Xiaomi Pocophone F1 6 / 64GB and 128GB smartphone - advantages and disadvantages

On August 22, 2018, Xiaomi announced the creation of a separate sub-brand, which will be called Pocophone. The production of models for the autonomous brand will take place in parallel with the line of devices from Xiaomi, without interfering with the release of MI and RedMI, which also come out under the wing of the company.

The history of the emergence of Pocophone

Apparently, the creators decided to follow the example of Honor, which at one time also separated from Huawei and quite succeeded in free swimming. Galaxy, a few years ago, also almost separated from Samsung - there were such conversations, but the company consulted and decided to leave it as it is. I made the right decision.

Let's go back to the hero of today's review. It was the brand new Xiaomi Pocophone F1, which barely rolled off the assembly line. Let's get to know him better and learn about the pros and cons.

Its main competitor can be considered MI8, which was also released recently by the company. The functionality of both devices has many similarities.

The new brand started immediately with the sale of a new device. On advertising banners, the smartphone is called “master of speed”, which translates as “master of speed” or “master of speed”. Whoever likes it more.

The three most important features that developers draw our attention to are:

1. Performance;
2. Improved camera;
3. Maximum user convenience.

When asked why the manufacturers chose this name, a company representative replied that “poco” means “small” in Spanish. It can be translated as - "small phone". The reason for choosing this name is not clear, since it is not too small. By the way, Xiaomi is translated from Chinese as “small grain of rice”. Now we know almost everything.

Design and features

To please consumers, the company released the smartphone in three colors so that each user can choose what they like. Available in graphite black, steel blue and provocative red. Also released a limited version of the "Armored Edition", which has a special safety margin.

Interestingly, there is a logo on the back of the phone. And since the first country where the smartphone began to be sold was India, in the version for the Indian market the logo consists simply of the word “poco”. For the rest of the world, the inscription on the case is longer - "pocophone". It is this small detail that distinguishes the versions of smartphones intended for different markets.

The body of the smartphone is made of polycarbonate. High quality, well dyed. But plastic! Keep in mind.

Xiaomi has decided to stand out and not repeat after other brands that actively prefer metal and glass as the body material.

Plastic is not fragile, and those who like to carry their phone without a case shouldn't be afraid to break it after the first fall. Although the manufacturer carefully put a transparent case in the kit for the smartphone.

For those who do not want a plastic phone, but liked the model, the manufacturers promise a limited version from Du Pont made of kivlar material. This substance is used industrially for the manufacture of body armor, and even in shipbuilding there is a use for kivlar.The limited edition will cost more, but the increased durability makes up for it. It will be beautiful and practical.

With MI8, they differ in design, since MI8 copies its appearance to the IPhone X, while the F1 has a completely different back cover. MI8 has a Super AMOLED screen matrix from Samsung, and our hero has an IPS matrix, Corning Gorilla Glass.

The installed IPS matrix increases the level of power consumption. Unfortunately, there is no active screen function, when even on a locked display, information about notifications, calls and events is visible. The function is extremely useful - it is a pity that it is not there.

Screen

Despite the name coined by the manufacturer, the phone is by no means "small", as you can read in translation. The display here is 6.18 inches, which is a lot. The screen resolution is 2246 by 1080 pixels. IPS matrix, which significantly affects the battery consumption.

The phone supports control using gestures, as well as by means of buttons built into the screen. If this gets in the way of use, the buttons can be easily disabled or swapped for more convenience.

Performance

The Snapdragon 845 chip is responsible for the performance in the smartphone - the most productive one according to the results for 2019. This is done so that F1 can become the winner in all possible synthetic tests. To make it even better for him - the case is equipped with a special liquid cooling. This happens due to the heat-conducting copper tube, designed to provide high performance and reliable operation without unnecessary heating of the device.

Xiaomi promises that the 845 Snapdragon will outperform competitive processors - the Kirin 970 by 60%, and the Exynos 9810 by 30%. And thus guarantees the lead Samsung Galaxy s9 and One plus 6.

When tested using the Antutu benchmark, it scores 264 thousand points. Thanks to the cooling system, the heating temperature of the smartphone is 3-4% lower than that of the Galaxy s9. Many users have experienced overheating of the smartphone and know that when the processor starts to overheat, the phone will slow down terribly.

In games you will find a bright and realistic picture and nimble graphics. All popular games are running well, during the time of use, no application crashes or freezes were noticed. Tested on Tekken and World of Tanks games. Toys were running at maximum settings quickly, efficiently and without overheating of the case.

Built-in memory

The smartphone will be delivered with two options of built-in memory "on board" - this is the 64gb version and the 128gb version. The amount of RAM in both cases is 6Gb.

Micro SD card slot supports up to 256GB. It upsets the fact that it is combined with one of the SIM cards. You will have to make a choice in favor of either the second number, or increasing the memory. Although, if you take a model with the maximum amount of built-in memory, you won't have to think about expanding gigabytes for some time.

Autonomy

4000mAh battery, versus 3400mAh in MI8. With active use, it will last a day and a half. By the end of the second day, you will be able to observe 20 percent of the remaining charge. If the use is less active, it will be enough for two days without problems.

The smartphone supports fast charging with Quick Charge 3.0 technology. A useful function makes it possible to fully charge the smartphone up to 38% in half an hour from scratch. After passing tests for autonomy, the device produces the following indicators:

• 25 hours 20 minutes - when communicating on the 3g network;
• 13 hours 40 minutes - when browsing the Internet;
• 12 hours of continuous video playback.

