POCO F3 GT brings back the glory of the old POCO F1.
Xiaomi's sub-brand POCO made its foot in 2018 with the launch of the POCO F1 that packed in some of the best internals like a Snapdragon 845 chipset that was the flagship chipset of 2018 and some other good internals and simultaneously this year the POCO X3 Pro (Review) was launched which is also a great smartphone when it comes to performance and gaming especially with the Snapdragon 860 chipset.
Similarly, there was no POCO F2, and then came the POCO F3 which is the rebranded Xiaomi Mi 11X (Review) sold in India and that also has some very good specifications like a Snapdragon 870 chipset, a 120Hz AMOLED display, and a decent set of cameras. But now POCO has uplifted the game with their POCO F3 GT which is aimed at the gamers who want an ultimate gaming smartphone in the mid-range segment.
The POCO F3 GT packs a Mediatek Dimensity 1200 chipset that we also saw on the OnePlus Nord 2 (Review) and also has a 120Hz AMOLED display, a good set of cameras, 67W fast charging, and the design will blow away the crowd with its gamier's aesthetic design that we have seen on ROG smartphones in the past. Is it worth buying just for gaming or is it an all-rounder? Let's find out in the full review.
POCO F3 GT Design:
In terms of design, the POCO F3 GT has a great look which is very unique as it is more towards a gaming-centric philosophy rather than a plain and simple-looking smartphone. The POCO F3 GT is available in two colors - Predator Black and Gunmetal Silver. The back of the POCO F3 GT has borrowed some of the cues from ASUS ROG smartphones as there are many contrasting lines.
The Gunmetal Silver looks the more attractive as it has a shiny surface at the back and the back shines whenever light hits the back whereas the Predator Black has a matte finish that does not carry many fingerprints and provides a good grip while holding in hand. At the back, there is a triple camera module in a vertical oval strip and alongside it is the thunderbolt-styled LED flashlight.
Around the camera, the module is an RGB lighting module on top as well as the bottom of the camera module that lights up in different colors whenever any notifications come in or while charging. The POCO logo sits in the middle at the back and around the camera module, there is a metallic trim around to prevent it from scratches.
To the sides, there is a metallic frame which makes it very premium compared to other smartphones like OnePlus Nord 2, Realme X7 Max (Review), etc. that have a plastic frame. The right side of the metallic frame houses two sliders to activate the shoulder buttons which POCO likes to call Maglev Triggers that do come into effect during gaming where the index finger rests on it during gaming.
Other than the mechanical shoulder buttons and sliders, there is a power button that also doubles up as a fingerprint scanner and to the left, there are the volume buttons and a microphone. There is a slight indent to make it look like a gaming smartphone. The top has the IR Blaster, a secondary noise-canceling microphone, and a speaker grille which together with the bottom speakers doubles as stereo speakers.
The bottom has a USB 2.0 Type-C port, a primary microphone, a dual SIM card slot which is a hybrid one, and a speaker grille. There is a lot of lines around the sides and indents to give it a premium look. So there are a total of three microphones that do help in gaming as we had seen previously on ASUS ROG smartphones. Both the front as well as the back is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5.
However, POCO has omitted the 3.5mm headphone jack but you do get a USB Type-C to 3.5mm connector inside the box. The back has an IP53 rating which means it is splash and dust resistant and the weight is around 205 grams which makes it slightly on the heavier side. So overall, the design seems to be the biggest talking point about the POCO F3 GT and will appeal to most people out there.
POCO F3 GT Display:
The POCO F3 GT sports a single punch-hole 6.67-inches Full HD+(1080x2400 pixels) Turbo AMOLED display which is an E4 AMOLED panel made by Samsung. This is the first time an AMOLED display is seen on a smartphone from POCO compared to LCD panels that were used in the past. Since this is an AMOLED display, the color reproduction is great and the viewing angles are good.
The bezels are also minimum to the sides. This display has support for a 120Hz refresh rate which is great and also all tasks like multitasking between applications, playing games, and scrolling through webpages felt smoother. Combined with the 120Hz refresh rate, we have a 480Hz touch sampling rate similar to the one found on the Xiaomi Mi 11X.
At a 120Hz refresh rate, the smartphone dynamically adjusts the refresh rate depending on the load of the application. The display supports HDR10 content and has Widevine L1, so streaming HD content from OTT platforms is a breeze button Netflix, you can stream HD content only but POCO may provide a future software update for HDR later.
In terms of display brightness, this display can go up to 1300nits of peak brightness which is good and the sunlight legibility is good. There are two different modes - Standard and Vivid where Vivid shows up oversaturated colors whereas the Standard has a more balanced warmer tone on the display. You also have sRGB and DCI-P3 gamut and there is no issue of screen flickering that many AMOLED panels suffer from.
