POCO X2

 The Poco X2 ticks all the boxes in the spec-sheet, but ultimately fails to deliver a hassle-free experience because of the rampant, unsolicited ads in the software.

Overview

The Poco F1 and Poco F2 were launched last year.  Now the company has announced the Poco X2 which is the rebranded version of the Redmi K30 4G that was launched in China last year. The Poco X2 is available for purchase in the country starting February 11. Poco X2 has a colourful glass rear with a gradient tone and has a circular design around the vertical camera strip. The phone has a Poco logo on the bottom and has a raised camera module similar to the OnePlus 7T. It has a 6.67-inch screen with a tall 20:9 aspect ratio, a RealityFlow 120Hz Display and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G octa core processor. The phone has a power button which also doubles as the fingerprint sensor. The volume button is placed above the power button.

Poco X2 has a RealityFlow 120Hz Display and the company says it comes with the gaming focussed Snapdragon 730G SoC. The phone comes with a dual selfie camera and a quad rear camera setup which includes a 64 MP Sony IMX686 primary sensor, an 8 MP secondary sensor,  a third 2 MP tertiary sensor, and a 2 MP depth sensor. It has a dual selfie camera setup at the front which features a 20 MP primary sensor and a 2 MP secondary sensor. The phone has a 27W fast charging support and is powered by a 4,500mAh battery. It has a 3D curved back design protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass 5 panel. The phone has a colourful glass rear with a gradient tone and has a circular design around the vertical camera strip.

Poco X2 is priced at Rs 15,999 and competes with the likes of Realme X2 in this price range.

Poco X2 has received a price revision in India, after three months of its launch in India. The Poco X2 comes in three storage variants, and the prices of two of the 64 GB and 128 GB storage variants have been increased by Rs. 500. However Poco has not increased the price of the top variant of the smartphone which has 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage. The 64 GB and 128 GB storage variants of the Poco X2 are now available at the revised price on ecommerce retailer Flipkart. The Poco X2 comes with a 120Hz display and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G octa core processor.

Poco X2 has received a hike in the county, and the 8 GB + 256 GB model has seen an increase of Rs. 500 on Flipkart. Last month, the company had hiked the prices of its 6GB + 64GB and 6GB + 128GB storage models. This is the second price hike that the smartphones have received since their launch. The price of the devices was first revised in April for all Poco X2 variants just two months after their launch in India. A second price hike was announced in June for the 6 GB RAM variants.

The Poco X2 has started receiving the MIUI 12 update in India. The Poco X2 is the first device to get the new MIUI 12 updates. The company had announced that the Poco F2 Pro and Pocophone F1 global units will also receive their MIUI 12 updates starting Aug 2020. The update brings with a flatter and more simplified interface, Android 10-like navigation gestures, revamped system animations, and much more. The company says that the MIUI 12 update brings new system animations, cleaner visual design, and improvements to the floating windows feature. The device is currently priced starting at Rs. 17,499 in India.

Poco has launched the Poco X3 in India which features a 6.67-inch full-HD+ display,  octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 732G processor paired with up to 8 GB of LPDDR4X RAM. It is available in 6 GB + 64 GB storage model, the 6 GB + 128 GB storage model, and the top-tier variant with 8GB + 128GB storage.

The Poco M2 Pro has a 6.67-inch display with P2i water-repellent coating, and Gorilla Glass 5. The device runs on the company’s proprietary MIUI 11, which is based on Android 10.  Under the hood, it has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G octa-core processor with 6 GB of RAM. The phone is available starting from Rs 13999.

Design

The phone has a 6.67-inch full-HD+ RealityFlow 120Hz Display with a 20:9 aspect ratio and has a 1080 x 2400 pixels resolution. The phone has Intelligent Dynamic Refresh Rate technology. The phone comes in Atlantis Blue, Matrix Purple, and Phoenix Red colour variants. The power button is placed on the right of the phone and also doubles as a fingerprint sensor. The volume buttons are placed above the power button. An infrared emitter is on the top, and the 3.5mm audio socket, USB Type-C port, and speaker are placed on the bottom.

