Poco F3 GT Review: An Impressive Gaming Phone

Poco is one of the handful of manufacturers that focuses on providing the best performance for the price. Recently, they have gone on and done the same with a gaming phone named Poco F3 GT.

Poco F3 GT price in Nepal is Rs. 56,999 (8/256GB). For the price, it brings a flagship chipset and provides an excellent gaming experience.

So, let me tell you all about it in my review of the Poco F3 GT.

Poco F3 GT Review

Design

• 161.9 x 76.9 x 8.3 mm, 205g
• Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
• Corning Gorilla Glass 5

Poco F3 GT is a gaming phone from Xiaomi but it puts less emphasis on looking like a gaming phone. It uses a metal frame and glass back with a matte finish.

Poco has used some vertical stripes and graphical lines to give it a gaming vibe along with RGB lighting on the camera module.

On the right, it has a power button integrated with a fingerprint sensor and it is flanked by Maglev triggers from both sides. These triggers are retractable with the provided slider alongside the triggers.

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On the bottom, it has a speaker, USB Type-C port, mic, and a sim slot. Likewise, there’s another speaker and a mic on the opposite side. On the left, it gets a third mic and volume button. So, it uses a dual stereo speaker and a triple mic setup. The speakers are loud and the sound quality is good too. And, the triple mic setup also provides very good audio quality for voice calls and chat.

Talking about the in-hand feel, it is slightly on the heavier side. Overall, the build quality of the Poco F3 GT feels very good.

Display

• 6.67 inches IPS LCD
• 1080 x 2400 pixels
• 120Hz
• Corning Gorilla Glass 6

Poco F3 GT has been slapped with the 6.67 inches FHD+ AMOLED panel with Gorilla Glass 5 protection.

The AMOLED panel has very good brightness level and the color reproduction is top notch as well.

Furthermore, it also has HDR10+ support which will allow HDR playback on Netflix. However, the auto-brightness was not working well all the time. Sometimes, I had to adjust the brightness manually indoors.

Moving to high refresh rate optimization, the 120Hz display feels very smooth. It drops down to 60Hz when the screen is not in use and in some certain apps like YouTube, Camera, and Games.

Also, there is no touch response-related issues and ghosting issues that I found on some cheaper smartphones like Poco X3 Pro.

Performance

• MediaTek Dimensity 1200 5G (6 nm)
• Octa-core (1×3.0 GHz Cortex-A78 & 3×2.6 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55)
• Mali-G77 MC9
• 256GB 8GB RAM, UFS 2.1

Now, this is where the PocoF3 GT shows its pedigree. Equipped with the Dimensity 1200 chipset from MediaTek, Poco F3 GT is a performance beast.

Along with the 8GB RAM and 256GB ROM, the Poco F3 GT provides very good performance. It breezes through normal tasks like browsing, UI navigation, and multitasking.

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In terms of gaming, it can handle every type of game with relative ease. PUBG Mobile can be played at Ultra FPS on HDR graphics setting with consistent 40fps. Likewise, you can play it on Extreme FPS with Smooth graphics setting at consistent 60fps.

Similarly, you can play COD Mobile on Very High FPS and graphics setting with consistent frame rates. The gameplay is very smooth and I did not face any thermal throttling issues. Moving on to 120Hz games like Mortal Kombat, the game runs smoothly with 120 FPS but the phone does heat up quite quickly.

Talking about the thermals, the phone does get warm and it goes up to 43.7 °C while gaming. At this temperature, the back of the phone feels warm and a bit uncomfortable to hold. However, there are no thermal throttling issues on the Poco F3 GT. In comparison, the OnePlus Nord 2 does a better job with a max temp of only 40 °C.

Camera

• Rear Camera: 64MP, f/1.8 Primary Camera, PDAF
  • 8 MP, f/2.2, 119˚ (ultrawide), 1.0µm
  • 2 MP, f/2.4, (macro)
  • Video: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, 720p@30/60/240/960fps
• Front Camera: 16MP, f/2.2
  • Video: 1080p@30fps

Poco F3 GT has a triple-camera setup on the rear with a 64MP main sensor, an 8MP ultrawide angle sensor, and a 2MP macro sensor.

Instead of the 48MP Sony IMX 582 sensor on the Poco F3, the F3 GT gets a 64MP OmniVision OV64B sensor.

NORMAL PHOTOS

Photos from the main sensor are good enough during daylight conditions. But the photos look a bit oversharpened, especially with the HDR turned on.

Colors are saturated with average dynamic range and details.

If you want more detail then you can also capture photos with the 64MP mode but I prefer the normal mode to the 64MP mode.

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ULTRAWIDE PHOTOS

On the other hand, the 8MP ultrawide doesn’t capture good enough details.

The photos turn out a bit soft and you can notice noise even in daylight. Overall, the ultrawide photos are average at best.

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LOW LIGHT

As for the low-light images, they are acceptable with good exposure and nice colors. The night mode helps in fixing the highlights and getting more details in the shadows.

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PORTRAIT MODE

Portraits from the PocoF3 GT are nice with a good background blur. The edge detection is also nice but it is a hit or miss with complex subjects. But the photos might get blown out in high dynamic range situations.

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FRONT CAMERA

The front camera also sharpens the photos like the main sensor.

The selfies turn out quite good with a decent dynamic range and good details. And, photos also have a slightly warmer tone to them.

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Video

Poco F3 GT can capture up to 4k 30fps from the main sensor but the quality is not great. You can notice some noise even in daylight but the dynamic range and stabilization are decent.

Dropping to 1080p will further improve stabilization and smoothness with a significant drop in the quality.

Battery

• Non-removable Li-Po 5065mAh battery
• Fast charging 67W

F3 GT has a 5065mAh battery that can last for a day on moderate usage.

On average I was getting around 6-7 hours of screen on time with the Poco F3 GT.

As for charging, the included 67W charger can top up the F3 GT from 0 to 100% in just 50 mins. Thus, the battery life and charging on the F3 GT are really good.

Software

Poco F3 GT runs on MIUI 12.5 on top of Android 11.

The experience is the same as you find on any Xiaomi or Poco phone. And with that said, there are some new changes with the MIUI 12.5. With this version of MIUI, you get the new split-style control center. But, I prefer the standard one.

Furthermore, it comes with other standard features like raise to wake and double-tap to wake.

Conclusion

Poco F3 GT is a proper gaming phone. If you’re looking for a gaming phone under Rs. 60,000, then this is one of the best you can get.

ALSO READ: Poco Mobiles Price in Nepal: Features and Specs

It features a good AMOLED panel, top-notch SoC, a very good battery, and super fast charging. However, its camera quality is not the best you can find at this price range. Also, Poco F3 GT is a bit expensive in Nepal than in India. It comes very close to the OnePlus Nord 2 which is slightly ahead in terms of camera quality and thermal performance.

What do you think about the POCO F3 GT? Let us know in the comments.