POCO C55 Review

The POCO C55, the company's latest C-series smartphone, has been introduced in India. Prices for the phone range from ?9,499 for the 4 GB + 64 GB model to ?10,999 for the 6 GB + 128 GB model. The storage may be expanded with a microSD card up to 1 TB. The MediaTek Helio G85 SoC, a decent enough CPU for gaming at Low or Medium Graphics settings, powers the newly released phone. With a maximum brightness of 534 nits, the 6.71-inch HD+ display is what you get. The POCO C55 also features an incredible triple camera arrangement, enabling you to take beautiful videos and photos from any angle. A 10 W charging connector is included for the phone's 5,000 mAh battery. For 2023, the charging speeds appear a little out of date. Wi-Fi, 4G, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS, and micro-USB charging are connectivity options available with this phone.

Pros

• A massive battery with a 10W charger.
• Dedicated secondary card storage.
• includes splash and dust resistance.
• affordable smartphone.
• Comes with MIUI 13 for the POCO user interface.
• Rear-mounted fingerprint scanner.

Cons

• Ordinary camera setup.
• No support for recording 4K video.
• Default brightness with 720p display.
• Heavy usage may cause heating problems.

POCO C55 Unboxing

First and foremost, let us go through a brief unpacking.

The POCO C55 is packaged in the company's typical yellow box.

The front of the box lists all the major smartphone features, while the back includes basic production information. The package style used by POCO has remained constant throughout its current portfolio.

A 10-watt charging adaptor, a micro USB cable, some papers, the smartphone POCO C55, and the Sim ejector pin are all included in the box.

POCO C55 Design and Build Quality

The Poco C55 has a unique yet widely known design that is present in many of its smartphones. Most of the phone's front is made up of a display, with a sizable chin at the bottom. The rear panel is where things start to get interesting, as you can see in the camera module in the Poco design. The rear panel is entirely made of polycarbonate and has a leather stitched design that improves it above a polycarbonate back panel that is just plain. Smartphones with this design on the rear typically sustain fewer dings and dents over time.

On the right side of the smartphone are the power and volume rockers, while on the left is the SIM card tray slot. A multifunctional micro USB port, the primary microphone, and the speakers are all located on the bottom edge. If you wish to utilise wired headphones with the Poco C55, a 3.5 mm headphone socket is available on the top side.

Although the phone weighs 195 grammes, you won't feel like you're carrying a hefty phone because of its compact form. Poco has included a fingerprint sensor on the back of the device for touch-based phone unlocking. The fingerprint sensor is, however, positioned a little higher to give the phone a more aesthetically pleasing appearance.

One of the very few low-cost phones with an IP certification, the smartphone has IP52 water and dust protection to manage a few rainfalls. Sadly, there is no protective cover included with this phone within the packaging. Thus you will need to buy one independently. The smartphone's sleek design and small form factor make it generally easy to carry in hand.

POCO C55 Display

A large 6.7-inch LCD screen with HD+ quality and a refresh rate of 60 Hz is featured on the Poco C55. This display's touch sampling rate is 120 Hz, which enhances touch sensitivity. We did not notice any pixelation even though the display is HD+ because of the high pixel density of 268 PPI. In contrast to other contemporary smartphones, the display includes a dewdrop notch where the front camera is placed.

The display also offers good viewing angles; when seen from the sides, it doesn't show any signs of colour inversion or degeneration. It is necessary to turn up the brightness on the gadget when using it outside in the sun. During our testing, the brightness metre provided a decent value of 269 LUX. This smartphone will give you a great experience if you regularly watch films because of the fantastic display.

Performance

This smartphone performs very well for the price it is listed at. A MediaTek Helio G85 chipset, 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of internal storage are all included in the Poco C55. The smartphone may handle day-to-day tasks without any lag or visible delay. When we tested the read-write speeds, the phone's storage was identified as eMMC. Up until the storage begins to full, this won't have an impact on any regular tasks.

During the tests we conducted, we had overwhelmingly favourable results in gaming. Both Asphalt 9 and Call of Duty Mobile that we played performed flawlessly without any flickering or delays. Because of the slower eMMC storage, loading times are undoubtedly long.

