Poco X2 review: Poco makes a super-smooth comeback

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Poco X2 review: Poco makes a super-smooth comeback
Rounak Jain
  • The Poco X2 is the company’s second phone to launch in India, after the Poco F1 which was launched in 2018.
  • The Poco X2 competes with the Realme X2 and the Redmi K20, among others.
  • While the Poco X2 is not a flagship like the Poco F1, it makes improvements in other areas like build quality, cameras, display and more.
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Poco took the Indian smartphone industry by storm with the launch of the Poco F1 back in August 2018. Poco quickly developed a cult-like following as it offers flagship-grade hardware at a fraction of the price. Much to their disappointment, things at Poco went quiet leading to speculation that Xiaomi is rolling back its sub-brand.

Instead, Poco was spun off as an independent company, and is back with the launch of Poco X2. While the Poco X2 is not a true successor to the Poco F1, it is a sign of life which should be enough for its fans.

Poco X2: Price

The Poco X2 starts at a price of ₹15,999 which puts it in direct competition with , Realme X2, Xiaomi’s own Redmi K20 and Redmi Note 8 Pro. The base variant of the Poco X2 comes with 6GB of RAM, which adds bonus points in its favour when compared to the Realme X2 which starts with 4GB of RAM.
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Poco X2: Design and build quality

Poco X2 review: Poco makes a super-smooth comeback

One of the important considerations while buying a phone is its design and build quality. Most budget smartphones now offer decent design and build quality - turning them into basic needs rather than premium features.

While the Poco F1 displayed its budget credentials with its plastic build, the Poco X2 shows no such signs. The phone feels solid to hold and looks premium without . squeaky corners.
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It is covered in glass on the front as well as the back. An unfortunate side-effect of the glass back is that it is slippery, so you might want to use a skin or a case.

The back of the phone sports a glossy design and has a circular design around the camera module, which adds a bit of a flair to the otherwise understated looks.

Poco X2: Display quality

Poco X2 review: Poco makes a super-smooth comeback

The display is one of the most hyped features of the Poco X2, and you might wonder why.

Although raw power is still important, most smartphones are now powerful enough. Understandably, companies have now turned their focus to other areas like the display quality. With the X2, Poco is kicking it up a notch with a 120Hz refresh rate display.

What does this mean in lay terms? Well, the Poco X2’s display is super smooth. It refreshes 120 times per second while most smartphone displays refresh only 60 times per second.
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This has an immediate effect on the overall smoothness of user interface elements and animations. For example, scrolling is a lot smoother on the Poco X2 when compared to a regular smartphone.

However, not all third-party apps support high refresh rates, in which case the phone will use the regular 60Hz refresh rate. Still, we expect this to improve in the near future as higher refresh rates become more common.

Other than that, we also found the display to be bright enough to use in direct sunlight. Poco has used a high-quality display on the Poco X2 and there’s nothing to complain about.

Poco X2: Performance

While the Poco F1 was powered by a flagship Qualcomm 845 chipset, the Poco X2 uses Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G, which is a mid-range chipset. However, that does not mean the Poco X2 is slower. We tested the 8GB model with 256GB storage.

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In our testing, we did not come across any performance issues. The phone performed just fine while playing popular games like Call of Duty: Mobile and PUBG Mobile. Ample memory and fast storage remove any performance bottlenecks, too, so the overall experience is very smooth.

In terms of battery life, the Poco X2 easily lasted us for an entire day with regular usage – this includes social media, messaging, calls, watching videos and gaming.

There are multiple factors which help the Poco X2’s battery life – the chipset is efficient, the battery is a massive 4,500mAh unit and MIUI prevents apps from wasting too much power.

Poco has also bundled a massive 27W fast charger, which charges the Poco X2 from 0% to 100% in less than 1.5 hours.

Poco X2: Software

The Poco X2 runs on MIUI 11 which is based on Android 10, so you have the latest version of MIUI as well as Android. As of writing this review, Poco has also pushed out the latest security update, which is a positive sign.
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Overall, MIUI 11 has a wide range of useful features. Xiaomi has tweaked its custom skin extensively over the past few years to add a lot of value, so you don’t have to download a third-party app for many of the features.

Another important aspect of the Poco X2 is that it doesn’t have any ads across the interface. Xiaomi generally pushes ads on its phones running on MIUI, but Poco smartphones use a slightly tweaked version that removes these ads.

Then being said, the Poco X2 does come with some third-party apps pre-installed, but you can easily uninstall them. You can also disable most of the functions of the built-in security app if you don’t like them, which is a good thing.

Poco X2: Cameras

Poco X2 review: Poco makes a super-smooth comeback

The Poco X2 has a total of six cameras – four on the back and two on the front. Let’s talk about the cameras on the back first.

The Poco X2 is one of the first few phones to come with a brand new 64MP Sony IMX 686 sensor, which succeeds the highly popular 48MP sensor from Sony. The 64MP main camera is assisted by an 8MP ultrawide camera, a 2MP macro and a 2MP depth shooter. Essentially, you have a camera for every situation.
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In the real world, the Poco X2 performs exceedingly well for the price. Daylight shots capture details effortlessly with good colour reproduction. Ultrawide angle and macro shots take some effort, and they’re not always great, but that’s okay since you will be using the primary camera most of the time.

On the front, the Poco X2 has a 20MP selfie camera with a 2MP depth sensor. The addition of an extra camera on the front allows the Poco X2 to capture some really good portrait shots that belie the price of the phone.

The Poco X2 does struggle a bit in low-light conditions, but Night mode does a decent job of capturing enough details. All things considered, though, the Poco X2 does very well in terms of camera performance.

Verdict

Poco X2 is one of the best budget smartphones that you can buy right now. It has a lot of things going for it – the build quality, great display, an adequately powerful chipset, ample memory and storage, great battery life and surprisingly good camera performance. There’s little to complain about.
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Yes, the circle around the camera module was not necessary, but the phone will likely be in a case, which removes this issue out of the equation.

The other problem that could hamper the Poco X2 is the flash sales model – Poco is currently selling the phone in weekly flash sales on Flipkart. You will have to be fast enough to purchase the phone when it goes on sale at 12PM today or wait for the next weekly sale.

See also:

Poco X2 vs Realme X2 Phone: Battle for the best budget smartphone in India
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