POCO F4 5G: Well-rounded mid-ranger, sans the wow factor

Purchasing a phone in the 25000-30,000 segment isn’t easy —there are too many choices. It doesn’t help that many phones appear to have broadly similar specifications. The latest addition to this segment is the Poco F4 5G, which frankly, did seem underwhelming to me at first glance. There’s no one ‘wow’ factor that makes you think the Poco F4 is standing out in the sea of sameness. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Here’s my review of the Poco F4 5G.

What’s good?

The Poco F4 5G has an impressive design, though it is on the taller side given the 6.67-inch display. Users can switch between 60 and 120 Hz, though, by default, the screen’s refresh rate is fixed at 60 Hz. I used the phone to watch some late-night Netflix and browse in general and I quite enjoyed the experience.

What is critical at this price point is the performance and Poco has gone with a ‘tried and tested’ chipset, which is the Snapdragon 870. Sure, this is a dated chipset, and not the ‘flagship’ one such as the Snapdragon 888 or the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, but then the Poco F4 is not claiming to be a flagship.

The Poco F4 gets a 64MP+8MP+2MP camera setup. If you’re going purely by specifications, there’s nothing here that stands out. But the phone does deliver a good camera performance.

What’s not great?

The camera’s low-light performance is underwhelming. At times, in the attempt to brighten a photo, it will lose out on details. Poco F4 5G also gets a 4500 mAh battery with 67W fast charging. Sure, the fast charging is great and should help juice up the battery quickly if you are running precariously low. But the 4500 mAh battery should be just about
enough for a moderate to slightly heavy-duty day.

Should you buy it?

The Poco F4 5G is a very different phone compared to the original Poco F1, and I have noted this in my first impression as well. This is no longer attempting to be the killer of a ‘flagship killer’ aka the OnePlus, which is now a flagship itself. The closest OnePlus competitor would be the OnePlus Nord 2 5G given the price range, though Poco is ‘more affordable’.

Originally appeared on: TheSpuzz