Poco finally launched their next phone on 23rd June 2022, Poco F4 5G, in addition to their mid-range ‘F-series’ and has been out for sales in the market since 27th June 2022.
We’re not only India’s leading mobile skins and screen guard brand, but we’re also a big bunch of tech enthusiasts, and hence, we ordered it the second it came out for sales!
We finally have the device on our hands, and we’re about to do a 3-day-usage review!
But before we get to the review, let’s look at the basic specs.
Specs
Price
- Starts from ₹27,999
Processor
Mobile Platform: Snapdragon 870
- CPU: 8-core Kryo 585 CPU with A77 based 1 Prime Core (3.2 GHz)+ 3 Golden Cores (2.42 GHz) and A55 based 4 Silver cores (1.8 GHz)
- GPU: Adreno 650
- X55 5G modem
Storage Options
- UFS 3.1
- LPDDR5 RAM
- 6 GB/8 GB RAM + 128 GB ROM
- 12 GB RAM + 256 GB ROM
Software/ OS
- MiUI 13 based on Android 12
Display
- 6.67″ E4 AMOLED Display
- FHD+ display (2400×1080 pixels)
- 120 Hz refresh rate
- 360 Hz Touch Sampling Rate
- Brightness varies between 900 nits-1300 nits (peak)
- Supports DCI-P3, True Color, Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and MEMC
Audio
- Dolby Atmos supported
- Hi-Res audio
- Dual Speaker
Camera
Rear Camera:
- 64 MP Primary Camera with OIS + 8 MP Ultra-Wide Camera + 2 MP Macro Camera
- 4K and 1080p video recording at 60 fps & 30 fps, 720p video recording at 30 fps
Front Camera:
- 20 MP Selfie Camera
- 1080p video recording at 30 fps
Connectivity
- 5G compatible-10 bands
- Bluetooth 5.2
- WiFi 6
Battery & Charging
- 4500 mAh battery capacity
- 67W Charger Compatible
Miscellaneous
- NFC enabled
- IR blaster
Design
- Dimensions: 163.2 mm x 76 mm x 7.7 mm
- Corning Gorilla Glass 5 Back Panel & Screen
- IP53 splash and dust resistant
- Weight: 195 gms
- Plastic side frames
- Dual-SIM
- Available in shades Nebula Green & Night Black
Detailed Review
Performance
Snapdragon 870, as we all know, is one of the most well-balanced SOCs you can find in phones these days. It’s not powerful as Snapdragon 888 or 888+ or 8 Gen 1, but for the price point here, Snapdragon 870 is an outstanding option for a mid-range phone SOC.
Moreover, when you play heavily graphical games on smartphones, you’ll observe that quite a bit of heating occurs. But when we did the same on Poco F4 for more than an hour, it did not heat up beyond 40° Celsius. In fact, there were no stutters while playing games, thanks to the large, 3112 mm² vapour cooling chamber to help reduce heating and make your SOC run more efficiently.
Combined with storage, Poco F4’s performance gets a bit better. This phone has LPDDR5 type RAM and UFS 3.1 storage, ensuring your phone runs smoothly without any stutters. Higher the RAM, the better the performance.
Software Optimisation
Poco F4 has MiUI13 based on Android 12, further adding a personalised factor to your phone. The Android 12 factor sounds nice. However, MiUI 13 can do better. We all know about MiUI and its continuous ad spamming and bloatware.
In Poco F4, the spammy ads and bloatware are cut back slightly, but it would be better if those were not present in the first place. You are already getting a power-packed performance for a budget range smartphone; imagine how your phone would be if there was no bloatware and spamming.
By doing a proper software optimisation by removing bloatware and disabling ads, Poco F4 can be one of the best flagship killers.
Multimedia experience
The display of the Poco F4 is the most stellar feature of the phone and is definitely our personal favourite. Poco F4 has an outstanding E4 AMOLED FHD+ display that is ideal for gaming and content streaming.
Here are two fascinating features that are hard to find in a phone at this price point: a) There’s a varying refresh rate which goes up to 120 Hz and lowers to 30 Hz depending on what you do on your phone. b) There’s a Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support!
You can enjoy long hours of high-quality content streaming and gaming without worrying about excessive battery consumption when you integrate these two features with Snapdragon 870. Variable refresh rate implies that the times you don’t use your phone, the refresh rate will drop to the lowest that saves your battery. While gaming or streaming, people take breaks, so for the time you are away, you don’t have to worry about your battery draining.
Redirecting from the display to a complete multimedia experience, audio and haptic feedback are also to be discussed.
Haptic feedback is crucial for people who engage in long, intensive gaming sessions. In Poco F4, because of the x-axis linear motor, you can experience haptics that feels satisfactorily crisp while gaming.
Audio is to be considered strongly during both gaming and content streaming. For a phone in a mid-budget range, it’s hard to find a phone with a well-performing sound system. But with Poco F4, you can put your concern aside because this phone has dual speakers with Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res Audio support. So, you can only think of how excellent the audio quality must be! But that’s not all. The loudness level of the audio is also pretty decent.
