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Poco F6 looks to continue Poco’s focus on performance devices.
Poco F6 is one of the first phone in the country to bring the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset, but can the new Poco F-series phone live up to its hype?
Poco changed the dynamics of the market when it launched the Poco F1 many years back. The company’s F-series has generated a lot of interest and the Poco F6 looks to continue with the momentum. The F1 was heralded as a flagship killer with its features and price tag that was hard to match for its rivals. The F6 is working around the same premise, albeit with a changed market scenario where the price and demand for premium phones have pushed the features to another tier.
Does the Poco F6 priced at Rs 29,999 offer the same value that its predecessors brought to the market and should buyers look at the Poco F6 as a viable contender in this segment? We used the phone for a few weeks to test out its credentials and here are the five things we noticed about the device.
Hard-Core Performance
Poco F6 is one of the first phones to bring the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset to the market. This SoC is based on a 4nm process but the architecture puts it between the 8 Gen 2 and the 8 Gen 3 models. What you get from the 8s Gen 3 is reliable, heavy-duty output that keeps you going at a full throttle. Multitasking was a breeze on the device, and you also can enjoy the popular games like Call of Duty Mobile at the highest graphic settings and won’t notice any frame drop, even though some heating is evident which is normal. Packing it with 12GB RAM allows the chipset to fully thrive and the Poco F6 enjoys this combo.
The phone comes with the HyperOS based on Android 14 version out of the box. The new UI is slowly finding its feet but the pre-loaded apps on the Poco F6 surely need addressing.
Yes, you can delete most of them and most of you would prefer to have Netflix pre-loaded but some of the games and apps can be left out.
Eye-Popping Display
Poco F6 features a 1.5K AMOLED display that has become a usual sight in this range these days. Having it supported by a 120Hz refresh rate screen means navigation is smooth and you don’t notice many stutters while moving across apps. The highlight of the display is that it gets really bright, making it easy to read in harsh Delhi summers.
It also produces crisp and detailed content that is essential if you are reading articles or blogs. Even the viewing experience is impressive which helps while you are catching up on the next big movie trailer or just listening to favourite tracks with the video enabled.
Strong Build, Less Appealing Design
Poco is focusing so much on the performance of the F6, its looks barely cover the basics. Having said that, you cannot question the build quality of the phone, and even then it is light to hold in one hand. Some people claim its size makes it unwieldy but we didn’t face any issues with that. The back panel is where the design ethos are muted.
You cannot ignore the giant camera sensors staring into your eyes. There is very little to complain about the design of the Poco F6 but very little to get excited about either.
The Main Camera Show
Poco F6 gets a dual camera system of 50MP main sensor and an 8MP ultrawide sensor. We’re not big fans of packing in too many cameras for no reason, so we like Poco’s approach. But does the main camera deliver substance or just there to tick the box. Well, the answer is the former, and we noticed the promise of the 50MP Sony sensor. It delivers quality images with crisp details and colours in daylight, while its focus on low-light images can definitely get better and we believe that could be possible with a few updates from the company.
The ultrawide sensor was less convincing, losing details and overpowering the images. The front camera also tends to push touch ups on your skin which makes it less natural. Again, Poco can fix these little issues with an update to make you look better.
Workhorse Device
Poco F6 packs a 5000mAh battery which these days is good enough to keep you ticking for a day. If your usage is basic then 1.5 days is very much doable on the device. We used the phone on a heavier side with multitasking across Chrome, social media, calls and watching plenty of YouTube videos. We got 7 hours+ screen-on-time which translates into decent battery life.
But what is really the exciting part of the device is that you get 90W charging support (out of the box) which gets you from 0 or 10 percent to 80 percent in under 20 minutes.
Poco F6 once again shows us the value of a performance-happy device that can also meet most of your expectations. You can also look at the Realme GT 6T or the Redmi Note 13 Pro Plus in this range for more variety.
