The F1 arrived to offer users with entirely-baked onboard components at a price point which was quite appealing for many of us – under $300. Today’s launched Pocophone X2 (Poco X2 in India), however, is a different smartphone with different designs and features but at a lower price point to again appeal to users. Calling Poco X2 as a replica of Redmi K30 (launched back in 2019) wouldn’t be wrong – but it has been tuned specially for the Indian audience. The X2 smartphone is featuring a 120Hz refresh rate, dual punch-hole cutout on the front for selfies and video calls, a side-mounted super-fast fingerprint scanner, and 64MP (Sony IMX686) camera sensor. To cut it short, it’s quite an impressive smartphone at a reduced price, according to sources. And it’s meaningfully better over recently released budget smartphones in the same price bracket. Now, a question is what actually makes it stand out from a crowd? Does it set users backless with state-of-the-art features or it’s a worthy rival of many expensive flagship smartphones? Let’s find out in our Poco X2 Review below.
Release Date and Price
11 February 2020 Official Release Date Available Only in India Poco X2 Price INR 15,999-19,999 Available in Three Different Colours
February 11th of 2020 was an official Poco X2 release date in India, and it’s now available on stores to get your hands on. The rest of the countries have to wait a little longer for Pocophone X2 as it’s, as of now, available in India but sooner than later, it’ll be arriving in Europe and other parts of the world, very much like Pocophone F1. According to Poco, Poco X2 Price in India starts at INR 15,999 for its base variant with 6GB RAM and 64GB onboard memory. The other variant with 6GB RAM and 128GB ROM is available at INR 16,999 whereas 8GB RAM and 256GB ROM variant goes for a whopping INR 19,999. After conversion, 6GB/64GB, 6GB/128GB and 8GB/256GB variants prices come to around £172, £183 and £215 respectively in the UK. Most interestingly, ICICI bank debit/credit cardholders have an opportunity to get INR 1,000 cashback when buying from Flipkart on February 11. The Poco X2 is available in multiple colour options to choose from such as Phoenix Red, Matrix Purple and Atlantis Blue.
Poco X2 Specifications
Poco X2 Design
Measures 165.3 x 76.6 x 8.8 mm in Dimensions Weighs Only 208 Grams Metal-Glass Sandwich Design by Gorilla Glass 5 Side-Mounted Fingerprint Scanner and USB Type-C port
At first glance, Poco X2 looks a lot like Redmi K30. The company has used a metal-glass sandwich design which is bordered by a Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on its back and the front. The phone is measuring 165.3 x 76.6 x 8.8 mm in dimensions and weighs only 208 grams. Poco has used a nano-coating to provide X2 with protection against liquid, and it has got a P2i splash-proof certification as well. As mentioned above, it’s now available with a side-mounted fingerprint scanner – instead of an on-screen fingerprint reader that has become now quite common even in mid-range smartphones. However, on-screen readers don’t have all OEMs yet – therefore, Poco’s side-mounted sensor implementation is proper and dependable. Taking a look at its bottom, it’s covered with a standard 3.5mm headphone jack alongside a USB Type-C port and a speaker grille. The volume rockers and a power button (doubles up as a fingerprint scanner) are mounted on its right-hand-side whereas IR blaster is holding its position on the top edge. Outback, there is a camera module which is surrounded by a ring – indicating a quad-camera configuration – or else, a rear panel has a glossy finish.
Poco X2 Display
67-inches IPS LCD Panel (1080 x 2400) 20:9 Aspect Ratio (88.8% Screen-to-Body Ratio) 120Hz Refresh Rate and Gorilla Glass 5 Protection
This time with X2, Poco has made an awesome deal in terms of display. The phone is holding up a display with a size of 6.67-inches – based on IPS LCD technology with a refresh rate of 120Hz. This highest refresh rate is not only a current crop of flagship smartphones, but it’s specifically fascinating to see it hit a mid-range price point absolutely. The most important and the only highlight of X2’s display is its 120Hz refresh rate which means you get smooth and silky navigation, and it also helps you take your gaming enjoyment to the next level. According to Poco itself, there is something inside X2 named Intelligent Dynamic Refresh Rate that can handle a refresh rate of a display – depends on usage. Based on online sources after going through their hands-on experience, Poco X2 is a well-built smartphone, and it’s quite handy. The addition of 120Hz is a marvellous upgrade, especially in this price bracket. It enhances your smartphone experience significantly, and it seems that the 120Hz refresh rate by Poco will push other OEMs in a similar direction and it’s likely that this 120Hz refresh rate will hold its position in many budgets and mid-range devices in 2020.
