POCO India has launched its latest budget smartphone in India, the POCO C55 is the newest entry in the POCO C-Series priced at ₹9,499 and features a leather-like stitch design on the back, an IP52 rating, MediaTek Helio G85 SoC with up to 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage, 5,000 mAh battery, and more. Take a look at our POCO C55 review.
POCO C55 Specifications
- Display & Design: 6.71-inch HD+ display (1650 x 720 pixels resolution), 60 Hz refresh rate, 120 Hz touch-sampling rate, Panda Glass protection, IP52 dust and splash resistance, Premium leather-like stitch design, 8.77mm thickness, 192 grams weight
- Software: MIUI 13 For POCO, Android 12 Operating System
- CPU: 12nm MediaTek Helio G85 octa-core SoC clocked up to 2 GHz
- GPU: ARM Mali-G52 MC2 Graphics (up to 1 GHz clock rate)
- Memory: 4 GB OR 6 GB LPDDR4x RAM, +5 GB Turbo RAM feature (6 GB variant)
- Storage: 64 GB OR 128 GB eMMC 5.1 internal storage, microSD card support up to 1 TB (dedicated)
- Main Camera: Dual cameras (50 MP f/1.8 + 2 MP f/2.4 depth), LED flash
- Selfie Camera: 5 MP
- Connectivity: micro USB, 3.5mm jack, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz), Bluetooth 5.0, GPS/GLONASS
- Others: rear fingerprint scanner, Face Unlock, FM Radio
- Cellular: 4G network, dual SIM, dual 4G standby, VoLTE support
- Battery & Charging: 5,000 mAh battery, 10W charging
- Colors: Forest Green, Power Black, Cool Blue
- Price: ₹9,499 (4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage), ₹10,999 (6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage)
- Availability: 28th February 2023 at 12 PM on Flipkart
- Offers: Flat ₹500 off on 1st day of sale for its 4 GB + 64 GB variant, up to ₹1,000 instant discount using HDFC, SBI, and ICICI cards
Design, Display, & Build Quality
Looking at the design, the POCO C55 looks very premium, its leather-like stitch design on the back gives you a good grip and a more satisfying experience while holding. The rear side has dual cameras and a fingerprint sensor and a large POCO branding while the rest of the surface is covered with a leather-lookalike texture made out of polycarbonate materials.
It’s 8.77mm thick, weighs around 192 grams, and comes with IP52 dust and splash resistance meaning it can survive water splashes and light rains. The POCO C55 comes in three color variants – Forest Green, Power Black, and Cool Blue.
The POCO C55 has a 6.71-inch HD+ display (1650 x 720 pixels resolution) with a standard 60 Hz refresh rate, and 120 Hz touch-sampling rate. The display is protected by scratch-resistant Panda Glass and comes with an oleophobic coating which ensures an oil-resistant and anti-fingerprint surface.
The right side has power and volume keys while the left side has a triple-slot SIM tray with two 4G SIM card slots and a microSD card slot. The bottom side has an age-old micro USB port, a 3.5mm audio jack, a loudspeaker, and a microphone. The top side has another microphone and a loudspeaker at the earpiece.
Software, User Interface, & Features
The POCO C55 runs on the Android 12 operating out-of-the-box with MIUI 13.0.1 for POCO on the top. Xiaomi is coming with its new MIUI 14 with India-exclusive features and we assume POCO India should bring the Android 13-based MIUI 14 soon in the OTA updates for POCO C55. The security patch available on the phone is dated 1st December 2022.
The MIUI 13 offers all the native features of Android 12 in addition to the features of the MIUI. About the MIUI 13 interface, you will see a bunch of new features which include upgrades in design, better background efficiency, faster processing, as well as longer battery life. The POCO C55 also uses the MIUI phone dialer app for a better user experience.
The UI performance is fairly good, we didn’t notice any lags in the interface in our initial use. Some pre-installed apps found on the phone (which can be removed if not required) are Amazon, Facebook, Zili, Spotify, LinkedIn, Bubble Shooter Relaxing, Snapchat, Moj, and Netflix, in addition to the apps from Google and Xiaomi.
