I Tested The Poco F7 Ultra. It's A Dependable, Visually Striking Companion

• I Tested nan Poco F7 Ultra. It's a Dependable, Visually Striking Companion
• Poco F7 Ultra build and display
• Poco F7 Ultra artillery and performance
• Geekbench v.6.0
• 3DMark Wild Life Extreme
• Poco F7 Ultra camera
• Who should bargain nan Poco F7 Ultra?
• Poco F7 Ultra vs. Samsung Galaxy S24 FE vs. OnePlus 13R

"Did you bring your SpongeBob phone?" a friend asks maine astatine a meal statement arsenic I'm astir to threat immoderate pictures. I laughter and reply, "I deliberation of it much arsenic a Minion, but that's a awesome description, too."

She's referring to my bold, construction-yellow Poco F7 Ultra, nan Xiaomi spin-off's latest midrange phone. With a starting value of $649, it stands retired beyond its appearance. It packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, a 5,300-mAh artillery and a triple rear camera strategy that serves up Instagram-worthy pictures.

The specs unsocial are capable to make a statement, and that 8 Elite spot successful peculiar places nan F7 Ultra successful nan aforesaid campy arsenic much premium phones for illustration nan Samsung Galaxy S25 series, nan OnePlus 13 and nan Xiaomi 15 Ultra. But tin nan F7 Ultra lucifer what those pricier devices bring to nan table, aliases is nan little costs accompanied by glaring compromises?  

I utilized nan F7 Ultra for a mates of weeks to spot really it delivers successful nan existent world (beyond Bikini Bottom, that is). I photographed friends and flowers, streamed TV shows and moreover utilized nan reverse wireless charging capacity to support my iPhone live while retired and about, making this telephone a dependable -- and visually striking -- companion.

Poco F7 Ultra build and display 

Overall, nan Poco F7 Ultra is simply a sleek phone, pinch curved edges, an edge-to-edge show and soft finishings. It felt for illustration nan cleanable size successful my hand, comparable to (though somewhat smaller than) my iPhone 16 Pro Max. 

The F7 Ultra has a 6.67-inch 120Hz AMOLED display, pinch a highest brightness of 3,200 nits. That places it supra nan iPhone 16's 2,000 nits highest brightness and nan Samsung Galaxy S25's 2,600 nits, but nether nan OnePlus 13's 4,500 nits. Indoors, nan vibrancy of nan Poco and Samsung displays are comparable, but stepping retired successful nan agleam sunlight, nan F7 Ultra does brighten up nan most. The F7 Ultra, for illustration its flagship counterparts, has an Always-On display, truthful you tin easy bargain a glimpse astatine nan clip aliases notifications. 

What I'm particularly pleased pinch is really bladed nan F7 Ultra's bezels are, making streaming and scrolling done societal media immersive and enjoyable. Colors successful videos are much subdued than they are connected my iPhone aliases Galaxy phone, giving a cooler, less-rich reside to objects and faces. But sharpness is intact.   

The F7 Ultra features a 6.67-inch 120Hz AMOLED display.

James Martin/CNET

The F7 Ultra weighs 212 grams, which makes it a tad dense but besides gives it a much premium, important feel. (For comparison, nan F7 Ultra is astir nan aforesaid weight arsenic nan OnePlus 13, but lighter than nan Galaxy S25 Ultra and iPhone 16 Pro Max.) The solid backmost screen and metallic sides person a satisfying matte finish, making nan telephone easy to grip. The camera module, which is encircled by an aluminum ring, sticks retired from nan backmost but isn't obnoxiously obtrusive, and arsenic a consequence only adds minimal wobbliness erstwhile nan telephone is laying caseless connected a table.

The Poco Shield Glass connected nan beforehand of nan telephone is nan toughest surface protector connected a Poco device, according to nan company. It feels durable capable arsenic I pat and push down connected nan display, and I thankfully haven't had nan opportunity to trial really good it handles a drop. But I did person it tossing astir my backpack without a lawsuit aliases surface protector for days, and it has yet to uncover immoderate scratches. The F7 Ultra has an IP68 standing for particulate and h2o guidance -- besides thing I haven't had nan pleasance of accidentally testing conscionable yet.

Along pinch my banana yellowish model, nan Poco F7 Ultra besides comes successful a much subdued black. Personally, that's nan type I would choose, but if you for illustration to beryllium bolder, yellowish mightiness beryllium a bully fresh for you.

Poco F7 Ultra artillery and performance

The F7 Ultra's biggest flex whitethorn beryllium its Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, giving it awesome powerfulness for its price. That spot has brought noteworthy capacity gains to different phones including nan Galaxy S25 lineup, nan OnePlus 13 and nan Oppo Find N5, which costs importantly much than nan F7 Ultra.

Swiping done apps connected nan F7 Ultra feels bully and smooth, and nan ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor is likewise fluid to unlock, without immoderate noticeable lag. Launching nan camera is almost immediate, though there's a flimsy lag erstwhile streaming videos and changing from scenery to image mode, and vice versa. It besides takes a infinitesimal for picture-in-picture to footwear successful erstwhile swiping retired of YouTube aliases Netflix, for example. Otherwise, multitasking is smooth.

In Geekbench 6 GPU and multicore CPU benchmark tests, nan Poco F7 Ultra ranks supra the Galaxy S24 Ultra, arsenic good arsenic nan Poco X6 Pro. In a graphics trial utilizing 3DMark Wild Life Extreme, nan F7 Ultra outranked nan iPhone 15 Pro, Galaxy S24 Ultra and Xiaomi 14. Check retired nan graphs beneath for much specifics.

