These are two of the most confusing Android phones I’ve used in 2024

The Poco F6 Pro ( left ) and Poco F6Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Poco is n’t a smartphone make many may have heard of , but those who have will mostly associate it withbright , colorful gaming phone . That ’s not the face for the Poco F6 and Poco F6 Pro , Poco ’s two latest devices that are surprisingly matured in appearance , yet still furnished with some of the customary design flair expected from the brand .

However , despite share a name , the two F6 phones are really different . It ’s quite hard to work out which one is the material star just from looking at the specification sheets , as there are interesting thing about both . When they arrived , I had my SIM board in theGoogle Pixel 8a , so which Modern Poco phone should supercede it ? I used them both to line up out .

A photo taken with the Poco F6.

Poco F6Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Poco F6

I was very intrigued to sample the Poco F6 due to it using theQualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3processor , which is one I ’ve not experienced yet . The more or less misleading name indicate it ’s a eminent - closing Saratoga chip , but it ’s really a mishmash of various honest-to-god Snapdragon 8 - series fries assembled like a “ greatest hits ” edition for reasonably priced Android speech sound . This actually sounds pretty good . So , is it ?

I ’m using the 12 GB RAM Poco F6 model , and it ’s a majuscule performer . PlayingAsphalt 9 : Legendson the in high spirits in - game preferences , at full smartness and in Poco ’s Ultimate play musical mode setting , did n’t cause any return , and the game was still , debauched , and exciting . It ’s capable of running the 3DMark benchmarking app ’s ray tracing - infuse Solar Bay Stress Test , and it face flawless on screen . It sure enough made the earpiece lovesome to the soupcon , but not hot , and it sailed through the run . My first experience with the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is a very positive one , and the Poco F6 seems to be a large mobile gambling partner .

The lightweight plastic consistency ( just 179 grams ) and big 6.67 - column inch AMOLED filmdom assist supercharge its gaming certification , and the dual loudspeaker system go great , too . Encased in the sparkly rear panel are two cameras — a 50 - megapixel Sony IMX882 main tv camera with optical look-alike stabilisation and an 8MP wide - angle tv camera . The Poco F6 is n’t a television camera superstar . Coming from the Pixel 8a , which has an first-class photographic camera , I found the F6 ’s photos inconsistent , as they often show muted or inaccurate colors , while the noisy , pixelated broad - slant television camera was an inevitable dashing hopes .

A photo taken with the Poco F6.

Poco F6Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

One secret feature that is unique to the F6 is Contactless Gestures , which is ground under the combat-ready Visual Perception computer menu on the phone . It lets you wave your helping hand in front of the selfie camera to ascertain euphony , answer and end calls , and scroll through written document . It only works with a few Poco standard apps and Netflix and is considerably slower and less convenient than touch the cover , but it was a nostalgic throwback to phones like theLG G8 ThinQ , decent down to it not working very well . It ’s left it ’s not included on the Poco F6 Pro .

Elsewhere , it has a 5,000mAh shelling with 90 - James Watt charging ( the courser is included in the corner ) , 5 G and NFC connectivity , an IP64 water- and dust - resistance valuation , a 120Hz refresh rate , andXiaomi ’s HyperOS softwarebased on Android . I come up Poco ’s interface over HyperOS busy and distracting , and was forthwith put off by the many bright colors ( it ’s like it was design with crayons ) and multiple preinstalled apps .

The Poco F6 is a safe start , but my SIM persist securely in the Pixel 8a . Would the Poco F6 Pro change that ?

A photo taken with the Poco F6’s wide-angle camera.

Poco F6 wide-angleAndy Boxall / Digital Trends

Poco F6 Pro

The Poco F6 ’s Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 turned out to be a highlighting of the phone , but what about the Poco F6 Pro ? My interest group was pique by the 50MP main camera , number as a Light Fusion 800 detector , which I ’ve not seen before . Would it improve over the dissatisfactory Poco F6 ’s camera ? Itdoes , but not in the agency I ’d desire , and it in spades has n’t encouraged me to switch from the Pixel 8a either .

The Light Fusion 800 chief camera is joined by another poor 8MP encompassing - slant camera and a useless 2MP macro instruction camera , so just because the F6 Pro has an additional camera on the spec canvas , do n’t take over it ’s better . The main camera amps up the saturation compared to the F6 , but also increases the racket . It ’s a rather unrefined photographic camera in general , with detail crushed under the weight of overexposure in bright conditions or suffer in mirky contrast degree . I ’ve only look at a handful of photos with each newfangled Poco phone , but neither has impressed or pushed me to go out and take more .

The F6 Pro has a strong , dependable Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 central processor inside and not the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 . It ’s a intimate , effective , and impressive performer , so I had no fear using the headphone . There ’s also faster 120W electrify charge for the 5,000mAh electric battery . The 6.67 - inch , 120Hz AMOLED screen has a 3200 x 1440 pixel resolution and is brighter than the F6 ’s screen — and it ’s all wrapped up in a very cool alloy and glass body , with an eye - catching , crack ice - similar effect on the back .

A photo taken with the Poco F6.

Poco F6Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

It ’s for certain a step up from the F6 , but the phone is big at 209 gramme , and for some understanding , it does not have an IP rating to improve durability . The same HyperOS software and Poco user interface are installed . While I choose the design of the Poco F6 Pro and believe the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip , outside of the bright , higher - resolution screen , the Poco F6 will belike satisfy most people expect for a midrange phone that ’s not all about the television camera .

Using the Poco F6 Pro underlined why I was n’t sure which of the two I should dedicate the most time to using , as its name and on - paper tv camera spec should make it the more desirable and more exciting of the two . However , the Poco F6 has some extra features that tot economic value , and because neither camera is very good , I could n’t determine many reasons to stick with the F6 Pro .

More confusion, as usual

It was puzzling to look at the different spec sheets and attempt to decide which new Poco earpiece to drop the most metre with , as both have interesting aspect . I divide my time evenly and pick up the Poco F6 is the better phone of the two , with small aside from the blind to sell me on using the F6 Pro . But even working this out has n’t think of the confusedness has end . Irritatingly , these two headphone are n’t unique in Xiaomi ’s broad catalogue .

Poco is part of the Xiaomi kinsfolk , although on the nose how closely the companies process together is n’t exculpated . The fact is the Poco F6 and Poco F6 Pro are very closely related to two other Xiaomi phones — the Redmi Turbo 3 and the Redmi K70 . Both of these also use Xiaomi ’s HyperOS software , but with the MIUI interface and not Poco ’s eye - gougingly colourful one . So when we started out , there was a choice of two phones , but now , you ’ve got a selection offourphones .

This level of confusion is n’t novel to Poco due to its complicated relationship with Xiaomi , and which you choose will likely come down to where you live , what ’s available , and which brand “ speaks ” to you ( and your pocketbook ) . On that subject , at the clock time of writing , Poco has not corroborate the price and availability of either the F6 or F6 Pro , but we will update this article when we know more .

A photo taken with the Poco F6’s selfie camera.

Poco F6Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

After all this clip spent trying cameras , processor , and computer software , which phone do I call back you should go out and try ? That ’s easy , it ’s theGoogle Pixel 8a .

A photo taken with the Poco F6 Pro.