As technology has taken a changing face, affordable smart handsets are more easily available in the market. The sub-brand Poco by Xiaomi is particularly known for giving performance devices provided at economical prices. Recently, the new device in their series has been launched, Poco C61, promising the customer's expectations looking for a reliable feature-packed smartphone without burning a hole in one's pocket.
We are discussing Poco C61, design, performance, camera capabilities, battery life, and value proposition for this device. By the end, you would make a better-informed decision regarding whether this device is worth the budgeted needs.
POCO C61 Build & Design
Design and Aesthetics One thing that stands out about the Poco C61 is that it somehow maintains the look of a high-end device that only high-end classes get to keep. The textured back of it offers a good amount of grip to the phone and visually contributes to the quality of the device. The plastic construction comes out very clear here but removed from the overall appeal of the phone. The edges are bent and corners are circular to hold safely and use easily for a long time.
The Poco C61 is offered in different colors, especially blue, aimed at those who wish their smartphones to stand out and black, for those who prefer the less flashy design. These color variants will suit the diverse preferences of each user, allowing for the discovery of a device that fits their taste. The lateral fingerprints sensor also makes the process quick and reliable for unlocking the smartphone.
Build Quality
Miraculously, at this price point, Poco C61 emerges with just exceptional build quality. For its class, it feels quite rigid and firmly put together- there is just very little flex or creak when enough pressure has been applied. The buttons click, the ports are tightened securely. Taking all of this into consideration, the phone proves remarkably rugged, at this price point.
POCO C61 Display
Screen size and resolution
Of course, there's no shortage of a massive 6.71-inch HD+ IPS LCD 90Hz screen on the Poco C61. The size of the screen, while not the largest in the market today, will be ample enough for viewing content of video clips and games, or for reading web pages. HD+ will provide decent detail in its resolution so that texts and images shall look relatively sharp and clear.
Brightness and Contrast
Perhaps, brightness on display is one of the highlights of Poco C61. The screen is quite bright and well visible even in bright outdoor conditions. Hence, presenting a great view on it. On contrast ratio also, it's good; deep blacks and intense colors make for a good display for versatile usage. Be it movie time or game time, the display serves the purpose.
Touch Sensitivity and Responsiveness
Normally, Poco C61 has a great touch screen. At any given time, it will intelligently recognize all gestures and taps for smooth navigation. Sometimes, though, the screen may stall a bit-similarly as if multifunctional activities were happening together.
View Angle
The Poco C61 IPS LCD panel has quite decent viewing angles. You will see color inaccuracy and brightness loss at extreme angles, but that should be good enough for most people's use, and you can hold the phone at any angle without feeling something is drastically distorted or the colors shifted.
POCO C61 Camera
Rear Camera Setup
Coming to the camera department, Poco C61 sports a dual-camera setup at the back comprising an 8-megapixel primary sensor and an unlisted secondary sensor. The primary sensor is certainly not earth-shattering but delivers above-average outputs under bright light conditions. Colors are lively and the details sharp enough, however, the dynamic range should be better; the camera would struggle with highlights as well as deep shadows in harshly lit conditions.
The secondary sensor isn't detailed, but that probably will be a depth sensor for portrait mode. Overall, the shots from the Poco C61's portrait mode are decent and carry adequate levels of subject isolation and pleasing bokeh effect. Of course, there will be moments where the edge detection fails and creates unwanted artifacts around the subject.
Low-Light Performance
Lowlight photography in Poco C61 is a mixed bag. The primary sensor lacks detail in many snaps and, for its noise reduction to be that pronounced, can feel almost too much at times. Night mode certainly brings in more light but this arrives with an assortment of artefacts and reduced sharpness. As such, lowlight photography is probably the major area where improvements are badly needed for Poco C61.
Video Recording
The Poco C61 can record video at 1080p, though only capped at 30 frames per second. Video capture is fairly solid with good stabilization and colour accuracy. Dynamic range does seem to take a quick hit in difficult scenarios, though. Audio is pretty terrible at this price point, with some background noise picking up in some settings.
Selfie Camera
On the front, the Poco C61 sports a 5-megapixel selfie camera. It clicks really good selfies well lit, with reasonable detail and good color accuracy. The portrait mode on the selfie camera is also functional, though the level of subject isolation may not be as precise as on the rear camera.
Camera experience is quite good at this price from Poco C61. The primary camera has done a good job in daylight, and the portrait mode is the addition to a camera. Low-light photography and video recording somehow suffer here. However, it can be considered if you have a tight budget and want a decent enough camera performance. However, proper low-light photography and best-of-class video functionalities may require seeking somewhere else in a higher price bracket.
