POCO X4 GT Review – Aligning With Immense Speed As It Always Has Been

As the midrange hype is growing rampant out in the market, consumers are constantly keeping a lookout for a decent if not, higher-end midrange smartphone to act as their go-to device. While most midrange devices usually tackle a specific aspect where they could proportion their technicality to improve that particular aspect of performance, it is said that not all midrange phones are made equal nor is it a jack-of-all trait. With that being said, let us dive into a new release device right out of POCO’s get-go that focuses more on speed, as well as gaming. The all-new POCO X4 GT in its simplistic yet adequate glory.

CONTENTS

The POCO X4 GT came in a black and yellow-themed box. Immediately distinguishes itself from other smartphones in the market. The ebony covers sprinkled with a dash of yellow further established the objective that POCO had in mind — speed, fast, and accuracy. Lifting up the box reveals basically what we have expected :

1. 1 unit of POCO X4 GT
2. 1 unit of 67W fast charger
3. 1 unit of USB-C to USB-A adapter (Approx 100cm from head to end)
4. 1 unit of POCO X4 GT transparent silicone phone case
5. 1 copy of the warranty card
6. 1 copy of POCO X4 GT quick guide
7. 1 copy of the safety booklet
8. 1 SIM card ejector

The contents even without the phone included are enough to put some weight on the package itself, not to mention that the package is also composed of solid hard cardboard. The moment that the package is held in hand, you know you’re in for a fast ride.

DESIGN AND OVERALL LAYOUT

The screen at the front of the phone is made out of Corning Gorilla Glass 5, although being a predecessor to Corning Gorilla Glass 6 as well as Corning Gorilla Glass Victus, the phone still offers reinforced drop and stretch resistents relatively well. Moving on, the screen has a rather bumped-in design with the screen concaving inward the phone body. Creating an illusion whereby the screen had taken up the whole phone’s frontal space. Well, it may not be far from the truth, since the X4 GT’s screen scratches 6.6 inches, (103.4 cm²) across the entire body with an approving 85.1% screen-to-body ratio screen bazel. Still able to make viewing and scrolling experience pleasurable.

Other than the obvious screen structure, the next thing you could notice is the 16 MP, f/2.5 aperture front camera which is located on top of the screen, slightly below the bezel forming a “cut-out” pattern.

Moving on, the back of the phone is made with smooth and metal-like plastic, enabling it to reflect light whenever there are light sources albeit in a dim manner. Though is a great design choice even with a material that shouts quality, one notable hiccup that you can tell right off the bat is that plastic is still plastic no matter how neatly composed it is, thus attracting fingerprints and other impurities are inevitable, especially when your hands, palms or fingers were exposed even to the slightest grease. This also explains why there’s no IP rating on the X4 GT, meaning no water and dust resistance. So it must be handled with care from time to time.

As for the main cameras, it sits at the left corners, forming a rather bulky square-shaped island with the 3 main lenses sitting on top. There are 2 lenses out of 3 further poking out on top of the island making it even bulkier. Those 2 are notably the main 64 MP and f/1.9 aperture camera as well as the 8 MP, f/2.2 aperture ultrawide camera. Other than these 2, there’s also the 2 MP, f/2.4 aperture macro camera along with the LED flashlight.

The power button (which supports biometric identification) and the volume buttons are located on the right side of the phone, while there’s nothing on the left side. The SIM card slot is located under the phone along with the USB Type-C slot, primary microphone, and main speaker. On a side note, the SIM card slot is a dedicated SIM slot, and I’m not a big fan of the design as well.
Basically has a dual nano SIM slot but the way it holds the SIM cards is rather troublesome and annoying as the SIM cards are held against each other. Meaning SIM card 1 is placed behind SIM card 2. If one is not careful enough while ejecting the SIM slot, either of the SIM cards would drop down unnoticeably and have the risk of losing the SIM card. Another side note is that the X4 GT has no external memory card slot, so attaching a MicroSD card is out of the picture.