Since this display is AMOLED, there is no optical in-display fingerprint scanner as you have a side-mounted one that is embedded on the power button which is accurate and fast. Another talking point about the display is that this is a 10-bit color panel so it has better color reproduction compared to other 8 bit panels. Overall the display is a big plus point for media consumption.
POCO F3 GT Performance:
The POCO F3 GT is powered by the Mediatek Dimesnity 1200 chipset that powers the OnePlus Nord 2 and the Realme X7 Max. This chipset is an octa-core chipset that is based on a tri-cluster setup which includes 1x3.0GHz Cortex-A78 core with 3x2.6GHz Cortex-A78 cores and other 4x2.0GHz Cortex-A55 cores and is coupled with Mali G77 MC9 GPU.
This is the most powerful chipset from Mediatek and is built on a much more efficient 6nm process. So the daily performance like scrolling through webpages, rendering videos, multi-tasking between applications, and also playing games felt smoother on the smartphone and since POCO is claiming it to be a gaming smartphone, most of the games run smoothly without any stutters.
All games like Call Of Duty Mobile, Battlegrounds India Mobile ran smoothly at the highest frame rate and the high graphics settings but in Battlegrounds Mobile India, the graphics are set to HDR/HD by default with graphics set to Ultra but switching the graphics to Extreme, the frame rate goes to smooth which is slightly disappointing considering the evenly matched Snapdragon 870 does better here.
Smartphones like Xiaomi Mi 11X, iQOO 7, etc. can run on both Extreme graphics with the frame rate set to HDR/HD as the Adreno GPU's are better optimized for gaming. Similarly in Call Of Duty Mobile, the Mediatek Dimesnity 1200 can achieve a Max frame rate with high graphics settings only. After long hours of gaming, the back does heat up a bit and the metallic frame around also feels warm.
However, there is an 8 layer cooling system by POCO that dissipates the heat of the smartphone from the back. As POCO calls it a gaming smartphone, there is a Game Turbo Mode that provided aides in good gaming as it shows all the controls, network connectivity, and also the temperature of the CPU and GPU while gaming. Then there are the Maglev triggers using which you can map controls on the screen.
In terms of benchmarks, the POCO F3 GT scored around 603981 on Antutu v8 and 673 and 2734 on Geekbench 5.1 which are respectively good scores and are almost close to that of the Snapdragon 870 chipset. There are three storage variants available: 6/8GB LPDDR4X RAM with 128/256GB UFS 3.1 storage speeds. Overall, the gaming is great, not exceptional but performance remains excellent.
POCO F3 GT Software:
The POCO F3 GT runs on MIUI 12.5 with Android 11 out of the box. However, the interface is clean with no ads but there are some third-party applications pre-installed that can be uninstalled easily. There is a dedicated POCO launcher will all the applications be organized properly but you do get the GetApps that throws in a lot of notifications.
There are even constant notifications from other applications also and as usual, as it has MIUI, you do get the Control Center which is revealed when swiping from left, and the Notification Center when swiping from the right. There is a system-wide dark mode, Digital Wellbeing, and all Android 11 specific features like removing the location while sharing an image for privacy and Bubbles for conversations.
There are different customizations to wallpaper, icon fonts and sizes, and also apps. Other features include a Video Toolbox, Quick Ball, App Lock, and Shoulder button customizations. There is an Always-On display that can be customized with different styles. There is an Anti-Flicker Mode which reduces eye strain in very low lighting conditions.
In terms of software updates, MIUI is quite good and here you do get another two years of OS and security updates. Still, if you see the OxygenOS or even the RealmeUI is better in terms of optimizations and has a cleaner look but still MIUI is good on its own.
POCO F3 GT Cameras:
The POCO F3 GT sports a triple camera setup that houses a 64MP f/1.65 OmniVision OV648 sensor for the main camera, an 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera, and a 2MP macro camera. This is a newer sensor from OmniVision and is almost as good as some of the Sony and Samsung sensors used in many smartphones. The front has a 16MP camera for selfies.
The images from the main camera have good details but do have a considerable amount of noise and the dynamic range is above average. The colors look slightly oversharpened and the contrast is not so good. The images are saved at 16MP by default and there is a 64MP mode that can take images with sharper details but does crop in details to reduce noise in the background.
At night, the images come out with good details, and since the aperture is f/1.7, it captures good light and the colors do not look good as there is a lot of oversharpening and the contrast is also on the higher side. The dynamic range is good but the highlights in shadows are crushed. Turning on the night mode does improve the dynamic range thus reducing noise in the background.
Without Night Mode:
With Night Mode:
The 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera has good details and dynamic range but does suffer from noise in the background. The 119-degree field of view ensures a wider aperture but there is a lot of distortion around the edges and even when you zoom into the images, the details look softer. There is some oversharpening here also in terms of colors.
At night, the ultrawide camera does a decent job in terms of dynamic range and there is a lot of noise present. The colors look oversharpened and the details are just average. With the dedicated Night Mode on the ultrawide camera, things do improve as the noise is reduced to some extent and the dynamic range also but still the dedicated Night Mode does not do better than expected.
