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Introduction
Xiaomi's announcements have been relatively predictable so far, but the introduction of a new Poco sub-brand was a surprising move. It sounds like a marketing experiment - deliver flagship specs at cutthroat prices. Sound familiar? Well, it does remind of how OnePlus came to be, but we're not sure the new Pocophone F1 is headed in the same direction. Poco is still just a brand, and not a separate company and they stand on the shoulders of Xiaomi's logistics and after sales support network.
The feeling of deja-vu aside, OnePlus has proven to mostly stand up to its promises through the years and we're yet to see how Poco will fare.
Xiaomi says there is nothing in particular behind the Poco name, it's just easy to say in many languages. But we can't shake the feeling the maker likes the meaning of small embedded within its names - Xiaomi or Mi written in Chinese means millet - little rice, while Pocophone in Spanish means little phone.
Anyway, the Pocophone F1 is not just big promises and polished PR. Just on the contrary - looking at its specs sheet it may have enough power to redefine the whole concept of mid-range and flagship segments. But only if this strategy keeps it going forward at least another generation or two.
The Pocophone F1 comes with a bezel-less screen and a notch. The notch here accommodates an infrared camera and an IR illuminator for face unlock, and there is also a 20MP selfie snapper. In charge of processing is Qualcomm's most powerful chipset - the Snapdragon 845 - enhanced with liquid cooling. There is also a dual-camera on the back with large pixels and a bright lens, while the massive 4,000mAh battery should help power the whole thing for quite some time.
Pocophone F1 specs
- Body: Plastic frame, Kevlar or Plastic back, Gorilla Glass front
- Display: 6.18" IPS LCD, 2,246x1,080px resolution, 18.7:9 aspect ratio, 403ppi.
- Rear camera: Primary 12MP, Type 1/2.55" sensor, 1.4µm pixel size, f/1.9 aperture, dual pixel PDAF; Secondary 5MP - serving as depth sensor. 2160p/30fps, 1080p/240fps slow motion.
- Front camera: 20MP, 0.9µm pixel size, f/2.0 aperture; 1080p/30fps video recording.
- OS: Android 8.1 Oreo; MIUI 9.5 for Poco custom overlay, MIUI 10 on the way.
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845: octa-core CPU (4x2.8 GHz Kryo 385 Gold & 4x1.7 GHz Kryo 385 Silver), Adreno 630 GPU.
- Memory: 6/8GB of RAM; 128/256GB storage; (hybrid) microSD slot.
- Battery: 4,000mAh Li-Po; QuickCharge 3.0 fast charging.
- Connectivity: Dual-SIM; LTE-A, 4-Band carrier aggregation, Cat.16/13 (1Gbps/150Mbps); USB-C; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; dual-band GPS; Bluetooth 5.0; FM radio
- Misc: Rear-mounted fingerprint reader; stereo speakers; infrared face recognition; 3.5mm jack.
Xiaomi stressed the Pocophone brand will be operating independently, but you will be seeing the by Xiaomi inscription for some time, so the people can remember the sub-brand will be fully relying on the Xiaomi's service network for support of any kind.
Operating independently will also allow Pocophone to release faster updates. The F1 has been promised the Poco-customized version of MIUI 10 in just a month after its release. They also promise an update to Android Pie in three months, and updates will keep coming regularly after that, too.
Finally, this independence will also help the management to focus on selling the Pocophones in other markets outside of Xiaomi's traditional places of operation. Of course, the focus on the Indian market will remain high.
We are very excited to meet the Pocophone F1. So, let's unbox this thing and see what's all the fuss about.
Unboxing the Pocophone F1
The Pocophone F1 comes packed within a sweet black/yellow box. Inside you'll find an 18W QC3.0-compatible fast charger and a USB Type-C white cable.
There is also a transparent silicone case inside the yellow paper compartment.
Design and spin
The Pocophone F1's body is mainly built of plastic. Xiaomi has made it nice-looking, almost premium. For those of you who are looking for a more premium version, there is also an Armored Edition with a Kevlar back - the review unit we have here.
The Armored Edition differs from the regular Pocophone F1 only by its back - it's allegedly made of Kevlar instead of plastic. Everything else is the same - the front, the frame, even the internals.
We can't help but be reminded of the iPhone X when we're looking at the Pocophone F1 though Xiaomi would rather have you think the F1 takes after the Mi 8 instead.
The design inspiration aside, most of the front is occupied by a 6.18" screen with tiny bezels and a large Apple-like cutout (the infamous notch), which accommodates the advanced face-scanning tech, the earpiece that also doubles as a speaker, the selfie camera, and a couple of sensors. A Gorilla Glass by Corning covers the whole front.
