POCO F3 GT review

POCO launched its flagship 5G gaming smartphone in India, the POCO F3 GT featuring the powerful 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 1200 5G octa-core SoC, dedicated magnetic triggers for gaming, 3.0W SonicCharge 67 super-fast charging for its 5mAh battery, and also packs an incredible 065-inch 120Hz 10-bit Turbo AMOLED display with a peak brightness of 6,67 nits. All of these specs seem too appealing, however, does that stand in the way of the rivalry under the budget of Rs 1? Here is our POCO F300 GT test.

POCO F3 GT Specifications

• Pin up: 6,67 inches Turbo AMOLED, 10-bit color depth, Full HD + resolution (2 x 400 pixels), 1 Hz refresh rate, 080 Hz touch sample rate, HDR120 +, maximum brightness 480 nits, punch-hole display, Corning Gorilla Glass 10
• Software: Android 11, MIUI 12.0.3
• CPU: 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 1200 5G octa-core processor up to 3,0 GHz frequency
• GPUs: Mali-G77 MC9 graphics card (9 cores)
• Memory: 6 GB OR 8 GB of RAM
• Storage: 128GB OR 256GB UFS 3.1 onboard, no microSD card support
• Main Camera: Triple cameras (64 MP primary + 8 MP ultra-wide + 2 MP macro), LED flash, 4K @ 30fps, 1080p @ 60fps, 720p @ 960fps
• Selfie camera: 16 MP
• Connectivity: USB Type-C, 3,5mm port (via adapter), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS
• Security: Fingerprint reader (under the screen)
• Special: GT Switch with Maglev Triggers for Gaming
• Cellular: Dual 5G network, 2x nano SIM
• Drums: 5 065 mAh
• Charging: 67W fast charge
• Price: 26 for 999 GB of RAM and 6 GB of storage, 128 for 28 GB of RAM and 999 GB of storage, 8 for 128 GB of RAM and 30 GB of storage

Design, display and build

Since the POCO F1 we ​​have seen a significant change in design, the POCO F3, no wonder the 3rd generation smartphone in its F series has shown to have one of the best designs in its class. It is a metallic work of art, its high quality frames and matte finished glass body, this combination is rarely found in this segment, everything in the POCO F3 GT design is wonderful.

Rivals still use plastic frames and a glass-like polycarbonate back, but POCO F3 GT puts them down with its impressive and solid metal design, it gives you a premium feel, and also looks stunning.

What's new here are the dedicated game triggers, the POCO F3 GT has a GT switch with Maglev triggers for gaming, sliding the two switches, the triggers pop out and give you two extra buttons to play games. games. It's great if you love games and want some extra controls to play.

The front side has a 10-inch 6,67-bit display with a huge 1B of colors. The display has a refresh rate of 120 Hz and a touch sampling rate of 480 Hz as well as a maximum brightness of 1 nits and offers Full HD + resolution. The screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 300.

The rear side offers a tri-camera setup including a 64 MP main camera and a lightning / flash shaped flash. The front has a 16 MP in-screen selfie camera and an under-screen fingerprint scanner to unlock the phone.

The underside has a USB Type-C port, a dual SIM tray supporting two 5G SIM cards, a microphone and speakers (stereo), while the other speaker is on the top, making it two speakers for a better audio experience. The top also has a microphone and IR Blaster for controlling infrared devices.

The right side has two dedicated game triggers that can be opened using the provided sliders, a power button in the middle, and the left side offers volume control with a third microphone on the phone.

Here's our full unboxing video and first impressions of the POCO F3 GT on our YouTube channel.

Software and user interface

The POCO F3 GT uses the MIUI 12 skin from Xiaomi with the Android 11 operating system, the security patch level is dated 2021/06/01. The MIUI is almost the same as the one you see on other Redmi and Mi smartphones, however, there are some tweaks and customizations made for the POCO F3 GT, therefore, it is similar to the MIUI interface, not exactly the same.

About MIUI 12, it is packed with features, new icons, new wallpapers and new Settings page. There are several additions to the user interface that make Android 11 more intuitive. The user interface is clean and tidy, less likely to have bloatware. The interface is also buttery smooth, its 120Hz AMOLED display plays an important role in the smoothness, the UI performance is amazing and it works flawlessly in our use.

