But the POCO X2 is not just another rebranded Redmi K30. Although there’s no difference in specs or design, POCO X2 comes with a few extra software tweaks as it runs MIUI for POCO. Let’s know more about this new phone from POCO.
POCO X2 First Impressions
Design: 3D Glass body
The POCO X2 is a rebranded Redmi K30, so there’s no difference in the design. The phone comes with a 3D curved glass back with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection. It has a circular ring around the camera setup at the back, and it highlights the cameras.
There is not any gradient effect on the back but the vibrant colors make the phone stand out. We used the Blue color variant of the phone that looks great. The POCO X2 offers the perfect balance and it feels good to hold in-hand. The back panel is prone to fingerprints though. The phone is not much slim like other phones these days and it also weighs 208g, because of a big battery.
On the front, the first thing we notice is the camera cutout. The X2 comes with dual front cameras that are embedded in to display and POCO went for the minimum punch-hole cutout option.
The X2 sports a side-mounted fingerprint sensor that’s packed into the home button. This button sits just where we put our finger mostly and thus makes it easy to unlock.
Display: 120Hz
The POCO X2 sports a 6.67-inch LCD panel with a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels. The highlight of the display is the 120Hz refresh rate, and interestingly, it is the first phone in this price range that comes with a 120Hz screen. After using a phone with such a high refresh rate, you will find the real difference when you go back to a regular 60Hz screen.
Talking about display quality, the brightness and viewing angles are good. However, you might not find it as good as AMOLED in most of the scenarios, like in sunlight. Overall, display is big, smooth and bright.
Hardware: SD 730G
Unlike the Snapdragon 8xx series on the POCO F1, the POCO X2 is powered by the Snapdragon 730G chipset. However, the Snapdragon 730G is still a good chipset, and in day-to-day usage, you won’t find any problem in multitasking or gaming. You can play PUBG Mobile easily without any lag but you will not be able to play at max settings. The POCO X2 also comes with liquid cooling, and it does a great job managing the temperature during hard gaming sessions.
POCO X2 comes in three variants in India: the base version with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage, a 6GB/128GB model and a top-end version with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. POCO uses UFS 2.1 storage, and there is also a MicroSD card slot for up to 512GB card.
Software: MIUI 11 with Android 10
The smartphone is running MIUI 11 based on Android 10, and the difference for POCO on the software side is MIUI for POCO. The customized version of Xiaomi’s user interface comes with the POCO Launcher, which is not there in regular MIUI 11.
If we talk about some MIUI 11 features, it comes with a system-wide dark theme, a more modern layout with bright accent colors, and several changes to Xiaomi’s first-party apps. The biggest and the best change is that there are no ads.
Cameras: 64MP Sony IMX686
The POCO X2 sports four rear cameras with a 64MP sensor, an 8MP wide-angle lens, a 2MP macro lens, and a 2MP depth sensor. We’ve already seen Xiaomi’s phone with a 64MP sensor- Redmi Note 8 Pro. But unlike the Samsung GW1 sensor on Reddmi Note 8 Pro, POCO X2 uses Sony’s IMX686 sensor and it is also the first phone in India with this sensor.
The camera UI is identical to what we see in MIUI. We can access different shooting modes, 2x digital zoom, HDR, AI mode, beautify effects, and the macro lens easily via the icons at the top. As expected, the 64MP camera takes impressive shots that offer great detail, accurate colors, and a good dynamic range, especially in daylight. That said, the X2 struggles to offer detail in low-light shots and there’s too much noise, however, the photos are still decent enough for social media sharing. Moreover, it takes great portraits- edge detection is good and we also get decent blur in the background. The 2MP macro lens also does a great job at times, but it takes a lot of effort. There is a 20MP main camera and a 2MP depth camera at the front too. The portrait mode in the front camera works particularly well, thanks to the dedicated 2MP lens. Other selfies are also not that bad. Overall, the camera on the X2 is great and for most day-to-day scenarios, it offers good results. Wait for our full review to more about the camera performance of X2.
Battery: 4500mAh & 27W charger
POCO X2 comes with a massive 4500mAh battery under the hood. With this huge capacity cell, the phone easily manages to deliver more than a day’s use. Moreover, it has fast charging support and there’s a 27W fast charger bundled in the box. This 27W charger takes just over an hour to fully charge the device from zero.
Connectivity & Others
The phone comes with all the usual connectivity features. It has a Wi-Fi modem, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi calling, and dual VoLTE. There’s a single speaker at the bottom. The X2 offers Widevine L1 support as well, allowing you to stream HD videos from Netflix and other streaming services.
Early Verdict
POCO X2 price in India starts at Rs. 15,999 for the base model and it offers so many great features in this price range. The 120Hz panel is the first in this range, the Snapdragon 730G chipset is powerful enough for day to day usage, and a 4500mAh battery can offer more than a day’s power. This is also the first phone in India with the Sony IMX686 sensor, and the camera offers decent results in most cases. For the software, Android 10 out of the box with MIUI for POCO is a good addition. Overall, the POCO X2 is a great phone in this price range.
