Image: Beebom
The POCO F1, one of the best offerings from Xiaomi was an excellent smartphone. It saw huge sales as it offered flagship specifications at an excellent price. While this phone was launched about a year and a half ago we hadn’t seen any more phones from this brand till now. But the company has now launched the new POCO X2, the first phone from the company after they separate from Xiaomi as an independent brand. This article will be dedicated to the First Impressions of this new device.
Also to be clear, this new POCO X2 is not the successor to the POCO F1. This is a new mid-range device from the company meant to take on smartphones from other brands such as the Realme X2 and the Samsung Galaxy M40.
Design and Build:
Most of you must be thinking about the design, that you have already seen this phone somewhere, and you are right. The new POCO X2 is almost a rebranded Redmi K30 which was previously launched in China. The POCO X2 comes with a shiny and glossy glass back which houses the quad-camera setup on the rear and the POCO branding at the bottom.
The phone weighs around 208g and is quite heavy in hand. This new phone is protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5 on the back preventing it from scratches and glass breakdowns. It also has the same circular design on the back around the camera module from the Redmi K30. While it seems to be raised out, it is actually a flat surface. The curved back edges on the phone make it easy and comfortable to hold in the hand while also providing a better grip.
The right side of the phone comprises of the power button which also has the side-mounted fingerprint scanner embedded on it. The volume rockers are present on the right while the left side is left empty. The top comprises of the IR Blaster and the secondary noise cancellation microphone. The bottom has a single primary speaker along with the USB Type C port and the most loved 3.5mm headphone jack.
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Display:
While this is a mid-range smartphone from POCO, the display specifications don’t seem to tell so. The POCO X2 sports a 6.67-inch FHD+ 120Hz IPS LCD Display. Yeah it comes with a super-smooth 120Hz refresh rate display which is usually seen in flagships. This is a huge display with a size of 6.67inches with an aspect ratio of 20:9. While we generally prefer an AMOLED over IPS LCD, this panel is good but can’t match the same colour vibrancy and contrast ratio that an AMOLED panel can offer. The display is also protected by the Corning Gorilla Glass 5.
It comes with a dual punch hole camera on the front just like the Samsung Galaxy S10+. But the interesting part here is, it is actually two different punch holes combined together with a pinch of software techniques. The display is excellent for the price the POCO X2 comes at. And with the 120Hz refresh rate, it is one of the best display panels available under 20k in India.
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Cameras:
One of the biggest changes that come with the POCO X2 comparing the POCO F1 is in terms of Cameras. The POCO X2 has witnessed significant changes such as increase in the camera sensor count, better image processing and more. The POCO X2 sports a primary 64MP Sony IMX686 sensor on the rear coupled with f/1.9 aperture + an 8MP Ultra Wide-Angle Lens with f/2.2 + a 2MP Depth Sensor with f/2.4+ a 2MP Macro Lens with f/2.4. On the front, it sports a dual selfie camera housed in the punch hole comprising of a primary 20MP sensor + a 2MP Depth Sensor for portrait shots.
The images come out to be sharp, well detailed and have good dynamic range and good exposure. The colours impressed us the most as it shoots accurate colours with great white balance. The phone can record up to 4K 30FPS currently and the stabilisation is pretty good as well. Overall for the initial phase, the cameras are one of the best under the 20k price bracket.
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Battery and Performance:
The only reason why we can say that this is a mid-range device is due to the chip under the hood of the POCO X2. This brand new device from POCO comes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G Gaming Chipset which is bundled with the Adreno 618GPU. The phone performs exceptionally well with all the day to day tasks including regular cellular calls, social media apps, opening and closing of apps and more. Also, a major bonus comes from the optimisations on the POCO X2 from MIUI 11. Yeah the POCO X2 runs on MIUI 11 which is based on Android 10 Q out of the box.
Games like PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile run on high graphics settings by default. While playing these games we never occurred any major lags other than minor frame drops here and there. The phone doesn’t have any overheating issues while gaming or daily tasks. It can handle any tasks that you throw at it.
On to the final department, the battery, the POCO X2 hasn’t gone light here. It sports a massive 4,500mah battery with support for 27W Fast Charging. The brand announced that they will be shipping the 27W Fast Wired Charger in the box. In our brief usage, we could get about 6 hours of screen-on time on a single charge. The charging speeds are excellent as well, as close as to the 30W VOOC Charger on the Realme X2.
Pricing and Variants:
POCO F1 was generally known for the specifications it offered at the amazing price tag, and the trend continues here as well. The POCO X2 comes in three different colour options namely Atlantis Blue, Matrix Purple and Phoenix Red. The pricing of the phone starts at Rs.15,999 in India for the base variant of 6GB RAM + 64GB of internal storage. The 6GB + 128GB is priced at Rs.16,999 while the 8GB + 256GB variant is priced at Rs.19,999.
Seeing this amazing attitude of POCO India, we think Realme India should be a little scared. The Realme X2 which competes with the POCO X2 has no advantage over it other than an AMOLED Display. Also a point here to be noted is, the Realme X2’s base variant for 4GB RAM + 64GB Storage starts at Rs.16,999 while the POCO X2 starts at just Rs.15,999 for 6GB RAM + 64GB Internal Storage. That’s all for the first impressions, stay tuned for the Full Review!
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