Unlike other makers who use the notch as a way to cut some bezels and fit more pixels, the Pocophone, like the Mi 8, needs the notch to fit the infrared illuminator (left of the earpiece) and the infrared camera (far left) for more secure Face Unlock. It's not as secure as the 3D-face mapping sensors on the Mi 8 Explorer Edition and iPhone X, but it's also not as basic as the widespread selfie implementations either. That's why the notch is as big as on the iPhone and the latest Mi flagship.
And let's be entirely clear here - the Poco F1 is a flagship and looks like one. Let's not forget the Pocophone is all about keeping the price low while delivering some top-notch speed and experience and that's at the expense of the plastic build.
The frame is made out of plastic too - one with a nice matte finish, which is a nice grip booster. The good news is the whole frame is thick and sturdy, and we even mistook it for metal at first glance.
Pocophone F1
The back is all-Kevlar. It won't stop bullets as it's not as thick as a vest, but it is very scratch resistant and one of the sturdiest panels you can enjoy right now. The synthetic fiber back is also heat-resistant, if this is something you consider essential on a smartphone.
The Kevlar back feels soft and provides one of the best grips we've encountered lately.
The regular Pocophones will come with a matte plastic back, still soft and grippy on touch, sturdy, but more prone to scratches.
A vertically-aligned dual-camera setup sits on the back - the primary sensor is the same 12MP cam we saw on the Mi 8 with big pixels and a bright lens, but the secondary one is just a 5MP snapper for depth information and nothing else. A dual-LED flash is also around.
We are very fond of the Pocophone's fingerprint scanner, which is just below the rear camera. It's a bit sunk in, which makes it really easy to find by touch. The surface has a mirror shine and this somehow helps for the overall premium feel of the device despite the fact it quickly gets smudged up by fingerprints.
Nothing is missing on the Pocophone - there is a 3.5mm audio port, there is an IR blaster, a USB-C port, and even a microSD slot is available - you can replace the second SIM with a memory card. A tiny white-only notification LED is also available just below the screen.
Pocophone F1
There are stereo speakers on the Pocophone - one is the earpiece, and the other one is firing towards the bottom. So if you thought some cuts had to be made to achieve the price goal - you'd be wrong. Somehow Xiaomi found a way to keep everything top-notch, even the speakers, as you'll find out in a bit.
The Pocophone is as large as the Mi 8, but a millimeter thicker and 5g heavier at 180g. The extra weight and thickness are probably due to the beefier battery, but we are fine with that.
Handling the Pocophone was a breath of fresh air after the recent crop of all-glass smartphones. It felt quite secure in hand, pleasant on touch, and looked nice. Sure, it's not as pretty as the Find X or the Galaxy S9 but given the hardware used and the price segment it strives for - the Pocophone F1 looks as great as they come. And we enjoyed it.
Display
Xiaomi isn't keen on using 1440p displays in its phones, even the Mi 8 has a 1080p one, so it's no surprise that the Pocophone is also relying on a 1080p panel. It's 6.18" in diagonal with an aspect ratio of 18.7:9 (so 2,246x1,080px) and pixel density is about 403 ppi.
Unlike the Mi 8 though, which has an OLED screen, the Poco F1 utilizes a regular IPS LCD one.
The Pocophone F1 display proved to be a very good performer in our display test, pumping out 461 nits of maximum brightness. Combined with the deep blacks the F1's display posted an excellent contrast of 1500:1 - just as Xiaomi promises in its press materials. The minimum brightness level of 2.5nits is also excellent.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0.314 | 461 | 1468 | |
| 0 | 458 | ∞ | |
| 0.002 | 624 | 312000 | |
| 0 | 456 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 455 | ∞ | |
| 0.277 | 420 | 1516 | |
| 0.385 | 488 | 1268 | |
| 0.32 | 449 | 1403 | |
| 0.228 | 446 | 1956 | |
| 0 | 410 | ∞ | |
| 0.254 | 432 | 1701 | |
The Poco F1 did well in our sunlight legibility test, posting a fine score for an LCD panel. In real-world terms, the handset remains perfectly usable outdoors. Just don't angle it straight towards the sun as it gets almost illegible in these conditions.
