The entry-level smartphone market may not be as exciting as the mainstream or middle class, but it is amazing to see the features you can find today at relatively low prices. Today we are testing Poco C3, which is the first sub-rupee of Poxo. 10,000 smartphones in India
Its main contestants are Redmi 9A and Realme C11. Does Poco C3 provide better value for money than the competition? Detection time
read more Redmi 8A
Poco C3 design
Poco C3 is a great phone. It is 9 mm long and is quite heavy at 194g. However, the build quality is decent. The back and side frames are made of plastic and you get round edges all around. Poxo claims that the C3 has a P2I coating, which may help protect it from accidental splashing of water. I have lime green, which, honestly, looks blue more than anything. The back panel has a majority textured pattern, which helps improve the grip of the phone and fingerprints can be lifted easily.
I am not very happy with the lack of a USB Type-C port, but this is what you can expect in this segment. There is no fingerprint sensor on this phone, which again, is something that is not guaranteed for this budget phone. You get facial recognition, which is slow, but it also works with face masks.
Poco offers a larger display, but naturally, only with HD + resolution (1600×720). The display is not very dynamic and the brightness is just enough indoors. However, the screen washes very badly, making it difficult to use in the sun. There are also thick borders around the display, especially at the bottom. Doodrop is the mark for a selfie camera.
Poco C3 software
Poco C3 runs MIUI 12, but unlike Redmi phones running MIUI, Poco claims that its version does not appear to contain any advertising or promotional material. So far, the company has lived up to that promise. During the review period, I did not see any advertisements or fixed alerts. I get occasional alerts from Get Apps, which is Xiaomi’s own Credit App Store, but they usually tell me about updates to installed apps.
You can find a bunch of apps like Jelly and Mini Games already installed, but they cannot be installed.
Poco C3 specifications and performance
Poco C3 uses the MediaTek Helio G35SC, which is found in many phones in this segment, including the Realm C11 (review). The base version of the C3 has 3GB RAM and 32GB storage, and is priced at Rs. 7,499, while the higher has 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. 8,999.
However, it is not just Poco C3; The Helio G35 SC, such as Redmi 9, Realm C11, Realm C12, and Realm C15, perform slower on every smartphone, regardless of their RAM. The UI has a break on everything from animation to multitasking. The MIUI is still very usable, but the experience is not as easy as you get on a phone that is a few thousand bucks more than a more powerful processor. In a way, this is the story of most Android phones that cost around Rs. Rupees. 7,000 price points in rupees, for now.
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Play well, but you need to live up to your expectations. However, titles such as Karkus Drift Racing 2 continued to struggle at consistent frame rates. The single speaker makes good sound near the micro USB port. Videos do not look great due to the slow performance, so watching anything is not a great experience.
Battery life
One area where Poco C3 really excels is battery life. Poco C3 has a 5,000 mAh battery that lasts for about two days for moderate use with easy lighting. Even after a lot of gaming, I was still able to get around a day and a half, which is great. My single grip needs a very long time to charge the battery. With the help of a bundled adapter, the C3’s battery charged only 37% in one hour, and it took about three hours to fully charge.
Poco C3 camera
Poco C3 takes pride in having three rear cameras, which is not something we often see in this section. The camera app routine identifies the shooting routine, auto HDR and AI view. There is no mode of low light shooting.
Images shot in low light had poor detailing and usually did not deteriorate until there was sufficient illumination. This result was expected given the F / 2.2 aperture and Poco C3‘s entry-level position. Video shot during the day was average in quality, and very weak when shot in low light.
Finally, the selfie camera captures usable shots during the day, but the quality decreases slightly in low light.
Final opinion
Poco C3‘s base edition is a good pick which costs Rs. If you like, the 7,499 is a solid Android smartphone with a strong battery life. The display is a bit dim, the performance is not very good, and the cameras are just usable.