Poco C61 First Impressions | Gadgets 360

Poco has been providing decent products for a while now, mainly catering to diverse price categories. The X-series offers flagship-grade features, while the M-series packs a punch in the mainstream category. However, it is the C Series that provides real value for money. The latest addition to the series is the Poco C61, which brings an updated design language with a good blend of software and hardware, all at a starting price of Rs 6,999. But how does it fair against the competition? We’ve had some hands-on time with the device, so here’s our first look.

Starting with the design, Poco has brought a new perspective to the segment, where most phones offer a standard design language. The phone has three colors: Diamond Dust Black, Ethereal Blue, and Mystical Green. We’ve got a mystical green color option, and it definitely stands out from the crowd with the new radiant color design. The rear panel is made of glass with a large circular ring that houses the camera module. Poco has also made sure to add some details to the color to make it look more attractive and premium. From the back panel, you will feel that this is a mid-premium smartphone, which is good. The flat frame also makes it easy to hold in the hand. The phone is 8.3mm thick and weighs 193g, which feels genuinely light and sleek despite the price tag.

Flip it over, and you’ll see a larger screen with uniform bezels around the edges. It’s not the slimmest in the segment, but strikes the perfect balance. The phone also has a punch-hole cutout that houses the selfie camera. Coming to the display, you get a 6.71-inch HD+ LCD display with a 90Hz refresh rate and a screen resolution of 1650 x 720 pixels. The phone also supports a peak brightness of 500nits and an 89.5 percent screen-to-body ratio. The screen is bright enough to enjoy your video content on the go. We will get into this in detail in our upcoming review.

Speaking of performance, the Poco C61 is powered by the MediaTek Helio G36 processor, which is MediaTek’s chipset for entry-level gaming smartphones. The handset also has 6GB of RAM and 6GB of virtual memory, which brings the RAM up to 12GB. Moreover, the handset also packs up to 128GB of storage, which can be expanded up to 1TB via microSD card slot. The performance of the device seems to be quite satisfactory during the short time of use, with easy scrolling and switching between different apps. On the software front, the phones run on the Android 14 operating system. However, we are yet to test the full capabilities of the device, so stay tuned for a detailed review.

For cameras, the Poco device offers a dual rear camera setup with an 8-megapixel primary sensor and an unspecified secondary camera. On the front, you get a 5-megapixel selfie shooter. Although the phone doesn’t pack a lot of punch in the camera department sensor-wise, the company has added some cool features like AI portrait mode, time burst, film filters and more to make it more interesting. Apart from this, the phone also houses a 5,000mAh battery with 10W charging support. In terms of connectivity, you get a 3.5mm audio jack, single speaker, Bluetooth, GPS, Type-C port, and more.

That said, there are still a lot of things we need to explore about the latest Poco C61 to see if it can compete fiercely with the likes of it. Lava O2, Infinix Smart 8 Plus, and more. So, stay tuned as we take Poco’s new budget phone in Shining Armor to the West.