for Face Recognition
Feels Solid
Cons
Average Display
Camera Lacks OIS
No DRM certification for HD streaming
Xiaomi Poco F1: Top performance with a low price tag!
The first smartphone of Xiaomi’s sub-brand POCO is launched in India. The low price tag is the weapon of Xiaomi and its sub-brand POCO also stunned everyone with pricing that seems both unbelievable and unbeatable. Xiaomi Poco F1 comes with Snapdragon 845, up to 8GB RAM, 4000mAh battery & all this below the price tag of 300$ (30K INR)!!
POCO F1 comes with 4 different variants: 6GB+64GB for Rs 20,999, 6GB+128GB for Rs 23,999, and 8GB+256GB for Rs 28,999. The Armoured Edition comes in a single 8GB+256GB configuration and will retail at Rs 29,999. There is a special offer by the company for customers of JIO which contains INR 8000 worth of benefits and 6TB of high-speed data.
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Design & Display:
The phone comes with Blue, Red, and black color variants. Xiaomi is not famous for its designs of phones. It doesn’t mean the design is ugly, but it is not like premium smartphones with a glass body finish.
POCO opted practical approach to design including the aluminum body. This makes the phone more durable. From the front side, there is a notch on top, an IR Blaster, a Front camera, and a sensor. This IR blaster helps to enhance facial recognition on the phone.
The back has a very good polycarbonate body. It feels soft and allows a good grip. There is also an Armoured Edition that comes with a Kevlar back. The Armoured edition feels better than the polycarbonate variants.
If you like smartphones with premium look glass body then this is not even close to them. But POCO’s aluminum body cover makes it a more durable smartphone as heat is also dissipated better than glass body phones.
There is a vertical dual camera setup on the backside. Xiaomi has a new design there with red circles around the camera lens. A circular fingerprint sensor is there below the lenses.
The phone is a little bulky with a 180g and an 8.8mm thick design. Because of its tightly packed design, it doesn’t need an extra case and it is more durable.
POCO F1 comes with a 6.18-inch FHD+ (2248 x 1080 pixels) IPS LCD with a 19:19 aspect ratio. There is gorilla glass 3 protection at the top. It can prevent scratches and drops. The screen is similar to MI 8. Its max brightness setting is good enough.
Power & Performance: It’s A Beast!!
As mentioned at the start, the POCO F1 comes with the latest Snapdragon 845 with 6GB or 8GB variants and Adreno 630 GPU, 64/128/256GB storage. The 8GB RAM and 256 GB storage combination does everything flawlessly.
Also, there is no issue with the 6GB variant. All specifications boost the performance and make this device a beast. While comparing to the OnePlus 6, there is a very small difference in performance. OnePlus 6 is slightly quicker in navigation because of its Oxygen OS and good optimization.
But it doesn’t mean POCO F1 lags. While testing PUBG on it at a high graphics level, the experience was similar to big smartphones like iPhone X, Galaxy Note 9, or OnePlus 6. There is only a lack of AMOLED display in the gaming experience but overall performance is speedy and powerful. And of course, with its price – It is Bang for the buck!!!
POCO F1 comes with its dedicated thermal management mechanism. It keeps the chipset from overheating. It prevents CPU throttling and hence increases the longevity of the phone. Xiaomi POCO calls this technology as LiquidCool. It has dedicated copper pipes carrying vapors that absorb heat from the chipset and dissipate it uniformly across the body.
The overall experience is fluid. There is an optimized tweaked version of MIUI 9.6. There are additions like an App drawer, automatic segmentation of apps, ability to install third-party icon packs directly from the launcher.
There are some bloatware applications loaded by Xiaomi like their own suite of apps, some third-party apps from Amazon, UC browser, etc. You can not uninstall Xiaomi’s suite of apps but you can uninstall third-party apps. But still, the UI looks much neater and easy to navigate. Animations are also improved and faster than old Xiaomi phones.
Xiaomi POCO F1 comes with Android version 8.1 Oreo. The company said the Android Pie version will be released for the phone in 2019.
POCO F1 Camera:
POCO F1 has a rear dual camera setup. One has a 12MP Sony IMX363 primary sensor with a 1.4-micron pixel size and another 5MP as a secondary camera. The second sensor is for depth effect and you’ll be impressed by the bokeh effects. Both the cameras get AI features for photos. Xiaomi says the AI intelligently identifies and optimizes the images in real time by judging the scene. It comes with 206 scenes across 25 categories.
The photos taken by the camera are good and capture plenty of details and high dynamic range, but over-saturated greens and reds in some situations. The front camera is the same 20Mp camera found on the Mi 8 with an f/2.0 aperture and Super Pixel technology. It combines the detail of four pixels into one helping to reduce noise and increase quality.
You can record 4k videos with rear cameras, and 1080p with the front camera on a POCO F1 smartphone.
Fast Fingerprint & Face Unlock!
POCO F1 comes with a fingerprint sensor and face recognition for the unlocking system. You’ll be surprised after 10 seconds of face registering setup. The face unlock on this phone is super fast. It is faster than the OnePlus 6 and more accurate because of its IR sensor.
IR sensor enables it to map your face even in low light conditions. The fingerprint sensor is also fast and unlocks the phone as soon as you touch the sensor.
Battery Life:
POCO F1 comes with a 4000mAh battery, which is not usual on flagship phones unless it’s the huge Note 9. The battery is huge which is the reason the phone is thick. The battery lasts a day. You can play games without any worry. It supports Quick Charge 3.0 and Xiaomi bundles a fast charger in the box. Lighter users may get a couple of days’ battery.
Should You Buy POCO F1?
As Xiaomi promised, the Poco F1 is all about speed. You get Snapdragon 845 and loads of other top-notch features including up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage at 20k-30k price (Under 300$-400$). You also get a good camera, massive battery life, and a decent screen.
If you care primarily about having the best performance or you want to make sure your phone will stay fast for several years, then it’s very hard to beat the Poco F1 for the money. If you’re looking for performance and a battery that keeps you going all day, the Pocophone F1 becomes even more compelling! Just go for it!
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The Poco F1 offers good value for the price with decent performance and a long-lasting battery. However, the camera system and software updates might be outdated compared to newer smartphones.
The Poco F1 packs a powerful processor ideal for running most games smoothly at moderate settings.
Xiaomi ended regular software updates for the Poco F1 in 2021.
