After Mi and Redmi, Xiaomi has launched a new sub-brand – Poco. The company aims to make phone dedicated to performance under this name. The Poco F1 is the 1st phone under this brand and it was launched on Wednesday. Like Xiaomi’s other offerings, Poco is also affordable. With a starting price of just Rs 20,999, the F1 is currently the cheapest phone (Rs 14,000 cheaper than OnePlus 6) to feature the Snapdragon 845 chipset, similar to the one on Zenfone SZ, OnePlus 6 and other mid-range flagship phones. The Poco F1 also boasts of new tech such as ‘LiquidCool’, which has copper tubes inside that help dissipate the heat quickly. Contrary to the name, there is actually no liquid coolant in the phone. The phone has infrared support for using the face-unlock feature in the dark.
The Poco F1 comes in 6.18-inch Full-HD+ display with a notch. It has up to 8GB RAM and up to 256GB storage. The battery is a big 4000mAh and has QuickCharge 3.0 fast-charging support. The main camera is a 12-MP Sony IMX363 + 5-MP setup. It has real-time AI photography support. The front is a 20-MP unit. The front camera also supports HDR.
The Poco F1 has a new different version of MIUI. It is based on the Android Oreo 8.1 and Xiaomi promises an Android Pie update this year. The MIUI for Poco has a new launcher called Poco Launcher that can be downloaded from Github for other phones from August 29. The company claims the MIUI for Poco will have faster app start-up, better foreground app performance and improved swiping experience.
The Poco F1 will be made in India. It has a heat-coated polycarbonate body and comes in 3 color options – Steel Blue, Graphite Black and Rosso Red. There will also be a Poco F1 Armoured Edition that will have a Kevlar back panel.