Sunlight contrast ratio
- Apple iPhone X
5.013 - OnePlus 5T
4.789 - Samsung Galaxy S8
4.768 - Samsung Galaxy S8+
4.658 - Samsung Galaxy S9
4.63 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
4.615 - Samsung Galaxy S9+
4.537 - Samsung Galaxy Note9
4.531 - Motorola Moto Z2 Play
4.459 - Oppo R11
4.454 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
4.439 - OnePlus 3
4.424 - Samsung Galaxy S7
4.376 - OnePlus 6
4.321 - HTC One A9
4.274 - Oppo R15 Pro
4.251 - Samsung Galaxy Note7
4.247 - Samsung Galaxy A3
4.241 - Nokia 8
4.239 - Google Pixel 2 XL (pre-update)
4.234 - OnePlus 3T
4.232 - Google Pixel XL
4.164 - ZTE Axon 7
4.154 - Samsung Galaxy Note8
4.148 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
4.147 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)
4.124 - Huawei Mate 10 Pro (normal)
4.096 - Samsung Galaxy Note5
4.09 - Huawei P20 Pro
4.087 - Xiaomi Mi 8
4.086 - Meizu 15
4.082 - Nokia 6 (2018)
4.052 - Google Pixel 2 (pre-update)
4.023 - LG V30
4.022 - Huawei Nexus 6P
4.019 - vivo NEX S
4.012 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
3.998 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
3.983 - OnePlus X
3.983 - LG G7 ThinQ (outdoor)
3.978 - Apple iPhone 7
3.964 - Oppo R7s
3.964 - Apple iPhone 8 (True Tone)
3.957 - Huawei P9 Plus
3.956 - Oppo Find X
3.954 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
3.935 - Lenovo Moto Z
3.931 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
3.918 - OnePlus 5
3.914 - Samsung Galaxy C5
3.911 - Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
3.901 - Samsung Galaxy C7
3.896 - Samsung Galaxy A5
3.895 - Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
3.879 - Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
3.873 - Motorola Moto G6 Plus
3.865 - Samsung Galaxy A8
3.859 - Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
3.842 - Samsung Galaxy A6+ (2018)
3.834 - Sony Xperia XZs
3.818 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
3.817 - Motorola Moto X (2014)
3.816 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)
3.812 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
3.804 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
3.802 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
3.798 - LG V20 Max auto
3.798 - Sony Xperia XZ
3.795 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
3.789 - Apple iPhone 6s
3.783 - Meizu Pro 5
3.781 - Microsoft Lumia 650
3.772 - Xiaomi Mi 6
3.767 - Sony Xperia XZ1
3.765 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
3.756 - Nokia 8 Sirocco
3.745 - Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact
3.729 - Apple iPhone 8 Plus (True Tone)
3.725 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.709 - Vivo X5Pro
3.706 - Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
3.688 - Huawei P20
3.683 - Apple iPhone SE
3.681 - Huawei Mate 9
3.68 - Samsung Galaxy A7
3.679 - Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact
3.675 - Meizu PRO 6
3.659 - BlackBerry Priv
3.645 - Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra
3.597 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
3.588 - Sony Xperia XZ2
3.58 - LG G6
3.556 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
3.53 - Motorola Moto Z Play
3.526 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
3.523 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
3.523 - Acer Jade Primo
3.521 - Microsoft Lumia 950
3.512 - Oppo R7 Plus
3.499 - Nokia 7 plus
3.479 - nubia Z11
3.466 - Huawei P10 Plus
3.456 - HTC U Ultra
3.453 - Motorola Moto G6
3.448 - Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
3.445 - Samsung Galaxy J7
3.422 - Motorola Moto G6 Play
3.419 - Meizu MX5
3.416 - LG V20
3.402 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
3.397 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
3.393 - LG G7 ThinQ
3.39 - Huawei P10
3.379 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
3.378 - Oppo R9s
3.352 - Honor 8 Pro
3.341 - Oppo F7
3.333 - Oppo R7
3.32 - Lenovo P2
3.316 - Archos Diamond Omega
3.305 - Honor 9
3.289 - Xiaomi Mi 5s
3.276 - Nokia 5
3.261 - Nokia 6 (Chinese version)
3.244 - Xiaomi Mi 5
3.24 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
3.238 - Samsung Galaxy J2
3.235 - Sony Xperia X Performance
3.234 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
3.228 - Motorola Moto X Play
3.222 - Oppo F3 Plus
3.218 - BlackBerry KEY2
3.212 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
3.206 - Huawei P9
3.195 - Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
3.19 - ZTE Nubia Z17
3.159 - Oppo R11s
3.153 - Lenovo Vibe Shot
3.113 - HTC U11 Life
3.108 - Motorola Moto X Force
3.105 - LG Nexus 5X
3.092 - HTC U11
3.089 - Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
3.087 - HTC U12+
3.085 - Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
3.077 - Huawei Mate S