Poco X2 Camera
Dual Punch-Hole Cutout on the Front – 20MP + 2MP Quad Camera Setup at Rear – 64MP + 8MP + 2MP + 2MP 4K Videos Recording and Slow-motion Videos at 960fps Setup Uses Sony IMX686 Sensor for 64MP
The Poco X2 holds up four rear cameras – surrounded by a reflected ring with a smooth finish – like OnePlus 7T and Nokia 7.2. The phone has a 64MP primary camera which uses the Sony IMX686 sensor with an aperture of f/f1.8 and Phase Detection Auto Focus. The primary camera is partnered with an 8MP ultra-wide lens, a 2MP macro camera, and a 2MP depth camera. On the front, on the other hand, we have seen on-screen dual cameras for selfies and videos – consist of a 20MP primary camera which is supported by a 2MP depth camera for face recognition and selfies. The rear camera configuration is capable of recording 4K videos as well as slow-motion videos at 690fps with EIS (Electronic Image Stabilisation). The camera setup is also said to be supported by VLOG mode with 7 different styles as well as RAW image capture. The availability of VLOG mode means you are allowed to make a video with all post-processing done automatically by Poco X2. Besides, Poco X2 is the first and foremost smartphone, featuring Sony IMX686 sensor in India as earlier Xiaomi used Samsung’s ISOCELL GW1 64MP sensor in Redmi Note 8 Pro. Performance-wise, captured images are good and Dynamic range continues to be honestly awesome. In bright light, captured photos are perfectly fine and look good with only a little amount of noise reduction and grain. The ultra-wide camera implementation is good, and a macro camera is functional as well. All cameras work fantastic in enough light and gets reduced to a smudgy blur when capturing images in a low-light condition.
Poco X2 – Under the Hood
Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G Chipset Adreno 618 GPU 6GB/64GB, 6GB/128GB and 8GB/256GB Super-Smooth and Silky Performance in Gaming and Multitasking
Here is where everything gets different. The reason behind Poco F1 was its super-smooth performance due to its Snapdragon 845 Chipset – paired with 8GB RAM at the lowest cost. The Poco X2 too offers glitch-free performance but with different onboard components. The Poco X2 is loaded with Snapdragon 730G Chipset which means there is no slouch – but it’s not really a powerful enough or a flagship killer. The G moniker shows a beefed-up GPU. The Octa-core Chipset incorporates up 2 Cortex A76 cores clocked at 2.2GHz with 6 Cortex A55 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. As a result, you get a chipset which improves your phone’s overall battery life and scaling up perfectly when it comes to performance. The Adreno 618 GPU also boosts when putting it against Adreno 618 GPU on simple Snapdragon 730 Chipset. Let us be more accurate, you can get a slightly higher and soft/smooth frame rate when it comes to playing graphics-enriched games.
Poco X2 Battery and Software
4500mAh Non-removable Battery Fast Battery Charging 27W Android 10 Operating System with MIUI 11
The Poco X2 is powered by a whopping 4500mAh non-removable battery which seems fine for a mid-range processor and ready to give enough juice to go through a whole day. With a medium to heavy usage, you can easily get a full day battery life at 120Hz display refresh rate. Well, you can get even more battery life if you drop it down to a standard 60Hz. The company promises to add a fast battery charging 27W feature which restores the juice from 0% to 100% in approx. 68 minutes. Last but by means no the least, it’s running on the Android 10 operating system along with MIUI 11 on top. The phone is loaded with Poco Launcher – but the amount of bloatware which is installed on the phone and provided during the configuration process is not really appreciated.
