POCO's F4 GT Could Shock Your Eyes And Your Wallet
Xiaomi-owned POCO burst onto the smartphone scene in 2018 with the launch of its first smartphone, the POCO F1. Widely praised for its value for money quotient, the high bar set by the POCO F1 turned out to be too high for even POCO to match — at first. Unsurprisingly, the company's subsequent launches did not garner as much hype as the original POCO F1, and four years later, POCO is yet to deliver a compelling, affordable flagship that lived up to the expectations set by its first smartphone. That track record might've changed today, April 26, 2022, as POCO took the covers off its first affordable smartphone for 2022: the POCO F4 GT.
At first glance, the POCO F4 GT doesn't seem to make major compromises on the specs front while still managing to be priced under the $600 mark. This starting price for the device could help the phone to garner a loyal fanbase — akin to the POCO F1. We've decoded various aspects of the POCO F4 GT's feature set and checked out factors that give it the potential to be the best affordable flagship smartphone of 2022. Before we begin, it is essential to add that the POCO F4 GT — like many of Xiaomi's recent devices — happens to be a rebranded variant of a Redmi device: the Redmi K50 Gaming.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 for under $600
The POCO F4 GT's main claim to fame is that it gets what is arguably the most powerful mobile chipset available for 2022 Android smartphones — the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC from Qualcomm. This 4nm process SoC incorporates Qualcomm's own AI Engine and a 5G-ready Qualcomm X65 modem. In addition, the phone comes with 8GB and 12GB RAM options, with the variants getting 128GB and 256 GB UFS 3.1 storage, respectively.
The 6.67-inch AMOLED display on the POCO F4 GT supports a 120Hz image refresh rate and a 480Hz touch sampling rate. The 20:9 display also claims a typical brightness value of 800 nits and a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels. For durability, POCO has also included a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass covering the display panel. There is also an obvious cost-cutting move here, with POCO deciding against equipping the POCO F4 GT with an under-display fingerprint scanner. Instead, you'd have to make do with a side-mounted fingerprint scanner — which we believe is a blessing in disguise given that they tend to be faster at doing their jobs compared to the more trendy in-display scanners.
Quad cameras and RGB lighting
The POCO F4 GT seems to be a fairly loaded camera phone with a triple camera array. The primary sensor used on the phone is a Sony IMX686 that is mated with an f/1.9 lens. The secondary 8MP camera offers a 120-degree field-of-view with an f/2.2 aperture. And there's a 2MP macro camera for close-up shots. The POCO F4 GT supports 4K video recording in both 30fps and 60fps modes. The slow-motion mode is also pretty capable with the phone able to handle 120fps slow-motion videos at full HD resolution. It can also do short 960fps slow-motion videos — albeit at a lower 720p resolution. The front-facing camera uses Sony's IMX596 sensor and is mated with an f/2.4 lens.
The 'GT' tag of the POCO F4 GT makes the phone a potential gaming device. Keeping these buyers in mind, the company has added a small, customizable RGB lighting solution on the camera array at the rear. This RGB gaming light also serves as a notification alert mechanism and lights up for incoming calls, messages, and as an indicator for battery charging status.
Battery, pricing, and availability
The thin 8.5mm frame of the POCO F4 GT manages to cram in a 4,700mAh battery that supports 120W fast charging. POCO claims that at full charging speeds, the POCO F4 GT could be charged from zero to 100% in less than 20 minutes. In addition to supporting its own proprietary charging standard, the POCO F4 GT also supports USB Power Delivery 3.0 and QuickCharge 3+ for compatibility with other fast charging bricks.
The POCO F4 GT comes in two RAM/storage options — starting with a base 8GB+128GB option that has an early bird price of 499 euros ($530) and a 12GB+256GB option that will go for 599 euros ($640). After the early bird period ends, the prices will go up by $100 for both variants. The color options include the surprisingly electric and bright Cyber Yellow, Knight Silver, and Stealth Black. Depending on where you live and buy the phone from, POCO also offers two months of free subscription to YouTube Premium. The POCO F4 GT will go on sale starting April 28, 2022, in several countries across the globe. As it's been with past releases from this brand, POCO does not have any plans to bring this phone to the U.S. in the near future.