On November 4, 2020, POCO officially entered Nepal. People were eagerly waiting for the company to launch the Poco X3 but the company didn’t do so. The company launched the POCO C3 and Poco M2 but showed no interest in the POCO X3. But after a lot of demand from the fan-side, the company finally launched the POCO X3 NFC here in Nepal on December 20, 2020. We finally have the phone in our studio and we have been testing it for some days. So, let’s take a look at the POCO X3 NFC and see how it fared in our initial impressions.
POCO X3 NFC Initial Impressions
The POCO X3 NFC comes in some pretty good packaging with a black and yellow color scheme. Popping off the lid, you greeted by a small box. Under this small box is a neat looking SIM-ejector tool! Pulling the contents of the box, we get a transparent TPU case and some paper works. Putting them aside, you’ll see the phone itself in all of its glory. Moving the phone aside, the last two items in the box are a 33W wall adapter and a USB Type-C cable.
Holding the phone for the first time, it felt a bit heavy. The phone weighs about 215 grams and given the massive 5160mAh battery, it was expected. This time POCO has gone ahead with a fresh design for the X3. It doesn’t look like a Redmi phone by any means. Glancing at the phone more closely, I noticed that the camera layout is not a perfect circle, there are parallel horizontal cuts to it. Tho phone has a plastic back with a huge POCO branding. Yeah! That’s a huge one. The phone feels sturdy and is easy to hold as the back has some curves.
Display
Peeling off the screen protector we’re greeted by a 6.67 inches Full HD+ IPS LCD display. The screen looks amazing with a variable scale of brightness. We had no problem with the display even in broad daylight. Watching YouTube videos and firing up a quick game was a pleasant experience on this device. The screen is vibrant and the phone feels smooth as it features a 120Hz high refresh rate. If you are into gaming, this should interest you.
Cameras
Talking about cameras, the phone has the main 64MP f/1.9 Sony IMX682 sensor on the rear coupled with a 13MP f/2.2 ultrawide lens, with a 119-degree field of view, a 2MP macro camera, and a 2MP depth sensor. The camera sensor is excellent, and it can take some beautiful photos in daylight settings. The phone is also capable of taking some amazing low-light images. However, I noticed some blueish tint on the images taken with the AI Mode turned on. Also, the wide-angle shots are good with a decent dynamic range. The 20MP front shooter is inside the hole-punch and it can take some amazing selfies.
Hardware & Software
POCO X3 NFC is the first-ever phone to launch with the gaming-centric Qualcomm Snapdragon 732G chipset. The phone is smooth and for daily usage, the phone is just enough. PUBG felt smooth and the phone’s temperature was all under control.
The phone comes with MIUI 12 for POCO on top of Android 10 out of the box. Personally, I am not a stock Android fan and I rather prefer MIUI over other UIs out there. I love the personalization options provided with this UI and how this looks and feels. The User Interface depends on one’s personal preference. This version of MIUI is different. The company has replaced its own dialer, contacts, and messaging app with Google’s stock apps. I missed the automatic call-recording feature on this phone a lot as I’ve been using it for a long time. The call recording feature is available but we need to turn it on automatically.
Battery & More
The POCO X3 NFC is a mid-range phone which hits all the sweet spots and provides value for money. The smooth 120Hz display, 64MP Sony IMX 682 sensor, fast charging, and good battery life are some areas that one cannot miss. Also, the 33W charger that comes in the box can fully charge the device from 10% in just about an hour and five minutes. The 5160mAh cell got me somewhere around 7 hours of on-screen time with the phone. This without a doubt will be enough to get users through a day or two of usage on a single charge.
The phone has dual SIM support but you can either use two SIMs or a SIM and a microSD card at a time. It also has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor like the one in the Redmi Note 9 Pro series or the Huawei Nova 5T but it is not the fastest one out there. Although, it gets the job done. The face unlocking is faster and more accurate.
POCO X3 NFC Initial Impressions: Verdict
The POCO X3 NFC is an amazing smartphone that has a lot to offer. Looking at the competition, the phone stands tall in many aspects. It has a powerful mid-range gaming chipset with some really interesting specs. So, for anyone looking for a good mid-tier smartphone under the price of Rs 35,000, the POCO X3 NFC is a great smartphone. We highly recommend it!
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