When it comes to competing devices, the Poco F4 5G will be going head-to-head against the Realme GT Neo 2 5G, the iQoo Neo 6 5G, iQoo 7 and Motorola Edge 20 Pro just to name a few. Cut to the chase The Poco F4 GT is part of a series from Xiaomi that appeals primarily for techies and mobile gamers. Early Poco phones were nigh-on unbeatable in the performance they offered for the money. A super-powered mid-price gaming phone is a good idea in theory, but it does not pan out perfectly here thanks to fairly severe performance throttling and mediocre battery life. Design It’s a great idea, and zones are set per game. I played Fortnite, using them to jump and shoot, and retro favourite Hill Climb Racing to control the entire game. They work well and feel sturdy. That they retract into the body avoids accidental presses, and you can set them to act as shortcuts when not playing a game. That said, the ergonomics here aren’t even at the same level as something like the Razer Kishi, which plugs two halves of a gamepad onto your phone.

Additionally, the smartphone will come with NFC support, dual-band Wi-Fi and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. Targetted as a gaming device, the Poco F4 5G might also feature an X-axis vibration motor too for an immersive gaming experience. Xiaomi has changed up the design of the Poco F4, but it’s left the display alone. Considering this 6.67-inch AMOLED screen was one of the standout components of the Poco F3, it’s tough to paint that as a negative. My most potent takeaway from the Poco F4 GT’s screen is how much it is willing to push display brightness in normal outdoors conditions. Many phones with top-quality mid-range displays will only use their true peak brightness when displaying HDR content, not when competing with super-bright sunlight. Its general performance is just as great as you’d hope, with apps and multi-tasking transitions being far faster than those of the OPPO Find X5 Lite I used before the Poco, getting you the flagship experience I’d expect from a phone with this kind of power.The Poco F4 GT is made in the style of dedicated gaming phones, like those from the Asus ROG series. It is not what many would define as attractive, but for those in for the ride, Xiaomi has nailed the style. The Poco F4 GT has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor. While Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, this is currently the most powerful SoC in this series actually available in phones you can buy at the time of release. More impressive is that the Poco F4 proved to be the best choice from the comparators when it comes to gaming, with an outstanding result of 114fps in the GFXBench Manhattan 3 onscreen test, where none of the others made it into triple figures. Offscreen results also saw an impressive showing of 140fps – a figure that only the Google Pixel 6a even comes close to. The Poco F4 easily handled any game I threw at it, smoothly capturing everything from the fast-paced racing action of Asphalt 9: Legends to the simple delights of Candy Crush Saga. Vivid mode is used by default. This is an “intelligent” vibrant mode, in that while the app icons on your home screens will have eye-popping colour, when you go to the Photos app to look at shots taken with the camera, they won’t appear comically oversaturated.

In addition to the HDR10+ offered by the Poco F3, the Poco F4 adds Dolby Vision support, giving you a broader range of HDR content to enjoy. In tandem with the powerful Dolby Atmos-compatible speakers, these credentials make the Poco F4 an excellent choice for streaming. Firing up Our Planet on Netflix to test it out, I found David Attenborough’s dulcet tones to be suitably soothing, and I’ve honestly never seen a penguin look better. Recently the smartphone was also spotted on Geekbench which provided more insights into the variants launching soon. The results were those of the 12GB RAM model and we expect it to come with 256GB of internal storage. Other reports also hint that an 8GB model with 128GB storage is also slated to arrive in India.Its macro camera is bad, just like all tertiary cameras of this spec. The ultrawide is mediocre too, producing images with washed-out mid-tones and significantly different colour character to the main camera’s photos. There’s a very noticeable step down in quality from the main camera, and images don’t hold up too well when you zoom in. An average Geekbench 5 multi-core score of 3178 handily beats both the OnePlus Nord 2T with its speedy MediaTek Dimensity 1300 and the Pixel 6a with its custom (and supposedly flagship) Tensor chip. In the GPU stakes, a Wild Life score of 4327 falls a little short of the OnePlus Nord 2T, which might offer a sign that it’s time for newer silicon in the Poco F5. Still, it’s a more than solid result. The 8-megapixel ultrawide camera seems to be business as usual – which translates as not particularly great. Detail drops off significantly compared to the main sensor, particularly at the edges; dynamic range is limited, and I noticed blue sky artifacts when shooting on a clear day.

Indeed, Night mode shots here are improved, with greater detail and clarity. They’re still not on a par with shots snapped on the likes of the Pixel 6a, the OnePlus Nord 2T, or the Realme 9 Pro Plus, however.

Stamina wasn’t one of the strong suits of the Poco F3, but we had few complaints at the time. I don’t have any with the Poco F4 either. The Poco F4 GT is unusually clear outdoors, because the OLED is allowed to reach closer to its true peak brightness outdoors than most. Outdoors clarity is therefore very good. I make that comparison because the Poco F4 GT is a dedicated gaming phone; it has a “gamer” design, and interesting buttons that emulate the feel and function of a gamepad’s triggers. The Poco F4 5G has been confirmed to launch with the Snapdragon 870 chipset. The smartphone has been confirmed to launch with 256 GB of UFS 3.1 storage and 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM. It is yet to be seen if there are lower model variants coming too.