POCO X3 NFC Review: Almost a Perfect Mid-ranger

POCO is officially back in Nepal as they went AWOL after the launch of POCO F1. Their return has seen the launch of phones like POCO C3, POCO M2, and POCO X3 NFC. POCO X3 NFC is a mid-ranger from POCO with a high refresh rate display and good performance.

POCO X3 price in Nepal is Rs. 31,999 and this phone goes up against the likes of the Samsung M51.

I have used this device for more than a week and this is my POCO X3 NFC review.

POCO X3 NFC Review

Design

• 165.3 x 76.8 x 10.1 mm, 225 g
• Hybrid Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)

POCO X3 NFC is a bulky looking phone that weighs around 225g and looks thick even with a 5160mAh battery.

Compared to the POCO X2, the X3 NFC also uses a downgraded plastic back instead of a glass back. However, it has an aluminum frame as opposed to the plastic frame of the X2.

On the rear, the rectangular camera module sits on top of circular graphics to give it an impression of a circular camera setup. Right below, it has a POCO logo etched on an embossed vertical line.

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On the front, POCO X3 NFC has a hole-punch display with minimum bezels and all around. The chin is also quite thin.

The phone feels solid but it is a thick phone given it only has a 5160mAh battery.

Display

• 6.67 inches IPS LCD
• 1080 x 2400 pixels
• 120Hz
• Corning Gorilla Glass 5

POCO X3 NFC flaunts a 120Hz refresh rate 6.67 inches FHD+ IPS LCD display with a screen resolution of 1080 x 2400.

The colors are good even though its an IPS panel. Brightness is more than enough and you wont have any porblem using it outdoors.

Then there’s the smoothness of the 120Hz refresh rate but not without a hitch. You will occasionally notice some ghosting while scrolling.

On top of that, I also noticed slight stutters with the high refresh rate option turned on. The stutter was most noticeable while scrolling through Google News.

The high refresh rate displays in mid-range phones are not perfect and this is one of the examples. You will easily notice the difference in smoothness if you have used a high refresh rate panel on a flagship smartphone.

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Performance

• Qualcomm SM6115 Snapdragon 662 (11 nm)
• Octa-core (2×2.3 GHz Kryo 470 Gold & 6×1.8 GHz Kryo 470 Silver)
• Adreno 618
• 6GB RAM, 128GB ROM, UFS 2.1

Poco X3 is equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 732G chipset. It’s a slightly overclocked version of the Snapdragon 730G.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 732G has an Octa-core (2×2.3 GHz Kryo 470 Gold & 6×1.8 GHz Kryo 470 Silver) CPU and Adreno 618 GPU. Along with that, it comes with 128GB internal storage and 6GB RAM.

Snapdragon 732G is clocked at 2.3 GHz whereas the 730G is clocked at 2.2 GHz. Else, both the chipset uses the same Kryo 470 cores and Adreno 61 GPU. POCO claims that the 732G can perform better than the 720G and 730G but the difference was not noticeable in real life.

Moreover, the 732G chipset is not optimized for some games like PUBG. There is no option for extreme FPS with smooth graphics setting to take advantage of the 120Hz refresh rate display. Also, you can only play PUBG up to high settings. As for gameplay, it’s pretty good with consistent frame rates. Besides, COD Mobile runs smoothly on High settings and Max fps.

Poco X3 uses Liquid Cool Technology 1.0 Plus that uses multi-layer graphite and liquid-cooled heat pipe for better heat dissipation. It doesn’t have any sort of heating problem and neither does it throttle while gaming.

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Camera

• Rear Camera: 64 MP, f/1.9, (wide), 1/1.73″, 0.8µm, PDAF
  • 13 MP, f/2.2, 119˚ (ultrawide), 1.0µm
  • 2 MP, f/2.4, (depth)
  • 2 MP, f/2.4, (macro)
  • Video: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/120fps, 720p@960fps; gyro-EIS
• Front Camera: 20 MP, f/2.2, (wide), 1/3.4″, 0.8µm
  • Video: 1080p@30fps

Poco X3 has a quad-camera setup on the rear with a 64MP main sensor, a 13MP ultrawide angle sensor, a 2MP macro sensor, and a 2MP depth sensor.