POCO C61 Chipset
Under the hood, this Poco C61 features a MediaTek Helio G36 processor, a budget chipset, and should be able to provide just enough performance in order for you to keep the pace with most everyday tasks you can do. It takes basic multitasking and gaming pretty well but expect some lags or frame drops from demanding applications. The Poco C61 boots MIUI 14 based on Android 13. There's a lot of customizations available to you and layer of features, but some users might find bloatware and ads overwhelming.
Performance Benchmarks
A good starting point for better insights into the performance of the Poco C61 could be benchmark scores, though benchmarks reflect actual usage neither in all aspects nor perfectly. However, general information about the device can be obtained from benchmarks. The Poco C61 successfully managed to outperform most other smartphones within its price range in several benchmark tests. Excellent scores were produced in CPU-intensive tasks, which might indicate the device's capability for handling demanding applications.
Gaming Performance
One area in which a difference can be noticed is in the gaming field. The Helio G36 chipset in the Poco C61 is able to run popular mobile games with reasonable performance. You may not play the most graphically demanding games at high settings, but it will run most titles without much of a problem.
Real-World Usage
After all, it is really in the "real-life" use that the test of a smartphone's performance actually lies. Reviewers of the Poco C61 attest that, in real life, it will be showered with many compliments at how smooth it runs multitasking, with an amazingly responsive UI with very slight lag when several apps are run together.
POCO C61 Battery
Capacitance and Extent
The Poco C61 arrives in abundantly supplied 5,000mAh battery power speaking well for that category in a phone. Such a generous battery is more than capable to play to its device as far as endurance is concerned with the continuous and uninterrupted use throughout the day. Be it watching videos or playing games or just browsing the web, C61 will be there to satisfy all your demands without often needing you to recharge.
Real-World Usage
Testing really proved that the battery of Poco C61 delivered outstanding endurance consistently during my tests. Using it for day-to-day usage without much fuss, checking emails and social media, taking an odd photo here and there, the device easily managed on one charge more than 1.5 days. And with harder usage, such as video streaming and demanding games, the battery still had enough in the tank for respectable battery life.
Charging Speed
However, the Poco C61 has an actually breath-taking battery capacity. Charging speed still has to be upped further. The category charge for device still falls under a standard 10W charger given that handsets are marked as affordable. What it took to fill the battery fully is reasonable, yet that has to be taken into consideration as faster charging options are now more common in this price range.
Optimization and Battery Management
Upgrades in software optimize the battery life on Poco C61. Such features include adaptive modes of the battery, hibernation of some applications and background limitation. They make their power management better thus enabling the use for a longer period without recharge.
POCO C61 Software
User Interface: Friendly and Clean Experience
The Poco C61 runs MIUI 13 skin, a very customized version of Android. Although MIUI had gotten mixed reviews in the past, the implementation for C61 feels pretty refined and rather bloat-free. Interface : Really beautiful with modern design, plus plenty of customisability options in here. Very responsive interface with silky navigation gestures.
One thing to note about MIUI is the length of customization options. Users can personalize the lay-out on their home screen, change the different app icons, and even system animations. This is how users can actually personalize the device according to their preference and make it look unique.
Pre-installed apps
The mixture of have-nots and bloatwares Just like most affordable smartphones, the Poco C61 comes pre-installed with a suite of Google apps: Gmail and Photos, among others. Not as useful for most, these still offer a basic setup that gives a solid ground for productivity and communication. On the other hand, it does include a respectable number of pre-installed third-party apps-third-party apps that may be called bloatware.
The Apps will line up the app drawer, and gobble up system resources. While most of the applications on that list probably can be uninstalled or disabled, it would have been nice if the device shipped with the cleanest software experience from the get-go.
Conclusion
With its coming price, the POCO C61 is a fantastic deal as it was the good balance between performance and features, and then the battery life was on the budget lists with many other potential purchases. More attractive compared to its peers relating to the large stand-out display, camera decent, and storage expandable. Not the best but one of the best affordable choices out there in the market.
In a nutshell, POCO C61 is an all-rounder budget smartphone that offers high-class performance in a combination of features. It boasts sleek design, massive screen display, decent cameras, and longer battery life to offer an ideal value for money for every tight-budget user. So, if you want a reliable, cheap, and great option in the world of smartphones, then I will recommend this model strictly.
This content was last updated on 22 November 2024.