Geekbench v.6.0

3DMark Wild Life Extreme

The F7 Ultra's different large flex is its 5,300-mAh battery, paired pinch 120-watt ultra-fast charging and 50-watt wireless charging. The telephone will easy past you a time connected a azygous charge, pinch immoderate artillery to spare. Reverse wireless charging is simply a immense perk I've tapped into erstwhile needing to adhd immoderate juice to my different phones erstwhile retired and astir (mobile newsman problems).   

In a 45-minute endurance test, which involves a operation of streaming, scrolling done societal media, joining a video telephone and playing games, nan artillery dropped from afloat to 97%, placing it connected par pinch nan OnePlus 13R successful that aforesaid test, which is nan champion consequence we've had this year. In a abstracted 3-hour streaming test, successful which I played a YouTube video successful full-screen mode astatine afloat brightness complete Wi-Fi, nan artillery dropped from 100% to 87%. And successful a charging test, nan F7 Ultra went from 0% to awhopping 90%in 30 minutes, and reached a afloat complaint successful conscionable complete 35 minutes.

The Poco F7 Ultra runs Android 15. You tin get 12GB RAM and 256GB of soul retention for $649, aliases 16GB of RAM pinch 512GB of retention for $699.

The Poco F7 Ultra features a 50-megapixel main camera, 50-megapixel 2.5x telephoto camera and 32-megapixel ultrawide camera connected nan back.

James Martin/CNET

Poco F7 Ultra camera

And now, onto 1 of nan most important features for galore telephone buyers: nan camera. The Poco F7 Ultra has a 50-megapixel main camera, 50-megapixel 2.5x telephoto camera and 32-megapixel ultrawide camera, on pinch a 32-megapixel beforehand camera. 

In general, nan F7 Ultra softens colors for a smoother, much toned-down appearance. This image mode changeable of my friend Dana is simply a bully example: There's a wide beige overtone playing disconnected of her outfit, giving nan photograph a much subtle look overall. I for illustration really crisp she is successful nan foreground, and really nan inheritance mildly takes connected a bokeh effect. 

The wide softness of this image changeable gives it a bully touch, while keeping my friend successful attraction successful nan foreground.

Abrar Al-Heeti/CNET

Selfies springiness disconnected that aforesaid soft, toned-down quality successful colors, but connection a flattering smoothness successful exchange. That's besides existent of selfies taken successful image mode, which likewise does a bully occupation keeping nan taxable successful focus. 

A modular selfie.

Abrar Al-Heeti/CNET

A image mode selfie.

Abrar Al-Heeti/CNET

I for illustration images wherever colors popular a spot more, and thankfully location are examples of nan F7 Ultra tapping into that, too, peculiarly outdoors. This photograph of a vertebrate bath depicts punchier hues successful nan variety of nan stone, nan agleam pinks of nan petals and nan vibrant greenery successful nan background. The petals connected nan achromatic flowers successful peculiar do look a spot blurred arsenic they benignant of lavation into each other, some otherwise, there's a crispness to nan chromatic and brickwork. 

I emotion nan punchiness of nan colors here.

Abrar Al-Heeti/CNET

The F7 Ultra's 5x zoom does a commendable occupation maintaining sharpness and focus. In this image of tulips, you tin spot miniscule specifications for illustration nan bladed lines successful each individual petal. The colors present are particularly bold, pinch nan tradeoff being harsher shadows successful nan background, but I suppose you've sewage to prime your poison. 

And here!

Abrar Al-Heeti/CNET

There are moments nan F7 Ultra's camera struggles, for illustration this changeable successful nan agleam sunlight of nan early afternoon, which is acold excessively washed out. Thankfully, this was an outlier. 

In this photo, nan Poco F7 Ultra struggle to equilibrium retired nan aggravated early-afternoon sunshine.

Abrar Al-Heeti/CNET

I was particularly impressed pinch nighttime shots. This image of a Turkish lamp taken successful near-darkness is still crisp and clear, and maintains nan colour variety successful its design. 

Night mode did an awesome occupation keeping this image sharp, contempt nan deficiency of light.

Abrar Al-Heeti/CNET

An AI eraser tin thief clear distant photobombers pinch a mates taps, but it isn't cleanable (most AI erasers aren't). It besides takes a fewer seconds for nan eraser to do its job, and aft choosing nan "remove people" action successful this photo, nan area wherever nan now-gone group were opinionated is blurry. The remnants of a tote container besides remain, which I needed to spell backmost and region pinch nan manual erase option.

The earlier shot.

Abrar Al-Heeti/CNET

The aft changeable -- incomplete, since location are still remnants of a tote container here.

Abrar Al-Heeti/CNET

And nan manual eraser has cleaned that up.

Abrar Al-Heeti/CNET

Altogether, astir of these photos are societal media-worthy, which, to me, is precocious praise. 

The Poco F7 Ultra is an awesome midrange telephone that packs plentifulness of power.

James Martin/CNET

Who should bargain nan Poco F7 Ultra? 

The Poco F7 Ultra is simply a coagulated telephone for its value point, packing notable processing power, wickedly accelerated charging and a premium wide consciousness -- features that thief it guidelines retired from likewise priced phones for illustration nan Samsung Galaxy S24 FE and nan OnePlus 13R. There are flimsy compromises erstwhile it comes to show sharpness, wide lag and immoderate camera capabilities, but nan pros heavy outweigh immoderate cons. (And, speaking of weighing, I do wish this telephone were a small lighter, but that's by nary intends a dealbreaker.)

If you're connected nan hunt for a telephone that isn't going to break nan slope but besides checks nan biggest boxes related to power, artillery life and camera, nan Poco F7 Ultra is an appealing -- and perchance eye-catching -- choice. 

Poco F7 Ultra vs. Samsung Galaxy S24 FE vs. OnePlus 13R