The Pocophone F1: A Budget-Friendly Flagship?

When Xiaomi reached out and wanted to sponsor a video on the brand new Pocophone brand, which specifically includes the F1 as their very first phone, I had one question - What exactly is this? With a price tag of around $300, the Pocophone F1 might be the best deal in smartphones right now. This statement highlights the affordability and potential value that the Pocophone F1 offers.

Upon opening the box, it's clear that the Pocophone F1 comes with a lot of yellow - but also the phone itself. I couldn't get it out of the box for the first time, indicating that the packaging is very secure. This ensures that the phone arrives in good condition and ready for use. The presence of multiple packaging materials suggests that Xiaomi takes pride in its shipping process.

The Pocophone F1 comes in two models - a base model, and an Armored Edition. The latter I have here. On first glance, it looks like a replica, but it's actually real aramidfiber used in bulletproof vests and high-end sports gear. The feel of the device is very different from other glass and aluminum phones. The use of materials such as ceramic for the fingerprint sensor gives the phone a unique look.

The bottom of the phone features a USB-C port that supports quick charge 3.0, which is a welcome feature in today's smartphones. There is also a headphone jack, which may seem old-fashioned in 2018 but still appreciated by some users. The display has an interesting curve on its edges, with the Snapdragon A45 used instead of a high-end flagship model.

The phone comes with rocking 6 gigabytes of RAM and 120 gigabytes of storage. Considering that it's priced at around $300, this is a great value proposition for users looking for a budget-friendly smartphone with flagship-grade performance. The battery life is also impressive, with the Pocophone F1 able to last up to 4000 hours on a single charge.

The liquid cool tech used in the phone helps keep it running cooler and prevents overheating during extended gaming sessions or other demanding activities. This feature is especially important for mobile chips like the Snapdragon A45. To test this, I played a full game of Pubg Mobile and observed that the phone didn't get hot even when playing at maximum settings.

The camera on the Pocophone F1 is also impressive, with dual cameras on the back and a decent front-facing camera. The main 12-megapixel shooter takes high-quality photos, while the secondary 5-megapixel camera excels in portrait mode photography. Additionally, the phone has AI technology that analyzes damage intuitively based on what you're taking a photo of.

The Pocophone F1 also supports slow-motion video recording up to 240 frames per second at 1080p resolution. To demonstrate this, I recorded a clip and was pleased with the results. The auto-focus feature worked well even when moving quickly. However, the front-facing camera had some issues with capturing selfies.

While Pocophone might not be as high-end as some other brands like Shelby, the F1 is reasonably priced and gets the job done. It's worth considering for users looking for a budget-friendly smartphone that still offers flagship-grade performance.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Hey guys, this is Austin.This is the Pocophone F1.When Xiaomi reached out andwanted to sponsor a videoon the brand new Pocophone brand whichspecifically includes the F1as their very first phone.I had one question.What exactly is this?With a price tag of around $300,the Pocophone F1 might be the best dealin smartphones right now.So inside not only areyou going to be gettinga giant battery.But you're also gettinga full flagship gradeSnapdragon 845 processor in a $300 phone.I open the box and whatwe're going to find is well.First of all a whole lot of yellow.But we also have the Pocophone F1 itself.(laughing)I can't get it out of the box.(laughing)Ohhhh we got it!(laughing)I don't think it's ever taken three peopleto get a phone out of a box before.But you can know that they are definitelyvery securely shipped, the Pocophone F1.(laughing)So in addition to thebase model, the Pocophone.There's also going to be Armored Editionwhich is what I have here.Now this on the back while itlooks like it might be fake.It's actually real aramidfiber which is commonly usedin stuff like bullet proofvests and high end sports gear.I'm not supposed to do this.Ken's not gonna like it if I do this but.Ohhhh, yeah that's actually not bad.It feels pretty sturdy, I've got to say.I'm really enjoying sortof just the general feelof the device.It feels very differentthan all of the glassand aluminum phones we took a look atand I appreciate it.Shows us some nice little touches like.It seems like thefingerprint sensor is glassor maybe like ceramic.But it actually gives alittle bit of a nice lookto the back of the phone.In addition to the USB-C port on the bottomof the phone which doessupport quick charge 3.0.You're also going tofind a headphone jack.Yes my friends, yet another phone in 2018which has still kept the headphone jack,an excellent trend.It will probably be goneby next year but you know.Now there's definitely going to be a notchas well as the trend.Something interestingthey've done is actuallydo a pretty severe curve onthe edges of the display.Instead you will find the Snapdragon A45.Now this is going to bethe exact same as whatyou're going to find on otherhigh end android flagships.Definitely nice to see itin a phone at this price.And on top of that thismodel is going to berocking 6 gigabytes of RAM as well as120 gigabytes of storage.Even though the phone is goingto be fairly thin and light.It actually does have afull 4,000 app hour battery.Which is nice to see.Especially considering thatsome other $1,000 flagshipsalso have the same size battery.But this is going to bemuch, much less expensive.To keep everything cook,Pocophone opted to gowith liquid cool tech for the F1.Now traditionally a chipwas going to be ableto dissipate all this heaton the back of the phoneand through the body.But using this, it's going to be able toallow you to run it a little bit coolerfor a little bit longer.One of the main advantages here is thateven when you're doing anextended gaming session.The phone shouldn't get thathot and very importantlyfor a mobile chip like this.It shouldn't overheat and it shouldn't goanywhere near to thesame level of throttlingthat you could have if you had aterrible cooler on your phone.Not that anyone's ever done that.So to thoroughly test how this works.I'm going to play afull game of Pubg Mobileand see just how hot the phone gets.Again though, this isthorough scientific testing.Not me just looking for anexcuse to play Pubg Mobile.There should be no surprisewith an A45 on boardwe have no problem playing even fairlyintense android games such as Pubg Mobilepretty much maxed out.Where is that coming from?(firing sounds)Heyyyy, there we go.I can totally play against real peoplewho are totally not bots.Makes you kind of surprised.The back of the phone at least in touchdoesn't even feel warm yet.Let's actually pull outthe thermal camera and see.So here it seems likethere is a little bitof a hot spot right beside the camera.But even to the touch, it'sonly just slightly warm.The Pocophone is rockingdual cameras around back.So it's got a 12 megapixel main shooteras well as a 5 megapixelssecondary shooterwhich is primarily usedfor portrait photos.It does a decent job.Not completely perfectas far as cutting you offin the background.But it's not going to be bad.Let's try the normal shooter.That is actually pretty good.So it does have AI techon board to be ableto analyze damage intuitive based on whatyou're taking a photo of.And for the most part itactually does a really good jobof enhancing images.All I know is it looks nice.So I can't complain about that.There's also going to beprevious in slow motion on board.It gets you 1080p video upto 240 frames per second.As we shall now demonstrate.Are you ready?That actually looks really good.(laughing)That's not bad dude.That's actually really clean.Here's something elsethat's pretty impressivewith that clip.It actually did a prettygood job with auto focus.Even though obviouslyI'm moving very quickly.It almost held me the entire time.We also do have a prettydecent front facing cameraas we shall now demonstrate.Right guys?It's a really bad selfie.I mean the camera isgreat, don't get me wrong.I don't know what's going on with my face.It's not okay.They've actually got apretty decent sensor on here.I can actually tellbecause you're actuallyslightly out of focus justbeing right behind us.Now while Pocophone might be a new brandShelby most definitely is not.So the F1 is not going to besome crazy high end flagship.What it is is very reasonably priced phonethat absolutely will get the job done.