Wait! Is the Pocophone F1 just hype? ✋
Table of Contents
The Pocophone F1 is cheap and very powerful. When it comes to price per performance, this is the king of its class. However, there has to be something going on. You can’t make a powerful device with high end specifications with mid-range pricing.
Is the Pocophone F1 just all hype? Let’s take a look at the not so positive side of the phone and see if it still make you want to buy it. Is it a deal breaker for you or you can just ignore and get this well-hyped up smartphone from Xiaomi.
Call 8011 4119
Plastic Build
When it comes to build quality, the Pocophone F1 is not the greatest. Sorry. If you see it for the first time, you would see a very traditional glass front. But holding it is a totally different story. You feel like it squeaks and breaks as you apply the slightest pressure on the side.
You can actually feel it.
It’s not horrid, but at a time when gorgeous sandwiches of metal and glass are commonplace, it feels old hat to hold a plasticky device in your hand, no matter how much the phone costs.
Looking on the bright side, the Pocophone F1’s silver-tinted chamfered edges add a dash of class, and the rounded corners and sides ensure that it fits comfortably in the palm. The rear-mounted circular fingerprint reader is easy to reach, too.
Not Water Resistant
Another downside, and most probably a price to pay for cutting down the price, is the Pocophone F1’s inability to survive splashes and submersion to water.
The Pocophone F1 isn’t certified for dust- or water-resistance, so you might want to avoid any bathroom or kitchen mishaps and using it out in the rain. Then again, the OnePlus 6T isn’t protected from the elements, either, and that phone costs a considerable chunk more.
No NFC
If you’re into the modern tech stuff which actually are being used today for your day to day routine, then you may be shocked to know that Near Field Communication is not available on the Pocophone F1.
The lack of NFC is a bigger problem. You won’t be able to use the Pocophone F1 for your contactless card payments via Google Pay, for instance, which is a bit of a pain if you’re used to tapping your phone on the Oyster card gates.
Weird Software Design
Okay, the most obvious to your eyes, the interface. It’s not the most glamorous version of Android but it’s got the latest version on the day of its release. Why should you care? Because it may just be annoying for you to use. Here’s why.
For starters, the app icons are particularly child-like, and I’m not a fan of how they look. The phone’s settings menu behaves a little differently, too, and finding particular settings is a lot trickier than the stock Android experience. I couldn’t figure out how to disable screen timeout, for instance, which proved particularly troublesome when testing the Pocophone’s display. App notifications don’t often show up at the top of the screen, either.
These are minor issues, of course, and can be remedied by installing a third-party launcher of your choosing when the phone arrives through your postbox. It doesn’t stop the Pocophone feeling that bit less slick than its competitors, though.
