By launching the brand Pocophone, Xiaomi takes the speech of OnePlus when it presented its first flagship killer: the promise of very good performance in a mobile offered at a small price. Once the mobile is in hand, is the promise kept? Reply.
When we first heard about Pocophone, Xiaomi's low cost initiative, we had two reactions. First, we were surprised by Xiaomi's message. Is it not surprising that a brand advocating the quality / price ratio is found to create a brand that wants to be even cheaper? It's like Leader Price is unveiling a cheaper brand than its low cost brand. Curious?
Then we found that Xiaomi's speech reminded us of OnePlus's speech when Carl Pei unveiled his first flagship killer: all the salt of a flagship for half the price of competitors. And what's fun is that OnePlus was created from Xiaomi's business model. The circle is complete.
The technical sheet of a mobile sold at 600 euros
The Pocophone F1 is the first smartphone of the brand "Pocophone by Xiaomi". The positioning is the one mentioned above: the performance of a flagship, a polycarbonate shell, the price of a mid-range smartphone. Everything is sprinkled by some consistent choices, including the screen, a panel Full HD and non-Quad HD, and RAM, 6 GB and not 8 GB. Here are the rest of the data sheet:
- Dimensions: 155.5 x 75.3 x 8.8 mm
- Weight: 180 grams
- Screen ratio / mobile area: about 82%
- Polycarbonate chassis
- Screen size: 18.7 / 9th
- 6.18-inch Full HD IPS screen (403-pixel resolution)
- Corning Gorilla mineral glass
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset (Kryo 385 octo-core chips up to 2.8 GHz)
- GPU Qualcomm Adreno 630
- 6 GB RAM
- 64 or 128 GB of internal storage (expandable by microSDXC up to 256 GB)
- 4000 mAh battery (non removable) with Quick Charge Quick Charge
- LTE compatible category 16, WiFi ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS (Glonass), NFC
- USB 3.0 type-C port and 3.5 mm jack
- Fingerprint reader and infrared camera for facial recognition
- Double loudspeaker on the front
- Dual 12 + 5 megapixel photo sensor with f / 1.8 lens, Dual LED flash and Dual Pixel phase detection autofocus
- 20 megapixel webcam with lens opening at f / 2.0
- Dual SIM (nano SIM, second hybrid port microSDXC)
- Android 8.1 Oreo with MIUI 9 and POCO interface
- Accessories sold with: wall charger, USB type-C cable and hull
As you can see, the data sheet of the Pocophone F1 is relatively close to that of a traditional flagship like the OnePlus 6 or the Mi 8, but its price is much lower: 359 euros in version 6 + 64 GB (count 40 euros of more for the 128 GB version). Of course, you have to rely on some concessions, including the lack of a hands-free kit, the nature of the screen or the material of its shell.
A very classic grip
However, the grip of the Pocophone does not suffer. It is identical to that of any other large format mobile. The evaluation of the positioning of the fingerprint reader is a matter of taste, even if we would have preferred it to be a little lower (and especially taken off the photo block). The screen is very big and sometimes a bit difficult to handle with one hand, even for those with big fingers. However, you will notice that you do not need that much to access the top of the screen (especially if you have your applications at the bottom) by navigating in the interface.
The positioning of the technical elements is fairly standard, with the hardware buttons on the right edge, the 3.5 mm jack at the top, the USB type-C port with the speaker at the bottom (note that it is not there is only one speaker on this slice, the other grid being cosmetic). The Pocophone's screen is pretty good, with a very reasonable definition. The viewing angles are well open, the brightness is sufficient for outdoor use, the contrast is relatively correct (with a ratio of 1500: 1 approximately) and the colors are well represented (it is even possible to adjust the colorimetry in according to your habits).
A less loaded interface than Huawei
The interface presented in the Pocophone is MIUI 9, with all that that entails as additional features, customized system software and preinstalled marketing applications. Among the latter, you find the Microsoft pack (since Xiaomi has signed, like Samsung, an agreement with the firm of Redmond) and Facebook.
The profusion of additional applications at Xiaomi is less advanced than at Huawei with EMUI. At first launch, the mobile offers you to adopt the visual interface of MIUI, that of Android stock, or that created for the Pocophone. The one we have chosen to illustrate this handling is that of Pocophone.
Performance
The performance of the smartphone are well above the habits on the price segment under the bar of 400 euros (and even 500 euros). On the benchmarks, the phone manages to climb alongside the Mi 8 and OnePlus 6, these two main competitors. We only show you one of the tests we have done here. But overall, the result is up to the reputation of Snapdragon 845. And this is confirmed, whatever the multimedia uses (including games).
Side autonomy, the gluttony Snapdragon 845 is largely offset by a generous battery of 4000 mAh offering more than fifteen hours of continuous use. That's a good day and a half in normal use. We also notice that the interface weighs little on the system. And that's another good news.
Still small efforts in photo
Photo side, the dual photo sensor of the Pocophone F1 is generally a good job, especially when the brightness is homogeneous and there is no trap in the scene (rain, shadows, a light of end of the day, etc.). Otherwise, there is an imbalance in the photo with the risk of losing details. Here are some examples of shots we made with the Pocophone F1 at different times of the day.
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| Photos by lesmobiles.com |
We find that the grain and the contrast are good. A little too much smoothing on some details unfortunately. But it is an overall trend among Chinese manufacturers (Huawei and Oppo are not exempt). We also find that a shot made with the classic mode of mobile with the help of autofocus performs portraits just as good as the dedicated mode.
Promise held!
At the end of this grip, we are just as delighted by this Pocophone F1 as the OnePlus One when he arrived four years ago (already). We find the same disruptive will, the same quality of the platform and identical ergonomic and industrial choices.
For a price close enough. Of course, not everything is perfect, as with the OnePlus One. We are for example below the standards of Apple and Samsung in terms of photography, screen or design. However Xiaomi promised with the F1 a beautiful power at a price canon. And the mission is fulfilled.