We have a range of official smartphones available in Bangladesh but some models are not released in Bangladesh sometimes.
Unofficial phones are just phones that the smartphone manufacturers did not decide to release in the country.
Xiaomi’s Poco X4 Pro comes with unbelievable specs and does not cost a fortune.
The “unofficial” 6GB RAM and 128GB ROM version of the Poco X4 Pro are available at Tk25,500 and the 8GB RAM and 128GB ROM version of the phone are priced at Tk28,999 in Bangladesh.
You will find them in plenty of mobile shops in Bashundhara City, Motaleb Plaza or other smartphone markets.
Aesthetics
Poco’s back design, which they have been using from the last couple of years, is instantly recognizable.
Branding is important to Poco, so much so that the name POCO is written beside the large primary camera in a quite large font.
The phone has three cameras on the back, but four cut-outs. Poco still didn’t come out of tricking its users into thinking that the phone has three cameras instead of four.
Maybe Poco did it to make the camera units look symmetrical. However, I still cannot appreciate it, no matter how good it makes the phone look.
Poco X4 Pro has a glass back, which is quite surprising considering that a phone that costs much more has plastic backs.
Fingerprints were supposed to be an issue for phones with glass on the back. But surprisingly enough, fingerprints and smudges are not an issue for Poco X4 Pro.
Poco X4 Pro is definitely in the thicker part with a depth of 8.1mm, though in terms of its weight, the 205g feels light enough, considering the device’s massive size.
Poco has also provided IP53 splash and dust resistance to withstand light rains or a sweaty workout, but nothing more intense.
Stereo speakers are present on the device, which are decent enough for a phone at this price.
The 3.5mm headphone jack is located on the top instead of the bottom. While the placement bothers me, I am just happy that they decided to keep it instead of not having it.
The phone is definitely good-looking and we have to appreciate the hard work of the Poco team in making it happen.
Display
We said that the Poco X4 Pro comes with unbelievable specs. But we didn’t disclose what those specs are. Let’s start with its display.
The 6.67 inches display of the Poco X4 Pro is a Super AMOLED panel capable of a 120Hz refresh rate. The peak brightness of the display goes as far as 1200 nits.
The display is also protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 5.
If you are someone who consumes lots of multimedia content, like watching movies, the Poco X4 Pro 5G will be an ideal choice.
The colours on the 6.67-inch display really pop. Content looked crisp, although, at times, colours looked a bit oversaturated.
But the oversaturation can easily be fixed by changing the “Colour Scheme” in the MIUI’s Settings app.
Widevine L1 DRM is supported in Poco X4 Pro, which means you can stream Netflix and other top OTT platforms in HD quality.
Unfortunately enough, there's no support for HDR playback. I didn’t expect it from this phone either. You can’t have all of it without a little sacrifice.
Performance
Now comes the second unbelievable spec.
Poco X4 Pro rocks the 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G chipset. On paper, this chipset performs better, even than the 750G, which is also a 5G chipset.
If we look at other brands, it is Oppo that provided the same 695 5G chipset in their F21 Pro’s 5G version and that costs Tk37,990.
If we look at Realme, they provided 695 5G in their 9 Pro smartphone that is priced at Tk31,990.
So far, Poco X4 Pro is the cheapest phone to come with such a chipset.
Snapdragon 695 can play all of the graphics-intensive games in medium graphics settings.
Games like Call of Duty Mobile, PUBG Mobile, Asphalt 9 and Mobile Legends performed really well. However, you will start to notice a few lags if you try to increase the graphics setting to medium-high.
Camera
When it comes to the cameras, the main 64MP sensor (some might get a 108MP sensor) is joined by an 8MP ultra-wide sensor and a 2MP macro shooter.
The front-facing selfie camera has a 16MP resolution, while the back-facing camera's maximum video resolution is 1080p at 30 frames per second (fps).
A camera with this spec was supposed to support 4k video recording, and I expected this from Poco X4 Pro. The fact that it maxes out at 1080p@30 fps was a bit disappointing.
The primary sensor can produce an image with clear details, a good dynamic range, and sharp focus when snapping photos in daylight.
HDR automatically activates to liven things up a notch.
The shutter speeds were a bit on the slower side. However, shooting static objects doesn't really suffer from this.
Those who prefer their photos to have more vibrancy will find the AI camera mode to be quite helpful.
To quickly recognize and search for things in the viewfinder, Google Lens is built into the camera app, which is a nice touch.
Additionally, numerous preset filters are available to give photographs a more dynamic appearance.
Even though the focus is generally soft and the borders of the picture have a significant amount of warping in images captured with the ultra-wide camera, the dynamic range and colour temperatures are both decent enough.
In portrait mode, the camera was able to distinguish the subject in the foreground even in poor lighting. It also performed well in detecting edges.
The 2MP macro sensor on the X4 Pro's camera setup is unquestionably the worst one, and because of its poor quality, you won't likely be using the majority of the photos you take for social media usage.
Battery
Poco X4 is equipped with a 5000 mAh battery that supports 67W fast charging.
According to Xiaomi, a 67 Watts charger should charge the battery from zero to 70% in 22 minutes and fully in 41 minutes. But it is safe to assume that it will take around 45 minutes.
The battery life turned out to be great in Poco X4, thanks to its 6nm chipset and heavily optimized MIUI.
However, using a third-party ad-blocker like Blokada will help a lot in increasing battery consumption further since MIUI is notoriously known to show ads in the UI.
Verdict
Xiaomi’s Poco X4 5G offers what it should and more within its price range. The phone is highly recommended.
However, do keep in mind that the phone didn’t officially come to Bangladesh. So, you will not get a brand warranty and therefore, will need to rely on the warranty the shop you purchase from.