The formidable F5’s successor, the POCO F6, has lofty expectations. By utilizing the same architecture as Qualcomm’s flagship processor, the newly-introduced Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 SoC, the POCO F6 seeks to surpass the high bar established by the F5 (review). In addition, the POCO F6 boasts the highest peak brightness display for an F-series smartphone and the fastest charging solution ever launched. What practical effects do all these improvements have on the smartphone? And can they give the F-series smartphone a competitive advantage over rivals like the Realme GT 6T (review) and iQOO Neo 9 Pro (review)? This POCO F6 review has the answers to every one of those queries. Continue reading.
Rating: 8 / 10
Verdict
Keeping up with current trends, the POCO F6 seems like a fair update over the F5. The smartphone has some of the best performance and an amazing display, however I wish it had an LTPO panel. Despite this, the cameras are decent for a device primarily intended for gaming, and the battery life and charging times are acceptable.
Design and display
The POCO F6’s design is essentially the same as that of the F-series model from the previous year. The phone has the same unbody design made of plastic, with separate rings for the cameras and flat sides. But those camera rings are significantly more pronounced and protrude farther out of the frame. To further prevent smudges and fingerprints, a shimmering panel with roughness has taken the place of the shiny rear. Even while I like the modifications, I feel like it lacks the style that some of the other phones at the same price point have.
Nevertheless, the device weighs just 179 grams, making it incredibly light and easy to hold for extended periods. The phone’s IP rating has been raised from 53 to 64, increasing its resistance to dust and water. The F6 has a twin speaker setup that has been optimized for precise audio using Dolby Atmos. This year’s model does not have the 3.5mm headphone jack that was present in the previous one. The phone has an in-display fingerprint reader that quickly unlocks the device for added security. In terms of input/output, the device has an IR blaster and a USB Type-C port.
The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus, which is often seen on more expensive phones. It also supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+, which improve the viewing experience when using compatible material. It also has a 94 percent screen-to-body ratio, incredibly thin bezels around the edges, and wet touch technology to stop unintentional touches from perspiration from gaming or water exposure. Together with 68 billion colors and a pixel density of 446 ppi, the display delivers an adjustable refresh rate of up to 120Hz that works well with supported apps and user interfaces. The display is generally an iterative improvement over the previous year.
Cameras
An 8MP ultrawide lens and a 50MP OIS Sony IMX882 main sensor make up the POCO F6 camera system. The latter has a 119-degree field of view, but the image quality isn’t quite up to par with the primary sensor on the phone. The details seem unimpressive, and there is considerable warping around the frame’s corners. That being said, the color calibration matches that of the main camera. Colder tones are given priority by the handset to give the images a contrasty appearance.
The POCO F6 has a 20MP selfie camera that is quite good at taking pictures with skin tones that are almost exact throughout the day. This camera can also be used for video calling. Still, a visible smoothing and lackluster face is detailing. Although the portrait mode provides good edge recognition, the bokeh effect appears a little strange. Like any other smartphone, the quality of the photographs decreases inside and in low light. Much less clarity and details are present, and the noise level increases throughout the frame. Even while night mode lowers noise, detail is further compromised.
Both software and performance
The POCO F6 continues the tradition of the F-series smartphones being centered around performance. It is the first smartphone in India to use Qualcomm’s most recent Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 CPU, which attempts to improve user access to on-device AI. According to reports, the chipset would provide the most desired features from the flagship Snapdragon 8 series, such as lossless high-definition sound, on-device generative AI, an always-sensing ISP, and hyper-realistic mobile gaming.
However, POCO F6 does not seem to offer any artificial intelligence features. The phone mainly focuses on performance and scores over 15,00,000 on AnTuTu. Although this does not reach the iQOO Neo 9 Pro with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, it remains a leader in its segment. Additionally, the F6 achieves impressive scores of 1,930 and 5,017 in Geekbench and multi-core tests. However, it is worth noting that the phone was severely affected in the CPU Burnout test, seeing only 56% of its performance under heavy load.
However, the crack was not noticed during use. The phone handled everything well, including many heavy and demanding games like BGMI, Call of Duty, and Racing Real 3. POCO F6 features exclusive Iceloop cooling technology and LiquidCool 4.0 technology that increases temperature. performance during games and other demanding tasks. After playing our standard games BGMI, Call of Duty, and Real Racing 3 for less than 30 minutes on average, the phone heated up by approximately 15 degrees. Overall, the gaming experience was quite enjoyable without any stuttering or frame loss. The phone comes with Wild Boost Optimization 3.0 for better performance.
Although the software is user-friendly and intuitive, you may need to quickly go through the numerous third-party programs that are pre-installed. There are 16 preinstalled apps in this category, the most for any smartphone in this market, if you’re looking for stats. Positively, the majority of these apps—Nintendo, Spotify, Facebook, Amazon, Snapchat, and others—are highly well-known and have millions of users.
Recharging and battery
The POCO F6 keeps its battery capacity the same as last year, in contrast to competitors that use larger battery cells. The device has a 5,000mAh battery that lasted 11 hours 42 minutes at 80 percent screen brightness in the PCMark battery test. This is less than the majority of its fiercest opponents. The device used 4 percent of its battery life during our 30-minute test to playback YouTube videos, which is more than the Realme GT 6T‘s 5,500mAh battery.
In our gaming testing, the phone consumes more juice than expected; after 30 minutes of playtime on BGMI, Call of Duty, and Real Racing 3, the battery life drops by 24%. The phone can still function for up to a day between charges, though. Included in the box is a 90W charger that can swiftly recharge the battery. The gadget can be charged from 20% to 100% in around half an hour with the charger. In the settings menu, there is also a Boost charging option that allows for faster charging rates; however, there is a warning that the feature “may heat the device.” In the heat, you don’t want to take that chance in Delhi.
Final verdict
The Realme GT 6T is still the POCO F6‘s closest competitor despite it competing with several other smartphones. The Realme smartphone is notable for its LTPO panel, which allows brightness levels of up to 6,000 units and is priced beginning at Rs 30,999 in India. On the other hand, the F6 uses a conventional display that has an adjustable refresh rate and a maximum brightness of 2,400 nits. In addition, the F6 has a lower capacity battery than the other model. Due to its smaller battery pack, the phone’s charging capacity is still inferior, although it takes the same amount of time to reach a full charge from 20% as the GT 6T.
The POCO F6’s performance, cameras, and affordable price are its strong points. The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 SoC appears to be more powerful than the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 SoC, and the phone can take better pictures under different lighting circumstances than the Realme offering. In India, the POCO F6 may be purchased for as little as Rs 29,999. For consumers looking for a dependable and potent gadget, the POCO F6 offers an alluring bundle even with drawbacks like pre-installed apps and a somewhat lower battery life.
