POCO F6 Review | Geek Lifestyle

It’s been a hot minute since POCO officially launched the new POCO F6, but the buzz around their latest device has yet to fizzle out. This new addition to their popular POCO lineup aims to shake up the mid-range smartphone market with a blend of innovative features and simple aesthetics that made it popular in the first place. Building on the success of its predecessors, this new installment aims to bring a refreshing experience to users without breaking the bank.

Since its release, we’ve had ample–if not too much time to put the F6 through through the ringer. Banking on its gaming test, you can probably tell that it’s a formidable fighter in that aspect. That being said, it’s time we dove deeper into the other aspects that make this quite the intriguing smartphone.

Does it live up to the hype that surrounded its epic launch? Can it truly deliver flagship-like performance at a mid-range price point? Read on to find out.

Geeksthetic

The POCO F6 has quite the peculiar hand feel–especially for a device of its kind. By that, we mean it’s surprisingly light. Measuring 8 mm thin and weighing a modest 179 grams, it’s not exactly a feather, but smartphones of its size weight quite a bit more. Our review unit sports the Green matte colorway that’s resistant to fingerprints and grippy enough to not slip out of your hands.

The phone’s build quality is solid enough, featuring a glass front protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus, while the frame and back are made of plastic. While it promotes to its lightness, some might find this a bit concerning without a TPU case. Thankfully, you get a matte black one in the box.

The front of the device houses a large 6.67-inch display with an impressive 89.8% screen-to-body ratio, which we’ll talk more about in just a bit. The usual power and volume buttons are found on the side, along with a USB-C port at the bottom.

One standout feature is the IP64 rating for dust and water resistance, adding a layer of rugged toughness hat’s not often seen in this price range. While the posterior isn’t scratch and shatter-resistant, you’ll at least safe soundly knowing that splashes and debris won’t be affecting your day-to-day.

Binge-Watching Factor

We get a nice and generous 6.67-inch CrystalRes 1.5K Flow AMOLED DotDisplay that supports 68 billion colors and offers a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. It provides decent viewing angles and enough vibrance while viewing. Whether you’re scrolling through social media, navigating apps, or watching your favorite shows, it feels nice and snappy as well.

The HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support, coupled with a peak brightness of 2400 nits, made it easy to look straight into the screen under direct sunlight. The 1220 x 2712 resolution delivered detailed visuals, and cranking up videos beyond the usual 1080p was an enjoyable experience.

For audio, the Dolby Atmos certified stereo speakers provided ample clarity even when cranked to maximum volume. While most wouldn’t go that far, you can expect clear and loud sound that won’t snap, crackle, and pop under any circumstances.

Gaming Prowess

Now, we did praise the POCO F6 in our prior gaming test, and our sentiments still stand. We believe that the device made good use of its processor–which seems to be the flavor of season in this price range.

You get the popular Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset powering all your games. On paper, this 4nm processor should be capable of handling any app or game with ease–for as long as you don’t work any voodoo magic in the settings or via APKs. Paired with the Adreno 735 GPU, we got smooth performance for even the most demanding mobile games. By “most demanding,” we mean HoYoverse’s main title catalogue.

You’re good. Don’t worry.

The same goes for any game below their level of graphical demand. From COD Warzone Mobile to the newly released Honor of Kings, you can expect smooth gameplay.

Our unit comes with a decent 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Take note that this is the base variant. Even so, multitasking is made trivial, so you can expect an even better experience with the 12GB+512GB version. If you so desire to switch between apps while your ranked matches load, be our guest. You have plenty of space for your apps, games, and media.

The 120Hz refresh rate display also contributes to a fluid gaming experience, making this a solid choice for anyone who loves to abuse the 60fps capabilities of most modern mobile titles. As we’ve already elaborated in depth beforehand, the gaming capabilities of the POCO F6, in its price range, cannot be understated. It’s pretty damn good.

Geek Photoshoot Capabilities

We get a two-camera setup–and we’re totally fine with that. It’s much better to just have two serviceable lenses than two plus one extra. We understand the need for a symmetrical aesthetic sometimes, but this is much better.

The camera system is headlined by the main 50 MP wide-angle camera with its large 1/1.95″ sensor, f/1.6 aperture. It also comes with OIS, which provided decent results in proper lighting conditions. Under dimmer situations, you get a bit of noise and a bit less detail, which is sad given our expectations. With 0.6 to 2X lossless zoom, you have good enough options while shooting.

