Ideally, the battery would also be durable and charge quickly. But is it possible to meet all these requirements in a mid-range phone? It turns out that it is, provided you choose the right model.

Flat frame – POCO’s new design

The Xiaomi smartphone POCO F4 draws attention with its appearance. The first thing you notice when you pick it up is the flat frame – a design trend that has recently grown in popularity and is increasingly used in new smartphones. It is worth emphasising that manufacturers justify the use of flat frames not only on aesthetic grounds, but also for practical reasons – a smartphone with a flat frame is easier to hold.

Of course, in addition to being flat, the POCO F4’s frame is also minimalist, which has been part of Xiaomi’s design language across its device range for some time. The left side of the smartphone is empty, while the right side features a volume control button and the phone’s power button, which also functions as a fingerprint reader. The top of the frame houses an IR blaster and one of the two speakers supported by Dolby Atmos. The second speaker is located on the bottom edge of the smartphone, near the USB-C port, microphone and tray for two nano-SIM cards. It is worth noting that the POCO F4 features a 3.5 mm mini-jack headphone output.

Important features of the POCO F4 display

The 6.67-inch AMOLED display offers a standard refresh rate of 60 Hz, which can be increased to 90 or 120 Hz. For gamers, information about the touch sampling rate is of course equally important. The 360 Hz rate enables a sufficiently fast response in games where the action requires high screen sensitivity.

It is worth mentioning that brightness ranging from 900 to 1,300 nits makes it easy to use the smartphone even on sunny days. The screen is supported by HDR10+ and Dolby Vision technology and protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5.

The POCO F4’s round camera island

An interesting finishing detail is the back of the casing, which features not a rectangular or square, but a round camera island with three cameras:

  • 2 MP macro lens with an f/2.4 aperture
  • 8 MP ultra-wide-angle lens with a 119° field of view and an f/2.2 aperture
  • main 64 MP lens with an f/1.79 aperture.

The main camera is equipped with optical image stabilisation (OIS), which makes it possible to significantly reduce blur without sacrificing photo quality. It should be mentioned that OIS also, of course, contributes to higher video quality. The footage is not blurry even when recording handheld. OIS is not the only convenience provided for POCO F4 users. The ability to edit photos in the smartphone’s gallery is also noteworthy. For example, you can change the sky in the background or remove unwanted people or objects from the frame.

The POCO F4’s front camera is a 20 MP lens with an f/2.45 aperture. It takes good selfies, although, as with other Xiaomi models, you should remember that the beautification feature is enabled by default. If you want a natural look, turn it off.

Fast-charging battery and POCO F4 specifications

Like other Xiaomi smartphones, the POCO F4 is also equipped with a large-capacity battery, this time rated at 4,500 mAh. It can be charged from 0 to 50% in 11 minutes using the 67 W wired fast charger included in the box.

The POCO F4 uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 processor that supports the latest connectivity standards: 5G, Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6 and NFC. The installed operating system is Android 12, supported by the MIUI 13 overlay. An extension of the capabilities of stock Android is, for example, a facial recognition system combined with recognition of the upper part of the body. This means that if the phone recognises a face but the upper part of the body does not match the encoded face, it cannot be unlocked.

The smartphone is equipped with 6 GB or 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB or 256 GB of ROM.