Poco C61 First Impressions

Poco has been delivering decent products for a while, mainly catering to diverse price categories. The X-series offers flagship-grade features, while the M-series delivers a punch in the mainstream category. However, it is the C-series that provides the real value-for-money proposition. The latest addition to this series is the Poco C61, which brings a refreshed design language along with a good combination of software and hardware, all at a starting price of Rs 6,999. But how does it fair against the competition? We have some time with the device, so here's our first look. 

Starting with the design, Poco has brought a fresh perspective to this segment, where most phones offer a standard design language. The phone has three colours: Diamond Dust Black, Ethereal Blue, and Mystical Green. We got the Mystical Green colour option, and it sure stands out from the crowd with the new Radiant Ring design. The back panel is made of glass with a big circular ring housing the camera module. Poco has also made sure to add some details to the Ring to make it look more attractive and premium. From the rear panel, you will feel it to be a mid-premium smartphone, which is good. The flat frame also makes it easier to hold in hand. The phone is 8.3mm thick and weighs 193 grams, which genuinely feels light and sleek despite the price tag. 

Flip it over, and you will see a large screen with uniform bezels around the edges. It is not the slimmest in the segment, but do strike a perfect balance. The phone also features a punch-hole cutout that houses a 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 500nits of peak brightness and an 89.5 per cent screen-to-body ratio. The screen is bright enough to enjoy your video content on the go. We will get it in detail in our upcoming review. 

Coming to the 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 features 6GB of RAM and 6GB of virtual memory, bringing up to 12GB of RAM. Moreover, the handset also packs up to 128GB of storage, which is expandable up to 1TB via a microSD card slot. The device's performance seems pretty satisfactory in a brief 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 have yet to test out 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 does not seem to have massive power 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 features 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 many things that we need to explore about the latest Poco C61 to see whether it can fiercely compete with the likes of Lava O2, Infinix Smart 8 Plus, and more. So, stay tuned as we west out Poco's new budget phone in shiny armour.