POCOPHONE F1 Hands On Review (UNBOXING)
3Xiaomi Pocophone F1 Hands on Review
The 1st Boot set-up of the new High End Flagship phone of the Xiaomi Company is now in the Philippines.
POCOPHONE F1 REVIEW
Design and Construction
The F1 comes in three colors – Graphite Black, Steel Blue, and Rosso Red. There’s also an Armoured Edition with Kevlar Aramid fiber. For this hands-on, we’re taking a look at the Steel Blue model.
One of the first things you’ll notice about the F1 is its large screen. It’s a 6.18-inch display with a thick notch at the top. This notch houses the 20MP front camera, earpiece, proximity sensor, infrared lens, and infrared lighting. Down below at the center of the chin is the notification LED.
Found on the left side of the device are the volume and power/lock buttons. They’re plastic but firm, clicky, and easy to reach.
Up top are the 3.5mm audio port and the secondary microphone, while down below are the loudspeaker, main microphone, and the USB Type-C port.
Flip it on its back and you will see the dual rear cameras, fingerprint scanner, and the LED flash.
Quality-wise, the F1 feels far from the premium glass and metal I’m accustomed to, but it looks and feels really good for something that is made of plastic. The hard-coated polycarbonate unibody is solid, it doesn’t creak when squeezed or sound hollow when tapped. The finish is also able to resist fingerprints and smudges well.
At 182g it’s already hefty so I’m starting to appreciate the use of polycarbonate to keep the weight in check. It’s tall and a bit wide so navigation of the UI would often require both hands. And if you’re worried about scratches and bumps, don’t worry as Pocophone included a jelly case in the package.
Display and Multimedia
The 6.18-inch screen which Pocophone calls the edge-to-edge display has an 18.8:9 aspect ratio and Full HD+ (2246 x 1080) resolution or equal to 403ppi, which is a decent resolution for a screen of this size.
The display is nice as it is sharp with good viewing angles and accurate colors. However, it’s prone to glare but the bright screen was able to keep things legible. As for its screen protection, it uses Corning’s Gorilla Glass so it should be able to withstand minor scratches and bumps.
There’s nothing fancy about the down-firing speaker. Like with most smartphones, it’s lacking in bass but it is loud and crisp enough for hands-free voice-calls, watching videos on YouTube and Netflix, or listening to tunes on Spotify. If you have a good pair of wired headphones, I’m glad to report that the F1 still sports a 3.5mm audio port.
Camera
When it comes to imaging, the F1 sports a 12MP main rear shooter with the Sony IMX363 sensor, which is the same sensor found on the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S which got a score of 97 at DxOMark Mobile. The secondary camera, on the other hand, is handled by a 5MP Samsung sensor. For selfies, it has a 20MP camera.
As expected, images produced are good as they’re sharp with punchy colors and great dynamic range. Low-light performance is also good and was able to preserve details while keeping the noise down. We can attribute the performance to the camera’s built-in AI capabilities and image stabilization. Selfies are good as well, especially in bright conditions. It’s sharp as it has plenty of resolution to go around and comes with bokeh and beauty effects.
As for video recording, the F1 maxes out at 4K resolution at 30fps. There’s no 60fps option here, even at 1080p. Quality is as good as stills with dynamic range and colors. There’s EIS, although works best when recording at 1080p. For slow motion, there’s the Video HFR (High Frame Rate) which can record up to 1080p at 240fps. Watch the sample clip below:
OS, UI, and Apps
Running the software is MIUI for POCO (MIUI 9.6.11.0 Stable) based on Android 8.1 Oreo which is basically a slightly customized version of Xiaomi’s MIUI. It has multiple home screens but also has an app drawer that you can bring out by swiping up. The apps are pre-arranged by category but you can add your own tab.
Other features include the ability to hide the notch, Second Space which allows you to make your own private home screen.
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