Poco C61 review: Attractive design, Android 14 for Rs 6,999 steal the show

If you head over to Poco India’s website right about now, and open the Poco C51 product page, you’ll discover that the Poco C31 was somewhat of a bestseller.

Poco says it has sold more than two million units on the page, simply by adding a fingerprint scanner to its predecessor (the Poco C3), might we add. It does not make any such claims with the Poco C51, but presumably the response should have been as good – if not better – since it added a faster processor to the same battery, display, and fingerprint sensor that buyers apparently “fell in love with” even if it came at the expense of cameras.

Entry-level phones like the C51 and C31 cannot be judged with the same lens as a more expensive phone like the Poco X6 Neo. Every spec adds to cost and the bottomline here is to keep it as low as possible. Every once in a while, you may “surprise” people by putting in more cameras or tweaking the design and durability, but it’s not always possible. What matters is, if the overall package is reliable because these people are going out of their way to trust the brand with what is probably their first smartphone. And the Poco C31 (and presumably the Poco C51 also) has probably lived up to their expectations, going by publicly available data.

The Poco C61 has a 6.71-inch display. (Photo credit: Saurabh Singh/Financial Express)
If anything, the Poco C61 – launching in India today – looks even more appealing. For the first time in two years, Poco has given its entry-level phone a new design, a taller display, and faster connectivity. It also has Android 14 (Go edition) with a virtually spam-free user interface. Even the Poco X6 Neo doesn’t have that. All this doesn’t come with any perceivable compromise either. The processor is same as last year. The battery is still a 5,000mAh. Poco has also retained the camera setup from its predecessor. The point that we’re trying to make is that there are no visible cutbacks to give you – the impression of – a better phone, which given its Rs 6,999 starting price, is easier said than done.

Take the design for instance. Poco says the C61 has a glass back and while it doesn’t say what type, at least the build and finish appear to be worthy of the claim. The version we have for review – mystical green – has a subtle gradient that puts up quite a show when light hits it at different angles. More commonplace blue and black versions are also available if you prefer things more muted. The chassis is flat, a bit sharp, but that seems more like a design choice than lack of polish. The camera housing sticks out literally and figuratively, giving the phone a unique blend of style and sophistication, unheard of in its segment. The power button doubles as a fingerprint reader and gets the job done without much trouble.

The underpinnings of an entry-level phone become obvious only when you flip over to the front. The thick bezels and water-drop notch are a dead giveaway. We quite like that Poco has increased the screen size – from 6.5-inch to 6.71-inch- in this generation so there’s more to look at. The brightness has been cranked up a bit, too, and so has the refresh rate (from 60Hz to 90Hz) though it’s hard to tell the difference it makes on a 720p LCD panel like this. Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection is a godsend.

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Design and display aren’t its only standouts. The Poco C61 has a large 5,000mAh battery which, if you push the right buttons, can last up to two days straight without much hiccup. The charging port gets a much-needed upgrade to USB Type-C, though charging is -still- capped at 10W for some reason (18W or even 15W would have been nice). The 8-megapixel rear and 5-megapixel front cameras shoot per expectation, coming handy for occasional snaps, video calls, and document scanning. Android 14 is definitely a big deal at this price. It’s a Go edition but it makes sense not only from hardware perspective but also from a utility point. The interface is simple to use and doesn’t bombard you with spammy notifications. Apps like Mi dialler bring a dash of extra functionality without overwhelming you. It’s a nice balance.

The Poco C61 runs Android 14 Go edition. (Photo credit: Saurabh Singh/Financial Express)
But as much as we liked everything that Poco has done to make this product happen, its choice of chip leaves a lot to be desired. The Helio G36 inside this phone is a letdown not so much because it’s weak or anything, but because optimisation is amiss, to a point where it’s difficult to recommend it to anybody in its current state. Maybe in the past, there were no options, but now, Poco itself has the almost similarly priced Poco C65 with the Helio G85 giving this new phone serious yesteryear vibes. Then there’s the Moto G04 that starts at Rs 6,999 and gives the Poco C61 a run for money.

The C61 is not a bad phone. But as we mentioned before, it all narrows down to reliability and as good as it looks on paper, its real-world performance is why you should never judge a book by its cover.

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