Poco F1: Cool as a cucumber!

Imagine your smartphone as an automobile engine. The more you let it cool, the smoother it will run. After all, your phone is the most -used piece of electronic equipment in hand or home. If you indulge in smartphone gaming, you are flogging the processor for sustained computing power, generating substantial heat. Gaming laptops are carefully created with optimized thermal performance and designed in such a way that the processor fans out excess heat without interrupting game-play. But as more and more users are indulging in casual gaming on their smartphones, there is an urgent need for a device that does justice to thermal performance. POCO has released a phone that does just this.

This is a new Xiaomi sub-brand for no-frills, performance-optimized smartphones and the POCO F1 had its global launch in India, last week. For a first device, it packs in flagship specifications, while keeping Xiaomi's value proposition. It features proprietary 'LiquidCool', to dissipate CPU heat swiftly, making the processor 3-times more efficient. The F1 also touts a 'turbocharged' engine that starts-up your apps faster, responds faster to your swipe actions and achieves less buffering on multimedia content.

All this is under-the-hood.  Outside, it comes in a 20MP front and a 12MP + 5MP AI-driven dual back camera setup. With dual-pixel autofocus and AI face beauty, the clicker churns out good low-light images and ensures that your landscape photos have good depth and colour. Powered by a 4000 mAh battery with quick charge, the POCO F1 comes with infrared face unlock, which means you can unlock your device simply by staring at it even in complete darkness.   

Users of Mi and Redmi phones will be familiar with the MIUI interface. POCO has built its UI by borrowing the good stuff from MIUI and adding its own identity. Currently, based on Android Oreo, Poco may be one of the earliest companies to receive the Pie update. The 6.18-inch FHD+ display sits snugly on a minimalistic thin frame that has good hand-feel and a premium look. Poco has also launched a special armoured edition that comes with a textured back panel made of aviation-grade DuPont Kevlar heat-resistant material. This variant truly looks solid and rugged. The F1 is also available in regular black, red and blue variants, and is priced at Rs 20,999 (6GB+64GB), Rs 23,999 (6GB+128GB) & Rs 28,999 (8GB+256GB), while the armoured edition is priced at Rs 29,999 (8GB + 256GB).  At this asking price, the Poco F1 is a cheeky challenger to many a flagship phone.

-- IndiaTechOnline

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