Camera

The Poco X2 has the quad rear camera setup which houses a 64 MP Sony IMX686 primary sensor with an f/1.89 lens and an 8 MP secondary sensor with an f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle lens. It has a third 2 MP tertiary sensor with an f/2.4 macro lens and a 2 MP depth sensor. It has a dual selfie camera setup at the front which features a 20 MP primary sensor and a 2 MP secondary sensor.

The phone’s camera comes with features like VLOG mode, 960fps Slow-mo video recording, and 4K video capture. The front selfie camera supports Panorama Selfie Mode, AI Beautify, AI Face Distortion Correction, AI Portrait Mode, and Movie mode.

Performance

The Poco X2 runs Android 10 OS with MIUI 11 on top. It is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G SoC, paired with Adreno 618 GPU and up to 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM.

It features second-generation Game Turbo mode to boost graphics rendering. The smartphone also has a proprietary LiquidCool technology which provides 300 percent faster heat transfer over the models that don't include a liquid cooling system according to the company.

Battery and Storage

The phone packs a 4,500mAh battery that supports 27W fast charging that the company claims can charge the device to 100 percent in just 68 minutes. The phone comes bundled with the 27W charger.

It is available in 64 GB storage, 128 GB storage and 256 GB storage models.  

Configuration

The Poco X2 comes with up to 256GB UFS 2.1 storage which is expandable via a microSD card slot. It has an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G SoC and runs Android 10.0.

Connectivity

Connectivity options included in the phone are Bluetooth, GPS/ A-GPS, USB Type-C, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor and also features an IR blaster.

The Poco X2 is priced starting at Rs. 15,999 for the 6 GB RAM/ 64 GB storage variant, while the 6 GB RAM / 128 GB storage option is priced at Rs. 16,999. The highest 8 GB RAM / 256 GB storage model is available for Rs. 19,999.

Mention 3 Pros of your review device:

1.Best in-class camera

2.Awesome battery life with the support of fast charging

3. Build quality is nice

Mention 3 Cons of your review device:

1.MIUI has ads and bloatware

2.Poor low light video quality

3. Large and bulky, may not please people with small hands

Write about the performance of your review device:

Performance of this device was nice thanks to Snapdragon 730G. Multitasking is not a problem at all. PUBG Mobile defaulted to the High preset. The game was enjoyable and ran without any lag. Asphalt 9: Legends also-ran well without any issues. AnTuTu gave me a score of 279413. Geekbench 5 single-core and multi-core scores were 550 and 1756 respectively. GFX 3.1 Manhattan (Onscreen ) score was 27 and GFX 3.1 Car scene (On screen ) score was 15.

3DMark SSE OpenGl gave me a score of 2467 while 3DMark SSE Vulkan score was 2244. The phone didn't get too hot in use either, and I only felt a mild warmth when playing games or using the cameras for a while.

Write about the software of your review device:

Poco's UI is identified as Poco Launcher as well as MIUI 11.0.3 in different parts of the UI. It's based on Android 10, and we have the Feb 2020 security update which is good to see.Xiaomi's software strategy has always been a point of contention and now Poco has inherited the same issues. I saw a lot of preloaded bloatware and multiple annoying notifications each day asking me to download more through the company's own GetApps store, or watch random celebrity-themed videos. There are also promotional messages on the lock screen, which you can disable. I saw ads and promoted content in many of the default apps. On the whole though, I noted that all this seems to have been toned down what I saw in previous Xiaomi's previous phones .There are plenty of UI customisation options. Not only is there now an app drawer, but it has tabs that filter various categories of apps for easy access. Nice touches include a search bar at the bottom of the drawer so you don't have to stretch, and neatly grouped “Special features” in the Settings app. These features include the Game Turbo optimisation mode, Quick Reply panels for messaging apps, and Second Space for privacy. Overall software is nice with many customisations available but bloatware is a big problem which Xiaomi should seriously look into.

