OS, UI, typical MIUI 13 apps, with features for gamers, customizable AOD

LITTLE F4 runs Android 12 cu MIUI 13 for POCO, but there are not many differences compared to a classic MIUI 13. However, it lacks those widgets with extra details and 3D look from Android 12 and it also curiously lacks the Privacy Dashboard.

Video-review POCO F4, section OS, UI & APPS

It keeps the leftmost homescreen reserved for the News section, and POCO offers us MIUI Recents in good tradition for multitasking divided into two columns and with a handy Cleaner. There are other typical MIUI aspects: Control Center separated from notifications, triggered by swipes from opposite top corners of the screen, but they can be unified again, from settings. Then we have, for example, those categories in which the applications are organized in the App Drawer: entertainment, tools, games, socialization and others.

We find the fingerprint reader on the side and it is efficient in unlocking and with an acceptable speed I would say.

We also have options Always On Display, with various icons, customizable themes, lighting of the side edges for notifications, Dark Mode, but also a Sidebar, which helps multitasking. This is through floating pop-up windows that can be moved on the screen to access another application superimposed on an already open one. You can open the calculator to do a calculation while watching a video for example.

POCO F4 screenshots gallery

Digging through the settings we also find the option Digital Wellbeing, which shows us how many hours we’ve spent in different applications and allows us to set limits if we can’t control our social media addiction. We can also set limits for the little ones in the Parental Control section.

The most useful application for the good functioning of the phone remains Security, which is a kind of hub for the good functioning of the device. It includes a cleaner, malware scanner, Facebook Cleaner, Blocklist and many other useful tools.

Gamers have access to Game Turbo, which in addition to customization options that allocate extra resources, improve cooling and enable a DND function, also includes a side window. It’s triggered while you’re playing and you can take screenshots and tune the device’s performance from there, for more FPS. You can also change your voice with effects, which is useful for screenshots in games, but also adjust the screen touch response.

We also have customizable themes and proprietary POCO apps: Gallery, Music, Mi Video, plus a MIUI File Manager. If you want to control the TV, set top box and others, you have the Mi Remote, which puts the infrared transmitter to work. Don’t forget the Memory Extension function in the settings, which adds a few GB of virtual RAM to the real one.

Availability

Updated prices