The main sensor is Sony IMX 682 sensor which is also used on the newly launched Samsung Galaxy M51.

NORMAL PHOTOS

The main sensor captures some good photos in daylight with good details. The colors look natural with a hint of saturation and the dynamic range is okayish as well.

But the dynamic range tends to get a bit shabby in tough situations. The bright part of the picture will get washed out. So, you will need to use HDR for that kind of setting.

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The main sensor performs well most of the time with good detail and nice contrast.

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

ULTRAWIDE PHOTOS

The 13MP ultrawide camera on the POCO X3 NFC is a welcome addition. It is one of the highest megapixel counts on a mid-ranger.

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The ultrawide angle camera takes really good photos with good dynamic range and the detail is also nice. The distortion has been taken care of nicely and the color is consistent with the main sensor.

LOW LIGHT

POCO X3 NFC is one of the good mid-ranger with good low light performance. The night mode is improved and it handles the exposure really well with night mode. The HDR works well to control the flaring of light sources. The noise reduction also helps to make the low light photos appealing.

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PORTRAIT AND MACRO MODE

Portraits from the POCO X3 NFC is nice with good background blur. The edge detection is also nice but it is a hit or miss with complex subjects. To top it off, the HDR works well to control the highlights.

As for the Macro photos, the details are not good and I won’t want to upload macro photos from the POCO X3 NFC.

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FRONT CAMERA

The front camera is not as impressive as the rear camera. The selfies have an unusual red tint and the selfies have a warmer color profile.

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The detail on the face seems fine but selfies may turn out washed out in some situations. As for selfies portraits, they are on par with the performance of other mid-rangers.

Video

POCO X3 NFC is a top mid-ranger for videos. It can capture up to 4k 30fps from both the main and ultrawide angle sensor. The picture quality on 4k is really good but you will notice some stutter while panning and tilting.

That is not the case with the 1080p option as you can go up to 1080 60 fps with the main and ultrawide angle sensor.

Battery

• Non-removable Li-Po 5160 mAh battery
• Fast charging 33W

X3 NFC has a 5160 mAh battery which is more than enough for a day of usage. Under moderate usage, I was still left with some battery in the tank at the end of the day. But, it was just enough for a day on heavy usage.

On average I was getting around 6-7 hours of screen on time with the Poco X3 NFC.

As for charging, POCO claims that the 33W fast charger can take it from 0 to 100 in just 60 mins. But it took me somewhere around 75 mins to charge it from 0 to 100.

Fingerprint Unlock and Speaker

The side-mounted fingerprint scanner works as well as any phone out there. It is quick and consistent.

POCO X3 NFC gets a stereo speaker setup and it’s a good one. It is loud and the clarity is also fine.

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Software

POCO X3 NFC is running on MIUI 12 on top of Android 10. As of writing the review, it has the security patch of November 2020.

The experience is the same as you find on any Xiaomi phone. And with that said, yes! you do get ads on this phone. MIUI 12 has made the experience better with improvements to the settings menu and drop down toggle bar. But it is still far from perfect.

The high refresh rate display has not been properly optimized and the phone has also not been optimized for different gaming titles such as PUBG.

Conclusion

POCO X3 NFC is one of the best phones out there with a top-notch price to performance ratio. It provides you with a good chipset, a 120Hz display, and a 64MP camera under Rs. 35,000.

Its battery life is decent and the 33W fast charging is a cherry on top. However, the experience has not been a smooth affair with the POCO X3. The device doesn’t seem to be fully optimized for high refresh rates. And titles like PUBG are also not optimized to take full advantage of the high refresh rate display and Snapdragon 732G.

Even with all of its flaws, POCO X3 NFC is one of the best devices to buy under Rs. 35,000.

What do you think about the POCO X3 NFC? Let us know in the comments!

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