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| A Poco F3 GT Review: The Best Budget Phone You Can Get Today |
What is the best budget phone you can buy today? The Poco F3 GT comes to mind. It has all the features of a high-end flagship phone without the expensive price tag. Pocophone, as it’s known, was created with one goal in mind: to offer an affordable smartphone with flagship specs.
And they succeeded by making a device that looks great and performs just as well. If you’re looking for a new smartphone but don’t want to break the bank, then you should definitely read this review of the Pocophone F3 GT!
When it comes to budget phones, you don’t get a lot of choice. You can spend a little more money for something like an iPhone XR or XS, but if you’re looking for something more affordable, the Poco F3 is your best bet. The Poco F3 GT has a lot of great features and is super affordable. Here are some reasons why it’s worth considering:
A budget phone is a great way to get started in the world of smartphones. You don't have to spend a lot of money to get a functional device. The Poco F3 GT is an excellent example of what you can do with $200.
It does not have as many features as other devices, but it has enough to suit most users' needs. This review will cover all the bases and help you decide if this phone is right for you.
A Poco F3 GT Review
Folks who like a display that lasts long, value for money, and a powerful battery; should consider the Poco F3. Launched in India at Rs. 23,999, this smartphone offers a great combination of features.
And for the price, it sure does give flagship rivals a run for their money. Of course, the price of this phone is going to drop over time and it will be quite attractive for those of you looking for a budget gaming smartphone. So, is the Poco F3 GT right for you?
Poco F3 GT Specifications Display: 6.18-inch Full-HD+ (2246 x 1080 pixels) display with 18.7:9 aspect ratio, 403 ppi pixel density, 500 nits brightness and 600 nits peak brightness 6.18-inch Full-HD (2246 x 1080 pixels) display with 18.
What is a Poco phone?
Since Xiaomi became one of the biggest smartphone manufacturers in India, the range of devices it introduces has varied. With their smartphones, Xiaomi has tried to offer innovative features at budget price points.
For example, the Redmi Y1, Redmi Y1 Lite, Redmi Note 5 Pro and Redmi 6 Pro are all priced below Rs. 10,000 and come with things like dual-rear camera setup, 18:9 aspect ratio display, face unlock and fingerprint sensors.
Even though these devices come with some good features, some features are just there to grab some extra attention and hence we call them the 'designeries'. This is the story of the new Poco F1, the Poco F1 Infinity and the Poco F1. In September 2018, Xiaomi launched the Poco F1 for a starting price of Rs. 20,999.
The Operating System
The phone ships with a skinned version of Android 8.1 Oreo called Picophone F1 OS which is likely to get an update to Android 9.0 Pie soon.
The skin on the F3 is heavily customised, being pretty similar to the MIUI, but with a couple of tweaks. For instance, there are a lot of "featured packs'' that you get to pick from to customise the look of the phone, and a few improvements over MIUI.
For instance, it can't be unlocked by double pressing the power button, but rather, you have to use the pattern unlock method, and you can now install apps from the Play Store from within the app drawer.
The phone has what Poco calls Focal points, which basically brings the power button and volume rockers to the right side of the phone, instead of the left.
➤ The Design
The first thing you notice about the new Poco F3 is its shiny rear shell. The rear panel sports a polished dual tone colour combo of black and gold, with the latter occupying around 70-percent of the rear panel. The glossy black shell is nothing short of gorgeous.
It fits in the hand with great comfort, though it does attract fingerprints and smudges. It comes with a soft touch rubber back with PU coating that not only feels nice to hold, but also helps in reducing the splash of water.
Apart from its beautiful design, the Poco F3 GT ticks almost all the right boxes. There is a 6.2-inch screen with an aspect ratio of 18:9 and a resolution of 2280x1080 pixels. You get a 3D curved glass on top, which helps while playing games. The device has a 2.5D curved Corning Gorilla Glass on top.
Performance and Battery Life
At the heart of the phone is Qualcomm's Snapdragon 636 octa-core processor with Adreno 509 GPU. It also packs 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 256GB via microSD. As we mentioned before, the Poco F3 is the first device to feature a 120Hz 10-bit OLED display.
It packs a large 6.18-inch display with 18.7:9 aspect ratio and narrow bezels. Poco says that it has got a 1,500:1 contrast ratio and max brightness of 500 nits. Powering the phone is a 3,350mAh battery that draws power from Qualcomm's QuickCharge 3.0 fast charging technology.
The battery life of the phone is pretty good. We got through a day of normal use and some gaming sessions with ease. It supports fast charging, allowing you to get over 20 percent charge within 15 minutes of charging the phone.
➤ Software
There is a customary lot of bloatware on the F3 GT. But they can be removed if you really want to. This handset runs Android 7.1 Nougat and the experience is good.
The smartphone is packed with some useful preloaded apps like Facebook, Twitter, Messenger, Reddit, WhatsApp, Music, Play Store, Opera Mini, Viber, Xender, News, and MyKronoz experience, Lifestyle, Gamecenter, Traffic, Security, and Samsung Pay, among others.
A security lock screen that offers a password generator and Pin Lock option is there to secure your device. For added security, there are two-step authentication options.
The device gets its power from a MediaTek Helio P23 processor which is paired with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. The storage is expandable to 256GB using a microSD card.
Hardware and Software
The design of the Poco F3 GT is where it has grabbed the headlines. The smartphone has got a dual rear camera setup and a 12-megapixel front-facing camera. With a more distinct finish than that of the Redmi Note 5 Pro and the choice of a glossy back, the F3 GT is certainly the best-looking budget smartphone you can buy in India today.
What’s good? The Poco F3 GT packs in decent hardware. The handset is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 636 SoC, paired with either 4GB or 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage.
While we have seen the Qualcomm SoC being the fastest SoC in the market for the past few months, the Poco F3 doesn't disappoint in the performance department. I ran games like Asphalt 8 and MIUI 10, and the handset easily survived both the titles for extended periods of time.
➤ Camera Quality
The Poco F3 sports a dual rear camera setup consisting of a 13-megapixel primary sensor along with a 5MP secondary sensor. The primary sensor comes with an aperture of f/1.9, while the secondary sensor has an aperture of f/2.2.
This allows the device to capture some stunning photos with a fixed focus. We were surprised to find the camera can get the most out of the colour tones, even without any fisheye effect and artifacts. The cameras come with features like Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, portrait mode, and HDR mode.
The photos that we took on such a bright and sunny day turned out pretty good. In fact, in such bright conditions, the phone manages to take clear and colourful photos with a good amount of detailing and natural colours.
Drawbacks and Alternatives
The Poco F3 GT lacks dual cameras The Poco F3 GT lacks a microSD card slot, and unlike the 4GB RAM variant, it is available in only 64GB storage variant Battery: Weighing 210g, the battery life on the Poco F3 GT is satisfactory Wrap-Up When Xiaomi launched the F3 Pro, it was evident that the Poco F3 would be priced on an opposite, affordable, scale.
The Poco F3 is a much better smartphone and has all the trappings of a flagship. This is thanks to a Snapdragon 660 SoC, 6GB of RAM, and a water drop-notch design. This is one of the cheapest phones to have a good camera, an impressive water drop notch design, and a near-stock Android UI. However, it’s the lack of dual cameras and microSD card slot which brings it down.
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