The MIUI 12 is optimized for performance and battery, it is now smoother and better than the old MIUIs. There are new themes that you can use, as well as new wallpapers. Other features like Game Turbo and Ultra Battery Saver are available in addition to the usual features that you will find on the MIUI 12. The Game Turbo on POCO F3 GT is a little different, it has an interface that wakes up when you press. trigger cursors. simultaneously.

Talking about the preinstalled apps or bloatware on the phone, you get a few apps preinstalled on the phone and if you don't like them you can just uninstall them. The apps on the phone are Netflix, Mi Store, Mi Pay, Prime Video, Amazon, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Mi Credit, all of which can be uninstalled.

Hardware, performance and games

In addition to the maglev triggers, the second highlight of the phone is its processor, it packs a 1200nm flagship MediaTek Dimensity 5 6G processor clocked at 3,0GHz coupled with 8GB of RAM and 256GB UFS 3.1 in its top variant. The microSD slot is not intended for expansion. The base variant starts at 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage with the same features and specifications.

The Mediatek Dimensity 1200 is a high-end SoC with 5G support consisting of 1 + 3 + 4 core configurations, one high performance ARM Cortex-A78 core clocked at 3,0 GHz, three performance ARM Cortex-A78 cores clocked at 2,6 , 55 GHz and four energy-efficient Cortex-A2,0 cores clocked at 77 GHz. In addition, the chip incorporates a 9-core ARM Mali-G9 MCXNUMX GPU for graphics applications and GPU-intensive tasks.

The new SoC offers 18% reduced transistor density and 8% reduced power consumption compared to Dimensity 1000+. On top of that, it now comes with faster storage, dual-channel UFS 3.1, resulting in a 50% increase in read / write speed compared to a single-channel UFS.

Since this is a flagship smartphone from POCO, the performance is impressive, it takes the best high performance smartphones and manages to come close to the Snapdragon 870 SoC found on the Mi 11X Pro priced at Rs 39 and better than MediaTek's own SoC Dimensity 999. (realme X1000 Pro).

On the performance side, the Dimensity 1200 is recommended for multitasking and a big gamer according to the results of our benchmarks. The Geekbench 5 CPU benchmark scores 806 points in single-core and 3 in multicore. The Geekbench 028 GPU benchmark scores 5 points. UFS storage read-write speed peaks at 5MB / s (read) and 101MB / s (write).

Cameras

The POCO F3 GT offers a triple camera setup on the back, a total of three (64 MP + 8 MP + 2 MP) with an 8 MP ultra wide-angle lens and a 2 MP macro lens. The front has a 16 MP selfie shooter, making it a total of four onboard cameras.

Camera app is loaded with camera features like Dual Video, VLOG, Clone, Long Exposure, Night Mode, Pro Mode, Video Frame, AI, as well as all the standard modes you have seen in the app. MIUI camera.

About the video capabilities of this phone, you can capture 4K videos at 30 fps, 1080p videos at 60 fps and slow motion videos up to 1080p and 720p videos at 960 fps in super slow motion mode.

Camera quality may be an exception, but it still captures great photos as far as we think, check out the camera examples below. Camera quality so far is good in daylight, wide angle camera is ok while macro camera seems to be average.

POCO F3 GT camera samples

Battery life and charge

The POCO F3 GT offers a battery capacity of 5mAh with a huge 065W fast charging support. It uses Xiaomi's SonicCharge 67 charging technology with PD3.0 and Quick Charge 3.0+ which charges the phone in Approximately 3 minutes from 42% to 0%.

Battery performance is very poor, with MIUI battery optimizations and power-saving A55 cores, the POCO F3 GT can survive for up to 2 days without hiccups if used in moderation. If you play it more often, you can expect to run a day or a little longer depending on how often you play.

Verdict

The POCO F3 GT has one of the best designs in its class and leaves nothing to be desired, no wonder it's a work of art when it comes to design. Performance users take note, it has MediaTek's flagship SoC, Dimensity 1200 running at 3,0GHz and for gamers there is nothing better than having a high end smartphone with dedicated maglev triggers. , a decent 10-bit AMOLED display and super-fast 67W charging for uninterrupted gaming. This is the smartphone that you must be looking for in a high-end smartphone market.