Poco’s newest instalment in its top-spec F series has the potential to shake up the midrange gaming segment. Powered by the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 SoC, the F7 can hang with the heavy hitters. Its 7,550mAh battery pack is the biggest we’ve seen on a smartphone so far. To add further to its gaming cred, the smartphone rocks an AMOLED display with a 2,160Hz touch sampling rate and an IceLoop cooling system. Priced at Rs 31,999, the F7 seems like an incredible deal. We used it for a week to test its everyday performance. Here is our review of the Poco F7.
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In This Article
Poco F7 Review: Design and Display
Here’s what you get inside Poco F7’s retail box:
- Smartphone
- 90W power adapter
- USB Type-A to Type-C cable
- Silicone cover
- SIM ejector
- User guide
- Warranty card
Poco F7 gets a big cosmetic upgrade over last year’s F6 (our review here). The plastic back makes way for a dual-tone glass panel. This back panel is flatter, as it does not curve into the frame anymore. The individual cutouts for primary and ultrawide cameras have been fused into one pill-shaped island with a sleek silver trim dividing the upper and lower segments. This trim is accentuated by two subtle green lines that shine when light falls on them. We used the Frost White colour variant of the Poco F7 for this review, but we highly recommend the Cyber Silver Edition for its exuberant aesthetic.
Poco has also made hardware upgrades to the frame of the F7. The plastic rails have been replaced by aluminium edges. The left edge houses the volume keys and the side button. At the bottom lie the SIM slot, primary microphone, USB Type-C slot, and speaker grille. The noise-cancelling microphone is positioned at the top of the phone. The earpiece also acts as the secondary speaker. The IR blaster is positioned on the back panel.
The 6.83-inch AMOLED display has a 120Hz refresh rate and can reach a peak brightness of 3,200 nits while playing HDR content. In High Brightness Mode, this display can hit 1,700 nits. It maintains legibility under direct sunlight. The display is surrounded by slim and uniform bezels. The optical fingerprint scanner is snappy and accurate.
During the week-long review period, we used the Poco F7 as our primary media streaming device. Its AMOLED display supports HDR10+ and curates a fine viewing experience. The image quality is highly detailed, and the colours are vibrant and punchy. If you prop your phone against random objects while watching videos, you’ll be pleased to know that the F7 has a wide array of viewing angles. The dual speaker setup produces a loud audio output, but it could use a more pronounced low end.
Poco F7’s display and back panel are protected by Gorilla Glass 7i. This is a bit of a step down from the Gorilla Glass Victus protection offered by the F6’s display. However, the F7 gets an upgraded IP69 rating for protection against exposure to dust and water. The smartphone can survive being immersed up to 2m for 30 minutes.
Poco F7 Review: Performance and Cameras
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 SoC lies at the heart of the Poco F7. The smartphone is packed with 12GB LPDDR5X RAM and comes in 2 storage (UFS 4.1) configurations:
- 256GB: Rs 31,999
- 512GB: Rs 33,999
We ran a couple of benchmark tests on the device. Here’s how it performed.
- AnTuTu: 1,733,244
- Geekbench 6: 2,021 (single-core) | 6,305 (multi-core)
The Poco F7 puts up a phenomenal performance in everyday use. With UFS 4.1 storage onboard, the smartphone takes no time to load apps and files. The LPDDR5X RAM makes juggling among different apps look like a piece of cake. Routine tasks like audio and video calling, web browsing, photo editing, media streaming, and navigation are handled with expertise. There’s support for WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 6 as well. Our only minor complaint lies with the haptic motor, which needs a little tuning to even out its sharp vibrational feedback.
An elite gaming performance is the cornerstone of every Poco F series smartphone. The F7 does not disappoint in this regard. We played BGMI at 120fps and medium graphics on this smartphone and were pleased with the smooth gameplay. There were no frame drops to be seen. Pumping up the graphics at a lower frame rate provided similar results. Poco’s 3D IceLoop system with a 6,000mm² cooling chamber does a great job of dissipating the internal heat. We did not notice any thermal throttling while gaming on the F7 for over an hour.
Software duties on the Poco F7 are handled by the Android 15-based HyperOS 2. Xiaomi’s second iteration of its next-gen HyperOS makes some interesting tweaks to the layout and UI. The Quick Settings Menu still feels similar to the previous iOS versions. The lock screen styles on offer also draw heavy inspiration from iOS. What we like about HyperOS 2 is that it’s light and snappy. There are plenty of personalisation options for the home screen, lock screen, Always On Display, notification effects, and fingerprint effects. However, there is no way to change the shape of app icons, which is a bit of a letdown.
The Xiaomi HyperAI package on this smartphone offers a good range of AI tools. You can summon the AI Writing tool while drafting messages and emails. It refines your texts and expands them, if necessary. It does a great job of proofreading them before you hit send. The native Gallery app is integrated with handy AI photo editing tools like Enhance, Image Expansion, Erase Pro, and Film. Lastly, the language-related AI features let you translate and interpret your calls and in-person conversations.
The 7,550mAh Si/C battery pack on this smartphone puts up a phenomenal performance. During the review period, the Poco F7 lasted us a day and a half with moderate usage. Making battery-saving adjustments like disabling the AOD and limiting the refresh rate to 60Hz extends the battery life to 2 days. The 90W power adapter provided in the box takes up to 50 minutes to fully charge the smartphone.
The rear camera panel of the Poco F7 houses a 50MP Sony IMX882 primary shooter and an 8MP ultrawide lens. The punch hole cutout on the display houses a 20MP selfie camera.
The 50MP primary shooter captures good pictures in outdoor daylight conditions. The images are packed with details and showcase vivid colours and a decent dynamic range. In limited lighting conditions, the Night Mode does a good job of lighting up the shot and reducing the noise.
Images taken with the 8MP ultrawide camera are a little soft compared to the primary lens. However, what the images lack in detail, they make up for in colour. The vibrant colour profile of the ultrawide lens is not too far removed from the primary camera. However, in limited lighting, this lens puts up an underwhelming display. Even with Night Mode turned on, it struggles to appropriately light up the shot.
Portraits taken by the Poco F7 are moderately acceptable. The smartphone struggles with edge detection and isn’t able to apply a strong background blur. The 20MP front-facing camera takes good selfies, but tends to brighten the skin tone of the subject. Its video recording chops are limited to 1,080p. Meanwhile, the 50MP primary shooter can shoot 4K videos at 30 and 60fps. The 8MP ultrawide camera reverts to 1,080p while recording videos.
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Verdict
Poco F7 is one of the best mid-range gaming smartphones we’ve seen in a while. If you don’t want to break the bank on a flagship, this is the smartphone you should be going for. The powerful Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 SoC makes all the difference in its performance. The smartphone crushes routine tasks with absolute ease. The 3D IceLoop Cooling System allows you to play games on this device for hours without experiencing any thermal throttling. The massive 7,550mAh battery pack can last for up to 2 days on a full charge.
Rock-solid performance aside, you get a decent AI suite on this smartphone. It covers basic tasks like photo editing, text correction, and translation, without imposing itself too much on the user. The primary camera puts up a versatile display, capturing good pictures in a wide range of lighting conditions. The ultrawide lens crumbles in limited lighting, but puts up good results during the day. Overall, the Poco F7 is an excellent deal at Rs 31,999.
Poco F7: Pros
- Bright display
- Cool design
- Powerful processor
- Amazing battery life
Poco F7: Cons
- Ultrawide camera takes unimpressive shots at night
- Mediocre portrait shots
- Contains bloatware
