The Pocophone F1 could very well be the most anticipated and requested budget phone of
this year.
We should poke around on the inside for a second.
With massive specs and a super cheap price point, it's easy to see why it's so popular.
Let's get started.
[Intro]
Getting inside the Pocophone F1 is pretty simple.
There is no waterproofing gluing everything together, it just has the two T3 screws down
at the bottom and a screen that pops out of the back panel like the older iPhones used
to do.
The screen is pretty tightly situated inside that back housing though, which is why we
didn't see the screen pop out of the housing during the bend test – it's tight.
After removing the SD card tray, I was able to eventually detach the 1080p display and
hardware away from the back panel.
As it detaches, we get our first look inside the Pocophone with the fingerprint scanner
ribbon attached to the inside of the polycarbonate back plastic panel.
I'll switch my screwdriver bit to a normal Philips head, which I'll link below, and remove
the 10 screws holding the black plastics above the motherboard.
Once those plastics are removed, we get a glimpse at what looks like a complex smorgasbord
of connectors, but it's actually pretty simple.
I'll unplug the battery first, so there's not any power running through the phone while
we continue to operate.
Then we'll get the fingerprint scanner unsnapped like a little Lego and set the entire back
panel off to the side.
There's no making this one clear since everything's plastic, but at least we got an Art Class
with Jerry out of it.
A quick disconnect of the side buttons and black signal wire connector and the extension
ribbon for the charging port, leaves us with 2 silver screws holding in the motherboard.
I'll keep these separate from the other 12 screws we've already removed, and then the
screen ribbon cable gets unplugged.
The whole motherboard can now be pulled out of the phone body, exposing the tip of Xiaomi's
F1 liquid cooling system: a copper heatpipe with a dollop of thermal paste on top, which
helps to transfer the heat away from the processor, keeping things running more efficiently.
We'll find the other end of the copper pipe in a second.
First, the motherboard.
It appears pretty interesting.
We have the front facing 20 megapixel camera with an infrared illuminator next to it that
works in tandem with the infrared camera for the face unlock feature.
There are two rear cameras facing the opposite direction, each with their own individual
Lego style connector.
And both cameras are situated in the same metal housing, lined up perfectly so they
can assist each other with photo detail while taking pictures.
The main 12 megapixel sensor does have some movement to the lens, but it's probably just
for focusing, as the Pocophone does not include optical image stabilization on either of the
rear cameras, which is a little disappointing, but it is still a budget phone.
The last thing I want to point out is that inside this phone, there are water damage
indicators on every single surface including both sides of the motherboard.
They are currently white, but turn pink if your phone is around water, or even steam
from the pool or shower.
So keep it dry and away from moisture.
This massive advertised 4,000 milliamp hour battery has the same capacity as the $1,000
Note 9, and over double the capacity of an iPhone 8.
Thankfully it does come with it's own pull tab and manageable adhesive.
The battery has a rated capacity of 3900 milliamp hours and a peak of 4,000.
Now that the battery's out, we get a closer look at the other end of the copper heatpipe.
This time around, it doesn't include a large copper plate like we saw in the Samsung Note
9, but it looks to be about the same length.
I'd compare the 2 side by side, but I kind of chopped the Note 9 pipe into bits.
Either way, in the Pocophone F1, the copper heat pipe conductively pulls heat away from
the processor into the slightly cooler area underneath the battery.
Xiaomi calls this a liquid cooling system with industry leading thermal performance.
Boiling down the big words, it really just means it's a copper heatsink with less than
a drop of water inside a vacuum sealed pipe.
If I pop open the pipe quick enough, you can see the water evaporate out of the vacuum
into the air.
These little fibers inside the pipe help wick the water to and from the heat, exactly like
we saw in the Galaxy Note 9.
It's definitely a cool system, and especially awesome to see inside of a budget phone, like
this Pocophone F1.
It definitely deserves a thumbs up for that.
I like seeing that the competition in the budget realm drives bigger innovations with
the major flagships.
I'll just, you know, close this back up.
Perfect.
Let's see what kind of vibrator we're working with.
Seven screws hold the black plastics over the charging port daughterboard, including
2 sweet looking blue screws.
I've never seen that before.
The plastics pop off including the loudspeaker along with it's 2 golden contact pads.
Still zero signs of water proofing.
I'll remove the black signal wire and you can see another big white water damage indicator
right next to the charging port hole.
The red stuff underneath leads through the white portion when it's wet.
The charging port board has some adhesive holding it to the frame.
There is no rubber ring around the charging port itself, so once again, this thing has
no protection against liquid whatsoever.
The circular vibrator is in the bottom right corner and he's a tiny little guy.
Overall, I'm super impressed with Xiaomi's new Pocophone project.
I haven't always been a fan of Xiaomi's build quality since they do have a few phones on
my Shelf of Shame, but they've taken a huge step in the right direction with this durable,
yet extremely powerful budget phone.
I'll get the 2 silver screws back into the top of the motherboard.
I always have my fingers crossed when it's time to see if these phones still work after
a teardown.
I'll make sure everything's plugged in, including the fingerprint scanner and the battery, before
putting the black plastic plate with it's 10 screws back into place.
Finally, I'll pinch the 2 halves of the Pocophone back together.
This phone is a winner.
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I have a lot of fun videos on the way.
Would you consider buying this Pocophone?
What's your next phone going to be?
Thanks a ton for watching, and I'll see you around.