Now we’re done with the bottom part, let’s take a look at the top side of the phone. You’ll find a 3.5mm headphone jack on top of the phone, which is a smart move since POCO removed the headphone jack from its predecessor, the POCO X3 GT. Other than that there’s the infra sensor for Mi Remote controller features (yes you can do that), the secondary microphone to actively cancel out exterior noises, and also the secondary speakers. And yes the X4 GT has dual speakers, further adding advantage to the hardware performance.

Overall, the phone bears dimensions of 163.6 x 74.3 x 8.9 mm (6.441 x 2.925 x 0.35 “) and weights only 200g (7.055 oz) making it just 7g heavier than its predecessor POCO X3 GT. Giving the 4X GT a nice grip and a feeling of higher quality because of its weight and metalic-like plastic design. It may feel a bit slippery while holding it but could be resolved by attaching the silicon phone case that came with the unit.

Colours and choices wise, the 4X GT consist of 3 colours to choose from Blue, Black, and Silver. The unit we got is black.

CAMERA

Alright before we begin, spoilers alert, the POCO GT 4X GT wasn’t made with exceptional camera performance in mind. It rather focuses more on internal system optimisation and gaming enhancement. With that out of the room, we can now dive into the camera performance with a grain of salt.

Main Triple Cameras

Firstly we’ll be looking at the main 64 MP camera, on its own it could still deliver on-par photography and shots provided if taken under good lighting conditions due to its f/2.4 aperture lens. That being said if you’re an aspiring night-type photographer, this may not be the phone for you. Even when it comes to the night shot function the AI may struggle quite a bit when it comes to calibrating the night shots, even though the main camera has PDAF features.
There are 4 available aspect ratios, notably the 1:1, 3:4, 9:14, and full ratio. Considering the main camera has a 1/1.72″ sensor size as well as a 0.8µm pixel image sensor, it is best to take shots between 3:4 ratio to 9:14 ratio at most. Here’s some samples for viewing :

One thing to take note of is that by default the camera offers 0.6x, 1.0x, and 2.0x digital zoom-ins. Of course, further zoom-ins are available by manual and the highest that phone could get is 10x. Personally speaking, the best quality shots can be taken through the 0.6x and 1.0x zooms. Any further attempts to zoom past 2.0x would rendered the picture’s quality unbearable and heavily pixelated.

One saving grace that the 4X GT could offer is the portrait mode, contrary to the normal photography mode, the portrait mode does significantly better when it comes to focused shots. Though no zoom-ins are available, the AI fluctuates the ISO past 250 for almost every shot, jacking the sensitivity of light higher and thus producing a rather beautiful portrait with satisfactory bokeh effects. Is it the best? No, it’s rather requisite when it comes to pixel details. But is it outstanding for a midrange phone? Oh yes, especially the X4 GT wasn’t made with prestige camera performance in mind, this is absolutely the cherry on top of the icing.

For the secondary 8MP main camera, I would say it may not be the best option out of all the features offer, even though the camera has an f/2.2 aperture and a 120° wide angle ultrawide shot. But it’s still able to take decent pictures with friends on top of a sun-rise hilltop.

As for the 2MP macro camera, well, it’s just there for the sake of being there like most midrange smartphones and doesn’t really contribute much to the entire photography experience other than being a novelty. Shots taken by the macro camera are less than ideal even though it was equipped with an f/2.4 aperture lens and meant for small-object close shots. The pictures produced through this lens are rather, blurry for a lack of a better term.

Front Selfie Camera

Moving on to the front camera, surprisingly speaking, is also one of the saving grace when it comes to the entire camera experience. Thanks to its 16MP and f/2.5 aperture lens, the camera work could maintain an on-par performance with good lighting. But overexposure to light will cause the camera to go haywire as well, so make sure you know how to balance out the lighting with the angles you take.

