[vsrivatsa]

POCO F3 GT

Model: 8GB/128GB Predator Black Color
Price: ₹26,125 (after discounts) @Flipkart

Context:
My wife has been using the Poco F1 since October 2018 and the ownership experience had been good. Given that it was approaching almost 3 years, it was time for an upgrade. Heard about the launch of the Poco F3 GT and was impressed by it. Heard about their crazy idea of MRP = Mad Reverse Pricing where they were selling the phone at discounts right at the launch. Ordered during the second week of the launch and got a good price on it. By the time I decided the 6GB/128GB variant was already out of stock and hence had to go for the higher variant.

Pros:
Poco has incorporated most of the critical feedback that was made on the Poco F1 series and the phone touts several Segment Best Features:

• Audio: Excellent Dual Speaker Setup Tuned by JBL + Dolby Atmos
• Display: Samsung E4 Panel, Turbo AMOLED Display @120Hz
• Battery: 5065 mAh Battery/67 W Fast Charger
• Build Quality: Aluminium Frame with Glass Back + Gorilla Glass 5 Coating

Cons:

• Cameras: The Cameras are decent but the Low Light & Night Photography are average. They should have offered the 108MP Camera for the higher variants.
• Fingerprint Scanner: Poco has opted for Side Mounted Scanner despite the AMOLED Display.

Usage Experience Over 1.5 Months:
Experience has been really good. The Superb Display and Audio Quality stand out. My wife uses the phone in the kitchen while she is cooking to catch up on multiple shows that she follows and this has been an excellent upgrade from the IPS Screen of the Poco F1. Also the Super Fast charging is another boon where it is charged for 15 mins to get 50% juice back.

I experimented with the Daylight Photography and happy with the results. here are some samples:

Rear Primary


Wide Angle


Rear Primary


Wide Angle

For a full detailed video review - please watch on YouTube here:

Poco F3 GT - The Complete Review

Originally Posted by Keeleri_Achu

Poco X3 Pro - Review after 3 months

Thanks for the detailed post. We have had good experience with Poco phones as well. Your post inspired me to write my own Poco Review here .

[superguy282]

Originally Posted by IamNikhil

The Samsung M32 can fit your bill considering the requirements.

I had a look at it on Amazon and YT today and it seems really great! However, we have a Samsung M21 at home and the Samsung Apps are really annoying, especially the random app installs with every update. Then on the other hand the M21 also has an sAMOLED and it's miles ahead of the other IPS LCDs in the house. Tough Decision, I guess I'll have to check it out in person if possible at a Samsung Store. I was also curious about the Nokia 5.4 anyone here who owns one? It seems to be the only other phone with Stock Android in the same price range

[IamNikhil]

Originally Posted by superguy282

I had a look at it on Amazon and YT today and it seems really great! However, we have a Samsung M21 at home and the Samsung Apps are really annoying, especially the random app installs with every update. Then on the other hand the M21 also has an sAMOLED and it's miles ahead of the other IPS LCDs in the house. Tough Decision, I guess I'll have to check it out in person if possible at a Samsung Store.

The Samsung AMOLEDs are really a class apart. Do check it out. It would be a great choice for you.

[dmplog]

Originally Posted by superguy282

I had a look at it on Amazon and YT today and it seems really great! However, we have a Samsung M21 at home and the Samsung Apps are really annoying, especially the random app installs with every update.

You can easily get rid of annoyance by debloating your samsung device.
I recently did that and no more pesky installs

[JMaruru]

Originally Posted by Keeleri_Achu

I stuck with MIUI for one month. It was for the custom ROMs to go through a couple of iterations to be stable. After that I unlocked the bootloader and tried both Lineage OS and Pixel Plus UI ROMs. One thing I have to highlight is that not only does Xiaomi support unlocking the bootloader, they've made the process very very simple. You can find step by step procedure for unlocking and flashing custom ROMs in XDA forum if you're interested.

Once you get rid of the godforsaken MIUI, the phone is butter smooth. All the minor stutters and lags you used to feel are completely gone.

If you have the appetite for it I wholeheartedly recommend trying out a custom ROM. Even if you get stuck, Xiaomi Service will fix it for a nominal service fee of around Rs 150.

Could you please point me to the guide on unlocking the bootloader for 'Redmi Note 4'? Sometime back when I tried, it was asking me to write to 'Xiaomi' for permission.

Also, if you could suggest a decent custom ROM for this device.

[Keeleri_Achu]

Originally Posted by JMaruru

Could you please point me to the guide on unlocking the bootloader for 'Redmi Note 4'?

Here's a good place to start

https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/g...-18-1.4240159/

Just make sure you download the latest files, say the September update of LineageOS.

I've rooted Redmi Note 3, 5 Pro, 7 Pro, K20 Pro, Poco F1 and X3 Pro. All of them had basically the same procedure. Check OEM Unlocking in developer options(Follow the Mi account sign in instruction from the guide) -> Unlock the bootloader in MiFlash tool -> Flash custom recovery -> Flash custom ROM. I never had to encounter the 'write to Xiaomi' error. In the case of 7 Pro and X3 Pro, I had to wait 168 hours (One week) for the Mi unlock tool to grant permission. Apart from that, there weren't any issues.

If you ask me, I would go with either Lineage OS or Pixel Experience. Both have been stable with good support in my experience. You can always switch to a different ROM if you get bored with them.

P.S. Copying all the files to an SD card will remove the headache of moving them from computer after wiping.