3.073 - Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
3.065 - Xiaomi Pocophone F1
3.059 - Apple iPhone 6 Plus
3.023 - Asus Zenfone 4 ZE554KL
3.019 - Sony Xperia XA1
3.012 - Motorola Moto X4
3.012 - Sony Xperia L1
2.994 - Sony Xperia X
2.989 - LG Q6
2.987 - Huawei P10 Lite
2.974 - Samsung Galaxy Note
2.97 - Huawei P20 Lite
2.952 - Xiaomi Redmi 5
2.951 - Huawei Mate 8
2.949 - Sony Xperia XA2
2.938 - Oppo Realme 1
2.932 - Xiaomi Redmi 4
2.92 - Xiaomi Redmi 3S
2.913 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
2.913 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
2.906 - LG G5
2.905 - Huawei Honor View 10
2.896 - Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
2.893 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
2.884 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
2.877 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium (sRGB)
2.877 - Sony Xperia Z5
2.876 - Nokia 3
2.871 - Microsoft Lumia 550
2.851 - Nokia 3.1
2.837 - Lenovo Moto M
2.813 - Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
2.803 - Sony Xperia Z5 compact
2.784 - Honor 10 (Vivid)
2.757 - Nokia 2
2.752 - Meizu MX6
2.751 - LG V10
2.744 - Huawei Mate 10 (normal)
2.742 - Motorola Moto G5S Plus
2.737 - Xiaomi Redmi 3
2.735 - Huawei Honor 7X
2.734 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
2.714 - Meizu M5
2.71 - Xiaomi Mi A2
2.696 - Sony Xperia M5
2.69 - Xiaomi Mi A1
2.689 - Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
2.679 - Huawei P9 Lite
2.679 - vivo V7+
2.671 - Vivo V3Max
2.659 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
2.658 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
2.654 - Oppo F5
2.653 - Doogee Mix
2.642 - Xiaomi Mi 4i
2.641 - Xiaomi Redmi 4a
2.635 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Standard)
2.616 - Sony Xperia XA
2.609 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus
2.582 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
2.582 - Meizu M5s
2.58 - Xiaomi Mi 4c
2.574 - LeEco Le Max 2
2.567 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
2.563 - Microsoft Lumia 640
2.563 - Huawei P Smart
2.563 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
2.561 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A (Y1)
2.556 - HTC U11+
2.556 - Lenovo K6 Note
2.544 - Lenovo Moto G4
2.544 - Oppo F1
2.528 - Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
2.525 - Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
2.506 - Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
2.503 - BlackBerry Motion
2.494 - Oppo F1s
2.481 - Motorola Moto G
2.477 - Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
2.473 - Huawei G8
2.471 - Huawei nova
2.467 - Sony Xperia Z
2.462 - Lenovo Vibe K5
2.459 - Meizu m3 max
2.447 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Auto)
2.417 - HTC 10 evo
2.407 - Huawei Honor 7
2.406 - Vivo V7
2.404 - Sony Xperia E5
2.386 - ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
2.382 - HTC 10
2.378 - Oppo F3
2.376 - vivo V5 Plus
2.371 - Meizu m1 note
2.362 - Huawei nova plus
2.329 - Razer Phone
2.328 - HTC One E9+
2.305 - Alcatel One Touch Hero
2.272 - Sony Xperia L2
2.266 - Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
2.254 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
2.253 - HTC U11+ (EU)
2.253 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
2.249 - Sony Xperia C4 Dual
2.235 - Xiaomi Mi Note
2.234 - Motorola Moto G (2014)
2.233 - LG Nexus 5
2.228 - Huawei P8
2.196 - Meizu M5 Note
2.189 - Huawei Honor 6
2.169 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
2.166 - OnePlus Two
2.165 - HTC One X
2.158 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (X20)
2.145 - LG Aka
2.145 - Archos 50 Diamond
2.134 - Xiaomi Redmi Note
2.119 - Xiaomi Mi 4S
2.095 - Acer Liquid X2
2.084 - Huawei P8lite
2.078 - vivo V5
2.059 - Moto G 3rd gen max manual
2.026 - Xiaomi Mi 3
2.001 - Xiaomi Mi Max
1.996 - Sony Xperia E4g
1.972 - OnePlus One
1.961 - Sony Xperia Z2
1.944 - Meizu m3 note
1.923 - BlackBerry Leap
1.892 - Meizu m2 note
1.892 - HTC Butterfly
1.873 - ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
1.759 - Sony Xperia U
1.758 - Asus Zenfone Selfie
1.68 - Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
1.675 - ZTE Nubia Z9
1.659 - Jolla Jolla
1.605 - Motorola Moto E
1.545 - Sony Xperia M
1.473 - Sony Xperia L
1.351 - Xiaomi Redmi 2
1.311 - HTC Desire C
1.3 - Nokia X
1.291 - Meizu MX
1.221 - Sony Xperia E
1.215
Color reproduction can also be very accurate if that's your thing. Going for the 'Standard contrast' mode you'd be getting an average DeltaE of 0.9 (when compared against the sRGB color space) and the most accurate whites of all modes. Out of the box, the Pocophone is in 'Automatic contrast' mode with Default selected in the Default/Warm/Cool setting. That gives an average DeltaE of 5.0 - decent - but with an added punch in all blue hues.
