Xiaomi Pocophone F1 - Full Review

Xiaomi pocophone F1

A newcomer player is entering the smartphone market. Launched in India in August 2018, the Pocophone brand aims to shake up a market that is resting on its laurels. A not so crazy challenge when you're actually a subsidiary of Xiaomi.


When we first heard about Pocophone, Xiaomi's low-cost initiative, we had two reactions. First, we were surprised by Xiaomi's message. Is it not surprising that a brand that promotes value for money ends up creating a brand that wants to be even cheaper? It's like if Leader Price unveiled a brand that's cheaper than its low-cost brand.

The F1 Pocophone is the first smartphone of the "Pocophone by Xiaomi" brand.

We can't say that Pocophone really racked his brains to design this mobile. The Pocophone is the most ordinary thing: a grey plastic back where the two cameras and the fingerprint sensor are housed. On the other hand, an 18:9 notched screen that takes up just over 80% of the front panel. Curved screen . This simplicity is claimed by the manufacturer, who has preferred to put his entire budget in the technical data sheet. A choice that will not please some and will suit others.

However, F1 has nothing to be ashamed of in terms of user-friendliness. The fingerprint sensor - which works properly and quickly - naturally falls under the index finger, whether you grab the phone with your right or left hand. And the same goes for the volume buttons. That's why simplicity sometimes pays off.

It is mainly on the technical side that Pocophone has made some sacrifices. The phone is not waterproof and does not take advantage of NFC. Wireless payment and water resistance point. We'll need to be careful. Otherwise, the USB-C port is there, as is the mini-jack port and two SIM card slots or a SIM card plus a microSD card.

Screen

Pocophone has also made a commitment to screen technology. No Amoled here, the least energy consuming technology is still too expensive. This is a 6.2-inch Full HD+ (2,246 x 1,080 px) IPS display. But the manufacturer has made a good effort since the slab that powers F1 is very good. Once the "default contrast" profile has been selected, you are in front of a screen with impeccable colorimetry: the delta E peaks at 1.2 and the color temperature at 6,200 kelvins. Two values very close to "perfection". Lovers of more vibrant - and less faithful - colours can always choose one of the other available settings.

Full HD+ definition and 403 pixels/inch resolution are more than enough to navigate comfortably. As for tactile lag and persistence, both values are low enough (112 ms and 15 ms respectively) to ensure a good fluidity. In short, even if the Pocophone does not adopt the best technology on the market here, it still provides itself with a quality display panel. And that's good, because the screen is the heart of a smartphone.

Performances

No worries about performance. With its Snapdragon 845 chip and 6GB of RAM, the Pocophone F1 runs like a car on all apps, no matter how demanding they may be. It is easy to juggle between different tasks without ever feeling a glitch or a slowdown. A real pleasure.

Another positive point is that the phone does not heat very much. It is just over 37°C, whether after long minutes of play or a photo- and video-capture session. So there's never any problem with the use.

Needless to say, the mobile is a real in-game monster too, and has no problem running even the most greedy titles in the Play Store with a smooth flow and an excellent level of detail.

Pictures

The photo is very often the area in which these ambitious phones break their legs. Well, that's almost not the case here. On paper, the main sensor of the F1 is the same as that of the Xiaomi Mi 8 (12 MP + 5 MP for portrait mode). In fact, even with the same equipment, F1 manages to do slightly better than its distant cousin.

The F1 Pocophone's dual photo sensor does a good job overall, especially when the brightness is uniform and there is no trap in the scene (rain, shadows, end-of-day light, etc.). Otherwise, there is an unbalanced picture with a risk of loss of detail.

On the other hand, the colors are right, the contrast is strong and the white balance is impeccable. We simply regret that the quality takes a little bit of a hit on the edges of the shot.

 

The application, on the other hand, is quite complete, offering a pro mode that allows you to take control of the exposure, the development, etc.. The portrait mode produces quality shots, but the bokeh is very light and the exposure can be a bit capricious. The routing is done properly, no worries on that side.

Battery life

 Having a powerful and efficient mobile is one thing; having a mobile that holds the road is another. And thankfully, on this flight too, F1 is doing well. The phone and its 4,000 mAh battery struggled for no less than 17h33 before falling below the symbolic 15% mark. This is enough to ensure two days of autonomy in "normal" use. That's more than most of the competitors' phones. In other to say, it's another great performance.

 We also notice that the interface has little impact on the system. And that's another positive aspect.

A lighter interface

The interface presented in the Pocophone is MIUI 9, with all the additional features, custom system software and pre-installed marketing applications. Among the latest, you will find the Microsoft package (since Xiaomi has signed, like Samsung, an agreement with the Redmond firm) and Facebook.

The profusion of additional applications is, at Xiaomi, less advanced than at Huawei with EMUI. At the first launch, the mobile phone offers you to adopt the visual interface of MIUI, Android stock, or the one created for Pocophones. The one we have chosen to illustrate this handling is that of Pocophone.

On the other hand, it is necessary to underline a simple design defect: the notification bar of the Pocophone F1 being largely nibbled by the notch, no notification icon has the space to be displayed. It is hoped that the manufacturer will deploy an update to address the problem.

Conclusion

It is hard to resist being surprised by the performance of this F1 Pocophone. For a price that defies all competition, the manufacturer offers a much better experience than the competition. Except for a minor stall in the photo, Xiaomi has achieved a remarkable feat with its new brand and is now becoming the OnePlus of today.

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