PhoneSentral Tech in Simplicity
The Poco F3 was just launched in Malaysia recently, and I am very sure the biggest question is how is the phone and is it worth your RM899?
Well, since I don’t have the phone, I’ve opted to do the next best thing, which is, which is doing a compilation of selected reviews from selected reviewers who already had the phone.
This way, you, my readers, do not need to scan all other reviews, as I am giving you a summary of what these ‘tech experts’ have said about the phone.
For the Poco F3 review, I will be using reviews taken from David Lee of Dave2D, and Chris Barraclough of Tech Spurt.
Here goes.
Screen and body
I really don’t need to watch videos of other reviews to do a Poco F3 review when it comes to the body, but since I don’t have one yet, these reviews would justify what is being said about the body.
Based on images, I personally love how the phone looks pretty neat and beautiful with the white striking out well for me.
Chris seems to agree with my opinion as he also commended the white version of the phone. He also had nice things to say about the finishing of the phone.
“This white model is undeniable charming with a soft touch finish that gives it great hand feel so to speak, plus the matte finish is great for repelling o hiding grubby fingerprint and marks.” Chris noted in his video.
The back of the Poco F3 is made from Gorilla Glass 5, and it is said to look and feel really premium.
When it comes to the screen, David commended the 6.67 inch AMOLED screen which has a 120Hz refresh rate by saying it is probably the best at its price point.
“This has an amazing screen for the money. Probably the best screen you will see at this price point.” David said in his review.
Chris also agreed on this by commending the colour produced by the screen.
“The colour are proper poppy and on that vivid mode, more vibrant movies and photos will absolutely knock your socks off” Christ said.
Audio system
Both David and Chris agreed that the earpiece speaker is notably softer than the main speakers at the bottom chin of the phone.
David however said that both combine to provide a very distinct stereo effect, while Chris commented about the fact that the Poco F3 didn’t include a 3.5mm audio jack, which he felt was something budget smartphones regularly have.
Poco F3 software
The Poco F3 uses a customized version of the MIUI 12.
This OS received rave reviews from Chris who obviously seems to be a fan of the operating system.
Christ said the MIUI 12 had all the important components he loved which included the toolbox feature and the Game Turbo mode.
“Basically all of my favorite parts of the MiUI12 are present and correct including the excellent toolbox feature which can be used for the likes of Youtube and as usual you’ve got that excellent game turbo mode.” Chris said.
He however said that the operating system does come with pre-installed bloatware.
“It still has its issues such as the ridiculous number of pre-installed apps.” he added.
The annoying bloatware experience was also echoed by David who said “There is still some bloat ware that comes pre-installed, You can remove it but there’s also the occasional ad. You can easily disable them all. It’s just super annoying they do this in the first place.”.
Performances & gaming
The Poco F3 uses the Snapdragon 870 processor, which is the same processor used by the ASUS Phone Rog 3.
It comes in two variant, the 128GB + 6GB RAM or the 256GB 8GB RAM variant.
Commenting on performance, Chris said his review model of the Poco F3 was the 8GB version and it “ran like a dream”.
David was had more things to say on the processor and the phone’s performances.
He said “The processor in here is nearly top of the line. It’s the Snapdragon 870 and this isn’t as jacked as the Snapdragon 888, but this phone can outperform phones that were top of the line four months ago. It’s pretty incredible.”
“The performance is really good. It’s not as good as the 888 but you’re seeing great frame rates in games, excellent system performance. For the people that want that relly fast and fluid smartphone experience, this delivers it.” he added.
Camera
The Poco F3 comes with a triple camera set-up with the 48 MP wide lens being the main lens.
There’s no image stabilization in any of the cameras which also include a 8 MP wide camera, 5 MP macro lens and a 20 MP selfie camera.
David commented that it’s actually hard to get good cameras in the phone’s price range, and this is no different with the Poco F3.
“This is a camera system with very average image quality. You get clean images with pretty good colours if there’s enough light but falls apart quickly in tough conditions.” David said.
“It’s not awful. There’s devices out there that have way worse camera system than this, at this price point, but it’s nothing special” he added.
Chris was kinder in his remarks on the camera.
Durability
The phone is covered in Gorilla Glass 5.
Chris gave the phone a thumbs up in terms of durability by saying that he has been treating his unit roughly but it has no scratches so far.
“I’ve been treating this thing pretty roughly these past few days and there isn’t a single scratch or scuff to speak off.” Chris said in his video.
Battery life
The 4,520 mAh battery in the Poco F3 supports 33W fast charging with the battery fully charged in 52 minutes.
There’s no wireless charging for this phone however.
Despite the size of the phone, Christ wasn’t too pleased with the phone’s battery life.
“I did find that I could generally make it though a full day on a single charge but I was usually running on dregs by the time I was all tucked up.” he said.
Also unimpressed with the battery life is David who noted that the battery is good, but not great.
Verdict and availability
In the conclusion, both reviewers agree that the Poco F3 is a capable phone with drawbacks in the camera and battery.
Chris summed the phone by saying “On the surface level, the Poco F3 seems to be nothing particularly extravagant. Very functional and everything but it does deliver in pretty much every single area including that gorgeous AMOLED screen and that fantastic performance as well which is ideal for gaming. In other areas like the camera, it’s merely fine and the battery is a bit of a disappointment.”.
David in his concluding remarks said that the Poco F3 will age really well like its predecessor.
“For USD 350, to get a near flagship processor. this is going to age really well in comparison to almost any other product in this category. To get this kind of performance. It’s why the Pocophone F1 to this day is still so good.” he said.
You can watch David’s full Poco F3 review here, and you can watch Chris’s full review here.
Both variants of the Poco F3 is available from RM1,399 in both Lazada and Shopee. Poco F3s sold in Shopee are from third party dealers, while Lazada offers stock from the official Poco store.