Battery life
The Pocophone F1 packs a 4,000mAh battery - the same capacity as on a number of Redmi Note and Mi Max phones. The F1 ships with an 18W QuickCharge 3.0-compatible charger, which however is not terribly fast. It fills 35% of a depleted battery in half an hour of charging.
The Pocophone F1 easily scored an excellent result in our battery test with a 111-hour Endurance rating. It did a great job in all tested scenarios - video playback, calls, web browsing and even stand-by performance.
Our endurance rating denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Xiaomi Pocophone F1 for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern, so our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
Loudspeaker
The Mi 8 series may be lacking stereo speakers, but the Pocophone F1 has one. How about that?! It's a similar stereo setup we've been seeing on a few Huawei phones already - the earpiece acts as a second speaker complementing the main bottom-firing one.
And the Pocophone turned out plenty loud in our testing, securing a spot in the Excellent bracket. It performs great for music and the sound output is rich and clean, even at maximum volume.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
| 70.2 | 74.7 | 70.0 | Good | |
| 67.5 | 71.3 | 79.7 | Good | |
| 68.9 | 74.0 | 76.2 | Very Good | |
| 69.7 | 73.5 | 76.6 | Very Good | |
| 68.1 | 72.3 | 82.2 | Very Good | |
| 68.5 | 74.3 | 81.1 | Very Good | |
| 68.0 | 73.8 | 84.8 | Very Good | |
Audio quality
The Xiaomi Pocophone F1 delivered the nicely accurate output with an external amplifier, while its volume was about average for the case.
Headphones dropped the loudness to way below average, which is hardly ideal, while introducing an average amount of stereo crosstalk and a bit of intermodulation distortion. Not a disastrous showing by any means, but hardly one worth writing home about. And if you own a pair of high-impedance headphones you might want to keep in mind that you might struggle to achieve high volume levels.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.01, -0.02 | -93.6 | 93.6 | 0.0010 | 0.0069 | -93.8 | |
| +0.65, -0.08 | -91.2 | 92.5 | 0.0082 | 0.359 | -50.3 | |
| +0.03, -0.02 | -92.9 | 92.9 | 0.0027 | 0.0080 | -92.8 | |
| +0.21, -0.04 | -92.7 | 93.2 | 0.081 | 0.142 | -50.0 | |
| +0.03, -0.07 | -93.4 | 93.9 | 0.0012 | 0.0063 | -89.3 | |
| +0.01, -0.58 | -92.2 | 93.5 | 0.0088 | 0.330 | -55.7 | |
| +0.02, -0.15 | -94.3 | 94.3 | 0.0021 | 0.0069 | -94.3 | |
| +0.18, -0.13 | -93.7 | 93.6 | 0.0024 | 0.104 | -52.7 | |
| +0.01, -0.03 | -92.6 | 92.5 | 0.0012 | 0.0076 | -93.4 | |
| +0.03, -0.03 | -92.2 | 92.2 | 0.0017 | 0.042 | -76.3 | |
| +0.02, -0.01 | -93.2 | 93.1 | 0.0008 | 0.0069 | -94.2 | |
| +0.03, -0.02 | -92.9 | 92.9 | 0.0057 | 0.051 | -68.1 |
Xiaomi Pocophone F1 frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
MIUI 9 for Poco with Android 8.1, updates on the way
The Pocophone boots Android 8.1 Oreo. Being a Xiaomi phone, however, it's got a thoroughly customized proprietary layer of MIUI on top, version 9.6, but now it's called MIUI for Poco. The difference - there is a new Poco default theme, which is very reminiscent of the Nova Launcher. Essentially, this means that Poco F1 comes with a cleaner, more stock looking Android than regular Xiaomi phones. But it's only about looks - all the extra proprietary features are still there.
MIUI 10 is right around the corner and Xiaomi has promised Android Pie will arrive within the next three months.
Let's start with navigation. There's an entire Full screen display menu where you get options for gesture navigation. You can replace the navigation bar with a set of swipe actions - swipe up from the bottom for Home, swipe up and hold for the task switcher, and swipe in from either edge to go back. And if you think that last bit would interfere with apps that use the swipe-in gesture to access a drawer menu, it doesn't - just swipe in a little higher and you'll get the drawer.
Full screen mode a.k.a. gesture navigation
Inside the notch is Xiaomi's quasi Face ID system - it utilizes an infrared illuminator and a camera for facial recognition instead of just the selfie camera as regular phones do it.
Mind you, it's not the same as Apple's Face ID in that there's no 3D mapping going on here - that's available on the top-tier Mi 8 Explorer. In any case, we found the face recognition to work super-fast with only a minor difference in speed in dark environments. Additionally, it's somewhat more secure than some other implementations because it does require that you have at least one eye open to unlock the phone.
