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With the Xiaomi Poco F4 GT gaming phone, Xiaomi lowers the entry-level price for Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 phones to less than BDT 56500. Do you have to make compromises elsewhere in everyday life? We answered the questions on our test.
Poco, Redmi, and formerly Mi – all belong to the Xiaomi product range. But while the Xiaomi 12 flagship model is in the upper class, the Xiaomi Poco F4 GT, now presented with a price of BDT 56500, could provide a breath of fresh air in the upper-middle class.
With Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and features from the gaming sector at a comparatively low price, the cell phone has what it takes to be a great value for money. You can find out in our test whether the Xiaomi Poco F4 GT can also meet these expectations in practice.
The workmanship of the smartphone can be rated as good without reservation. The transitions from the display glass to the aluminum frame and from there to the back glass are flush. Unpleasing edges at the edges are not noticeable.
The cell phone has an average format with dimensions of 162.5 x 76.7 x 8.5 millimeters and a weight of 210 grams. It is easy to grip and can be operated comfortably with one hand. The positioning of the keys is also advantageous here.
The power button, including the fingerprint scanner, is located in the middle on the right, and the volume rocker is on the left. All buttons can be easily reached with the thumb and forefinger of the right hand. The keys have a pleasantly low profile.
Although they hardly stand out from the frame, they can still be felt intuitively. This also makes “blind” operations easier, for example, increasing the volume. The sliders for the shoulder buttons are more eye-catching. They are intended to offer additional ease of use in gaming and are standard for controllers on gaming consoles.
The Black Shark 4 Pro also offers similar equipment. The sliders were uncomfortable in the test because they easily got caught on clothing and they felt angular in the hand. It’s different with the Xiaomi Poco F4 GT: the controls are just high enough and have been rounded off to make them easy to use, but they’re hardly noticeable when you’re holding the phone in your hand.
The back of the cell phone is made of glass like the front and gives the Xiaomi Poco F4 GT a gaming-like impression without overdoing it. Clédéd features such as colorful RGB lighting or the like have been left out. Instead, the back is decorated with smooth and matte glass accents in a futuristic pattern. They shimmer slightly on the back of our silver test device.
This gives an unusual but pleasing look. However, it is not more than decoration, and if Xiaomi had used a smooth back here, the cell phone would hardly be distinguishable from others. There are two other color variants, one in black and one in yellow-black.
The scope of delivery includes all you require. In addition to the mobile phone, you will also find a matching silicone case, a power supply unit, a charging cable, and a USB-C to 3.5 mm jack adapter. This allows you to connect wired headphones and headsets as you wish.
The Xiaomi Poco F4 GT looks like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The specifications read on paper like a luxury model. At the same time, the shoulder buttons indicate real gaming suitability.
The Xiaomi Poco F4 GT is equipped with a 6.67-inch AMOLED display. It has a refresh rate of 120 Hertz and is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus.
The Touch Sampling Rate, or TSR, is particularly relevant for gaming. It describes the frequency with which the display registers the touches made and is particularly indispensable for faster games. With the Xiaomi Poco F4 GT, it is 480 Hertz.
In a direct comparison with other gaming cell phones, which can reach up to 960 Hertz, this is an average value. However, those who are used to the average sampling rate of “normal” smartphones of 120 to 300 Hertz will notice a much more precise control.
The Xiaomi Poco F4 GT is equipped with the current top chipset from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. This is the first time a cell phone with this top chipset has been released in the price range of less than BDT 56500.
In terms of price, Xiaomi even undercuts the Realme GT2 Pro and the Nubia Red Magic 7, which were previously the cheapest options with the chipset. However, we also want to use benchmark tests to check the price-performance ratio.
As expected, the field is very close together in terms of processor performance. In the AnTuTu test, which evaluates the overall performance, the Redmagic 7 sets itself apart from the other two models. However, it is also much more generously equipped with 18 gigabytes of RAM.
With a choice of 8 or 12 gigabytes of RAM, the Xiaomi Poco F4 GT is impressive in comparison. In addition, up to 3 gigabytes of virtual memory can be added. A Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 phone with a better price-performance ratio is not currently available on the market.
The 8 GB RAM version comes with 128 gigabytes of device memory, and the 12 GB version has 256 gigabytes. The storage is not expandable. Still, there should be more than enough space for gaming apps, snapshots, and Spotify playlists for most users.
In addition to powerful hardware, the Xiaomi Poco F4 GT is also equipped with a real gaming feature that we have already mentioned several times in this test: the shoulder buttons. Are the buttons any good, or are they just a nice gimmick?
The Xiaomi Poco F4 GT’s shoulder buttons are nested on the right side of the phone. When retracted, they are not noticeable. They are only extended when you use the sliders. Even if you’re not a gamer, you can use these buttons.
They can be linked to a number of practical functions in normal use, such as switching to vibration mode or controlling the screen. If you press the button in and later out again, you can immediately access your preset functions.
Unlike Nubia’s Redmagic 7, for example, where you first have to activate the use of the buttons via the “Game Room” mode, Xiaomi offers you a simpler solution. You will get a notification on the screen. You can use the associated menu to assign the shoulder buttons individually for each game at any time. It doesn’t matter whether you ‘extended the keys’ or not.
In the game, the keys do a very good job and the input is recognized quickly. However, compared to the very sensitive touchpads of the Redmagic 7 Pro, the gameplay feels a bit slower. However, this was only noticed in Call of Duty Mobile, where every little millisecond counts.
