The perfect budget flagship phone is as much about the right mix of features, as it is about the right choice of compromises. You cannot bring flagship performance to mid-range prices without cutting some corners, and hence, what sets a good “budget flagship” smartphone apart is compromising on the right aspects.
The Poco F1 from 2018 was a fantastic example of this. Now, in 2021, the revamped brand has made its second true budget flagship, the Poco X3 Pro, a phone that brings a top-notch processor around the Rs 20,000 mark and manages to do it while maintaining an impressive specification sheet. Check out the details below.
Poco X3 Pro specs: 6.67-inch FHD+ IPS LCD display with 120Hz refresh rate | Qualcomm Snapdragon 860 chipset | 6GB/8GB RAM, 128GB UFS 3.1 storage | 48MP+8MP+2MP+2MP rear camera, 20MP front camera | 5160mAh battery, 33W fast charging.
Design, build quality
The Poco X3 Pro follows the design language of the Poco X3, which is not surprising considering they belong to the same family. You have the dual-tone finish on a plastic back and a big half-circular, half-rectangular camera bump that is made to look like a circular module. There is a big Poco logo on the back but it is subtle, unlike what we saw on the Poco M3.
The volume buttons and power buttons which doubles up as a really fast and accurate fingerprint scanner are on the right, while the SIM slot is on the left edge. The phone retains the IR blaster on top making it handy for those planning to use it as a universal remote with other appliances. Among the usual elements, at the bottom, we still find the 3.5mm jack which is good to see.
Coming to the build quality, the phone is a solid build all around except the plastic back panel that feels really weak. Also, it vibrates almost as well as a second vibration motor in the device. This gets pretty evident when the phone is playing media at high volumes and while some may enjoy the extra sensation during gaming, it could become annoying for others.
Display
The Poco X3 Pro gets a great display just like the rest of the Poco X series. It is still an IPS LCD panel but a good quality one. Moreover, the phone’s brightness can get really low on the lowest level, allowing you to use this device comfortably at the night.
Viewing angles are great and so is color reproduction. There is a center-aligned punch-holer camera on the top of the screen. While we would have preferred a slightly less-distracting corner implementation, the large screen of the Poco X3 Pro doesn’t let the punch hole feel too intrusive.
Camera
The Poco X3 Pro comes with a good set of cameras on the front and back. The pictures we took with the phone appeared crisp and had great detail. Even though the sensor has taken a drop from 64MP to 48MP, when it comes to real-life usage, there is no “loss in quality”. However, pictures in indoor lighting did struggle a little to get the white balance right. Note that none of the lenses has OIS (optical image stabilization) though the EIS (Electronic image stabilization) works great.
Coming to night mode, the Poco X3 Pro does a wonderful job at getting in more light and eliminating noise from pictures. Performance by the ultra-wide sensor is as expected considering the 8MP sensor. While images do get the wide-angle, they come out soft and are only usable during the day. However, the ultra-wide sensor can be used with night mode and that gives a little more usable results in the dark.
The 20MP front camera takes decent pictures even in indoor lighting with crisp details. Macro shots and portrait shots are fairly average. Coming to the video, you can record up to 1080p 60fps or 4K 30fps. With a high-end chip in the trunk, the phone makes features like Dual-Video possible where you can capture footage from both the front and rear camera at the same time.
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