Xiaomi Pocophone F1
Xiaomi is back....but with a sub-brand, Pocophone
With the prices of flagship smartphones have gone past $1K mark and the pace of innovation has slowed down. Over the last two years, Xiaomi had tested waters with high-end phones Mi Mix series (1/2/2s). Could Xiaomi set out to build something to buck this trend?
Hardware
Pocophone F1 is available in three memory-storage combinations: 6GB/64GB, 8GB/128GB, and 8GB/256GB. All features the Snapdragon 845 processor (10nm octa-core with Adreno 630 GPU).
Xiaomi added a liquid cooling system, LiquidCool, to help overheating. It works by transferring heat from the processor to the other parts of the phone.
The handset offers a 4,000mAh battery which should be running for a full day or two, depending on how hard you push it. It support for Quick Charge 3 with the bundled 9V/2A charger. There’s no wireless charging and NFC.
The Pocophone F1 features a single speaker, found on the bottom (only one of the two grilles houses a speaker). The fingerprint sensor on the back of the F1. There is a 3.5mm earphone jack (yes)
The Pocophone F1 a uses an infrared-based face unlock sensor. As it’s IR-based, it functions well in all lighting conditions, negating the need to use the fingerprint sensor in most cases. It has a rather thick bezel, large notch..and a huge chin
User Experience
The Pocophone F1’s polycarbonate chassis do not adopt the current flagship glass back, but rather a plastic coated with a metallic look, which does not feel cheap. It doesn’t get as cold as glass or metal-backed devices would. With its weight(182g), size(155.5 x 75.2 x 8.8 mm) and curvature, lends a sense of sturdiness you won’t expect from a plastic device. The display’s is actually pretty good. Colors (84% NTSC color gamut) are just slightly less vibrant than what you would expect from a flagship (SAMOLED). The 500-nit brightness is more than enough for perfect legibility even under direct sunlight. The Pocophone uses a unique launcher, Poco Launcher on top of MIUI based on Android 8.1 Oreo. With gesture control in place, the experience is well.
Due to notch, additonal info (battery) will require to swipe down to view (similar to iPhoneX)
Camera
The camera dept is one area whereby Xiaomi is not well known for. This could be seen in Pocophone as well. The camera delivers good results in good lighting, with decent performance in lower light performance. Pretty good colors when the lighting allows it, but once the light gets low, images can turn out quite smudged
Gaming
With its impressive hardware, it will be necessary to play some games. Below are gameplay with current graphics intensive games
Asphalt 9
PUBG
Putting my skills aside, did not notice any frame drop. The straight line (left) with an extreme rounded corners (Right) can get in the way of certain elements in the extreme corners, but then again this is an issue shared with many notched smartphones out there.
Conclusion
Good - Gaming
Moderate - Camera
Moderate - Aesthetic
Price - Less than S$500
The Pocophone’s best quality is its price. It’s barebones — The F1 also has no NFC chip, poor speakers, However, none of that really matters — not even a moderate camera. If you live for breakneck speed at a bargain price, with a phone that does just enough, everything else comes second. That’s what is creating incredible hype.
Hardware
Xiaomi added a liquid cooling system, LiquidCool, to help overheating. It works by transferring heat from the processor to the other parts of the phone.
The handset offers a 4,000mAh battery which should be running for a full day or two, depending on how hard you push it. It support for Quick Charge 3 with the bundled 9V/2A charger. There’s no wireless charging and NFC. The Pocophone F1 a uses an infrared-based face unlock sensor. As it’s IR-based, it functions well in all lighting conditions, negating the need to use the fingerprint sensor in most cases. It has a rather thick bezel, large notch..and a huge chin
User Experience
The Pocophone F1’s polycarbonate chassis do not adopt the current flagship glass back, but rather a plastic coated with a metallic look, which does not feel cheap. It doesn’t get as cold as glass or metal-backed devices would. With its weight(182g), size(155.5 x 75.2 x 8.8 mm) and curvature, lends a sense of sturdiness you won’t expect from a plastic device. The display’s is actually pretty good. Colors (84% NTSC color gamut) are just slightly less vibrant than what you would expect from a flagship (SAMOLED). The 500-nit brightness is more than enough for perfect legibility even under direct sunlight. The Pocophone uses a unique launcher, Poco Launcher on top of MIUI based on Android 8.1 Oreo. With gesture control in place, the experience is well.
Due to notch, additonal info (battery) will require to swipe down to view (similar to iPhoneX)
Camera
The camera dept is one area whereby Xiaomi is not well known for. This could be seen in Pocophone as well. The camera delivers good results in good lighting, with decent performance in lower light performance. Pretty good colors when the lighting allows it, but once the light gets low, images can turn out quite smudged
Gaming
With its impressive hardware, it will be necessary to play some games. Below are gameplay with current graphics intensive games
Asphalt 9
PUBG
Putting my skills aside, did not notice any frame drop. The straight line (left) with an extreme rounded corners (Right) can get in the way of certain elements in the extreme corners, but then again this is an issue shared with many notched smartphones out there.
Conclusion
Good - Gaming
Moderate - Camera
Moderate - Aesthetic
Price - Less than S$500
The Pocophone’s best quality is its price. It’s barebones — The F1 also has no NFC chip, poor speakers, However, none of that really matters — not even a moderate camera. If you live for breakneck speed at a bargain price, with a phone that does just enough, everything else comes second. That’s what is creating incredible hype.
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