In order to exhaust the Adreno 730 graphics chip on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, we took a jaunt into the graphically complex role-playing game Genshin Impact. Appropriate for the top chipset, we select the top settings and soar through the skies, enjoying the views and throwing ourselves into the fray. Unsurprisingly, the cell phone is unimpressed by our experiments.
movements to admire the landscape in flight as well as standing build-up without delay. We can handle battle scenes with diverse elemental effects and groups of enemies without any problems. Both the representation and our movements were carried out precisely. Slight stuttering This occurs occasionally. However, they were the absolute exception and can very well be traced back to the network.
Shooters like Call of Duty Mobile are fast, hard, and unforgiving when entering data. This is about speed. In addition to a stable internet connection, the TSR of the display is important here, because it registers your movements.
On the other hand, the hardware has to be fast enough to display the surroundings in a way that suits your movements. This quickly leads to streaks or other misrepresentations. Visual beauty may seem secondary here, but we still use the highest possible settings to find out what the phone can really do.
The gaming experience was exceptionally good. In football jargon, you would probably say that we dribbled our opponents out more than once. That’s how quickly we were able to react to the movements of our teammates. The shoulder buttons significantly accelerated the gameplay. Normally, you shoot and look with your right thumb. We placed the trigger on the right shoulder button and were able to time movements, looks, and shots. That almost feels unfair.
We also didn’t notice any unusual temperature development in either game. The phone got warm, of course, but never to the point that we had to say it felt uncomfortable on the fingers.
The battery of the Xiaomi Poco F4 GT has a capacity of up to 4,700 mAh, an average value. A full charge yielded just over 10 hours of use. However, this only refers to “normal” mobile phone use. Not in gaming.
However, once the cell phone has been played to empty, you don’t have to wait long for a full charge. Because the mobile phone can be charged quickly with the included charger with up to 120 watts. According to the manufacturer, a full charge can be reached within 17 minutes, while gaming takes 27 minutes.
Xiaomi hasn’t promised too much with that. A full charge is reached extremely quickly. Measured with the stopwatch, it was almost 18 minutes. With an ordinary 20-watt charger, it takes 50 minutes to go from 20 to 80 percent. However, we can not recommend charging with the included cable while gaming.
The L-shaped USB-C connector is well-intentioned, but it gets in the way when gaming. Especially if you want to use the shoulder buttons. because the cable or the large adapter is always in the way. In gameplay, this can quickly cost the player victory.
The Xiaomi Poco F4 GT is equipped with a triple camera consisting of a 64-megapixel wide-angle, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle, and a 2-megapixel macro camera. The main responsible camera sensor is an old acquaintance.
An IMX686 from Sony is used here, which has been used in various models since its release in 2020. One of them is the Asus ZenFone 8. In the well-known DxOMark, the cell phone achieved results comparable to those of the Xiaomi Mi 11, the manufacturer’s top model from the previous year, in good lighting conditions. Good digital image and video stabilization were highlighted.
The mobile phone was also able to convince us in our practice test. In good light conditions, photography with a mobile phone is a lot of fun. Operation is fluid, switching between modes and zoom levels is possible without delay. Only the filters sometimes need a second to adjust the motif.
The results are convincing. The color richness is high, even at high zoom levels, the images remain sharp. Fine shadows don’t look too blurry, and the closer you zoom in, the contours remain recognizable. It is clearly illustrated in our photo examples by the shadow of rose petals at 4x and 8x magnification.
In the DxOMark benchmark test, the camera of the Zenfone 8 only reached its limits in poor lighting conditions. We also see moderate results with the Xiaomi Poco F4 GT with limited interior lighting or twilight. The edges are visibly blurred. The colors appear desaturated and the whole image appears blurred.
The phone also does not have an optical image stabilizer, which makes it even more difficult to take good photos in poor conditions. However, compared to other gaming phones, the Poco stands out from the crowd and offers excellent results.
There are further restrictions for video clips: the Xiaomi Poco F4 GT has a maximum resolution of up to 4K at 60 Hertz for recordings on the software side, but the hardware could certainly handle 8K.
Selfie fans can rely on a 20-megapixel front camera that records videos at up to 1080p. It is framed by a punch hole in the center of the upper edge of the screen.
At first glance, it looks unobtrusive, but these cameras can be disruptive to gameplay, such as by obscuring controls or displays. However, this is not the case with the Xiaomi Poco F4 GT. We had a clear view of the game at all times.
The cell phone is moderate in terms of sound. The speakers are framed on the right side of the phone, presumably to keep them from being covered when gaming. However, you do that inevitably when you use the shoulder buttons.
But even if the path for the sound is clear, the sound seems blocked. Music, speech, and effects in games have a dull sound. Shots in films and Call of Duty are more impressive as a result, but the sound image appears overloaded as a result.
The Xiaomi Poco F4 GT was released ex-works with the current Android version 12. As usual with Xiaomi, the in-house adaptation of MIUI 13 is also integrated. It comes with some useful tools, but also some apps that you may not want or can’t use—for example, because you don’t own any other Xiaomi products. Fortunately, many of these can be removed manually.
You should receive an update to Android 13, but probably no further updates beyond that.
The Xiaomi Poco F4 GT has been available since April 26 and comes in two versions. The 8GB/128GB variant will be available for BDT 66000, and the 12GB/256GB variant for BDT 66000. Both versions come in three color versions: Stealth Black (black), Knight Silver (silver), and Cyber Yellow (yellow with black accents).
With an Early Bird offer, you can secure the cell phone in advance at a reduced price from selected dealers. The starting price is then 499 euros for the “small” version. In the following articles, we present the offers of the participating dealers in more detail:
We also recommend that you take a look at our smartphone leaderboards. You can find comparable products, for example, in the leaderboards “Mid-range cell phones in the test: The best smartphones up to BDT 23600, 28700, 37800, and 56600 ” or “Xiaomi cell phones in the test: Mi, Poco, and Redmi-the big comparison”.
