Xiaomi’s Pocophone sub-brand has done lots of interesting things with its first device, the Poco F1.
For just under Kshs 35,000, one is guaranteed flagship-class specifications and features at a fraction of the price.
That was impressive last year when the device was announced and, subsequently, introduced into the market and is still impressive today.
As such, it is in the best interests of both the users who have received the device well and Pocophone, who have a reputation to keep even as rumours of a second generation keep circling around, to continuously make the experience on the device better.
That has been the case since February when an interesting update began being tested. That update, which has since 3 days ago began making its way to users of the device around the world, brings with it several features that were both missing on the device and widely requested while also adding others that are available on other Xiaomi devices running its custom MIUI software. Then, of course, there is the usual maintenance: bug fixes and all.
As can be seen in the screen grabs below, Pocophone F1 users are now able to shoot 4K video at 60 frames per second. Additionally, the camera app on the device has also picked up some AI-modes while at the same time a few nagging bugs have also been fixed.
The device has also picked up Game Speed Booster and Game Turbo, two features that can already be found in other Xiaomi smartphones and which, like their names indicate, are meant to make the gaming experience on such devices better. The former makes it easier to handle calls and incoming notifications while gaming, something that Xiaomi has become so good at if the interface on its dedicated gaming smartphone, the Black Shark, is anything to go by. The latter is for, well, turbo-charging the in-game experience.
Other notable updates include:
- Users will now be able to use face unlock to unlock apps, expanding the use case for the biometric feature beyond simply unlocking the device.
- Widevine L1 support is now fully supported on the Poco F1. What this means is that the device has been certified to play all digital content, like the movies and TV shows that one can stream on Netflix, in HD (there’s a more contextual explanation somewhere here). At launch, the Poco F1 only supported Widevine L3, limiting users to just standard definition content on Netflix. What Poco F1 users will appreciate is the fact that this is happening without them having to physically send in their devices like OnePlus made OnePlus 5 users do last year.
However, the Widevine L1 support is not automatic and one has to manually enable it by actually downloading the Widevine certificate (see how to go about it on XDA Developers). That is quite a hassle but it should be worth it if your idea of coping with the lack of Formula 1 action this weekend is watching an episode of Formula 1: Drive to Survive on Netflix while out and about.
It’s not an Android software update if it is not accompanied by an upgrade to the security patch and this particular update brings the security level up to speed as of March 2019.
It is worth noting that the update has also been rolling out to users in the country as evidenced by the screenshots above which were shared by Brian – many thanks.