Hardware, Performance, & Gaming
The POCO C55 is powered by a 12nm MediaTek Helio G85 octa-core SoC clocked up to 2 GHz. The SoC is further paired with an ARM Mali-G52 MC2 GPU which is clocked up to 1 GHz. Moreover, there’s 6 GB LPDDR4x RAM and 128 GB eMMC 5.1 internal storage with microSD card expansion support up to 1 TB.
There are two variants of the smartphone, one with 4 GB LPDDR4x RAM with 64 GB eMMC 5.1 storage as the base variant and 6 GB LPDDR4x RAM with 128 GB eMMC 5.1 storage as the top variant. The smartphone comes with an extra +5 GB virtual RAM via its Turbo RAM feature making a total of 11 GB RAM (6 GB variant).
The MediaTek Helio G85 is a midrange SoC manufactured in a 12nm FinFET process and integrates eight cores (octa-core). The CPU includes two performance ARM Cortex-A75 cores clocked up to 2 GHz and six efficient ARM Cortex-A55 cores clocked up to 1.8 GHz.
The CPU performance is quite a good performer given the price and is close to the Snapdragon 680. The GPU can perform slightly better in gaming and graphics-intensive tasks due to its higher clock rate compared to its regular 950 MHz version.
The connectivity options for the POCO C55 include a micro USB port, a 3.5mm jack, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz), Bluetooth 5.0, GPS/GLONASS, 4G connectivity with dual SIM, dual 4G standby, and VoLTE support. The SoC integrates furthermore an LTE radio with Cat-7 (download) and Cat-13 (upload) support, LPDDR4 (1,800 MHz), and eMMC 5.1 storage. Other features include an FM Radio, rear fingerprint scanner, and face unlock.
The POCO C55 is priced at ₹9,499 for its 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage variant and ₹10,999 for its 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage variant. The smartphone will be available on Flipkart from 28th February 2023 at 12 PM. Launch offers for POCO C55 include a flat ₹500 discount on 1st day of sale for its 4 GB + 64 GB variant and up to ₹1,000 instant discount using HDFC, SBI, and ICICI cards.
Cameras
On the camera’s front, the POCO C55 comes with dual cameras onboard at the rear side with a 50 MP primary camera with f/1.8 aperture and a secondary camera of 2 MP f/2.4 for depth measuring. The front camera is 5 MP for selfies and video calling.
You don’t get many camera modes and features in the camera app, you can use the regular Photo mode, Night mode, Portrait mode, 50MP mode, HDR, Movie frame, Voice shutter, Tilt-shift, Timed burst, and up to 1080p video recording at 30 fps, that’s all.
For the image quality, the main 50 MP camera works quite well in the daylight and offers crisp images, you can expect a good performance out of it given the price. Take a look at these images we have captured using the POCO C55 camera.
POCO C55 Camera Samples
Battery Runtime & Charging
For its battery side, the POCO C55 packs a 5,000 mAh battery with standard 10W charging. We would at least ask for 18W fast charging support at this price as the competition has a lot more to offer in this range. You can expect the battery to be charged 100% in under 2 hours using the provided 10W charger.
The 5,000 mAh battery delivers as much as 28 hours of standby, 39 hours of video calling, 27 hours of video playback, and 10.5 hours of gaming as per POCO. The battery life may vary depending on your usage, you can expect up to 2 days of battery backup on average use.
Verdict – POCO C55
The POCO C55 is a good performer, the MediaTek Helio G85 performs fairly well in the segment. The smartphone comes in 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage variant which is a good deal at this price (₹10,999). Moreover, the leather-like design, 50 MP camera, and MIUI perks add to the overall value. The micro USB port might be a letdown for some users and the 10W charging speed. The POCO C55 is overall a good value for money and a good performer for users who are looking for a smartphone under ₹10,000 budget.
