Poco F3 long-term review

16 November 2021


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I was planning to get it, but then I’ve read it has no DC dimming, unlike most other AMOLED phones made by Xiaomi. That makes it more prone to causing eye strain, especially when using the phone in dark conditions. So I’ll probably get Poco X3 Pro, but it has a slower SOC so I’m still not sure. The Poco F3 GT would be a great alternative, but it’s only available in India, I think.

    Anonymous, 16 Nov 2021There are a couple of reasons why people (like me) despise ... more"it's laggy even on phones with high end chipset, bloated with ads and junk apps, security patches are always behind, a ton of Xiaomi's models are stuck on old Android etc.."

    Is that why Gsmarena said mi 11 was the smoothest experience out of all flagships in their long term review?

    The ads and other junk can all be disabled. You guys need to stop repeating same things in every article man...
    MI is doing really well. Their sales and growth in the past couple of years is proof of the same.

    As far as security patches are concerned, you can continue to live in fear because of late security patches. Most of us don't really care.

    Also, tons of features that first arrive on miui get adopted later on stock android.
    So those MI phones stuck on old android already have features that might be present on latest Android, without actually having latest Android.

    I am not even using a Xiaomi phone yet have no problems appreciating a company doing well, launching one good device after the other.
    Maybe you should learn to let go.... I understand that your favorite brand isn't doing so well in the market.

      Value for money!

        I ordered one last week for my sister, 280€ from amazon. You just can't beat what it offers for this price: flagship performance, amoled smooth 120Hz screen, top battery. The cameras are acceptable for the occasional daylight shots but you really can't ask for more man...
        It should win the smartphone of the year award no doubts.

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          • Anonymous
          • iA4
          • 16 Nov 2021

          There are a couple of reasons why people (like me) despise MIUI. Xiaomi ALWAYS breaks something whenever they push an "update", it's buggy, it's laggy even on phones with high end chipsets, bloated with ads and junk apps, security patches are always behind, a ton of Xiaomi's models are stuck on old Android etc..
          I'm a proud owner of an Oppo A94 5G, and it's a night and day difference between ColorOS and MIUI.

            aReefer, 16 Nov 2021Strange that there was no mention of the green tint on the ... moreYes, the dimming issue while playing high graphics games, green tint, and the below average camera ( compared to its redmi counterpart) were the deal breaker for me. Its a good thing my friend bought it a day after it went global, and i made a decision to get redmi note 10 pro ,instead a week later. From the review they pointed out the same thing that we have concluded from using these two phones, if you use your camera more, pick redmi note 10 pro, but if you want to play triple a android games and 5g connectivity, pick the F3

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              • Anonymous
              • K1L
              • 16 Nov 2021

              "Yes, by default, you get an ad page after each app installation, even if it's from the Play Store, but that is easily disableable forever by tapping on the gear icon in the top right and turning off the scanning of apps from the Play Store as well as showing "recommendations" (the perfect euphemism for ads, if you ask us)."

              Disableable forever? I doubt that. I read multiple complaints about the Recommendations feature being switched back on without consent.

                Anonymous, 16 Nov 2021Poor charging speed after 6 months with latest OS updated. Maybe you need to turn off optimized charging in settings.

                  The camera performance becomes a lot better after using gcam.

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                    • Anonymous
                    • fCC
                    • 16 Nov 2021

                    Mohsen, 16 Nov 2021Why doesn't support poco f3 90fps in the pubg?To prevent device overheating or battery

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                      • Anonymous
                      • wrj
                      • 16 Nov 2021

                      " On the flip side, the Poco F3 has the rare AMOLED panel we've handled recently that actually goes dim enough on its lowest brightness setting, and this is a blessing for using it in pitch darkness."
                      Unfortunately it become double edge sword, because the uniformity of its panel become more prounounced
                      When you notices the uniformity, using dark mode or anything with gray background become annoying.

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                        • Anonymous
                        • 3%%
                        • 16 Nov 2021

                        not sure why but everytime i see camera samples from Poco F3 i am impressed despite having smaller sensors. It's like Xiaomi put one of the best image processing algorithms into that phone to help the cheaper hardware perform better. I've seen other phones with 48mp camera and also a lot with bigger sensors performing a lot worse due to terrible software.
                        Good for someone older or someone who has no time to experiment with gcams.

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                          • Anonymous
                          • LKK
                          • 16 Nov 2021

                          aReefer, 16 Nov 2021Strange that there was no mention of the green tint on the ... morei own a poco f3 (8/256) and the proximity sensor issue could be the only one i can complaint but even that bug is no a drama to me....

                          no green tint....no lags.....no problem with usb to headphone jack adapter....no problems at all...a real beast!!!!!

                          i just take few family pictures and send them via whatsapp, so no complaints with the main sensor at all...

                          the best phone for under $400usd (i just paid $380.00 usd)

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                            • Mohsen
                            • 0U$
                            • 16 Nov 2021

                            Why doesn't support poco f3 90fps in the pubg?

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                              • Anonymous
                              • TL%
                              • 16 Nov 2021

                              Nice review. Thanks.

                                Strange that there was no mention of the green tint on the screen in low light at 120Hz that mine suffers from so prominently.

                                Besides that, the display appears to be fine for me overall and glare hasn't been an issue that I have noticed at all.

                                As for the proximity sensor, that caused me a lot of grief before that 12.5 Enhanced update, which seems to have pretty much resolved that issue for me, surprisingly enough. Some say that the type of screen protector you use can impact it. I am still using the factory installed one, which isn't great and scratches easily. I bought a nice Nilkin 'Pro' tempered glass one a while ago, but haven't applied it yet - partly out of fear of messing up the proximity sensor calibration.

                                As for the cameras, they are pretty disappointing in all but the brightest daylight IMHO, and my old Poco F1 did a better job with its 12 MP camera (that also supported 4K@60 FPS by the way - unlike the F3), and I think that they could have still used a better camera, even without cannibalizing their own actual flagship sales, so I agree on that point. The ultra-wide is especially poor and gets very distorted around the edges of the frame.

                                As for the system apps updater not applying Dark Mode properly, just reboot the phone and it usually sorts itself out. Basically that's just a bug that appears once in a while after restarting the phone, until it is rebooted again.

                                Also, I really miss that headphone jack. The dongle is a pain and does not have great audio quality or output levels to drive higher impedance headphones, and is generally cumbersome to use. It also massively increases the wear and tear on the USB-C jack, which will eventually lead to many people replacing the phone before its time - a fact that may not have been lost on Xiaomi.

                                The SD 870 chipset I also have no complaints about.

                                Overall, it has been a decent phone for the price - even a pretty good one - but not a legendary one like its grandpa, the F1 was - and for many, I'm sure still is today.

                                Looking forward to see what they do with the F4 to recapture some of that former glory.

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                                  • Omer
                                  • 3Ka
                                  • 16 Nov 2021

                                  [deleted post]Fixed.

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                                    • Trollhunter
                                    • tZk
                                    • 16 Nov 2021

                                    Anonymous, 16 Nov 2021MIUI is the biggest downfall to this phone. Totally unpolis... moreIncidentalky, people like you got a shoutout in the Conclusion. If you are too lazy to read, here's the gist: The reviewer disagreed with you about MIUI.

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                                      • Chixby
                                      • HFh
                                      • 16 Nov 2021

                                      S20fe(snapdragon version) is way better than this phone

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                                        • Anonymous
                                        • TRF
                                        • 16 Nov 2021

                                        Poor charging speed after 6 months with latest OS updated.