[SoumenD]

Any updates on pixel 5a launch date and price? My search for a compact (sub 6inch) smartphone under 35k still continues.

No options other than the pixel 4a which I see is still retailing at 31999/- in flipkart. So effectively it has gone up since launch price of 29,999? Is it worth buying now in 2021?

[dragonfire]

Originally Posted by SoumenD

Any updates on pixel 5a launch date and price? My search for a compact (sub 6inch) smartphone under 35k still continues.

No options other than the pixel 4a which I see is still retailing at 31999/- in flipkart. So effectively it has gone up since launch price of 29,999? Is it worth buying now in 2021?

I doubt there would be any more Pixel launches in India. Moreover 5A is much bigger and heavier than the 4A.

Wait for the Diwali sales, the 4A would be available sub 30K.

[SoumenD]

Originally Posted by dragonfire

I doubt there would be any more Pixel launches in India. Moreover 5A is much bigger and heavier than the 4A.

Is there any confirmation on this? If that’s the case I doubt what sort of After sales support can google provide anyways. I even happened to see some YouTube videos talking about very bad experience in fixing their pixel phones.

All this uncertainty is kinda making me look towards iOS (12 would be getting discounted now that 13 is here) I know its way costlier but they get updates for way longer(5-6 years) normally.

[dragonfire]

Originally Posted by SoumenD

Is there any confirmation on this? If that’s the case I doubt what sort of After sales support can google provide anyways. I even happened to see some YouTube videos talking about very bad experience in fixing their pixel phones.

All this uncertainty is kinda making me look towards iOS (12 would be getting discounted now that 13 is here) I know its way costlier but they get updates for way longer(5-6 years) normally.

No, no confirmation, but I saw some youtube reviewers opining in similar lines. Anyway my point rather was, since the 5A is bigger and heavier (183g), you are better off buying the 4A when it becomes available at a discount.

And of course, going for the iPhone 12 or the mini would be the saner choice if what you want is a compact phone and have the money for it.

[Sheel]

Samsung has Knox enabled for security in their devices, how good is it? In comparison does One Plus have anything similar?

I agree Androids are easier to get into, but still...

Secondly, when is the S21 FE expected, hope it is coming with a Snapdragon processor.

Thanks.

[adithya.kp]

Generally it is not a good idea to buy an year old phone. But to be frank, there is nothing else which is exciting in android. So I would still buy it, considering pixel 5a may not come to India. But not for 32k. I am sure you would get it for 25k during some offer. ( I bought it for 26k, 5 months ago. I remember it was available for 25k after some time)
The only issue I see (In the future, whenever India is 5g ready and you want to experience 5g) that, its not a 5G model. As for the service, yes its a pain since we need to send the phone to their Mumbai office. But based on my experience with phones from several brands, usually smartphones wont have any issues. We just have to ensure the screen doesn't get shattered!.

Originally Posted by SoumenD

Any updates on pixel 5a launch date and price? My search for a compact (sub 6inch) smartphone under 35k still continues.

No options other than the pixel 4a which I see is still retailing at 31999/- in flipkart. So effectively it has gone up since launch price of 29,999? Is it worth buying now in 2021?

It should be in October. But I dont see any point releasing FE this year. Because they have already downgraded the regular S21 with a plastic back and FHD ( Instead of QHD). The main USP of the regular S21 is its compact size. S21 FE will be a typical 6.4 inch Samsung phone.

Originally Posted by Sheel

Secondly, when is the S21 FE expected, hope it is coming with a Snapdragon processor.

Thanks.

[JMaruru]

The restore media on WhatsApp is stuck at 100% for past 3+ days and doesn't seem to complete. Tried clearing the cache and rebooting the app but for NO avail. Is there anyway I can make this complete? I wouldn't like to reinstall as backup hasn't happened since restore is running.

Please advise!

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by adithya.kp

It should be in October. But I dont see any point releasing FE this year. Because they have already downgraded the regular S21 with a plastic back and FHD ( Instead of QHD). The main USP of the regular S21 is its compact size. S21 FE will be a typical 6.4 inch Samsung phone.

They are different phones. Someone who is eying one, is obviously aware of the size and the biggest advantage is the Snapdragon over S21's exynos.

Originally Posted by Sheel

Samsung has Knox enabled for security in their devices, how good is it? In comparison does One Plus have anything similar?

Any info on this anyone?

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

... I wish if the Android makers did not put their skin on top and left it as it is especially with the Android 12 which looks pretty slick but then I guess differentiation is hard in the Android world so they have to.

There's value-add. OxygenOS was close to perfect. Near-stock UI, minimal bloat, with some great feature additions over stock Android. Samsung also does a lot of great things with OneUI, plus it's much better than bloatware central that TouchWiz was.

Unfortunately, OxygenOS is being replaced next year with the as-yet unnamed unified OS replacing both OxygenOS and ColorOS. They're promising to keep the best bits but they've made a lot of promises they haven't kept recently, so it's wait and watch.

Originally Posted by Sheel

Samsung has Knox enabled for security in their devices, how good is it? In comparison does One Plus have anything similar?

KNOX is good, as it gives you both hardware and software-level protection. The only comparable native security option used to be Blackberry's DTEK (arguably the best), but they're practically non-existent in the device market now (they sold the device business to TCL and shifted to security solutions as their primary line of business).

There are other software-level options, both free and paid, but no native ones come to mind among the other current device majors. Others might chime in.