Xiaomi’s Poco F1 is indeed one marvel from Xiaomi that one does simply not overlook. The phone has been in hot buzz for quite a while now and as we pointed in our review, the camera on the Poco F1 isn’t as good as the one on the Mi 8 or its other siblings despite packing the same camera sensor. Sure, the Poco F1 lacks an OIS but that’s about it when it comes to the rear main camera.
During our testing, we found that the stock camera dialed in some horrible settings at times, especially in indoor situations or situations where the lighting isn’t favorable. While we can’t blame the MIUI stock camera app, we can definitely appreciate the fact that the Google Pixel 3 camera mod is making up for the loss in detail.
Pocophone F1 Image Samples – Stock MIUI Camera
The stock camera on the Poco F1 is just like any other MIUI camera. Although, when it comes to picture quality, we’ve been seeing incremental improvements since the initial launch of the device. Below. are the pictures for your reference.
However, as you may notice, a lot of the images taken by the Poco F1 were great. However, where it does fall apart is in low-light situations, especially if you compare the shots to the shots taken with the Google Camera APK.
If you do plan to have a look at the full-resolution pictures, you could find them here.
Pocophone F1 Image Samples – Google Pixel 3 Camera Mod
The Google Camera mod we used was the Google Pixel 3 mod ported by B-S-G over at the XDA Developer forums. The latest build published by him was originally for the Mi 8 but works perfectly on the Pocophone F1. The latest build as of now is 6.1.
However, we’d like to mention that the latest build does not support Night Sight or Portrait as of now. But given how active the developer is, we may very well see it in the upcoming builds.
Images taken with the Google Camera port on the Poco F1 had a whole lot more depth, color and detail compared to the stock camera app. While the stock camera was certainly close in outdoor shots, if you look closer on a few well-lit shots, you would notice that the Google camera did add a whole lot more color in it while keeping the exposure in check.
If you compare the mirrorless camera image from both camera apps, you’d notice that the Google camera image has a ton lot more detail in it. This trend of having better detail followed on to the router, the grass pot and the low-light shot with the PC case shot where you would notice the differences to be even more evident.
We also noticed subtle yet meaningful differences on the mouse shot and the red flower shot where the Google camera shot introduced a whole lot more intensity compared to the stock camera app. Notice how the google camera managed to keep the sky under control unlike the blown out sky on the stock camera app.
If you do plan to have a look at the full-resolution pictures, you could find them here.
As a conclusion, we know who the clear winner is. While the Mi 8 has faired very well in our previous tests, its surprising to see how the Poco F1 was left in a corner without any attention. Given that Xiaomi is looking for feedback regarding how to improve their camera, I personally think that this should be an excellent sample for them to behold.
While we hope Xiaomi to fix this, we’re also concerned about the delivery of 4K/60FPS so far. Despite Jai Mani promising to release an update soon to enable 4K/60FPS upon request, it seems like the company has been delaying it. On another note, other devices that also do feature Sony’s IMX 363 also suffer from the same problem despite packing a Snapdragon 845 SoC. We’ll be interested to see if Xiaomi actually does anything about or if this gets swept under the rug.
Since the Poco F1 and a host of other Xiaomi phones do have Camera2API enabled, installing the Google Camera modded apk should be as easy as installing any apk.
If you do want to install the Google Pixel 3 Camera port apk for the Poco F1, head here.
