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A price range of Rs. 6,499 is just not thought-about ultimate for an honest smartphone in 2025. Extra so, when some function telephones from HMD or the favored Android-powered dumbphone, the Cat S22 Flip prices extra. Nonetheless, a set of smartphone producers believes that there are consumers on the market with actually tight budgets who need to improve from a function cellphone with buttons to their first smartphone. And for these consumers, the Poco C71 will be the good match.

Poco C71 Design

Credit score the place it is due, Poco does try and glamourise the entry-level section by giving the C71 a dual-tone design. It is not as snazzy or loud because the Poco C75’s design however is a refined tackle the identical.

The rear panel has a really artwork deco vibe to it with a sample of straight flowing traces that overlap each other, taking on almost half of the rear panel. A capsule-shaped digital camera island, with two cameras inside, provides to the glamour with its polished gold end on the non-textured half.

The Poco C71 has a pleasant artwork deco theme across the again, and it additionally manages a fundamental IP52 score for mud and water

The Cool Blue end we acquired for overview has a body and rear panel constructed from polycarbonate. The perimeters of the body are flat and have a matte end, similar to the rear panel, which makes this massive cellphone very slippery.

One thing that caught my consideration was the dearth of a bottom-firing speaker. To my shock, it’s positioned on the high, and I consider it is the identical speaker that doubles up because the earpiece or the opposite method round.

The Poco C71’s receiver speaker doubles up as its major speaker

At 193 grams, the cellphone feels a bit on the heavier aspect. It is a bit too massive for one-handed use. Nonetheless, it is good to know that the design is IP52-rated for each mud and water. It’s fairly fundamental however justified, given the cellphone’s entry-level value.

Flip the cellphone over, and you’ll discover a pretty big and flat 6.8-inch HD+ LCD show with a 120Hz display refresh price. It has thick borders throughout, particularly on the backside and a water-drop fashion notch on the high. This, together with its smudgy nature, makes it very apparent that the Poco C71 belongs to the entry-level section.

Poco C71 Efficiency

Persevering with with its show, the display’s refresh price is ready to a battery-saving 60Hz by default. There are solely two settings to select from, so I selected 120Hz for smoother visuals, because the stripped-down HyperOS software program interface, powered by Android 15 (Go Version), does stutter and lag a bit. You possibly can positively get smoother functioning and extra future-proof software program by spending a couple of thousand extra.

Poco’s C71 is powered by Android 15 Go Version, a particularly trimmed-down model of Xiaomi’s HyperOS

Poco’s web site claims that the cellphone has an ambient mild sensor, nevertheless it doesn’t. It makes use of the front-facing digital camera to take a peek at your environment and determines the required brightness degree wanted to sort out it.

Whereas this seems like a cool “juggad”, the cellphone solely checks for ambient mild utilizing the digital camera the second it’s unlocked and units the required brightness degree at the moment. In the event you all of a sudden transfer out of the tree shade and into the intense daylight, it is not going to recalibrate till you flip the display off and unlock the cellphone once more.

The Poco C71’s show is just not too vibrant open air, and you will have to squint on the show when viewing it in direct daylight. Indoors, viewing angles are respectable because the brightness ranges drop when viewing it off-center.

Textual content and icons seem sharp, which is a shock given the low display decision that’s stretched out over the massive show. Colors will not be dangerous both, with the show set to Nature (or pure tone) by default. The cellphone solely helps Widevine L3 DRM, which means it’ll solely playback content material in OTT apps in customary definition (SD). Which means that video in OTT apps like Netflix and even video streaming apps like YouTube will seem gentle and never as crisp as on a price range smartphone.

Coming to the fundamentals, there’s a fingerprint reader embedded into the facility button, and it really works simply nice. One can retailer as much as 5 prints which is nice to have. There are two slots for nano SIM playing cards and a devoted slot for expandable storage (microSD playing cards as much as 1TB). Additionally obtainable is a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is required for the built-in radio app.

The Poco C71’s show, other than its thick borders, additionally has a waterdrop notch

The decision high quality is respectable, however the name quantity may have been louder as I typically discovered the caller sounding a bit too gentle. Speaker quantity too is a bit too gentle when putting calls, and never sufficiently loud when watching movies as nicely. The speaker additionally will get by accident blocked typically when holding the cellphone horizontally and taking part in video games, or when watching films.

