Xiaomi’s original Pocophone was released way back in 2018 and at the time was quickly recognised a flagship handset on a budget. Two years in the making, its successor, the Poco F2 Pro avoids some of the corner cutting of the original and as a result the price has increased as well. So, is it worth the extra?
Well first it is worth pointing out that the Poco F2 Pro is basically the Redmi K30 Pro with some very small changes and this phone is retailing for about £50 more currently, so that alone makes it worthwhile if you are interested in the K30 Pro. Also, it offers 5G
Great screen but no higher refresh rate
The screen is a 6.67” Super AMOLED with 87.2% screen to body ratio, 1080p resolution, 395ppi density and 500 nits typical brightness. Not exactly, flagship specs here, especially as the refresh rate is still the 2019 and earlier standard of 60Hz whilst flagships are hitting 90, 120 and even higher now.
Top of the range processor
It has an all Gorilla Glass 5 and aluminium construction weighing in at 219g, whilst inside it packs the latest top of the line Snapdragon 865 processor with Android 10 and Xiaomi’s own MIUI 11. Available memory options include 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage or 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Both options do not allow storage expansion through a microSD card.
It lacks the stereo speakers of most flagships, but it does have a 3.5mm headphone jack and supports 24-bit/192kHz audio. Access is controlled by a quick working under-screen optical fingerprint scanner and finally inside, the battery is 4700 mAh one with 30W fast charging. This will give you 100% charge in just over an hour.
Very good telephoto macro camera
The main camera array is now a quad arranged in a black circular mounting top centre. This consists of a main 64MP f/1.9, 26mm wide lens with PDAF, 13MP f/2.4 ultrawide, 5MP f/2.2, 50mm telephoto macro with auto focus and finally a 2MP f/2.4 depth lens.
The main lens produces good but inconsistent day shots but struggles at night without the help of the night mode, which then produces good images. The interesting lens here is the telephoto macro. Telephotos are not normally used on macro lenses and the effect here is to give the Poco F2 Pro a very good macro camera compared to what the rest of the smartphone market is offering.
The selfie is a motorised pop-up one with a blue LED which looks very stylish when it emerges. This is a 20MP f/2.2 wide which will do a good job for your selfies. Finally, video; the rear array takes videos at 8K, 4K and 1080p, whilst the selfie camera offers 1080p and 720p.
Is it worth the extra – pros and cons
The Poco F2 Pro has some great features for the price but in other areas is not at flagship level. On the plus side you have a premium construction, 4 cameras, a great battery life and mid-range price. On the negative side there is no IP68 protection, stereo speakers, telephoto on one of the main lens’ and standard 90Hz refresh rate.
To most people though, all these negatives will be outweighed by the price and the features you do get.
