Poco, introduced as Xiaomi’s sub-brand won everyone’s heart because of its price, performance and developer community support. Xiaomi did not launch any mobile under Poco brand for over 15 months and finally they decided to spin-off Poco as a separate entity. The first mobile out of the this new independent brand Poco is the Poco X2. Unlike the Poco F1, the Poco X2 is a mid-range mobile and most importantly, it is not a successor to Poco F1.
Poco F1 was introduced as Redmi K30 in China. It is a re-branded mobile and not an exclusive mobile built for Poco. But Redmi K30 has features and capabilities which are not available in any other mobile in India in its price point. It is also not available to buy in India. So there is nothing wrong in re-branding the mobile as Poco X2. I have been using the Poco X2 for about a week and here are my thoughts on the mobile.
Poco X2 : Key Specifications
- Display: 6.67 inches, 120 Hz LCD, 1080 x 2400 pixels,
- CPU: Qualcomm SDM730 Snapdragon 730G (8 nm)
- RAM: 6/8 GB DDR4
- Storage: 64/128/256 GB UFS 2.1
- Rear Camera: 64 MP Primary, 8 MP Ultra Wide , 2 MP Macro 2 MP Portrait
- Front Camera: 20 MP + 2 MP
- Battery: 4500 mAh + 27 W Charger
- SIM card slots: Hybrid Dual SIM Slots
- microSD: Yes
- OS: Android 10
- UI: MIUI 11
- Dimension: 165.3 x 76.6 x 8.8 mm
- Weight: 208 g
Design
The Poco F1 was a mobile known for its durability due to its polycarbonate shell. But it was also criticized a lot for looking mundane. But the Poco X2 is not F1 when it comes to design. It is a glass body mobile with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protecting on the front and the back. It comes in 3 flashy colors and our review unit is called Phoenix Red. The glass at the back is not a fingerprint magnet, but the mobile is a big slippery. It is a large mobile and you need to protect it with a case. There is a USB C port at the bottom along with 3.5 mm jack and a single speaker node. The top has a IR blaster for remote operations. The side has the hybrid SIM slot and on the other side it the array of buttons. The power button doubles as fingerprint sensor on the side. This is very convenient for both left and right hand usage. The fingerprint sensor is fast and accurate. Poco X2 has a water resistant coating to prevent accidental damages due to liquid spills.
The quad camera mount at the back has a small hump. Around the camera hump is a 3D reflective circle design that gives a prominent unique design to the mobile. Poco X2 has nailed it in the design department. It is a practically well designed mobile which is functionally sturdy as well.
Display
A lot has been debated about the use of LCD panel on the mobile. But this is no regular LCD panel. It has a refresh rate of 120 Hz. The display is very bright and quite colorful, but still lacks the contrast depth of an AMOLED panel. Which one would you prefer? a 60 Hz AMOLED panel or a 120 HZ bright LCD panel? Its your personal preference and mine is a high refresh rate display. There are very few games and apps that supports more than 60 FPS. But the list is growing and high refresh rate display are the future. They offer a smooth and fast (#SmoothAF) user experience. You may not find any notable difference between 90 and 120 Hz display on a mobile, but definitely its a huge upgrade when compared to a 60 Hz display.
The Poco X2 has a bezel-less display with a dual punch hole notch on the top for cameras. The camera is also used for face unlock, which I found to be super fast. As mentioned earlier, the display is bright and usable under all light conditions. It has good viewing angles and quite responsive as well. It is a perfect display for media consumption, reading, and most importantly gaming. As of now, there is no other mobile in the market that has 120 Hz or even 90 Hz in the price range. Poco X2 has a huge advantage when it comes to a fast display.
Camera
When it comes to the camera department, Poco X2 has left no stone unturned. They have included the flagship Sony IMX 686 sensor which is capable of shooting quad binned 64 MP shots. The sensor is assisted by an f/1.9 aperture lens. It does not have OIS, but the EIS is quite effective for video recording. EIS kicks in for 4K 30ps and 1080 60 fps, along with 1080 30 fps or anything lower on the rear camera. The image out of the sensor is sharp and detailed under ample light conditions. Under low light, the 64 MP mode shows noise, but in normal or night mode, the camera is highly capable. Poco has added a movie mode, which gives you an anamorphic effect for your portrait shots on the rear and front camera. There is also a vlog mode, which lets you shoot a series of clips and combine them with music and transition which is normally seen in vlogs.
