Xiaomi' sub-brand, Poco today announced the launch of its first smartphone, the Poco F1 in India. At a global event held in New Delhi, Poco by Xiaomi announced the smartphone. It's a high-end handset sporting the latest and greatest Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC, but it comes with a super aggressive price. The Poco F1 will be selling in India at a starting price of Rs 20,999 for the 6GB and 64GB storage option. The phone goes up to Rs 28,999 for the variant with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. The Poco F1 is all about performance because the device sports plastic body, which we haven't seen in a smartphone priced over Rs 20,000 for a while. Xiaomi has cut many corned to achieve that insane price tag, but the company is confident that the device will not disappoint users in terms of performance.
Xiaomi Poco F1 Specifications and Features
The Xiaomi Poco F1 is a flagship smartphone, meaning it comes with the latest Snapdragon 845 chipset for impeccable performance. The device comes in various configurations- 6GB+64GB, 6GB+128GB and 8GB+256GB, same as the OnePlus 6 and Asus Zenfone 5Z. The Poco F1 also features Liquid Cooling technology and it achieved the highest ever AnTuTu score of 291,302. Another area where the Poco F1 shines is in the battery segment as the phone sports a 4000mAh unit, which along with MIUI for POCO optimisations will deliver excellent battery life. Furthermore, Xiaomi is also bundling Quick Charge 3.0 charger right inside the retail box because the Poco F1 supports fast charging.
Xiaomi has used UFS 2.1 storage on the Poco F1, which is capable of delivering faster read and write speeds at the same time. In addition, users can expand the storage up to 256GB with a microSD card. Connectivity options include Dual 4G, VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, 4G+ and USB Type-C port.
Moving onto the design, this is the area where Poco F1 disappoints. To cut the cost of the smartphone by a huge margin, Xiaomi has opted polycarbonate body for the Poco F1. Xiaomi says the Poco F1 has hard coated polycarbonate unibody design with a 7-layer colour process and reinforced internal frame structure. The Poco F1 offers a 3.5mm headphone jack.
The Poco F1 has a 6.18-inch Full HD+ display on the front which has 500nits brightness capacity, 2.5D curved Gorilla Glass on top. The smartphone also features an IR lens and infrared lighting in the display notch. Xiaomi claims the device can be unlocked in 0.4 seconds and it's secure too. And yes, it works even in pitch darkness. For those who're interested, the Poco F1 still has the good-old fingerprint scanner on the rear side.
Other features include Dirac HD Sound and dual smart PA for loud and clear audio. Optics wise, the Poco F1 rocks dual cameras on the back- a 12MP Sony IMX 363 sensor is paired with a 5MP secondary depth sensor. The Sony IMX 363 is the same sensor used on smartphones such as the Xiaomi Mi 8 and Mi Mix 2S earlier this year, so expect some reliable performance from the Poco F1. The smartphone also features real-time AI photography, something which Xiaomi introduced with the Mi 8. The real-time AI photography first identifies what you're trying to shoot and then automatically optimises the camera to tune the results. The Poco F1 is also capable of recognising 206 scenes across 25 categories and implement real-time optimisations to the photo. On the front side, there's a 20MP shooter, which again the same sensor used on the Mi 8.
The Poco F1 boots 'MIUI for POCO' out of the box, which comes with new launcher, under the hood optimisations for speed and lastly, Xiaomi is promised faster software updates. Xiaomi plans Android 9 Pie update for Poco F1 in Q4 2018.
Xiaomi Poco F1 Pricing, Colour Options and Availability
Xiaomi has launched the device in three colour options- Graphite Black, Steel Blue and Rosso Red. The Poco F1 comes in three configurations- 6GB+64GB priced at Rs 20,999, 6GB+128GB version priced at Rs 23,999 and the 8GB+256GB storage option that retails for Rs 28,999. The phone can be purchased from Flipkart and Mi.com starting August 30.
Furthermore, Xiaomi also launched a Poco F1 Armoured Edition which is made from Kevlar Aramid Fiber, imported directly from DuPont USA. The Poco F1 will be a 'Made in India' product.
Honor Play is the Only Competitor to Xiaomi Poco F1
The recently launched Honor Play is the only competitor to Xiaomi Poco F1 in India. The Honor Play also has a notched 6.3-inch display, Kirin 970 SoC which is not as fast as the Snapdragon 845 SoC, comes in 4GB/6GB of RAM and 32GB/64GB of internal storage. However, barring the plastic body, the Poco F1 is a way better smartphone compared to the Honor Play.
