Poco F1 review: Xiaomi redefines flagship with this hard-to-beat smartphone

The Poco F1 shows a flagship smartphone need not be costly; this one cuts corners on design, camera and some other features but still manages to pack enough to be a flagship with a price hard to beat.

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi recently took the plunge in India’s premium mid-range segment, the second-fastest-growing segment in the country, with the debut of a flagship smartphone under the Poco sub-brand.

Xiaomi’s compatriot OnePlus, the only other strong player in the segment with triple-digit year-on-year growth rates in recent times, has been the fastest-growing flagship smartphone brand in India, ahead of the biggies Samsung and Apple.

Priced at Rs 20,999 for the base model, the Poco F1 is the most economical offering in the mid-range flagship segment, much cheaper than the even the Asus Zenfone 5z and OnePlus 6. However, is Poco F1 a complete package with an all-round performance? Let’s find out:

Design and display

Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 5 Pro, launched earlier this year, had an iPhone X-inspired design – a metallic back, vertically aligned rear camera module and a circular fingerprint sensor in the back’s mid-centre. Most of its smartphones since have followed the same design template. Thankfully, the Poco F1 has a fresh new design. It is not chic, given its plastic build, and does not look as premium as glass and metallic designs of current-generation mid-range flagships. The company, though, is also offering a Kevlar back edition in the premium 256GB variant.

The front is covered with a 6.18-inch fullHD+ (2246 x 1080) screen stretched in the 18.7:9 aspect ratio. The screen has a notch on top, accommodating the earpiece, front camera and sensors. While other smartphone makers are working on ways to minimise the notch area, the Poco F1 takes a detour and offers an even bigger one. 

The bigger notch is justified by the addition of an infrared illuminator for a better face-unlock mechanism. This works well in both bright and lowlight conditions. The notch, enabled by default, can be disabled from settings.

As for display quality, it is a bright unit with ample contrast and good saturation levels. 

The screen looks vivid and stays legible even in bright sunny conditions. The screen supports both physical and gesture-based navigations, removing home, back and recent keys from the bottom area and providing more space for content. 

Currently, there is a support for three gestures – swipe up from bottom for home, swipe up from bottom and hold for recent apps, and swipe from left to right and right to left from edges for back and next. These gestures make the phone a lot easier to operate with one hand....Read More

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Despite imperfections, Poco F1 can beat OnePlus and Asus on their own turf

The Poco F1 offers top-of-the-line innards at a starting price of a mid-range budget device, challenging the popularity of OnePlus and Asus in the mid-range flagship segment.

Poco, a sub-brand of Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi, seems to be redefining the mid-range flagship segment with the launch of the Poco F1. The smartphone offers top-of-the-line innards at a starting price of a budget mid-range device, challenging the dominance of OnePlus in its own game, and almost killing the budding new names in mid-range flagship segment, such as Asus.

A smartphone is more than just the sum of its components. This is true of every smartphone, be it one from OnePlus or Samsung, Apple, Asus or Xiaomi. 

Like a camera, which is more than just the megapixels, a lot more than just a processor defines a smartphone. A powerful processor, coupled with an optimised operating system, proper RAM management, healthy battery, capable camera units with software-based image enhancements algorithms, etc, are a few things that complete a smartphone.

Here is a look at the key players in the mid-range segment and how they stack up against one another:

OnePlus 6:

The OnePlus 6 smartphone is a result of experience that the company gathered over years. It boasts a top-notch hardware, best-in-class Android-based operating system and a premium glass-metal-glass body. Importantly, the consistent software upgrade cycles and a healthy community group that shares regular feedback to the company make this device even better with time.

Poco F1

The Poco F1 is a fresh new experience. It also boasts premium innards but cuts corners on design, camera and some other features to keep the cost in check.

It is important to note that the Poco brand is part of Xiaomi, which has been a dominant player in the country with its value-for-money phones. However, the company’s last flagships did not make an impact in India’s price-conscious smartphone market due to irregular launches and uncanny price tags. Compared to OnePlus, Poco has had a similar start with the F1, which is not perfect, but sets the benchmark for future Poco-branded smartphones.

Asus Zenfone 5Z:

The Asus Zenfone 5z, which is also a capable mid-range smartphone that could be considered the only alternative to the mighty OnePlus 6. The Poco F1 not only takes the cheapest Qualcomm Snapdragon 845-based smartphone title from it, but also makes it look overpriced. However, Asus has so far been consistent with the support, providing regular software upgrades that continue to make the Zenfone 5z even better. However, with rising competition, it remains to be seen if Asus continues to be a relevant player in this segment.

But one thing is clear: A segment that has long been dominated by OnePlus is finally seeing some competition. With rising competition among brands, the consumer is sure to be the real winner.

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