Before we close our camera portion, let’s have a look at the video capture functionality. The POCO X4 GT could record in 720p 30fps, 1080p 30fps, and surprise surprise, 1080p 60fps as well as 4K 30fps. Most midrange phone cameras could only capped at 1080p 30fps, but not the X4 GT, as it could reach up to 1080p 60fps. It’s a pleasant surprise given the fact that it uses the main camera 64 MP as the recorder. The video taken with the 1080 60fps shot is rather decent even during nighttime. It’s decent at best but still better than nothing.
On a side note, attempting to capture footage through the 4K 30 fps would result in rather fuzzy video quality. So it is not recommended to use this option for any vlogging purposes. Also, the macro feature is also available in video recording but once again, the quality already speaks for itself from the picture taken earlier.

Anyway here’s a sample video captured through the lens of POCO X4 GT :

DISPLAY & AUDIO

For some reason, the POCO X4 GT still uses a 6.6-inch IPS LED screen, similar to its predecessor. But do not let the LED screen fool you because the X4 GT has a refresh rate that runs up to 144Hz. While most midrange phones in the market could offer up to 90Hz, the X4 GT on the other hand, possessed a flagship level of refresh rate thanks to its latest implementation of 7 stage DynamicSwitch features, which allows the refresh rate to adaptively switch between 30Hz, 48 Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz, and 144Hz depending on what the users are doing. Furthermore, the device has a 270 Hz touch sampling rate, allowing smooth scrolling and also easy and responsive gaming controls.

The X4 GT supports Dolby Vision and HDR10 and has a resolution of 1080 x 2460 pixels, but one drawback though, the device only has a maximum brightness of 500 nits (typ) / 650 nits (HBM) and a contrast ratio of 1400:1. While the colour and brightness display is decent for sure even with a density of 407 PPI, but any exposure under the sunlight could render visibility a tat bit difficult. As the device struggles to push the screen past 600 nits. Therefore viewing video on the phone may not be as best as a typical OLED screen.

Audio-wise, the device also came with dual speakers that support Dolby Atmos, nothing particular about it even though some midrange phones don’t offer dual speakers. It may be one of the advantages that the X4 GT possesses, but having a theatre-like speaker doesn’t pair well if the display doesn’t have likewise quality. Also, I reckon that anyone would prefer to listen to music over the speakers rather than headphones or earbuds.

PERFORMANCE

The entire POCO X4 GT is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 8100 and runs on an Octa-core processor with 4x Arm Cortex-A78 up to 2.85GHz SOC, and paired with a Mali-G610 MC6 graphical processor. In case you couldn’t tell by now, the entire chipset was used for 2021 flagship phones, thus contributing to the speed and performance of the overall device. With all these impressive set-ups, the X4 GT is able to outperform most of the midrange phones out in the market and not to mention with its considerably low price tag.

Although the POCO X4 GT doesn’t have the 5G listed behind its name, the phone IS a 5G phone. The device also came installed with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3. This is odd since most midrange phones come in Bluetooth 6.0. Furthermore, the X4 GT we have on hand now has a storage of 8GB RAM+128GB. There are in fact 2 available versions, one as mentioned and another with 8GB RAM +256GB. Both also have LPDDR5+ UFS 3.1 as support. Another interesting note is that the phone also came with an NFC, which is supported by Google Play, allowing you to do small payment transactions between two NFC-supported devices.

SOFTWARE

System-wise, the X4 GT runs on Android 12 with MIUI 13, MIUI 13.0.2 as a matter of fact. Enabling faster game loads, and flexible home screen interface customisations. Other available features also include dual apps functionality and Second Space feature that allows you to separate your apps and even users entirely by switching between the Second Space function. But doing so requires authentication so make sure you remember the details whenever you switch between the “users”. It could be particularly useful when it comes to segregating between work and leisure, or better yet, creating a second space account with customised parental app control for your kids.