However, and Xiaomi warns you of it, the F1's face recognition isn't as secure as fingerprint recognition, so it's a good thing then that the phone has that too. The sensor is on the back, enrollment is quick, and unlocking is near instant.
Face enrollment • Face enrollment • Face Unlock • Fingerprint enrollment • Fingerprint enrollment
There is no app drawer on MIUI by default, but the default Poco for MIUI theme has one. We rarely resorted to it and we chose to ditch it for another theme, but it's there if you prefer Android this way.
Here are the default home screens on the Pocophone F1 with its Poco for MIUI theme. There's a clock on the first page with a couple of shortcuts. The Quick Card pane - the leftmost one - is here to stay. It's quite similar to Today's page in iOS and contains different cards with relevant information - recent apps, step counter, notes, calendar events, the weather, and favorites, among others. You can configure what shows up here, or you can disable this altogether.
Lockscreen • Home • notification • toggles • quick card • app drawer
The opened apps visible in the Task Switcher are represented by appropriate thumbnails, and there is an additional key for the Split Screen mode. MIUI 9 adds native support for multi-tasking via the new Split Screen feature. It allows you to launch two apps side-by-side. All native apps support it and, luckily, all third-party apps with support for any kind of split screen mode work flawlessly on MIUI 9 side-by-side view.
App switch • multi-window • multi-window
Themes are available in MIUI for Poco and you can opt for the default MIUI look from the Theme Store.
Themes • MIUI theme • MIUI theme • MIUI theme • MIUI theme
MIUI v9 also offers a Security app. It can scan your phone for malware, manage your blacklist, manage or restrict your data usage, configure battery behavior, and free up some RAM. It can also manage the permissions of your installed apps and allows you to define the battery behavior of selected apps and applies restrictions only to the apps you choose.
Security app • Security app • Cleaner • Battery management • Managing a single app • Battery Saver
MIUI also offers proprietary Gallery, Music, and Video player, and File manager. FM radio is available, too.
Multimedia
Performance and benchmarks
One of the Pocophone's major objectives is to be the Master of Speed ('Flagship Killer' was already taken we guess). And the best way to claim that title is to offer the most current Snapdragon chipset on the cheap, cheaper than the OnePlus 6. Indeed, the Pocophone F1 employs the latest Snapdragon 845 and is available with 6 or 8 gigs of RAM depending on your needs (and wallet).
Integrating the S845 SoC is easy but making it work well - not so much. We've encountered many phones that throttle the performance after a while to prevent the internals from overheating. This won't be very appropriate for a Master of Speed, would it?
It seems Xiaomi was serious with that slogan, as it has opted for a high-end cooling solution for the Poco F1. There is a vapor chamber with a think copper pipe running along the surface of the most important chips inside the F1. When the processor gets hot, the liquid in the chamber evaporates and moves to the cooler end of the pipe where it recondenses into liquid transferring the processor heat in the process. This should keep the temperature in check and helps the phone provide a sustained level of performance. So, the Pocophone might be affordable, but it's still a proper flagship on the inside.
Well, we guess Xiaomi didn't have much choice though, as the phone is all-plastic, there is not even a metal frame to help dissipate heat. So, the copper pipe cooling was probably a must-have for the F1 anyway.
Now, it's benchmark time! In the single-core test, the Pocophone F1 scored in line with its S845 peers. The Kryo 385 core is among the top performers on the market right now, bested only Samsung's Mongoose M3 and Apple's Monsoon.
GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone X
4256 - Samsung Galaxy S9
3759 - OnePlus 6
2450 - Xiaomi Pocophone F1
2438 - Xiaomi Mi 8
2431 - Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
1890 - Nokia 7 plus
1634 - Meizu 15
1620 - Xiaomi Mi A2
1617 - Oppo R15 Pro
1612 - Oppo F7
1531 - Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
881
In the multi-core test the Poco F1 once again posted a number similar to its S845 fellows' scores.
GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone X
10215 - OnePlus 6
9011 - Xiaomi Pocophone F1
9003 - Samsung Galaxy S9
8830 - Xiaomi Mi 8
8494 - Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
5908 - Oppo F7
5901 - Nokia 7 plus
5893 - Meizu 15
5877 - Oppo R15 Pro
5809 - Xiaomi Mi A2
4625 - Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
4388
The Adreno 630 GPU, just like the CPU, is also among the best mobile GPUs right now, handling everything effortlessly even when running on 1080p, or even 1440p screens.
Basemark X
Higher is better
- OnePlus 6
44229 - Xiaomi Pocophone F1
43652 - Xiaomi Mi 8
43285 - Samsung Galaxy S9
42645 - Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
27560 - Xiaomi Mi A2
21378 - Nokia 7 plus
21063 - Meizu 15
20836 - Oppo R15 Pro
20693 - Oppo F7
11873
Antutu is among the more popular tests as a single tell-all number, and in our testing the Pocophone F1 score is the same as the OnePlus 6's and among the best so far.