In conclusion, the whole multimedia experience on Poco F4 is absolutely amazing! If you are a big-time multimedia enthusiast on a tight budget, this phone is definitely for you.
Camera
Rear Camera
The primary camera of the Poco F4 has a pretty fast subject focus. It steadily clicks vivid & sharp photos even when the subject is in motion. For instance, you want to take pictures of a flower as your subject, but the weather outside is very windy. Poco F4 removes the weather obstacle and helps you click beautiful pictures of flower(s) as your subject.
While taking photos of people, images appear crisp and perfectly sharp with aesthetic background stabilisation and soft edges with a gradual depth of field effect. However, there is a very slight red tone on the facial complexion in the images clicked from the primary camera.
Low-light images or images clicked in Night Mode using the primary camera slightly lack detailing and sharpness. However, the primary camera manageably maintains the true colours of the surroundings. OIS does a decent job in clicking not-so-shaky images but does not let in a lot of light in the images
The ultra-wide camera is good for 8 MP as the angle distortion is corrected decently. The clarity of the image is also pretty crisp and sharp. The 2 MP Macro Camera is not much of use because it does not take HD-looking pictures like how your generic macro images look.
4k video recording at 60 fps has OIS enabled but not EIS, which provides good stabilisation but not as much as you would get from an EIS mode video. However, the clarity is still pretty good. If you can get your hands on a gimbal, you can shoot videos with that for extra stabilisation.
4k video recording at 30 fps has both OIS & EIS. Without any doubt, the stabilisation would be good, but what about focus? To your surprise, it’s not the best. The clarity of the videos is pretty good, but the focus on the subject feels a little forced.
With the ultra-wide camera, you can shoot videos in 1080p at 30 fps. It’s not super sharp, but this one takes the trophy in the context of stabilisation and autofocus.
With the rear camera, you can access particular modes like Vlog Mode, cinematic mode and parallel world effects while shooting a video.
Front Camera
Pictures clicked from the front camera are clear but over-sharpened when taken in portrait mode. It’s okay-ish but manageable. We would not strongly recommend taking photos in low light because the pictures are not at all crisp. The images are super grainy under less light conditions.
It shoots pretty stable videos with EIS in 1080p at 30 fps. Moreover, the stabilisation is even better than the ultra-wide rear camera’s video and has a better dynamic range.
Connectivity
It is 5G capable, and a 5G auction has finally begun in India, implying that we’ll soon have 5G network throughout India. Investing in a 5G compatible Android flagship killer is a good choice because you keep up with the latest network without spending a fortune or compromising on good tech specs. WiFi and Bluetooth work typically decent.
Battery & Charging
The battery life and the charging speed of the Poco F4 are very well synchronised. 4500 mAh gives a good battery life for over a day, and charging the phone from 0 to 50 takes 15 minutes, according to our usage. On their website, however, it’s mentioned as 11 minutes. More or less, it’s still pretty good for fast charging.
Miscellaneous
NFC is a feature that’s most available for flagships only. Brands like OnePlus provide NFC in entry-level flagships or mid-range phones, but that’s pretty much it. Adding to that, Poco F4 also has NFC! It also has an IR blaster, which can be pretty convenient if you lose your remote control to your TV or other electrical appliances.
Design
The design of the phone is actually reasonable for the price. The glass back adds the premium look and touch you generally don’t get to see in a budget mid-range phone. When combined with the dimensions and weight, you’ve got a pretty premium-looking device in your hands.
Moreover, the phone has a rating of IP53 for splash and dust resistance!
It is available in shades Nebula Green and Night Black.
Verdict
Even though the phone was out for sales on 27th June 2022, we got the phone hands-on day after the next day of sales, i.e., on 29th June 2022, and we’ve been using the phone since then, which makes this review a 3-day-usage review. It might not be enough, but in the past 3 days of usage of Poco F4 5G , our verdict for Poco F4 is definitely positive.
It’s a very performance-packed mid-range phone that we recommend 100/100 to people looking for gaming and streaming phones on a strict budget. For professional photographers, it’s not the best, but for amateur/beginner photographers, it can definitely work.
You can use the phone for an entire day, beginning from breakfast to ending at bedtime, if you are putting it through super heavy usage. For light users, this phone can run way beyond just a day. But what’s more important is that no matter how you use this phone, you can pop it in for a 10-15 minute quick charge for a day’s usual usage.
The NFC and IR Blaster features are significant in this phone because of the price point at which these features are available.
The design of this phone is quite premium looking with a glass back panel and whatnot. Shade options are restricted as you only get Green and Black variants in India.
You can stick with the original look by adding an invisible layer of our Poco F4 Screen Guards or Full-Body Protectors to protect your device from scratches and fingerprints.
Or…if you want to add a more customised look to your Poco F4 along with extra grip and scratch-proofing, you can opt for our Poco F4 skins!