Xiaomi Poco F1 review: New flagship killer in town

The Poco F1 is priced so low, relative to its hardware and what it offers, that one wonders where's the catch?


The Poco F1 is like the Xiaomi Mi 3 in many ways. No one saw it coming and when it did, it shocked everyone with its exhaustive feature set and ridiculously low price. The Poco F1 is priced so low, relative to its hardware and what it offers, that one wonders where's the catch? It seems there is none. It's a phone which, at its price, has no weaknesses.

The Poco F1 is as good as it gets and even though it does not reinvent the wheel, it gets the basics right. A lot of these basics have to do with the all-round performance and user experience, which Xiaomi's new sub-brand Poco says is often missing on even the more expensive phones. The Poco F1 tries to achieve that by focusing on the bare essentials and letting go of all the excesses that could bring it down.

The features and tech that Poco has crammed inside the Poco F1 have seemingly been put in to ensure that it delivers on almost all the requirements a user may have from his or her phone. In a world where iteration and churning out one handset after another is the new norm, Poco takes a different approach. In a way like OnePlus. But it does even better. It has priced the Poco F1 so aggressively that it makes the OnePlus 6 look expensive.

Design and build quality

As noted earlier, the Poco F1 is essentially the Xiaomi Mi 3 in spirit, with a little bit of the Mi 4i thrown in. If you've crossed paths with either of these phones, you'll be well at home with the Poco F1. Just like the Mi 3 and the Mi 4i, the Poco F1 is also built of plastic. I know what you're thinking. It's not 2014 anymore and flagship phones like the Poco F1 aren't supposed to be all-plastic.

But Poco says -- and I am not entirely convinced by its argument -- that plastic is more durable than glass and that is why it was chosen for the Poco F1. The company says glass does not age as gracefully as plastic or metal and in order to get more out of it, users are forced to conceal their all-glass phones behind cases. The Poco F1 has been seemingly designed to take on the wear and tear that everyday use brings along and it is supposed to be used without a case, although Poco bundles a clear plastic case with the phone in the retail box.

It is good quality plastic that Poco is using in the Poco F1. This phone may not be a looker like say the OnePlus 6, but it certainly feels good in the hands. Its plastic body has a smooth matte finish that's nice to hold even if it wouldn't dazzle anyone. If you want a Poco F1 that looks better, you can spend some more and buy the armoured edition of the Poco F1 that ships with a back panel made of DuPont Kevlar. It sells for Rs 29,999 unlike the regular Poco F1 that has a starting price of Rs 19,999.


The build quality of the Poco F1 is rock solid. The power button and the volume rocker offer satisfying tactile feedback while its considerable heft brings firm reassurance to the end-user. This is a phone that is indeed built to last.

But nothing is perfect. The front panel of the Poco F1 is part of a raised structure that sits above the mid-frame, which means the display is always exposed. Even the bundled case isn't good enough to protect it which means that you'll have to be careful with the Poco F1.

Display and software

The Poco F1 is the first Xiaomi phone in India to come with an iPhone X-style notch and much like it is in other Android phones with notch, you can also disable it if you're not particularly a fan. Notch aside, the Poco F1 comes with a good screen. The 6.18-inch FHD+ IPS LCD display of the Poco F1 shows good colours, and it has nice viewing angles. It is bright enough to be used in harsh sunlight, although it can be a little reflective or glossy.

The Poco F1 runs a slightly modified version of MIUI called MIUI for Poco, which looks a lot like stock Android. The big takeaway is a new launcher that is better suited for people who like clean Android. Poco is also promising faster updates for this phone. The Poco F1 is slated to receive MIUI 10 (modified for Poco) soon, while a MIUI version based on Android 9 Pie will be rolled out to it by the end of this year.

The Poco F1 runs Android 8.1 Oreo-based MIUI 9.6 software with special emphasis on speed. You can tell the Poco F1 is a phone designed from grounds up for enthusiasts, and everything about it from looks to feel will impress them. It's fast, it's fluid, and the promise of faster software updates is an icing on the cake.

The Poco launcher deserves a special mention here. This is the first time Xiaomi is offering an app drawer on a non-Android One phone. The app launcher can automatically group app icons into categories, and also there is an option to group apps on the basis of icon colour. The Poco launcher also comes with the ability to hide apps directly from the app drawer so you can protect them from prying eyes.