The Poco C55 received a score of 2,58,811, which is impressive for a low-cost smartphone like this in the AnTuTu Benchmark. This smartphone's 6GB RAM makes multitasking quite effective.

Camera

One of this phone's unique selling points is its camera, which is superior to other budget phones in terms of photographic capabilities. A 50MP depth sensor and a QVGA sensor are both included in the Poco C55. A 5MP selfie camera is on the front for all your web-based entertainment demands. The phone's camera is incredible and can capture 1080p Full HD films at 30 frames per second.

The smartphone's 50-megapixel back camera takes stunning pictures in natural light, but the image quality starts declining as soon as you enter a room. Even though the camera software is somewhat outdated, it includes a few standard features among other smartphones. Even after switching to the dedicated Night mode, the visual quality declines in the dark. The selfie camera is absolutely useless for interior photos because it only has a 5-megapixel resolution. The camera on this smartphone is generally decent. However, the front-facing camera could be more remarkable.

Software

On the software front, it has MIUI 13, which is based on Android 12 OS and is adequate for a low-cost smartphone. But we have noted that this smartphone's pre-installed MIUI is a light version of MIUI 13, which we've never seen before. Too many elements give you the impression that you are using a light version of MIUI. It misses a few aesthetic aspects seen on standard MIUI 13 for Xiaomi's mid-range and premium handsets.

We cannot hold Poco responsible for their smartphone's standard user interface, but in terms of usefulness, it functions very well overall. It comes with many pre-installed junk apps, but you can quickly disable or remove most apps to free up storage.

Battery

In terms of the battery, you have a sizable 5000mAh non-removable Li-Polymer battery. Although this phone is inexpensive, it has a big battery, which is a genuinely outstanding thing. Low-cost phones rarely have a battery of this size.

Due to its large battery, it provides you with backup power for a more extended amount of time. It provides backup for a shorter period if you multitask and play games. Because of the phone's 12nm CPU, there is a risk that the battery will discharge a bit more quickly.

Included with the phone is a micro USB 10W charger. It takes a long time to charge the battery completely. However, it has a 10W charger, which is a plus, and a micro USB, which is a minus. The time it took for the phone to charge completely would have been slightly shorter if it had a Type-C charging connector. However, since the phone is so inexpensive, we can't complain.

Overall, the battery and charge are powerful. For an affordable price, you get a substantial battery.

Connectivity & Extra Features

In terms of connection, it offers Wi-Fi 2.4GHz, Wi-Fi 5GHz, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot, Bluetooth v5.0, Wi-Fi calling, micro USB, and OTG support.

Extra features include a 10-watt charger, leather-like stitch pattern, IP52 dust and water protection, an MIUI dial pad, face unlock, and an oleophobic coating. IP52 resistance to water and dust. It is excellent that low-cost phones have access to this capability. A lot of phones don't have this capability. However, this phone does. With the help of this function, your phone is shielded from dust and water damage.

Oleophobic coating. This technology eliminates oil and dust particles from the screen, preventing the display from absorbing oil and making the phone easy to clean. It may happen when using a phone without an oleophobic coating; the heat generated by the device leads your fingers to sweat, which is then absorbed by the display.

Overall, connectivity and other features are satisfactory.

Verdict

The POCO C55 is a low-cost smartphone with solid performance all around.

It's a fashionable smartphone with a leather-like stitch pattern.

The dedicated back cameras, a sizable 5000mAh battery, and a reasonable display all contribute to superb smartphone performance. The MIUI dialer is also included, allowing users to record calls without hearing the recording announcement.

In general, it's a decent phone for this price.

The POCO C55's micro USB connector and single 10-watt charge are the main complaints, though. A USB type C port is now a must-have. Additionally, as previously noted, the POCO C55 would have been ideal for the price range with a 10-watt charger. However, we must confess that the benefits of the POCO C55 much exceed the drawbacks. Once we get over the minor drawbacks, the smartphone is undoubtedly one of the most economical smartphones in this category.