Sound and headphones

3.5 mm audio jack. returned to F1, although MI8 decided to abandon it. The decision is correct, because it is necessary and very convenient. Not all users are ready to give up their favorite headset.

The package bundle of the smartphone is minimalistic, and, unfortunately, there are no headphones. The photo shows the speaker, microphone and USB type-c connector.

The sound of the external speaker is loud and good, but the required volume of sound is not enough. Music plays simultaneously through the voice speaker and located on the bottom of the case. The result is an interesting stereo sound.

There is even an FM radio in the model to please music lovers.Headphones connected to the phone will act as an antenna.

Camera

The Pocophone cameras have a dual module. Rear camera: 12 + 5 MP, front: 20MP. The flash is double. The sensors in the smartphone are obtained from Sony. Added artificial intelligence function that is able to solve more than 206 image scenarios. There is a mode "food" or, for example, "panorama".

How to take pictures during the day:

Shoots in the sun perfectly and is able to notice small details. Knows how to beautifully blur the background. Autofocus works quickly and flawlessly. And yet, the photo quality is not fundamentally different from MI8.

There is no optical stabilization. There is a feature in artificial intelligence that not everyone will like - the photo is so contrasting and saturated that you can immediately upload it, unprocessed, to the social network. True, its further use in such processing will be difficult.

The video can shoot in 4K 30 frames per second, and in Full HD - 240 frames per second, but there is no stabilization. If you can't do without it, you can process the image in Google Photos. Or start shooting in Full HD, there is stabilization there. There is a panorama mode, fast shooting.

When shooting at night, artificial intelligence makes mistakes. You can turn it off and turn on HDR mode - then it will be better.

How to take pictures at night:

The front-facing camera is good too. Even when shooting against light, there is no "grain" or darkening of the face. Everything is clearly visible. Low level of light noise.

Unlocking

On the front of the smartphone, next to the earpiece, there is an infrared sensor for the face unlock scanner.

You can only unlock a smartphone using your face, it is impossible to deceive the system. You cannot substitute a photograph - it recognizes and responds only to the owner. Quickly nimble and well developed.

During use, a minus appeared - the unlocking was triggered only in the vertical position. She refused to work horizontally.

The fingerprint scanner is located just below the rear camera. It responds and recognizes fingerprints well. The location is, however, a little disappointing - you can hit the camera with your hand out of habit.

Interface and operating system

The Pocophone F1 is the most affordable 845 Snapdragon flagship. The smartphone has Android 8.1 Oreo installed, and the system runs on MIUI 9. The manufacturer assured that in the future the system will be updated to Android 9 and MIUI 10.

The interface is designed to resemble pure Android as much as possible. Of the entire Xiaomi lineup, this model was the first to receive its own version of MIUI, which contains a set of useful functions for increased ease of use.

The very User Experience - the special comfort of use, the emphasis on which was placed on the presentation, is really pleasant. All application icons are made in the same style and are in harmony with each other.

The menu has not undergone any fundamental changes, all settings are in their usual places. We decided to remove the animation of the icons. All applications are now sorted by headings and by shades of program labels.

Poco Launcher can be downloaded from Google Play and is available for almost all device models. After the device was literally swept off the shelves in the first hours of sales, the manufacturers decided to make Poko Launcher available to everyone. Now, if you want your favorite smartphone to resemble Xiaomi, you can find and download the application yourself.

Poco Launcher works well, but there are slight freezes. Most likely, they will be corrected in future updates.

Now, using Launcher, you can arrange applications in alphabetical order, or by combining by color. You can completely change the icons or hide the desired application icons. Nice and smooth animation, coupled with fast work, will not disappoint even the most picky users.

The generosity of large manufacturing companies is a very interesting thing. It often happens that when the cost is reduced, they save on something important. For example, the device is not protected against water and dust. This is a useful feature, but not here. The oleophobic coating of the screen is also present, but an inexpensive sample.

There is a drawback in which the time is displayed incorrectly on the locked screen - half of it is simply not visible due to the "bangs" on the top of the display. It will be great if the defect is corrected.

Equipment

Opening the stylish black and yellow box, we see inside:

1. Smartphone;
2. Instructions;
3. USB type-c cable;
4. Charger;
5. Silicone Case;
6. A clip to eject the SIM card and Micro SD.

Specifications

Price

How much will the phone cost in 2019? The average price of a smartphone for the 6gb / 64gb version will be 24,000 rubles. For the 6gb / 128gb version - 28,000 rubles.

F1 is the most inexpensive phone, positioning its "filling" as a flagship.

Pros vs. Minuses

Taking a closer look at the Xiaomi Pocophone F1 smartphone, we managed to identify its positive and negative sides. Let's call them.

• Screen;
• Battery;
• CPU;
• Liquid cooling system;
• 3.5mm headphone jack;
• Silicone case included.

• There is no NFC;
• No protection against water and dust;
• Lack of wireless charging.

Outcome

The phone turned out to be successful, the design is stylish and attracts attention, the processor is one of the most powerful. There is no experience of long-term use yet, since the smartphone was only recently presented to the public.

The budget flagship evokes positive emotions, but it will not show the results above the stated one. Fully justifies its cost.