Poco F4 5G First impressions: Impressive features in a premium design
Poco has just unveiled its next-generation F-series smartphone, the Poco F4 5G. It’s not a direct successor to the gaming-focused Poco F3 GT (Review) that launched last year, but can be seen as more of a premium offering in the mid-range segment. The F-series has always focused on delivering flagship-grade performance at very affordable prices, but instead of focusing solely on the specs, the F4 5G aims to strike a balance between powerful specs and a premium design. We got our hands on a handset, so let’s take a look at what all the fuss is about.
Let’s start with the configurations. Poco has announced three variants in India with 6GB, 8GB, and 12GB of RAM. The 6GB and 8GB variants come with 128GB of storage and are priced at Rs. 27,999 and Rs. 29,999 respectively while the 12GB variant comes with 256GB of storage and is priced at Rs. 33,999. There is no microSD card slot on this phone. Poco is also offering an extra year of warranty on the F4 5G and has announced some significant discounts of up to Rs. 4,000 if you buy the phone on launch day (June 27).
My first impression of the Poco F4 5G is that it is a beautiful smartphone, especially in this Nebula Green finish. The matte texture of the plastic frame and the glass back panel give it a very premium and refined look. It also comes in a Night Black color. The size of the phone and the rounded edges of the frame make it feel very comfortable in the hand. The Poco F4 5G is just 7.7mm thin and weighs 195g. The bundle also includes a silicone protective case.
You’ll find the usual selection of ports and buttons in familiar places on the Poco F4 5G. There’s no headphone jack, but you do get an infrared emitter. Oddly, there’s no in-display fingerprint sensor despite this phone using an AMOLED screen, but the side-mounted one works just as well.
The Poco F4 5G features a bright and vibrant AMOLED display with support for Dolby Vision display
The Poco F4 5G has stereo speakers and Dolby Atmos support. What I like is that there’s a separate cutout in the frame for the top-firing speaker, which should hopefully deliver a more balanced sound. However, it’s easy to block this hole with your palm when holding the phone horizontally, so we’ll have to wait and see how much of an issue it ends up being. The Poco F4 5G is also IP53-rated for dust and water resistance, which is always nice to have.
Turn it on and you’re greeted by a bright and vibrant 6.67-inch full-HD+ E4 AMOLED display. Content generally looks sharp and clear, and this is one of the few phones in this segment to support Dolby Vision HDR playback, alongside HDR10+. The display gets Corning Gorilla Glass 5 scratch protection and has a 120Hz refresh rate. The Poco F4 5G also claims 1,300 nits peak brightness and a 360Hz touch sampling rate.
The Poco F4 5G is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870, a powerful 5G SoC for heavy multitasking and gaming. The phone supports a total of 10 5G bands, along with dual-5G standby. Poco has opted for a 4,500mAh battery for the F4 5G. There is support for 67W fast charging and a charger is included in the box. Wireless charging is not supported.
As for the cameras, the Poco F4 5G has a 64-megapixel primary camera on the back with optical stabilization (OIS) and 4-in-1 pixel binning. There’s also an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 2-megapixel macro camera. The phone has a 20-megapixel selfie camera. On paper, these specs look decent, but we won’t know for sure until we test the photo and video quality.
The Poco F4 5G is a beautiful phone with a sturdy body and pleasant aesthetics
Finally, we come to the software. The Poco F4 5G runs MIUI 13, which is based on Android 12. The interface is colorful and feature-rich, and so far I haven’t noticed any spam notifications from the pre-installed apps. Poco hasn’t committed to long-term software updates for the F4 5G yet, which is a bit disappointing.
The Poco F4 5G has all the assets of a successful mid-range smartphone. It packs the raw power of a highly capable SoC and a laundry list of impressive features, all wrapped in a premium body. While Poco has done a commendable job with this phone, we cannot forget about the F4 5G’s not-so-distant cousin that most likely inspired its creation, Xiaomi’s Mi 11X (Review). The Mi 11X was launched in April 2021 and offers pretty much the same set of features and specs at a similar price point. We also have the recently launched iQoo Neo 6 (Review) as a strong competitor to the F4 5G, and the upcoming OnePlus Nord 2T will also reportedly launch in the same price segment.
Stay tuned, because the full review of the Poco F4 5G will be coming soon on Gadgets 360.
