Poco F3 GT: First impression
The long wait for the return of the Poco F series in India is finally over with the launch of the new F3 GT.
It's been close to three since the first generation model Poco F1 made its debut and since then, the company has launched multiple devices and even split from Xiaomi to become a standalone brand. Yes, it has steadily grown big with each product. It has managed to find good traction among consumers with the feature-rich M, C, and X series models in the budget and mid-range.
Now, with the F3 GT, Poco F3 has set its eyes on the upper mid-range segment to take on the popular Samsung Galaxy A, and OnePlus Nord series.
Poco F3 GT comes in three RAM options--6GB, 8GB and 12GB- for Rs 26,999, Rs 28,999 and Rs 30,999. It should be noted that the company is offering Rs 1,000 discount on all variants during till August 2) and Rs 500 off the following week up to 11:59 pm (August 9). After that, they will be available for MRP price.
DH has received the review unit and here's our first impression of Poco's premium F series model.
Design and design
Poco F3 GT has uniqueness in terms of design language. It comes with a beautiful Slipstream design and anti-fingerprint matte finish offering a premium hand-feel experience.
It has featured a sturdy aluminium alloy frame with beautifully crafted flat corners and concave curves at the base and chiseled finishes on the sides. It features two sliders on the right side, one each at the top and bottom with power-cum-fingerprint sensor in the center. Using the sliders, users can make the retractable maglev trigger buttons pop up on the sides and use them to play games. When not in use, the sliders can retract the buttons back to their position and they sit flush on the level with the frame to maintain a smooth finish.
Also, the side-mounted fingerprint sensor is blazingly fast and accurately recognises the thumb impression without any fuzz.
The rear-side shell cover of the Gunmetal Silver model looks lovely in the sunlight. It is undeniably the best-looking phone in the upper mid-range class range (Rs 20,000 and Rs 40,000). The company engineers have done a wonderful job with dual-tone LED flash, which is shaped in the form of a lightning bolt. And, the triple camera module is well protected and the curved capsule design adds value to the Poco F3 GT's design language.
On the front, it flaunts a 6.67-inch full HD+ (2400 x 1080p) AMOLED screen with up to peak brightness of 500nits and pixel density of 395 PPI (pixels per inch). It supports a 120Hz display refresh rate and HDR10 + content. The display is protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 shield.
The display is really bright and I had no trouble reading. Also, while viewing videos, it plays them with near accurate colours and true black shades, wherever there are shadows and low-lit areas in the frame.
Photography hardware
Poco F3 GT boasts triple-camera module--main 64MP (f/1.65) + 8MP (f/2.2) 119-degree ultra-wide angle lens + 2MP (f/2.4) macro camera with LED flash on the back and a 16MP front-facing snapper.
The primary camera takes wonderful sharp photos of the subject. Like you can see the leaf and the flower, it has captured details well, and also, the edges are clear cut from the background offering a natural bokeh effect. Yes, both the photos are taken with normal mode, and yet they are so pretty. I will be testing more modes of the camera to fully assess the camera soon.
Processor configuration
Poco F3 GT comes packed with a 6nm class MediaTek MT6893 Dimensity 1200 octa-core processor (with 5G modem) backed by Android 11-based MIUI 12.5 OS, 6GB/8GB RAM, and 128GB/256GB storage.
So far, the phone has worked effortlessly without any sign of lag-ness or any over-heating issues. I think that's probably due to the incorporation of Aerospace grade vapour chamber cooling. It comes with 8-layered graphite sheets for faster heat dissipation to keep the device’s temperature 2-degree celsius less compared to phones without this system.
Also, browsing on the web is such a smooth experience on the Poco F3 GT and this has raised a lot of expectations for me on how well it will fare when playing graphics-rich games.
It houses a 5,065mAh battery with a 67W charger in the box. This is more than enough to last more than a day. We have to see how long the device will last during the review period.
Do come back to DH for the full review, which will go live next week. Also, if you have any queries or tests you want us to conduct (not scratch or drop tests) on the phone, share them in the comments section below.
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