During the POCO F Series launch, there were lots of claims and comparisons between this POCO F7 Ultra against other Ultra phones like the S25 Ultra and other flagship phones like the iPhone.
But if you really dive deeper and use this phone daily, there are some areas that make this phone… not so Ultra.
Design
Let’s start with the design. Using it daily for the past 2 weeks, I love this matte finish as it is not a fingerprint magnet. It has a nice weight and a brand new design. So, if you’re like me who types the phone on a surface or on a table, that’s a yes in terms of not having the phone wobble.
This yellow color is more of a gold mix to it, so it’s not exactly like how the yellow color was on the previous POCO X7 Pro that I’ve reviewed and also preferred. The frames are made of metal, but on top of that, there’s also an IP68 rating.
So, in this particular build quality and design, I would say yes, this is an Ultra smartphone. ✔️
Display
As for the display, talking about the screen quality first and foremost. While I do appreciate POCO giving us a screen protector in the box for free (thank you POCO), but the quality of this screen protector is as good as buying a cling-on wrap, let me explain.
The display quality on the POCO F7 Ultra is really good; it matches the specs of the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. But when you use this screen protector daily, it actually makes the phone screen look worse than it actually is. It attracts lots of smudges to a point that it makes the phone look old.
I just removed it at the end of the first week of use, and only then I learned to appreciate it better. But while it has the exact resolution and the refresh rate as the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, the fact that it has no LTPO display means it will not give you the same ultra screen experience.
So, is the display Ultra? Very close, but to me, not so Ultra. ❌
Camera
After the event, I had an interview session with Angus Ng, the Head of Product Marketing, and he admitted that they have struggled to give the best on their cameras. However, I wouldn’t agree with that because phones like the POCO F3 at that time were one of the best smartphone cameras for the price.
But what annoyed me the most since then is that they didn’t even bother to move forward with better quality, specifically on their video quality. Before going into the video, the pictures on the phone indeed look really nice.
Ultrawide & Main Lens
The ultrawide lenses look great individually by themselves, but the color shift between the ultrawide lenses and the main lenses was an issue at first when I first got the phone when you compare it side by side.
But after a recent software update, it finally looked very similar, so that was great to know.
And the main lens or the 24mm lenses look great too.
You can zoom all the way to 60x zoom. So, as long as you have enough light, it will give you great results over here.
Telephoto & Portrait Mode
But among all, I have to say that I’m super in love with this new Telephoto lens because I did find myself using this lens the most. It has nice and detailed shots, and it was really amazing even at night.
The Portrait mode was also great, where you can choose between 24, 35, 60, and 75mm.
And even the selfie photos were really great, whether or not it’s just one person or even many people, and even at night too.
Watermark Feature
But there’s one tiny annoyance that I have with the photos. It is not about the photo quality, but it’s about the watermark feature.
While this doesn’t affect everybody, probably just me, you know there’s a nice film watermark that you get down below when you take a picture? Well, I actually really like them.
But while this film watermark is available for the regular photo modes, if you switch to the Portrait mode or Night mode, it turns it off by default. And if you turn it back on, you only have the option for the regular watermark. And once you select that, if you go back to the regular photo, it turns off the watermark altogether.
[easy-image-collage id=28250]
Like, why? Why couldn’t it just be a consistent watermark throughout every photo taken? I’m not sure why, but let me know if this is something that matters to you too, or is it just me?
So, for the photos, I would say that the main lenses and the telephoto lenses are indeed Ultra. ✔️
Macro Mode
But the macro mode was definitely not so ultra as seen in these photos.
Video Recording
[Check out my YouTube video for the sample video footage]
Going on to the video, the rear cameras can record up to 8K 24 fps. I love the quality for that, even at night, and so was the quality for the 4K, so that was close to being an ultra level, so I’ll give it that.
But the fact that the ultrawide cameras have a recording limit of only 1080p in the year 2025, it was something that I just could not brain because this is a 32MP ultrawide lens, and the phone also comes with a flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, so why is there a limitation over there really beats me.
And while the front camera also has the same 32MP camera, the story is the same, just recording 1080p recording for the front camera.
So that obviously means that the phone’s video is not so Ultra over here. ❌
Gaming Performance
However, when it comes to the gaming performance, that is something a little different because while it ran Genshin Impact at the highest graphics, but you are hovering only close to 60fps. There were some frame drops during battle scenes, I’m not sure why this is happening because it is using a flagship chipset, and it doesn’t happen with other phones with the same exact chip.
Comfort-wise, it felt great, but the camera bump might need some getting used to. Then, temperature-wise, it is warm for about 15 minutes of gaming, not too hot at all. Battery drain was also not noticeable too.
Then, for games like COD Mobile, which is not that demanding, it is where you will get the 120 fps. So, for me, when it comes to gaming, I would say that this was not so Ultra. ❌
Battery
Then, as for the phone’s battery life, this 5300 mAh battery gave me an average close to 5 and 1/2 hours of screen-on time. And that is with the WQHD+ resolution instead of the default FHD+. So, you’ll get more screen-on time if you stick to the default FHD+ resolution. That amount of screen-on time with that high resolution does seem Ultra to me. ✔️
Software
Then, software-wise, I didn’t come across any issues of lag and stuttering when I was using the phone daily. Phone call quality was really great; receptions were also great without any call drops, whether or not I’m driving on the road or even driving in a basement parking lot.
But speaking of phone calls, the not-so-ultra thing about it is the fact that there’s no eSIM, something that a lot of people complain about. I didn’t like the fact that it has no eSIM as well.
Conclusion
So, yeah, now that we have established what makes the POCO F7 Ultra and what does not make it seem like an Ultra, I have a question for you: will you buy the POCO F7 Ultra, or would you prefer to save some money and go with the Pro instead?
Speaking of which, my comparison review between the POCO F7 Pro and the POCO F6 Pro is coming, so stay tuned!
