Poco X3 GT review

Design, build quality, handling

The Poco X3 GT may be a mid-ranger, but it sure doesn't look like one. Whether you get the sparkly Stargaze Black version (ours), the striped Cloud White or the Wave Blue one, you'd have a cool looking phone that will stand out.

This GT model also employs the latest Gorilla Glass Victus screen protection, something that was exclusive to flagships until recently. The Poco X3 GT, its Chinese Redmi counterpart, and the Nokia X20 are actually the first phones to offer Victus outside the top tier segment.

The rest of the Poco X3 GT is made of plastic, though it does still feel decent - the frame has matte finish, while the shiny plastic back looks and feels like glass.

Just like most of the Xiaomi and Poco mid-range phones, the Poco X3 GT is IP53-rated, promising protection from dust and water splashes. It is NOT waterproofed, though. We appreciate ingress protection - some is always better than none, but keep in mind that the X3 GT is still not promising it will survive any sort of powerful water jets nor submersion.

Almost the entire front is occupied by the 6.6-inch LCD screen. An LCD panel it may well be, but it's among the best ones we've seen - it supports adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10, and DCI-P3 color space. There is a tiny punch-hole below the earpiece for the 16MP selfie camera. The good news is that the backlighting was improved on the GT model and its even around the cutout, just like on perforated AMOLEDs.

The screen bezels are alright - thin enough even if not as slim as on models with OLED panels.

Above the screen is the earpiece grille and beneath is one of the stereo speakers, which also acts as an earpiece. The front grille is not the only opening for the sound - there is a larger grille at the top of the phone, symmetrical to the bottom one. The X3 GT indeed offers two loud and balanced speakers making for a particularly good stereo setup. The top one is doing a solid job when employed as an earpiece too.

The back is made of plastic, but it can easily pass as glass one. It's one of these slightly curved multi-layered pieces, all glossy and pretty thanks to a cool paintjob.

The color is called Stargaze Black model, and we find it an appropriate description. The rear panel is mostly black with a very subtle transition towards dark gray from bottom to top. It is sprinkled with glitter - small colorful particles that look just like millions of stars, and they fade away slowly following the black to gray gradient.

We are glad Poco has decided against a giant POCO logo as seen on the Poco X3 Pro model. It would not have worked with this finish at all.

The glossy back is a giant fingerprint magnet and smudges and unpleasantries stick in mere minutes. We guess regular cleaning is the price you pay for the good looks.

The camera island is jutting out of the back big time. It is unusually thick and large for such a modest setup. Mounted on a silver island you get a 64MP primary camera, while an 8MP ultrawide shooter, and a 2MP macro unit are sitting next to it. A dual-LED dual-tone flash is also around.

The phone does wobble a lot because of the thick camera piece, but most of the phones do these days, so we won't hold it against the X3 GT. And once you put on a case, which is what most people do anyway, the problem is essentially solved.

The frame, just like the back, is made of plastic, but has a grippy matte finish. On the top you can find the IR blaster, one of the mics, and a speaker grille.

The other speaker grille is at the bottom, together with the USB-C port and the mouthpiece.

The dual-SIM tray is alone on the left. The volume rocker and the power/lock key are on the right.

The Poco X3 GT features an always-on fingerprint scanner mounted on its power key. Unsurprisingly for a senor mounted on the body of a phone it is blazing fast and has high reliability.

The Poco X3 GT measures 163.3 x 75.9 x 8.9mm and weighs 193g - meaning it is 2mm shorter, a hair thinner and 22g lighter than the Poco X3 Pro.

Even if most of the Poco X3 GT is glossy, the phone provides good enough grip and we felt it safe in hand no matter the use case. We never thought of using the supplied case for grip purposes. Sure, it provides extra protection, but given that it has Gorilla Glass Victus and plastic frame and back, we'd say the GT is already protected enough. Plus, we didn't want the extra thickness and diminished looks.

Overall, the Poco X3 GT is one well-built phone with great looks, good grip, enough protection, and of reasonable size and weight. And for the asking price we couldn't want more, in fact, we got more than we hoped for.