Xiaomi F1 Pocophone in the test: a smartphone of quality superior to 350 CHF is possible

If anyone asks me if I can recommend a quality smartphone and not too expensive, I have a handy tip to take for a few weeks: "Look at the F1 pocophone."

"Poco what?"

Pocophone is the new low-cost brand of Xiaomi. Migros has a limited budget – and Xiaomi now has a pocophone. The Chinese praise the Pocphone F1 as a "master of speed" at a low price. A very fast processor, a big battery and 64 GB of storage for 350 francs are indeed a big challenge. F1 is almost the alternative to the iPhone XS: a lot of power at a reasonable price.

The multi-week test also reveals that F1 does not always shine in gold.

Price of smartphones in comparison:

• iPhone XS (64GB): 1200 francs
• iPhone XS Max (64GB) 1300 francs
• iPhone XR (64/128 GB): 880/950 francs
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro (128 GB): 1000 francs
• Samsung Galaxy Note 9 (128 GB): 900 francs
• Xiaomi Pocopone F1 (64/128 GB): 350/400 francs

The new Pocophone brand is aimed at customers who want a very fast smartphone, but are no longer willing to accept annual price increases from Samsung, Huawei and Apple. But you get (almost) everything that makes a great phone, but you have to do without extras such as wireless charging, triple camera or pen.

That it makes sense to put a cell phone of 1000 francs or more on the table, everyone must fend for themselves. If you are looking for a very fast smartphone with a long battery life at a moderate price, do not hesitate to read.

The pocophone features a full HD screen of 416 ppi, of extreme clarity. The device is relatively wide and so is not ideal for small hands. Xiaomi has saved a little on the back of plastic, less fragile than glbad and less slippery than aluminum, but that does not look so noble. In no way do I mean that it seems cheap.

Surely did not save Xiaomi at speed. The Chinese use the same Snapdragon 845 processor for their low-cost smartphone, which is only found in the latest high-end devices of 2018. In short, the F1 with 6 GB of RAM is ideal for players and in everyday life, as fast as phones two or three times more expensive.

I used the pocophone six weeks in daily life and compared with the all new Huawei Mate 20 Pro (1000 francs), the six-month-old Huawei P20 Pro (650 francs currently) and the good Galaxy Note 8 (currently 650 Franks): In terms of performance, the 350-franc mobile phone follows the most expensive models, but you have to make small adjustments to the camera. More on that later.

I could have sworn, the back was aluminum because the F1 Pocophone does not look like a cheap plastic phone. In fact, the back of my device is matte plastic.

This has several advantages: It is non-slip and on the plastic (polycarbonate), which has the appearance of metal, no trace of dust or grease is visible. Unlike glbad, the plastic is unbreakable and the phone does not need Atennenstreifen on the frame for a good reception.

For me and probably for all other normal consumers, the display with a resolution of 1080 times 2246 pixels (Full-HD +) is more than enough, because it is difficult to distinguish the screens of higher resolution, except the reality applications virtual with the naked eye. The contrast and color representation are far more important and in both categories, the cell phone is convinced.

Like most modern smartphones, the pocophone has a dual camera at the back. The main camera shoots good cell phone pictures under a good light with 12 megapixels.

The second camera has a 5 MP sensor and a different aperture, which should improve depth of field (blurred background) in portraits.

Unfortunately, this only works partially and portrait mode can be described as moderate in the best case. Faces are sometimes so blurry that it looks grotesque.

Optical image stabilization for jitter-free photos has saved Xiaomi, but it also has no optical zoom, which is now the norm in the top models.

In short: Although the device is very good for the low price of the pocophone, it is no problem with the high-end models of Huawei (P20 Pro, Mate 20 Pro), Apple (iPhone XS) and Samsung (Galaxy S9 , Grade 9) – from Google Not to mention "night camera" in Pixel 3. The much more expensive rivals take much better pictures, especially in poor lighting, and offer a wider choice of shooting modes.

Despite the weaknesses: In the price range of 350 to 400 francs, it should currently be difficult to find a much better camera. Whoever photographs almost always only in daylight can very well live with the Pocophone camera. And if you want to draw even more, Google's camera app installs on the pocophone.

While more expensive smartphones with (unnecessary) extras like super slow motion (960 frames per second) impress, gives the modest F1 (240 frames per second). Although videos with a resolution of up to 4K are possible, image stabilization however can not keep up with the absolute pace of smartphones.

Again, if you are not an ambitious amateur filmmaker, do not be discouraged by the superior video quality. For a short holiday video, bidding is always enough.

The USB-C port of the pocophone is, of course, much faster than the previous micro-USB ports, but Xiaomi has also recorded a bit here and not the latest technology installed. The transfer of data to a PC is therefore a little slower than on some more expensive Android smartphones.

Even in this case, the vast majority of users should be able to accept. For the majority in everyday life much more important: the headphone port is always available and the internal memory can be extended by a microSD card.

Good, but not at all a CD-ROM is the fast charge function, which provides the following measured values:

• 30 minutes of battery life – battery charge> 37%
• 60 minutes on the charger – battery charge> 78%
• 90 minutes on the charger – battery charge> 94%
• 120 minutes of battery life – battery charge> 100% (the battery was between 90 and 120 minutes completely full)

For comparison: when the Huawei Mate 9 of 2016 with the same battery size (4000 mAh) is the battery indicator after 30 minutes to 57%. Huawei's newest phones can be charged even faster, so the pocophone is lagging behind.