The cellphone has a Unisoc T7250 chipset and so my expectations about its efficiency weren’t too excessive, even contemplating its entry-level value. The processor is ready to deal with app launches and fundamental software program navigation simply nice. Nonetheless, it tends to battle when recalling apps from reminiscence, so be ready for frequent app restarts.

Given the poor CPU and GPU scores proven within the desk above, I nonetheless managed to play Asphalt 8: Airborne. To my shock, the sport was playable at default settings however with loads of skipped frames and random situations of lag. Most high-end video games weren’t obtainable for obtain from the Play Retailer itself.

The Poco C71 has just one user-accessible rear-facing digital camera

The Poco C71 has a single 32-megapixel rear-facing digital camera, which Poco calls a dual-camera setup. When mixed with the second digital camera, it serves as a depth sensor used for Portrait mode. Selfies are dealt with by an 8-megapixel digital camera.

Poco C71 major digital camera samples (faucet pictures to broaden)

The first digital camera captures satisfactory pictures with low element in daylight. Colors are a bit saturated, and dynamic vary is a bit restricted, with the digital camera struggling to reveal the sky and the foreground regardless of switching on the Auto HDR function. The binned digital camera samples lack ample element and sharpness, with most samples displaying textures that seem like oil work. Shut-ups of objects come out clearer however are nonetheless low on element once you pixel peep.

Portrait pictures (high) from the rear digital camera have overexposed backgrounds. Even the perimeters of the topic have clipped highlights. The identical applies to selfie Portrait pictures (backside) that present gentle facial element. (faucet pictures to broaden)

Low-light pictures from the first digital camera come out with low element and dynamic vary and are very noisy.

Video recordings max out at 1080p 30 fps. The footage packs little or no element and comes out fairly shaky, particularly when strolling or panning the digital camera. In low mild, recorded movies are barely usable as picture high quality dips even additional with added noise. The digital camera takes its personal candy time to focus even underneath vibrant street-lit situations.

The Poco C71’s 5,200mAh battery capability seems like lots, however barely lasts a day with heavy utilization

Battery life simply lasts an entire day with heavy use. Informal customers who do not place too many calls or have restricted app utilization will see this cellphone final a bit longer than a day, however nothing extra and that is primarily all the way down to the usage of the 12nm Unisoc chipset. Our HD video loop take a look at lasted 14 hours and 32 minutes, which is a bit low so far as price range smartphones go. Xiaomi’s personal Redmi A4 5G lasted a greater 19 hours and 32 minutes in the identical take a look at, which performs an HD video on a loop until the battery drains utterly. Charging the 5,200mAh battery can be very sluggish, with the gadget managing a full cost in 2 hours and 21 minutes utilizing the bundled 15W charger.

Poco C71 Verdict

The entry-level smartphone section is not but totally stocked with decisions, indicating that curiosity on this class has solely began to choose up this yr. Poco’s C71, at Rs. 6,499, packs the whole lot underneath the solar for a fundamental entry-level smartphone. It is simply that at an extra Rs. 1,000, you may get a 5G-ready gadget with higher specs and extra future-proof software program, on condition that the C71 is working a slightly fundamental Go Version model of Android 15.

The Poco C75 5G (now from Rs. 7,699) is a strong contender, though it was launched earlier. We’ve not reviewed the C75, however we now have reviewed the Redmi A4 5G (now from Rs. 7,999). which is similar when it comes to {hardware}. Each telephones will want you to be hooked as much as Reliance’s Jio community as a result of they solely help 5G bands offered by this operator.

One other strong choice is Motorola’s G35 5G, which affords better-performing {hardware} in comparison with the telephones talked about above. Priced at Rs. 9,999, it’ll go over your entry-level price range, however will get you a a lot better vegan-leather design and near-stock Android software program with Hey UI.

In the event you simply can not afford to stretch your price range over Rs. 7,000, seize the 6GB RAM model of the Poco C71 that is obtainable with 128GB storage at Rs. 6,999 as an alternative.