Poco F1 Review

Last updated : 11/10/2024 (Rumors of Xiaomi closing bootloader unlock, updated kernel section for KSU potential)

Introduction

The Poco F1 is the first device I've modded, for the historical value (or lack of). It also survived at least 4 years of abuse & patch-ups, so there's some credit to be said for this one.

Summary : Decent device, brought down by shit bootloader unlock protocol & probably shitty replacement screens.

Physical features

The F1 feels like a budget device with its plastic back, but I'd say that's actually fine.

• On the top section, there's the secondary mic & the headphone jack is on the right, which IMO is the 2nd best place.
• USB-C charging port, speaker, & primary mic on the bottom corner. The USB-C port is also flanked by 2 T3 screws meant to be taken off in case of a teardown / repair.
• Left section contains only the hybrid dual SIM tray.
• Right section is home to the volume rocker & power button.
• Front side is reserved for the iPhone-notched 6.18' 18.7:9 notched 60hz LCD, front camera, IR camera for face unlocking, & earpiece / top speaker.
• The back holds the rear cameras & fingerprint scanner.
• For materials, some sort of tempered glass (the original uses an unspecified Gorilla Glass, while the "OEM" uses some kind of glass that probably isn't even tempered) covers the front display, with plastic covering the back, sides, & the buttons. On an additional note, the drop resistance of the display is somewhat lacking. However, it is my personal experience, so take that as you will.
• The F1's haptics are quite strong. 16ms on Simple Keyboard is my sweet spot - any higher & it feels too strong for me.
• Regarding the buttons, they feel pretty fine to me (as far as a budget phone with an excessively simple button mechanism go, complete with some play). On the other hand, the fingerprint scanner is fast & accurate.
• JerryRigEverything durability test video

Screen protector observations :

• Nillkin H (and H+ Pro) (Poco F1) : Fully covers display. Recommended. H+ Pro can be used if you want thinner tempered glass & don't mind paying a bit more for it.

Audio Quality

The F1 has a bottom loudspeaker + earpiece stereo combo (no need to fuck up mixer_paths for stereo) & a headphone jack.

The speaker quality is passable, with the earpiece being drowned out by the main speaker. Sound wise, it's somewhat shrill, though it's fine otherwise.

The headphone jack quality is kinda passable. Loudness wise, it squarely falls into "average" territory. Positioning of the jack is the 2nd best, staying out of the way when held in landscape without compromising speaker position, though costing an additional hand in landscape grip.

Display

To start, let me clarify that I have changed the F1's display more than 8 times. The 6.18' 18.7:9 notched 60hz LCD panel found in both the original (I had the FTS as far as I could remember) & the knockoff (referred as "OEM" since that's the only ones I can find; I usually find them as NVT, but they may also come as FTS) displays are passable (whites seem a bit cold, refresh rate serviceable, iPhone notch & weird corners are geh). I will list the entire review, which can be found below.

• Both the original & "OEM" had decent colors, though the "OEM" seems better. However, the "OEM" panel displays some kind of blue shift when viewed from an angle. I couldn't replicate this on other LCD phones.
• Both original & "OEM" have uneven backlighting that can be seen on the borders.
• The glass used on the "OEM" panel feels worse than the original. Not only does the "OEM" glass scratch easier (for example, when scratched by a razor blade), it also lacks any kind of oleophobic coating, making them feel greasy & slippery after some active use. This flaw can be mitigated with a screen protector, but still.
• Random touches are present in both, though the FTS "OEM" is more likely to display such behavior.
• Sometimes, the "OEM" display doesn't respond to touches. While turning it off, pressing it hard, & turning it back on again works, this is annoying. Happens in both NVT & FTS "OEM".
• The original display has a minor display retention issue, which is evident when seen in gray backgrounds. While it fades away after a while, it's annoying enough that I ended up moving off the original. As far as I can remember, the original display mentioned here is the original one I got with the phone.
• The "OEM" is more likely to produce dead pixel(s), though it is random.
• The display themselves (both original & "OEM") have a notch similar to the iPhone notch, but with some extreme rounded corners. This corner cutting (pun not intended) strikes me as trying too hard to be terrible.
If you're trying to make a cheap flagship killer & try to cut corners on the display, why not use Mi A2's 18:9 LCD instead? Not only would you save some resources off R&D, you also get to keep all the extra space for more stuff, such as better front-facing modules (such as earpiece / second speaker... or the frontcam too).