As usual, Google's standard applications such as Chrome, YouTube, photos, calendars, and more. preinstalled, as well as Microsoft Office applications and Xiaomi-specific applications, such as video, music, browser, photos, and messages. Some of these applications can be deleted, others simply deleted from the home screen.

Although Google and Microsoft applications are likely to serve many users, Xiaomi apps are a bad surprise.

On the pocophone, many pre-installed system and bloatware applications are sometimes sent several times a day to send annoying ads to the phone. For example, preinstalled "Music" and "Video" apps regularly display ads for new songs, videos, and more. in notifications. The ad spam applications can not simply be deleted, but you must deprive them of the system settings permission for notifications.

Anyone who often watches Netflix or Amazon videos on the pocophone will wonder why the 4K or HD series on the pocophone are only read in SD quality. This is apparently due to a lack of certification (Widevine L1) of the smartphone, which limits the maximum resolution of some streaming providers to standard quality (SD).

In plain language, this means that videos from Netflix and some other streaming services can not be played back in HD despite the full HD display. Xiaomi has had to face many criticisms about it and apparently works on the lack of HD support for Netflix and Co. nachzuliefern.

The scale of the problem must be perceived very individually, because on a small screen of mobile phone, the difference between HD and SD quality is much less visible than on a big screen of television. Incidentally, YouTube users are fine, they can also stream videos in 4K on the pocophone.

Pocophone buyers have guaranteed two major updates to the operating system. In addition, Xiaomi will provide its major smartphones with updates for up to five years. But you have to distinguish between Android and Xiaomi's own MIUI interface. This means that even if the pocophone after Android 10 was no longer to receive operating system version, the phone would probably continue to be powered with new updates or new features of MIUI.

Personally, I find that the new interface of the pocophone was successful. The Xiaomi user interface works very well and behaves like a mix of Android and iOS. That you like it is a matter of taste. In any case, Android and iPhone users should hear as fast as possible with the pocophone.

The system interface of Xiaomi has the disadvantage that Android updates can sometimes take longer. Conversely, Xiaomi is known for providing its best models with MIUI updates for several years. That this also applies to the pocophone, must show the future.

The fingerprint reader is located at the back under the dual camera. It's easy to reach, but a bit too close to the lens for my taste.

In addition to the front camera, an infrared sensor is used for unlocking by facial recognition. This method of unlocking is extremely fast and almost always works with me and from different angles. Whether with or without glbades, whether in the dark or in the light of day, it does not matter. At the beginning of facial recognition, we had two or three problems outside, later I did not notice any problems.

Important: To be able to use face recognition, you have to cheat something and change the national attitude towards India, Hong Kong, and so on. Apparently, Xiaomi has not yet officially activated this feature at us.

the conclusion: Good processor, agree?

Unfortunately no. The attractively priced F1 Pocophone is as fast in everyday life as the state-of-the-art equipment of the competition and the battery life is also first clbad. With the devices twice or three times more expensive from Samsung, Huawei and Apple, it can not follow in all respects.

However, this should only bother you if you absolutely want the best smartphone camera or can not ignore the reviews summarized below (small). Everyone can access safely and get the smartphone with perhaps the best value for money.

The pocophone in numbers:

• LCD display: 2246 x 1080 (FHD +), 403 dpi
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 (Octa-Core, 4 × 2.8 GHz, 4 × 1.8 GHz, Adreno 630 GPU)
• Memory: 6 GB of RAM with 64 or 128 GB of memory and 8 GB of RAM with 256 GB of memory (expandable via microSD in the second SIM card slot)
• Battery: 4000 mAh (QuickCharge 3.0)
• Camera: double camera with bokeh effect; MP (1.4 μm, f / 1.9) plus MP (1.12 μm, f / 2.0); 4K videos, SlowMo videos in 1080p up to 240 frames per second; Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS)
• Front camera (20 MP) with Potr mode and bokeh effect
• Face Detection: Infrared Face Unlock (works in the dark)
• Fingerprint reader: at the back
• Hybrid Dual SIM: 2 x Nano-SIM or 1 x Nano-SIM plus microSD
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac, dual band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, wireless access point, Bluetooth 5.0, A2DP, LE, aptX HD, GPS; GLONASS, BDS, USB Type-C (2.0),
• Network: 2G (GSM 850/900/1800/1900), 3G (HSDPA 850/900/1900/2100), 4G (LTE 1 (2100), 3 (1800), 5 (850), 7 (2600), 8 (900), (800), 38 (2600), 40 (2300), 41 (2500))
• Dimensions: 155.5 x 75.3 x 8.8 mm
• Weight: 155 grams
• Operating system: Android 8.1 with MIUI and Poco-Launcher (update on Android 9 and 10 warranty by Xiaomi)

In this country, Xiaomi – the world's fourth largest maker of smartphones – represents only a small number of them. This is not due to lack of quality. On the contrary: Xiaomi has long since lost the image of the copier shameless and convinced for years with innovative ideas and good value for money.

Launched in China, Xiaomi is slowly but surely conquering India and Russia. Recently, the Chinese are also active in Europe. Thus, Swiss customers no longer have to worry that Xiaomi devices in the local 4G network do not reach optimal speed, which could have been the case with previous import devices.

Likewise, expensive mobile phone alternatives are:

The Pocophone F1 with 64 or 128 GB of memory is currently available from 350 or from 390 francs. The smartphones of the middle clbad listed below other brands are sometimes a little slower or have less storage space, but still cost about the same amount.

Note: The revision sample was provided to us by Digitec for the duration of the test.