The inclusion of multi-directional PDAF should ensure quick and accurate focusing. Since we’re only getting two lenses in the back, we don’t get any portrait zoom. That being said, the bokeh is decent, and you get a variety of feature to play around with both for normal and portrait shots.

You can go from simple and casual, to moody and brooding. It’s a nice feature to have, nonetheless.

Complementing the main shooter is an 8 MP ultrawide camera, allowing you to capture more expansive scenes. While it may not match the detail of the main sensor, it adds valuable versatility to the camera setup. There also isn’t much discrepancy between colors of o.6X and 1X zoom, which is also good to see.

For selfie enthusiasts, the 20 MP front-facing camera should capture detailed self-portraits. Both front and rear cameras support HDR, helping to balance exposure in challenging lighting situations. Both normal and portrait selfies come out decently.

However, it’s a bit amusing how the auto night mode feature only applies to normal, non-portrait selfies. The result is you get way brighter shots when you don’t get use any bokeh.

You also get a few fun features like Panorama and Long Exposure. The latter can be really fun to play around with. They’re not exactly necessary, but nice to have.

Video capabilities are decent enough, with the rear camera supporting 4K recording at both 30 and 60 fps, and the front camera capable of 1080p at 30 and 60 fps. The inclusion of gyro-EIS helps quite a bit in capturing clips in otherwise wobbly situations.

Now, we know that AI Photography is all the rage nowadays, and it does improve photo quality substantially. It can be a bummer that the POCO F6 doesn’t sport these newfangled capabilities. That being said, it still offers a capable camera system that should get the job done, especially for casual photography.

Everyday Reliability

In terms of being your potential daily driver, you really can’t go wrong here. The POCO F6 runs on Android 14 with POCO’s HyperOS, which typically offers a range of customization options and features to enhance the user experience. Speaking of experience, you might encounter a few hiccups at the start, especially when it comes to unwarranted ads and bloatware.

The latter is a problem with almost every midrange Android smartphone, but we sometimes got a few overly intrusive ads–while tinkering with our settings. This wouldn’t be an issue if we were on the Play Store or something similar, but we really don’t appreciate ads popping up while we fix our home screen widgets.

All that aside, you get a very capable smartphone. The Qualcomm AI Engine does help quite a bit in optimizing your multitasking and workflow. While we don’t fully grasp the inner machinations of how this synergizes with the phone’s processor, we felt how it works in real time.

In terms of power and longevity, it’s equipped with a large 5000 mAh battery that easily got us through more than a day with casual use. Add a bit of gaming and streaming, and you’ll still get roughly a day’s worth. Add mobile data into the mix, and maybe you get a good 8 hours. When it’s time to recharge, the 90W turbo charging capability will top you to 100% in just half an hour.

Final Geek Lifestyle Verdict

The POCO F6 comes packing a powerful processor, a great display, a decent cameras, and excellent battery life that all work seamlessly in bringing out its main highlight–badass gaming capability. The inclusion of an IP64 rating is the icing on the cake, as most gameplay sessions can get a tad–intense.

Lack of AI features aside, it can hold its own in the competition–providing ample reason to be a handy dandy daily driver. It’s not the best out there right now, but starting at PHP 21,999 in a sea of upper midrangers that dance precariously on the edge of 30K, it might even be a better choice than its Pro counterpart. In the end, you’ll have to decide for yourself.

As of now, it retains that price tag. But it can go even lower–making it an even more compelling option. At below PHP 20,000, it’s an absolute steal. Make sure to check out your resident Lazada and Shopee retailers for any seasonal deals and sales.

For more information on the POCO series, make sure to check out the official website and social media pages.

POCO F6 Full Specs:

• Qualcomm SM8635 Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 (4 nm)
• Adreno 735
• 6.67″ AMOLED Display, HDR10+, Dolby Vision (1220 x 2712 pixels), 120Hz refresh rate
• 8/12 GB RAM
• 256/512 GB Storage
• 50 MP Main Camera, f/1.6, (wide), 1/1.95″, multi-directional PDAF, OIS
• 8 MP Ultra-wide Camera
• 20 MP Front-facing camera, f/2.2, (wide)
• 5G, LTE, Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
• WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, fingerprint scanner, USB Type-C
• 5000mAh battery with 90W fast charging support
• Android 14, HyperOS
• Black, Green, Titanium