POCO

POCO X2 might not launch in Nepal officially

March 23, 2020

After days of teases and leaks, Poco officially unveiled the new POCO X2 in India in Feb. It, as we suspected, is just a rebranded Redmi K30, which nevertheless comes with fabulous features. However, since Poco is now an independent smartphone brand, the Poco X2 will not be launching outside India (at least for now). Anyways, let’s learn more about the specs, price, and availability date of Poco X2 in Nepal here.

POCO X2 Overview

POCO began hyping its Poco X2 smartphone as soon as it was spun off from Xiaomi as an independent brand in India. Obviously it will utilize Xiaomi’s resources and all, but it will adopt a different business model to penetrate the excruciatingly price-sensitive market of the country.

Design

If you already know about the Redmi K30, then all of the following will sound very similar to you. And maybe the price is only what you’re after. Anyways, talking about its design, it comes in a 3D curved glass body with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection on both, front and back of the phone, with aluminum frame. The phone comes in a glossy gradient finish in three color variants: Atlantis Blue, Matrix Purple, and Phoenix Red.

The camera arrangement on the back is quite unique as well, with the quad-cameras placed vertically, which reminded me of the “baseline test monitoring device” from Blade Runner 2049. More on the design, you’ll find the fingerprint scanner on the right side of the phone, like the one on the Huawei Nova 5T. The evanescent IR blaster is still there, which is nice. Furthermore, there’s no IP rating, but the POCO X2 does come with a P2i coating which should protect the phone from any splashes of water here and there.

Display

Coming to the front, the POCO X2 employs a dual punch-hole cutout for the front cameras on a tall 6.67-inches “RealityFlow” FHD+ IPS LCD screen with a 20:9 aspect ratio and HDR10 support. But the most exciting thing about this display is definitely its superior 120Hz refresh rate.

The trend of a smoother display panel really kicked off in 2019, and it looks like 2020 is when it really goes mainstream; why wouldn’t it? POCO X2’s “Intelligent Dynamic Refresh Rate” technology dynamically arranges the refresh rate depending upon the type of app being used, which could be crucial to saving battery in the long run.

Cameras

Now let’s talk cameras, shall we? POCO X2 comes with a quad-camera setup on the back arranged vertically inside a distinct gradient halo that complements the phone’s colors. And just below the cameras, there’s the dual-LED flash.

Here, the primary lens is the new 64MP Sony IMX686 sensor, which is set to feature in many flagship phones in 2020. Additionally, you also get an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens with 120º field-of-view (FOV), a 2MP depth sensor, and a 2MP macro lens. With such an impressive camera arrangement, POCO hopes to deliver flagship-grade photography on a budget.

Also Read: Poco X2 Long Term Review: Is it worth it?

Moving on, the phone can also capture uncompressed RAW images, which can be really helpful to professional photographers. In terms of video, you can shoot up to 4K @30fps, while there’s also the support for the glorious 960fps videos at HD resolution. Besides this, a dedicated “VLOG Mode” has been embedded into the camera to fuel the inner vlogger in you.

Getting to the front cameras (yes, cameras), there’s a 20MP main lens, and a 2MP depth sensor packed inside a dual punch-hole cutout on the top right corner of the display. Personally, I prefer pop-ups or even minimal centered notches to these, but to each his own I guess.

Performance & Memory

POCO X2 is powered by the Snapdragon 730G, which is based on the 8nm fabrication process. Well, I am a little disappointed on the POCO X2 for having the 730G because of the legacy the name “POCO” carries with it. The POCO X2 not having the latest Snapdragon 865 was fine by me because it looks like it will feature in some other upcoming phone from the company. But the 765G is a warranted wish, right?

Nevertheless, 730G is not unworthy either. What surprised me was how the company claimed better performance on the POCO X2 than the Realme X2 having the same processor. A consistent AnTuTu score over multiple cycles? Sounds too good to be true, but not impossible.

LiquidCool Technology

POCO also emphasized on the gaming capability of the phone, with a better thermal performance thanks to its LiquidCool technology and the second-gen Game Turbo. And once again, comparisons were made against the Realme X2 for their heating.

Getting into memory, the POCO X2 comes with either 6 or 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and from 64 to 256GB of UFS 2.1 storage. The hardware on the phone is further complemented by the software, which the company claims helps in optimizing the core-level performance for enhanced RAM management. Now that’s what I like to hear. No matter how excellent the hardware is, if a decent software to back that up is absent, the phone is no good. Here, POCO X2 runs on Android 10.0 with a modified version of MIUI 11 on top.

Battery

Talking about the battery, the phone comes with a big 4500mAh cell, which should last a day even on moderate to heavy use. Don’t quote me on that because we still haven’t tested it ourselves yet. A big battery needs a better charging mechanism too, right? Well, the POCO X2 comes with a 27W charger on the box. Nice!

Also, POCO claims that the 27W charger of the POCO X2 charges its bigger 4500mAh faster at 68 minutes compared to Realme X2’s 30W VOOC flash charger charging the phone’s smaller 4000mAh battery in 76 minutes. bruh! I can’t wait to see if it’ll really stand up to its claims in real-life tests.

POCO X2 Specifications

Body: 6.51 x 3.02 x 0.35 inches; 208 gm; P2i coating
Display: 6.67-inches “RealityFlow” IPS LCD panel with HDR10 support; 386 PPI and up to 500 nits of brightness
Resolution: FHD+ (2400 x 1800 pixels); 20:9 aspect ratio
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G; 8nm Mobile Platform
CPU: Octa-core (2x Gold @ 2.2GHz + 6x Silver @ 1.8GHz)
GPU: Adreno 618
RAM: 6 / 8GB LPDDR4X dual-channel memory
Storage: 64 / 128 / 256GB UFS 2.1 (expandable via a microSD card)
Software & UI: Android 10 with MIUI 11 on top
Rear Camera: Quad-camera;
– 64 MP f/1.89 Sony IMX686 sensor, PDAF support
– 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide sensor with 120º FOV
– 2MP f/2.4 macro lens
– 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor
– Dual LED flash
Front Camera: Dual-camera;
– 20MP f/2.2 primary sensor
– 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor
Security: Side-mounted fingerprint scanner
Audio: 3.5mm headphone jack, Qualcomm Hi-Fi DAC support
Connectivity: Hybrid dual-SIM (Nano), microSD card, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS/AGPS/GLONASS/Beidou, USB Type-C
Battery: 4500 mAh with 27W fast charging
Colors: Atlantis Blue, Matrix Purple, Phoenix Red

POCO X2 Price in Nepal & Availability

You can buy the Poco X2 in Nepal via unauthorized sellers like hamrobazar, Facebook groups, etc. The Poco X2 Price in Nepal starts at Rs. 30,000. This price is for the base 6GB RAM and 64GB storage variant.