The 8 MP wide-angle lens is sharp and does no signs of edge distortions. But it is not very sharp when the light dips. The 2 MP depth sensor is a good help when it comes to portrait shots, but image processing algorithms could have gotten rid of it. Also, a better quality (but expensive) wide-angle lens could have done away with the 2 MP macro lens.
The 20 MP camera tucked into a small punch hole notch along with a 2 MP camera is a very sharp camera setup for selfies under most light conditions.
The 20 MP camera tucked into a small punch hole notch along with a 2 MP camera is a very sharp camera setup for selfies under most light conditions. But with what we have, the Poco X2 is an excellent camera mobile. Check out a few camera samples below.
Hardware Performance
The Poco X2 is powered by a Snapdragon 730G with Adreno 618 GPU. It has 6 or 8 GB DDR4 RAM and 64/128/256 GB of UFS 2.1 internal storage. The mobile has all the expected sensors. It supports L1-widevine out of the box. It does not have NFC but has FM radio and IR port. The chipset is cooled by a liquid cooling pipe running along the back of the mobile internally. As this mobile has a 120 Hz display, I downloaded about 12 games that support high frames per second (FPS). I must say that I enjoyed the gameplay as much as I enjoy on my OnePlus 7T Pro, which costs 4 times the Poco X2.
There was no lag of throttling when playing games for about 1.5 hours non-stop. It does not overheat. After about 90 min of gameplay, a 7-degree rise was noticed, which is quite normal. The location of the single mono speaker is such that it gets blocked easily. But in terms of performance, the Game booster feature and the capable hardware gives a pleasant experience.
Software
Before you ask, let me clarify. No! There is no ad on the Poco X2. There are some ads on the Mi Browser, but you can choose not to use it and use an alternative default browser. It runs on MIUI 11 like any other Xioami mobile, but the OS has been optimized a lot for Poco, which includes the famous Poco Launcher. MIUI is the most matured UI skins out there. It is optimized best of the hardware and yet it has a host of useful utilitarian features.
Battery
The battery on the Poco X2 is a 4500 mAh battery, but the question in everyone’s mind is its performance with the 120 Hz display. Well, I was skeptical as well, but it seems that the decision to go with Snapdragon 730G was mainly for resource optimization. With 120 Hz display and extensive usage, the Poco X2 can last for about a day or 5 hours of screen on time. When dropped down to 60 Hz display, it lasts for more than 7 hours of Screen on time or about 1.5 days of normal usage. If you feel, that impressive, wait till you read about the 27W fast charger. This charging brick can top up the mobile from 0 to 100% in 65 min. Unlike a proprietary solution, this charger can fast charge any other device.
Verdict
Poco X2 is priced at Rs 15999 for the starting 6/64 GB variant. At this price, the Poco X2 has a lot to offer. There is no other device in the market with a 120 Hz display at this price in India. If you take away the 120 Hz display out of the equation, suddenly Redmi Note 8 Pro, Poco F1, Redmi K20 and Realme X2 are the competitors. Poco F1 has a faster processor and performance is your only goal, go for Poco F1. Redmi Note 8 Pro has a good camera, but the 730G is a better processor. Redmi K20 has a better looking design, but many are not comfortable with pop-up camera mechanism. Realme X2 is priced at 16999 for the 4 GB variant and it has 4000 mAh battery and a 30 W charger that can only charge the Realme X2 fast and not a truly universal charger. So my pick would be the Poco X2 when compared to all the competition out there. It is a well balanced device and for the price, it gives a lot of value for money. While you are waiting for the Poco F2 to come your way, the Poco X2 is a good mobile to keep you engaged!
Buy Link for Poco X2 on Flipkart