Under the hood, the software is still all MIUI. Now that's both a good thing and a bad thing. The Poco F1 packs all the features MIUI users like about it, including gesture navigation, second space and dual apps. There's also the all-familiar app vault, which is essentially a home screen devoted to quick shortcuts. Android purists may not like it. But people who want their Android practical will probably find it handy. Poco could have done away with some of the bloat though. The Poco F1 has way too many unwanted apps, many of which you can't uninstall.

Performance and battery life

The fact that the Poco F1 packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor and costs as low as Rs 20,999 is shocking. That you can also get the Poco F1 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, 8GB RAM and 256GB storage for under Rs 30,000 is insane. Here are the Poco F1 variants and their prices:

Poco F1 6GB RAM, 64GB storage: Rs 20,999

Poco F1 6GB RAM, 128GB storage: Rs 23,999

Poco F1 8GB RAM, 256GB storage: Rs 28,999

Poco F1 armoured edition (8GB RAM, 256GB storage, Kevlar back): Rs 29,999

Now that we're through gawking at the price-to-specs ratio, let's quickly see how the Poco F1 delivers in actual use. It performs damn good. The Poco F1 is quick and responsive in every sense of the word. I have been using the 8GB RAM, 256GB armoured edition for this review, and it's a pocket rocket. The 6GB RAM versions shouldn't be any less.

The Poco F1, courtesy the Adreno 630 GPU, also excels at running top-end games. PUBG at maxed out settings does make it hot, but the Poco F1 is also quick to cool down, thanks to the segment-first liquid cooling system inside. No other phone at its price point offers as many bells and whistles for dedicated gaming. Not even the Honor Play with its crazy GPU Turbo technology.

Shut up and take my money is the ideal way to describe the Poco F1. It checks all the boxes that you generally expect from a phone that costs 2X or 3X more

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 also brings improved battery life and the Poco F1 already houses a mammoth 4,000mAh battery. The battery, as a result, just keeps chugging on this one. While users with a more regular use will get at least one and a half days out of the Poco F1, even hardcore users who play a lot of games, or are on Instagram all the time, should get close to one full day with ease. The Poco F1 supports Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0 and ships with an 18W fast charger in the box.

Phone calls made with the phone are of excellent quality and I did not encounter any odd call drop issues with our review unit. The Poco F1 also comes with dual stereo speakers which get loud with almost no digitisation at peak volume.

Poco F1 camera performance

The Poco F1 comes with a dual-camera system consisting of a 12-megapixel sensor and f/1.9 aperture lens and another 5-megapixel camera for depth sensing. The phone captures quality photos in good light with good detail and with mostly spot-on (if a little over-saturated) colours. Dynamic range is good too. The same is true about photos taken in tricky light, although photos clicked in such situations can be hit or miss. This is probably due to the aggressive noise-reduction algorithm of the Poco F1 dual cameras that often reduce detail and create a pastel colour effect in photos. Low light photos have lots of noise.

The Poco F1 dual cameras also pack AI, and can auto identify scenes. It works well, churning out Instagram-ready photos with over-saturated colours, but then the results aren't remarkably different from what you get without AI. The dual cameras on the Poco F1 can shoot good portrait shots as well. It can be a hit or miss in tricky light though.

On the front, the Poco F1 comes with a 20MP camera with f/2.0 aperture. It's quite good and manages to capture enough detail in selfies with colours that are mostly true to source. The front camera can also take portrait selfies, and in tandem with an IR-sensor, it doubles as a mode of biometric authentication. The IR-based face unlock on the Poco F1 works in the dark, and also it works in harsh light to an extent. But it can be a inconsistent when conditions are not ideal.


Should you buy it?

Shut up and take my money is the ideal way to describe the Poco F1. It checks all the boxes that you generally expect from a phone that costs 2X or 3X more. It is built rock solid, it has a gorgeous display, it is blazing fast, it's available in a range of options, it has capable cameras, it has dual speakers and it has fantastic battery life.

The Mi 3 is in many ways responsible for where Xiaomi is today. The Poco F1 similarly may end up being a phone that will take Poco by Xiaomi to places and buyers who have been waiting patiently for Xiaomi to do a OnePlus. The Poco F1 may not be a OnePlus 6 killer but at its price point, it leaves absolutely no space for other flagship phones including the ones from OnePlus to breathe. OnePlus phones were once the proverbial flagship killers. The Poco F1 is the new flagship killer in town.

Xiaomi Poco F1 review9/10

  • Good stuff
  • Solid build
  • Gorgeous display
  • Blazing fast
  • Outstanding battery life
  • Bad stuff
  • Cameras could have been better
  • Andriod App
  • IOS App
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