Xiaomi Poco X3 GT

The Xiaomi POCO X3 GT 256 GB is available in Pakistan for Rs 63,999 (US $ 388) and has been on the market from July 28, 2021. The phone has 256GB of storage capacity and 8GB of RAM. This phone has a triple camera arrangement with a 64MP main camera. In addition, the phone boasts a large 5000 mAh battery. The smartphone’s screen measures 6.6 inches and is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus.

POCO X3 GT Review

POCO has announced a new mid-ranger called the X3 GT 5G, but it’s not as fresh as you may think. Instead, it’s a rebrand of Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 10 Pro, but since it’s the first time most of us have seen it, how does it compare to POCO’s other X3 branded phones?

The POCO X3 GT stands out from the rest of the POCO X3 lineup. The POCO logo is modest and out of the way, and instead of an x-shaped camera, there’s a somewhat regular-looking camera configuration on the rear.

The phone is grippy enough and comfortable to hold, just like many other POCO and XIAOMI phones, and it collects smudges reasonably quickly. In addition, there’s a texture under the plastic back that sparkles when it catches the light. The frame is also made of plastic, and overall the phone is grippy enough and comfortable to hold.

Screen

The front of the phone is a 6.6-inch IPS LCD with a 1080p resolution and a hole punch for the selfie camera, which is IP53 protected for dust and light splashes of water.

Display

The X3 GT’s display, like the previous POCO x3 phones before it, features a high-speed 120hz refresh rate, which adds extra smoothness to your swiping and scrolling, and thanks to a 240hz touch sampling rate, it should be pretty durable as well. High frame rate gaming is also enabled, and the refresh rate is adjustable and may be dialed down to 30 hertz based to save energy.

Overall, this display is excellent; it’s sharp enough, and the black levels are among the darkest we’ve seen on an LCD; it also supports HDR 10, and the colors aren’t remarkably accurate by default. However, if you modify the settings, you can get good accuracy. In addition, we were impressed by the display’s minimal brightness.

Brightness

It dims to less than one nit, but the maximum brightness is acceptable; we measured 430 nits using the slider and auto mode boost to 540 nits in broad sunlight.

Audio

The POCO X3 GT sports a bottom-mounted stereo speaker and a top-mounted speaker with grills on the front and top of the frame.

They scored merely average on our loudness ratings, but they’re nicely balanced, and the sound is vibrant. Unfortunately, the POCO X3 GT lacks a headphone connector, and there’s no expandable storage, unlike other POCO models like the X3 NFC or the X3 Pro.

Storage & software

The phone comes with either 128 or 256 gigabytes of storage, so select wisely. The X3 GT’s interface is Xiaomi’s latest MIUI 12.5 based on Android 11.

Because this is a POCO phone, the system style and icons are slightly different, as are several proprietary programs like the gallery, music app, and video player. MIUI gives you the option of splitting your typical notification shade into two panels. Swiping on the left corner will bring up a notification center, and swiping on the right will bring up a control center with all of your quick toggle options.

The GT in this phone’s name relates to Gran Turismo like a sports car. POCO refers to the power under the hood trying to attract the gamer audience. waking up and unlocking the phone can be done using a side-mounted fingerprint reader’s slash power button. It’s amazingly responsive.

Chipset

In benchmarks, the GT has a new Mediatek density 1100 built on a 6-nanometer process that provides plenty of power and 5g connectivity. Although it’s not quite as powerful as the top flagships, the X3 GT is still a flagship great, and both CPU and GPU-wise, the X3 GT is one of the best in this price bracket.

Despite being advertised as an advanced cooling system, the X3 GT’s thermal management isn’t spectacular. We observed significant heating and thermal throttling within minutes after beginning the stress test, although we didn’t experience any delay in an actual game.

Battery

The POCO X3 GT is a 5000 mAh battery phone and battery life is still remarkable, with the GT scoring 110 hours in our exclusive tests – something you don’t get with the NFC or Pro models.

The POCO X3, on the other hand, has a blazing fast 67-watt charging system. Using the included adapter, we could charge the phone from zero to 75 percent in half an hour, and a full charge took only 48 minutes.

Camera setup

There’s a 64 megapixel Quad Bayer primary camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera, and a 2-megapixel macro camera on the POCO x3 GT.

The primary camera’s photos are 16 megapixels by default, which is excellent for the class. There’s plenty of detail with well-presented foliage and balanced sharpness, the colors are accurate, and the dynamic range is wide even without the use of HDR processing. Portrait shots are good with accurate and dependable subject separation, even without the use of HDR processing.

The subjects are incredibly detailed as well, with excellent-looking colors. The 8-megapixel photos from the ultra-wide are decent, if not spectacular, with enough resolved detail, good contrast, and a wide dynamic range. The colors, however, don’t match the main cameras, coming out noticeably warmer.

The 2-megapixel macro camera has fixed focus, and its photos are ok, with enough detail for this resolution.

The primary camera does an excellent job for the class, with a lot of detail, excellent sharpness, good contrast, true to light colors, and low noise.

The dynamic range isn’t awe-inspiring, with occasional blown highlights, but toggling on night mode will restore blown highlights and give you more development in the shadows, as well as improved color saturation.

With this option enabled, the night mode is meant to kick in if the setting is dark enough, but in practice, it only kicks in very seldom. Therefore we recommend using the manual night mode when you want to use it at night.

They’re noisy but sharp enough, and colors are nicely retained in night mode. In addition, the quality is dramatically enhanced, with blown highlights recovered and more detail and shadows, as well as reduced noise and more resolved detail selfies taken with a 16-megapixel front-facing camera.

These are balanced and natural-looking with enough detail, excellent contrast and colors, and an above-average dynamic range. The Videos can be recorded up to 4k resolution at 30fps with the primary camera. These look amazing for the class; there’s plenty of detail, excellent sharpness and contrast, no noise, and accurate colors. The dynamic range is praiseworthy too. The ultra-wide cam can shoot in up to 1080p resolution at 30fps. Again, these look amazing for the class. There’s plenty of detail, excellent sharpness and contrast, no noise, and accurate colors.

The Xiaomi POCO X3 GT has electronic stabilization on both cameras and all resolutions. It comes with a slight loss of field of view and a bit of extra softness, but it does an excellent job of smoothing things out.

Pros and Cons

You get a gleaming, water-resistant design, a fantastic 120hz LCD screen, dual speakers, excellent battery life, and highly rapid charging; the chipset is flagship-grade, and the cameras greatly wowed both with images and video quality.

There are a few minor flaws to consider, such as the lack of a headphone jack or expandable storage, and the thermal management may be better if you’re a gamer, but this is unlikely.

If you can get your hands on one, the POCO X3 GT is a value-packed mid-ranger that provides not only the typical menu of flagship-killing features but also a fantastic camera experience.