We looked at the second generation of the high-end brand of highlighters that came to Israel. • Is it still the most affordable device on the market? That's what we thought

• Photo: 

  Ariel Crystal

The Pocophone F1 was one of the most exciting devices for the last two years - it came out quietly with no noise and rattles and conquered us thanks to the best value for money. Will his younger brother, the Pocophone F2 Pro leave a similar impression? We checked

Design and appearance

With the first grip of the device feel the quality of its construction. On the one hand it is a little heavy (probably compared to previous Mi Series instruments) but on the other hand the glass coating and aluminum frame that wrap around it give the feeling that the finish is not only elegant but also resistant to punching.

At the top of the device you will be happy to find - Hallelujah! - A 3.5mm headphone slot that is missing from Apple devices next to an IR Blaster LED that can serve as a universal remote for TV, streaming media, air conditioner, etc. By the way, if we remember correctly the latest high-tech device equipped with such a feature was the oldest and finest Mi 6. The power button is painted red and as it sounds silly it is not quite;

Screen and finger sensor

The 6.67-inch AMOLED screen and 1080 by 2400 resolution (at 395ppi pixel compression) spread across the entire frame and thanks to the selfie pop-up camera you can enjoy a full "real" screen (92.7% device screen-to-body ratio, according to Manufacturer), with no faults, slots or points in favor of the front camera sensor. Some would argue that a jumping camera is a malfunctioning accessory, but from what we realized at Highlights, they've improved the pullout mechanism since the Mi 9T Pro. To make you smile, the selfie camera features a colored LED light during its opening and closing and you can choose the color and the sound it makes.

Photo: Ariel Gavish

The screen provides rich colors, the black is deep and the contrast is very high quality. In short, fun to watch movies, certainly on Netflix or HDR10 content. Similar to versions 8 and 9 of the Mi Miumi series, the Fingerprint Optical Sensor is located below the screen, and it works well here too. Two things you won't find on the Poco F2 Pro (which we think should already be standard) are wireless charging and IP67 water and dust resistance (though in the case of the Poco F2 Pro the explanation of multiple openings and a pop-up camera makes perfect sense). What you will find is fast charging. The kit includes a fast 33W power charger (charging from 0 to 60 percent at half-hour and full charging in just over an hour) and back cover (although not such a pretty degree but will suffice until you buy better).

The quality of the phone calls is very good and the speaker, located at the bottom of the device, produces a pretty loud sound. Whatever the case, we were surprised to find that it was a monophonic speaker and listening to music the songs sounded bassless. The 4700 mAh, quite powerful battery is easily enough for an intense day of work and some days also managed to surprise the night with about 15% the next morning.

Camera

Those who follow our reviews on the channel know that much of the score we give the smartphone is derived from the quality of its camera. The Poco F2 Pro has four cameras. The main camera is a 64-megabyte Wide lens and a f / 1.9 aperture key (a bit far from the Wavy Mate 30 Pro's f / 1.6 or Mi 10's f / 1.7). The images it delivers are sharp and rich in color but not as stunning in their level as we have seen on the Wavy flagship devices or the SE and 10-11 versions of the iPhone.

The color range of the main camera is also good but not amazing, especially in night shots. Beyond the "night photo" mode greatly improves the sharpness of the image, provides a less "soft" image and ensures more accurate exposure to light. The size of the 64 megabyte camera is around the 16 megabyte and you should consider the 256 gigabyte version. The second, Ultrawide lens, has a 13-megapixel sensor and a f / 2.4 aperture key. Those who carefully examine the quality of the images they provide will find that they are less high-quality than the main camera, but it is important to remember that this is a 123-degree lens designed for shooting large objects.

The other two cameras are a field depth sensor (designed for portrait photography with a "bokeh" effect for blurring the background around the object) at a 2 megapixel resolution and the latter is a telephoto lens for macro photography and equipped with a 5 megapixel sensor. The last two do the job and provide good images in their field, especially the macro cameras which is pure pleasure. One could say that the camera's array is considered good, but we were happy with a little more accuracy and stability, probably after the good taste left by the older Poco F1 (which was a very lucrative device in terms of value for money at launch).

Macro photography is high-quality and impressive, but may be a little tired as you need to be careful about stability in photography. In general, the phone camera experience is fun and the pictures are good enough. However, if photography is the feature that you are looking for on a smartphone, we would suggest that you check out other devices that emphasize photography, such as the Wavy P40 Pro.

The selfie camera is eroded and features a wide lens with a 20-megapixel sensor and a f / 2.2 aperture key. It provides great pictures and wide-angle photography. If you are a group selfie lover you will be able to bring in a lot more guys than you have been used to. The level of decline in detail of the front camera is impressive and its images are better than some main cameras on the devices we tested over the past year and a half.

Video photography aligns with the main camera - meaning it delivers high quality but not amazing video and falls mostly at night. You can also shoot at 4K at 60 fps and there is also the option of 8K at 30 fps. The 8K videos produce very large but high quality files and look very good on a computer screen.

4KHD night video

8K night video

Performance and price

Under the hood is a state-of-the-art eight-core Snapdragon 865 processor operating at a 2.84 Ghz frequency and providing work. Apart from a few cases of 8K video photography, we did not encounter any problems and everything worked smoothly. For those who care about making sure to run smooth games, add an option called "Game Turbo" in the settings menu that prioritizes the games you choose. The Poco F2 comes with Android 10 and apart from a removable application drawer it has nothing special. The application collection can be sorted by different categories (communication, entertainment, photography, tools, etc.), useful and effective.

The price of the 6GB version of RAM and 128 of storage is NIS 2,499, while the price of the 8GB version of RAM and 256 GB of storage is NIS 2,699. The biggest advantage of the Poco F1 (besides being an excellent device) was its low price (NIS 1,699 about a year and a half ago).

Similar to the price jump of the Xiaomi Mi 10, here too the price went up significantly compared to its older brother. Overseas, the 128GB version is sold for about $ 500. True, it is significantly cheaper than in the country, but don't forget that here you will receive two years warranty from Hamilton, the official importer.