AnTuTu 7
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Pocophone F1
265314 - OnePlus 6
264200 - Samsung Galaxy S9
250156 - Xiaomi Mi 8
217298 - Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
170218 - Oppo R15 Pro
146526 - Nokia 7 plus
140820 - Oppo F7
139414 - Xiaomi Mi A2
130927 - Meizu 15
125444 - Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
77964
We can only praise the Pocophone F1 for its great, sustained performance. MIUI is well optimized and doesn't bog down Android since it is lean and snappy. Running a benchmark repeatedly doesn't slow the phone at all.
The Poco F1 equipped with the fastest chip available today, runs smooth and lag-free, the interface is snappy, and there is no throttling and overheating. Great job, Xiaomi!
Poco has a dual-camera on the back, of course
There can't be a flagship today without a dual-camera on its back. Or triple. Or soon - quadruple. And naturally, the Pocophone F1 has a dual-camera - the primary sensor is the same as on the Mi 8, while the secondary is just a 5MP eye for depth information.
Back to the main camera - it uses Sony's IMX363 sensor - that means it's a 12MP shooter with large 1.4µm pixels and dual pixel phase detection autofocus. The lens has a reasonably bright f/1.9 aperture. Optical stabilization is not available on the Pocophone though.
Finally, a dual-LED flash completes the camera specs.
The camera has the modes arranged side by side for you to change by swiping left and right. Sadly, swiping up/down doesn't switch between front and rear camera - there's a button for that. There are toggles for flash mode, HDR, and AI (sigh...), a set of filters and a hamburger shortcut to the settings.
Camera interface
A manual mode is at your disposal too, and in here you can adjust white balance (presets and light temperature), pick a shutter speed (1/1000s to 32s) and ISO (100-1600). You can also set your own focus (in 1-100 'units' between close-up and infinity) and there's focus peaking to help you with that. A 'lens' selector with 'wide' and 'tele' options has replaced the not-'manual'-enough 1x/2x button.
Image quality
The image quality is excellent in broad daylight - photos are sharp and detailed, and noise is almost non-existent, and the contrast is superb. The colors are accurate and lively. The dynamic range is nothing short of stunning, and we never had to use HDR. The Auto HDR won't even trigger in most scenes - it simply doesn't need to as much as on other phones!
Just like on the Mi 8, the Pocophone F1 offers an AI option for the camera. But unlike the Mi 8, the F1's AI doesn't oversaturate the colors or increase the contrast unnesesarily. In fact, we weren't able to find much difference between the AI and non-AI samples.
Pocophone F1 12MP camera samples
For those rare occasions where either Auto HDR reacts or you turned it on, you'll get a picture with restored highlights and improved resolved detail in the shadows.
HDR off • HDR on • HDR off • HDR on
The low-light shots turned out a bit disappointing - depending on whether you left the Auto HDR on you'll get either soft or sharp but noisy images.
When the Auto HDR is on at night, it will always shoot an HDR shot. Unfortunately, there is some heavy noise-reduction going on, and it smears some of the fine detail. You can see what's in the picture, just don't expect much detail when you zoom in.
Pocophone F1 12MP low-light HDR samples
The regular night photos shot without HDR are noisiy, but they are sharper and with more fine detail. We strongly advise to disable the Auto HDR option for such low-light scenes.
Pocophone F1 12MP low-light samples
Sometimes we also got blurry images due to the lack of optical stabilization, but those were rare occasions. The f/1.9 aperture is bright at night and makes up for the lack of OIS, though exactly this omission is what stopped the Poco from delivering as excellent night shots as the Mi 8 was capable of taking.
You should check how the Pocophone F1 does against the Mi 8 and OnePlus 6 in our Photo Compare Tool. We've pre-selected these two, but you are free to pick any other phone to compare it against.
Pocophone F1 vs. Mi 8 vs. OnePlus 6 in our Photo compare tool
Portrait Mode
The Pocophone F1 uses the combination of the two cameras to shoot the trendy Portrait shots. This works best when you're shooting a well-lit person or an object which stands out against the backdrop.
The photos turned out pleasant with mostly accurate shapes and blur effects. There are occasions where wrong details get blurred - like hair or parts of the face, but that's probably because of the busy scenes. As we mentioned above - it's better to have a background which is not so busy and shoot in a well-lit environment - otherwise you'll get blurry and noisy shots.