Write about the battery life of your review device:

I found the Poco X2's battery life to be decent, and I didn't feel any anxiety about getting through a full day, from morning to night. During that time I used the cameras quite a lot, played a few rounds of PUBG Mobile, streamed about an hour of video, and spent some time on social media apps. HD video loop test ran for 13 hours, 14 minutes, which is not a great result but might be influenced by how large the screen is. Charging is decent too and this phone went from 0- 50 in 53 minutes and a full charge takes 1 hour and 12 minutes.

Write about the design and display of your device:

A large 6.67" IPS LCD screen takes most of the front and leaves quite thin bezels if we are not counting the more obvious chin, that is. The screen edges are curved, as on every other modern smartphone. But the long punch-hole is not that common - I first saw it on the Galaxy S10+ (right?), but it's obviously spreading. And I am not quite sure if this is the best design as the space around this large hole is entirely wasted. It's like having a notch in the corner, but somehow - uglier. The phone has Gorilla Glass 5 protection which should help it to survive most drops. But the LCD nature of the screen is making the punch hole look even worse as the panel accounts for uneven back-lighting, and it shows its worst behaviour around the selfie hole. This phone supports HDR10 and videos came to life without colours popping up. I was also able to watch content under direct sunlight without any problem in legibility.Also the side-mounted fingerprint scanner was fast to recognise my fingerprints. However, I didn't like the placement and I think left-handed people might have a tough time in using the fingerprint scanner.I am not sure that all the design choices here are for the best, but this phone is at least unique and recognisable from the front as well as the back.

Your Smartphone's Camera Review

This phone has four rear and two front cameras. The primary 64-megapixel rear camera has an f/1.89 aperture and uses the Sony IMX686 sensor which succeeds the widely used IMX586. There's also an 8-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide camera, a 2-megapixel macro camera with a 2cm-10cm focal range as well as auto-focus, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. The primary selfie camera has a 20-megapixel resolution and is accompanied by a 2-megapixel depth sensor. I occasionally had trouble getting the primary camera to lock focus perfectly, and stepping back from my subject a bit often helped. Photos came out very well exposed with vibrant colours. When the composition allowed, there was a very natural-looking depth of field. Fine details on objects such as flower petals came out well, as long as there was good natural light and they were in the centre of the frame. In shadowy areas and at the edges of daylight shots, details were somewhat lost and I did start seeing some grain. Low-light shots were also relatively impressive though of course detail is not as well defined as during the day. You can get usable shots as long as there's a little lighting around, whether indoors or out. The night mode does make a considerable difference and you don't have to stand still too long. Using this brightens frames and shows details that would have been lost in the shadows.The wide-angle camera takes poorer quality shots, as expected, but was happy to see that warping at the sides is minimal. Macros were completely washed-out and it was often hard to take a shot without the phone itself casting a shadow on our subjects.You can take portrait selfies and adjust a virtual aperture to vary the intensity of the depth effect. Edge detection is quite good too. However, the overall quality of photo taken with the front camera isn't as impressive as I would have liked. Backgrounds were overblown in the daytime and details looked a bit artificial. It also takes too many taps and swipes to disable the default beautification.

As for video, I liked what the Poco X2 managed to capture in the daytime when recording at 1920x1080. Video was crisp with smooth motion tracking and reasonable stabilisation. Sadly, when I switched to 4K, colours became over-exaggerated and there was a warm cast to the clips we recorded. At night, even mild motion caused severe shimmer and motion was quite jerky. Objects weren't clearly discernible and bright lights caused exposure issues. 4K video shot at night was barely usable.

Final Verdict..!!

While the Poco X2 doesn't have quite the impact that the Poco F1 did, it still does everything it needs to, and pricing is its main advantage. The processor, RAM, storage, battery, and cameras are all strong, and there's nothing to complain about in terms of build quality or the included accessories. I do, however, wish that the UI eased up on the bloatware and nagging notifications much more. Some people will also struggle with the sheer size of this device.This phone is highly recommended under 20 K segment.

Reviewed By:

Wani Ikhlaq