So, in conclusion : Both the original & "OEM" displays were decent, though their issues could be problematic. Considering the litany of cheaper secondhand devices, some of which were past flagships, it's not something I enjoy using. In a nutshell, beware of "OEM" displays & make sure to ask your seller for the display's originality whenever you can (be sure you can trust that seller though).

Bootloader unlocking

This is the worst part of the F1, no questions asked. You need a Xiaomi account, have to submit your cellphone number to Xiaomi servers, and use a proprietary Windows-only application to unlock its bootloader. That, combined with 72 real-world hours (maybe even more, up to a week / 2 at worst) of wait time (which gets triggered somewhere around the unlocker app as far as I remember), makes it the worst. With Xiaomi's server getting less reliable nowadays, good luck.

Repairability

In terms of repairability, the Poco F1 is quite easy once the back shell is off.

• Back shell requires removing the microSD / SIM tray & 2 T3 screws (which can be replaced by some Philips screws if you find suitable ones) flanking the USB-C port before it can be pried off. While prying off the back shell doesn't require any heat and/or suction cup, the clips connecting midframe & back shell can be tough, especially on the corners (though not as tough as the Mi A1). Care should be taken around the power & volume buttons (both when prying & re-attaching) to avoid damaging them. The shell also has the camera bump & fingerprint scanner adhered to it (which can't be fully removed yet - connector's stuck behind motherboard cover), with a decently long ribbon that won't readily tear on removal unless you've pulled the back shell a bit too hard.
• Speaking of fingerprint scanner, it is VERY securely adhered to the camera lens bracket (so secure it may as well be welded), and attempting to detach it (the scanner off the camera bracket) ended up ruining it. Tested on a barely functioning scanner, which ended up not being recognized by the system after one botched attempt at prying it from the front.
• Motherboard cover (which doubles as flash module) is stuck with 10 Philips screws, whereas bottom speaker & daughterboard cover are stuck with 7 Philips screws. The cover screws are different in size & length, so you kinda need to sort them out, particularly 2 at bottom cover flanking USB-C port & the 2 on top-left & top-right part of the motherboard cover, though they are differently colored from their surroundings so you should notice them.
• microSD / SIM reader's soldered on the motherboard, though that's common for every phone nowadays except for ASUS ZS630KL / Zenfone 6 2019 / 6z (AFAIK). It's mounted on the back side of the motherboard, but you don't need to worry about it since the tray is removed before the back shell.
• Battery features orange static pull tabs meant to ease removal, and for first removal, the battery is lightly adhered to the plastic wrapping, which in turn is adhered somewhat heavily to the frame.
• Every removable component except for antenna cable, flash module, notification light, speakers & vibration motor (which uses contact pins) connects to the motherboard using Lego-like BTBs. Those BTBs are not designed with repairability in mind, as some of them features various capacitors around it, making removals requiring some precision.
• The power & volume buttons are adhered to the midframe & are on the same ribbon cable, forcing a replacement of both if either stops working. And it's easy to accidentally break the switches while prying and re-attaching back shell, so hoarding spares are highly recommended for this one.
• Headphone jack is soldered to motherboard, so if it breaks, your Poco F1 is essentially jackless unless you are good at microsoldering (or find someone who does). However, mine still works reliably after whatever time the F1's on me, so there's that.
• USB-C port is on the daughterboard, which is held in with some adhesive.
• Display is very much glued in place, so say goodbye to it if you ever wanted to try harvesting the earpiece grille and/or replace the entire thing for the 1st time (if sticking to same midframe). Then again, your display's probably beyond any helping in that scenario, so good luck.