GAMING

Alright, for now, let us look have a look at aspects that the POCO X4 GT truly focuses on — gaming and esports. So what are the most optimal settings for heavy resource games like Genshin Impact? Lowest to low? No, neither. With the X4 GT’s impressive SOC arsenal, the game could easily run on full medium settings. Unless the screen is bombarded with armies of enemies. Esports-oriented games such as Call of Duty Mobile and Mobile Legend are able to run swiftly on the device with little to no issues even with the highest graphical settings. Other than these 2 games, I also find that Asphalt 9 is able to run smoothly with no issue.

Temperature-wise, due to its liquid cooling system which enables a 32% wider cooling area and 7 layers of graphites installed in the device. I never really encounter any overheating issues. However, 30 minutes into Genshin would warm up the entire device a little, but not to the point it’s scorching hot which is normal and it happens to most midrange devices. So heat itself is not an issue at all.
As for Mobile Legend, on the other hand, a few rounds and 30 minutes into the game will yield different temperature results as the warms are significantly cooler than playing Genshin Impact.

Also, the MIUI 13’s existing game turbo tool could come in handy with your overall gaming experience. The tool allows temporary blocks from incoming calls or messages, provides screen recording features, and is also able to act as a performance monitoring tool when it comes to frames per second. The floating app feature is also available if you’re in need of a quick message reply or quick social posting.

Benchmarks

As you can see, the X4 GT aced particularly well in speed and graphics, even surpassing the POCO F4 by a noticeable margin. This further suggests that the device has surpassed most of the midrange phones out there. Proving it to be a formidable gaming device. Also, switching between apps is made easy with no issues at all, even when it comes to switching between games and apps. But the only time when the X4 GT could get slightly laggy is when closing the game app entirely to the home screen. But let’s not nitpick given all the perks that the device had offered.

BATTERY

In terms of battery life and performance, the POCO X4 GT is able to sustain adequately with its Lo-Po 5080 mAh battery. Although some midrange phones in the market could come in 6000 mAh of battery, this may be a slight problem for heavy gamers since battery levels must be monitored from time to time. Light use of the device could allow it to last up to 2 days whereas heavy use could probably only last less than a day. Leaving it completely idle it could go on for 4 – 5 days at most.

As mentioned earlier the package that the X4 GT came in also includes a 67W fast charger, applying the charger would allow the device to charge from 20% to 50% within 12 – 15 minutes time. Whereas a full charge would take about 40 – 45 minutes of time (from 20% to 100%)

SPECIFICATION

VERDICT

I have had a genuinely favorable experience with the POCO X4 GT. Clearly, the GT series is able to live up to its objectives in providing the utmost fastest experience compared to other midrange phones I’ve used thus far. Sure the camera performance was hindered and it may not be suitable for streamers and influencers. But that is a sacrifice and opportunity cost that POCO has to bear in order to produce such a professional gaming-oriented beast. But even so, I genuinely think the camera performance is still on par with some of the midrange devices out there if not just slightly lower than average. And I also believe that the camera problem could be resolved entirely if the user possesses the proper peripherals, skills, and timing, thus bypassing it entirely. But these are just some of my personal views and opinion on the camera matter. Overall I highly recommend giving the X4 GT a good try as the processor is superbly strong and will still be for years to come and also well worth your money.

TL:DR

Pros

• Outstanding price/performance ratio
• Comes with a fast charger
• 144 Hz on an IPS screen (I mean, come on!)
• Good sound quality

Cons

• Less than ideal camera performance (but can be mitigated)
• No water and dust resistance

Again, I highly recommend it if any of you are interested to get one for yourselves, given it had garnered a favorable price/performance ratio. There are 2 variants available, notably the 8GB RAM+128GB which sold at RM1,499, and the 8GB RAM +256GB variant which sold at RM1,599. Yes, you may argue that with RM1,599 could get a POCO F4 which has a more advanced chipset and AMOLED screen as a whole. But as proven from the benchmark chart, it has outperformed the F4 by quite a bit, so it still shines as an adequate device compared to F4.

Purchases are available through the following site :

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