Pocophone F1 12MP Portrait samples
Selfies
The Pocophone F1 has a 20MP selfie camera with an f/2.0 aperture and fixed focus - the same shooter used on the Mi 8. The promo materials once again claim 1.8µm pixel size, but don't get fooled by that. That's the effective size with the 4-in-1 binning in action. In any case, we didn't find it to be of any practical benefit. In good light, on the other hand, it takes stunningly detailed photos with nice skin colors.
Pocophone F1 20MP selfies
It can also take blurred background selfies and does it quite proficiently too, with just the single cam.
Pocophone F1 20MP portrait selfies
Video recording
The Pocophone F1 records video up to 4K, as any self-respecting flagship should. Most of them this year also offer 4K at 60fps, but the Poco doesn't - just 4K/30fps. In fact, there isn't even a 1080p/60fps - again, just 1080p/30fps.
The video bitrate is just shy of 42Mbps in 4K and 20Mbps in 1080p, while audio is recorded in stereo with a 192Kbps bit rate. That's when using the h.264 codec, though you do have the option to switch to the more efficient h.265.
We found both 4K and 1080p videos sharp, very detailed, and with excellent contrast. The color rendition is pleasantly vivid, without being over the top. The dynamic range is as impressive as on the still images.
There is electronic stabilization for the Pocophone videos and looking at the menus, it seems it should be capable of handling the 4K footage as well - the option doesn't get grayed out when you select 4K resolution. However, just like it was the case with the Mi 8, the shaky footage and the same field of view with the toggle in the off and on positions points to no EIS in 4K.
The stabilized 1080p videos, on the other hand, are super smooth and we didn't observe issues like wobbling or inability to catch up when panning.
We're providing you with unedited short samples to download and examine. There's one shot in 2160p (9s, 48MB), as well as a 1080p one (10s, 26MB).
Finally, be sure to check out how the Pocophone's rendition of our studio charts compares to that of other phones we've tested.
2160p: Pocophone F1 vs. Mi 8 vs. OnePlus 6 in our Video compare tool
The Competition
Pocophone has done what OnePlus couldn't achieve this year - come up with a flagship killer with a jaw-dropping price. The F1 has everything and we mean everything - a premium screen with a notch that holds the infrared scanner for face unlock, the latest Snapdragon chip, expandable storage, stereo speakers, all the necessary ports, and high-end camera experience on both sides of the device.
The OnePlus 6 is the Pocophone's true rival, but for starters - it's more expensive. For the extra cash, you will get an AMOLED panel, glass body and OIS for the main camera, but are those worth the price difference? The Poco F1, on the other hand, will give you a larger battery, stereo speakers, FM radio, and higher-res selfies.
The Oppo F7 costs as much as the Pocophone, which says a lot. The F7 has an inferior chipset, main camera, and battery, it also lacks stereo speakers and fast charging, but at least it can brag with a higher selfie camera.
The Xiaomi Mi 8 SE comes close to the Pocophone F1 price. It has a glass body with metal frame, an AMOLED screen and the same selfie and main camera setups but has a slightly inferior Snapdragon 710 chipset and smaller battery. It also omits the infrared scanning tech for face unlock.
The Xiaomi Mi 8 is a better match, but more expensive. It will upgrade you with an AMOLED screen, a nice looking design, and a telephoto secondary camera on the back, but will take away the large battery, the audio jack, the FM radio, the stereo speakers, and even the infrared port. It's a tough choice.
OnePlus 6 • Oppo F7 • Xiaomi Mi 8 SE • Xiaomi Mi 8
The Verdict
One thing is certain - the Pocophone F1 is the cheapest Snapdragon 845 phone money can buy today. But instead of just making an okay phone with a high-end chipset, Xiaomi went all-in and made one of the best all-around devices we've seen in quite a while.
The Pocophone F1 has everything - from the screen, through the snappy hardware, through the large battery, to the capable cameras. The deal is sweetened by the tiny bits such as stereo speakers, IR blaster, FM radio, expandable storage.
Pros
- Solid build, no matter plastic or Kevlar
- Great display albeit the notch, excellent contrast and tiny bezels
- Snapdragon 845 cooled with copper pipe with vapor chamber
- Stereo speakers with excellent loudness and output
- Class-leading battery life, quick charge is available
- Excellent daylight pictures with the main and selfie cameras
- Quality 4K and 1080p video recording
- Audio jack, IR, USB-C, FM radio, microSD slot - all present
- As cheap as flagships come
Cons
- No water-proofing
- Mediocre low-light photos due to lack of OIS
- No EIS for the 4K videos
- No NFC
The Pocophone may lack water-proofing and OIS for the camera, but if those are the cuts that had to be made to keep the price that low, we'd gladly take that. The Poco F1 is the all-around performer many have been waiting for since OnePlus decided to go more premium. Sorry 1+, the Flagship Killer title now belongs to another phone - the Pocophone F1. It sure is shaping up to be a must-buy!
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