There is a 2MP f/2.4 macro camera that does a decent job in terms of macro shots as the images have a decent level of details with more noise and the dynamic range here is also poor. Sure the main camera can focus better if you do a 2x zoom and get better images, but POCO could have provided that 5MP telemacro camera that is present on the Xiaomi Mi 11X as this smartphone is a rebrand of Xiaomi.
In terms of portraits, the main camera does a good job despite lacking a dedicated depth sensor. The portraits have good edge detection and the dynamic range is also better. The skin tones look slightly oversharpened and when you zoom into the portraits, there is some amount of noise present. The background blur is good and can be adjusted also.
On the front, the POCO F3 GT gets a 16MP Sony IMX471 sensor for selfies that does a good job in terms of dynamic range and also the colors come out natural. The noise is very less in the background but the contrast is slightly on the higher side. In terms of selfie portraits, the edge detection is good but there is a lot of oversharpening in the background and the dynamic range is just average.
In terms of videos, the main camera can record 4K videos at 30fps. The videos have a decent dynamic range with less noise level. The colors look oversharpened and though there is no OIS, the videos come out with good stabilization and the contrast is good. Similar goes for the 1080p videos at 30/60fps which have good stabilization with EIS and the dynamic range is much better.
The ultrawide camera is only restricted to 1080p videos at 30fps and these videos do suffer from poor dynamic range and softer details. However, there is an Ultra-Stable Mode that helps in stabilization and produces videos with good color saturation and also noise is less. The front camera can record 1080p videos at 60fps with good colors and dynamic range and less noise.
The portrait videos come out good with proper edge detection and background blur. The selfie portraits come out with good dynamic range but do have a lot of oversharpening in the background and the same goes for videos shot at night. Overall, still, the OnePlus Nord 2 is better compared to the POCO F3 GT as that has a superior 50MP Sony sensor compared to the 64MP Omnivion sensor which will be discussed in the full comparison between both.
POCO F3 GT Battery Life:
The POCO F3 GT sports a 5065mAh battery which is great and you can get two days of battery life without charging. With the display set to 120Hz, the smartphone can easily last for one single day with heavy usage, and with normal usage, the smartphone easily lasted more than a day. At standard 60Hz, the smartphone does a very good job as the standard screen on time was around 7-8 hours which is good.
There is a 67W fast charger provided inside the box which is the first time a higher capacity charger is seen with a POCO smartphone as POCO likes to call it Turbocharging. The battery can go from 0 to 50 percent in around 30 minutes which is quite slower than other lower-capacity chargers. The full charge from 0 to 100 percent takes around 50 minutes which is good but considering the 67W, it is slow.
Comparatively even the OnePlus Nord 2 supports 65W fast charging charges completely from 0 to 100 percent within 35 minutes. POCO claims that this long amount of time for charging the battery is made to ensure the better temperature of the battery and prevent it from overheating in most scenarios. Overall, the battery life is good but the charging solution could have been faster.
POCO F3 GT Audio Quality:
The POCO F3 GT has a stereo speaker setup as you are getting one speaker grille on top and another at the bottom making it a true stereo speaker setup. The sound quality is excellent and the best in the premium mid-range segment. The bass level is good and the volume is not muffled at the loudest settings. There is also Dolby Atmos present for enhanced sound effects.
There is no 3.5mm headphone jack present but POCO does provide a 3.5mm headphone jack to USB Type-C port converter inside the box to connect with other wired earphones. Even when you use the converter the sound experience is good.
Verdict:
The POCO F3 GT is a good all-rounder smartphone as it has everything that a premium mid-ranger should have. It has a unique gamer's aesthetic design, a good 120Hz AMOLED display with 480Hz touch sampling rate, a powerful Mediatek Dimensity 1200 chipset that handles all the heavy games without any lag, the battery life is good with the larger battery and the stereo speakers are the best in class.
However, there are things that are disappointing and POCO has cut few corners. The display though being AMOLED, there is no in-display fingerprint scanner, the Mediatek Dimensity 1200 chipset though being a gaming chipset still cannot achieve the highest graphics and highest frame rate altogether when compared to smartphones with Snapdragon 860/870 chipset.
Then there is MIUI 12.5 which is good as there are no ads present but still, it is not as well optimized as either RealmeUI or OxygenOS, and in terms of updates, not the fastest. The cameras are good but still compared to many competitors like the OnePlus Nord 2 and the Realme X7 Max, the main Omnivision sensor is not as good as other Sony and Samsung sensors.
The battery life is great with that massive 5065mAh battery but the charging speeds are slower though you are getting a larger 67W fast charger. Sure if you look past the cameras mainly, everything else is good and you will fall in love with those Maglev Triggers if you are a true game lover. Particularly for gaming, it is a good one to recommend but as an all-rounder, it is worth buying.
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