Teardown references :

• JerryRigEverything's teardown video
• Wit Rigs' teardown video
• iFixit's repair guides

Custom ROM & Kernel Availability (as of 11/10/2024)

For custom ROMs, the F1 is a bit weak, though still workable. A11 (non-system_ext build, use Reignz' TWRP 3.7.0-A9-NSE) & A12L (system_ext-only builds, I used Reignz' TWRP 3.7.0-A12-v2) only gets official crDroid, /e/, & LineageOS (with the latter not in LineageOS's servers). A13 adds DivestOS, and A14 is where the development is for now though not everyone seems to be down with the dynamic partition retrofit so we get a confusing bunch of options for ROMs & recoveries - one rather notorious example for this is RisingOS where the maintainer took the "middle route" & go with regular system_ext for vanilla builds & dynamic partitions for GApps builds. And there's also builds with 4.19 kernels instead of the 4.9 ones that the F1 comes with, though I don't see crDroid & LineageOS rushing for that in their F1 kernel repositories for now.

On the other hand (for custom recoveries), official TWRP is pretty much unmaintained (new releases are out, but without device development, known system_ext support, or dynamic partitioning), leaving Reignz' TWRP, which has some issues formatting data (though 3.7.0-A9-NSE doesn't seem to have it).

For custom kernels, the F1 basically has none but old stuff. For any prospects on KernelSU for non-kernelSU ROMs &340;assuming we have any excluding A14 crDroid) :

• NoGravity >4.3.1 has KernelSU support but it's <0.6.9 AFAIK so it's affected by CVE-2023-5521 (and there's work allegedly done to rebase to 4.19 but so far since there's no new stable builds we can consider NGK dead).
• Helios Kernel is KSU-only (there's an unmaintained non-KSU build), with KSU 0.9.5 (though you may have to install 0.9.5 manager & update to latest manager for it to work). Seems to work only on non-dynamic system_ext builds (it worked on A12L crDroid), and comes oriented for either battery or performance.
• Lethal Kernel (KSU build) has working KernelSU works across both NSE & SE with old & new touch drivers like NGK. There's also a non-KSU build with display overclocking (and some without, though not maintained), if you want to find another reason to replace your display.
• There's LawRun with KernelSU, but I'd just as soon destroy all of my devices than find out anything about it any more than I already had at this point.

Other issues

Generally, there's not much problems with the F1, aside from:

• The shit bootloader unlocking method that can't be bypassed. That is, if bootloader unlocking was allowed...
• EDL recovery requires a "Mi Authorized Account", which is owned by either overpriced & probably shady providers or service centers who don't know how to use them & ends up throwing you a new motherboard.
As a matter of fact, AgentFabulous, POSP's lead dev has made a Medium article about his Redmi Note 8 Pro, which does cover this EDL issue. (direct link) | (archive.fo)
He also made a rant regarding Xiaomi's EDL in ex-Twitter. (archive.org) (archive.fo)


• No NFC, in case anyone wants to use this device as a contactless payment tool for some reason.
• Motherboard-soldered headphone jack - essentially making your Poco F1 jackless if it ever fails, unless you either have some microsoldering skills or know someone who does.
• Xiaomi's firmware is averse to some background tasks, such as music listening (it prevents headset commands from being recognized if the device does not play music for some time). This flaw persists even in custom ROMs.

Conclusion

To conclude, the first full Xiaomi device I've owned is a decent device marred with an acceptable (bordering towards terrible, depending on the part) screen & a horrible bootloader unlock protocol. It might as well be my last Xiaomi / Poco cellphone, if I didn't have the X3(N/P), A1, & A2. But since it survived for longer than 4 years on me, I'd have little hesitation recommending this as long as you're fine with Xiaomi's bootloader shenanigans (or found someone who's selling it & has dealt with the shenanigans for you).

If you could get someone else to help you with bootloader unlocking (or get the F1 with an already unlocked bootloader), the F1 is probably a solid pick. However, the X3P is a straight upgrade over the F1. The X3N might also be enough if you don't mind the performance compromise.

12/10/2024 Update : With Xiaomi being rumored to shutting down its Global bootloader unlocking program (currently it's getting less reliable), I'm no longer able to recommend any Xiaomi devices unless you get it with the bootloader already unlocked. However, that is also somewhat risky as well since the seller might've fucked something up as well.

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